Intelligent protocol adaptation for enhanced medical e-collaboration

Copyright @ 2003 AAAIDistributed multimedia e-health applications have a set specific requirements which must be taken into account effective use is to be made of the limited resources provided by public telecommunication networks. Moreover, there an architectural gap between the provision of network-level Quality of Service (QoS) and user requirements of e-health applications. In this paper, we address the problem bridging this gap from a multi-attribute decision-making perspective in the context of a remote collaborative environment for back pain treatment. We propose intelligent mechanism that integrates user- related requirements with the more technical characterisation Quality of Service. We show how our framework is capable of suggesting appropriately tailored transmission protocols, by incorporating user requirements in the remote delivery e-health solutions

Intelligent multimedia transmission for back pain treatment

Copyright @ 2002 EUNITERemote, multimedia-based, collaboration in back pain treatment is an option which only recently has come to the attention of clinicians and IT providers. The take up of such applications will inevitably depend on their ability to produce an acceptable level of service over congested and unreliable public networks However, although the problem of multimedia application-level performance is closely linked to both the user perspective of the experience as well as to the service provided by the underlying network, it is rarely studied from an integrated viewpoint. To alleviate this problem in the context of a multimedia application, a method is proposed in this paper for obtaining a priority order of low-level Quality of Service parameters, which would ensure that user-level Quality of Perception is maintained at an optimum level. Thus we present an approach that integrates technical concerns with user perceptual considerations for intelligent decision-making in the construction of tailor-made multimedia communication protocols. The proposed approach, based on multicriteria decision making, incorporates not only classical networking considerations, but, indeed, user preferences as well. Moreover, our approach also opens the possibility for such protocols to dynamically adapt based on a changing operating environment and user preferences

Virtualization and monitoring of a modular and self-organized multi-agent conveyor system

Mestrado de dupla diplomação com a UTFPR - Universidade Tecnológica Federal do ParanáThe digital transformation that is taking place worldwide in the context of Industry 4.0 stimulates the emergence of new concepts and technologies and is reshaping the manufacturing world. As a result, the Digital Twin concept is gaining more and more momentum. In this sense, the creation of a virtual copy of the physical system provides a connection between the real and virtual systems to collect, analyze and simulate data in the virtual model to improve the performance of the real system. This work presents the development of virtualization of a modular and self-organized transport system, based on the use of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and Multi-Agent Systems (MAS), to ensure the monitoring of its operation and allow the early detection of failures through real-time analysis of data collected from the physical system. For this purpose, Internet of Things (IoT) tools and technologies were used, such as Node-RED and the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) communication protocol, and the storage of collected data and cyber-security issues related to the use of IoT technologies during the data collection, suggesting the implementation of solutions to avoid possible threats, such as user authentication and data encryption. Among the results obtained, the control panel displays system data in real-time, in addition to providing statistical information, and supports dynamic monitoring of the transport system’s condition operation, generating alerts through the implementation of control rules.A transformação digital que está ocorrendo em todo o mundo no contexto da Indústria 4.0 estimula o surgimento de novos conceitos e tecnologias e está remodelando o mundo da manufatura. Como resultado, o conceito Digital Twin está ganhando cada vez mais força. Nesse sentido, a criação de uma cópia virtual do sistema físico fornece uma conexão entre os sistemas real e virtual para coletar, analisar e simular dados no modelo virtual para melhorar o desempenho do sistema real. Este trabalho apresenta o desenvolvimento da virtualização de um sistema de transporte modular e auto-organizado, com base no uso de CPS e MAS, para garantir o monitoramento de sua operação e permitir a detecção antecipada de falhas através da análise em tempo real dos dados coletados do sistema físico. Para esse fim, foram utilizadas ferramentas e tecnologias IoT, como Node-RED e o protocolo de comunicação MQTT, além do armazenamento de dados coletados e problemas de ciber-segurança relacionados ao uso de tecnologias IoT durante a coleta de dados, sugerindo a implementação de soluções para evitar possíveis ameaças, como autenticação do usuário e criptografia de dados. Entre os resultados obtidos, o painel de controle exibe os dados do sistema em tempo real, além de fornecer informações estatísticas e suportar o monitoramento dinâmico da condição de funcionamento do sistema de transporte, gerando alertas por meio da implementação das regras de controle

A Novel Logic and Approach to Speed up Simulation and Analysis of Production Systems

The paper describes a novel logic to model, simulate and analyze production systems using Discrete Event Simulation tools. An adaptable and flexible DES model has been developed to represent different manufacturing environments. The goal of the proposed DES-based parametric model is to offer to industrial analysts a compact, fast and easy way to configure and use decision support tools. The logic is based on elementary structures with a vertical multilayer architecture that permits entities to access and loop in multiple times. Since it has been assumed manufacturing systems are combination of elementary parts, the architecture of the model becomes quite simple since representing few structures only, and the simulation of heterogeneous systems is the result of as many iterations as needed by a user. This approach is adaptable both to SMEs and large companies, permitting to avoid the use of dedicated SW and allocated skilled person

The Application of Agent-Based Technology to Packaging Line

Control systems used by manufacturing companies today are often centralized. In such a system, the controller is concentrated to one location. As the production lines in Tetra Pak becomes more and more complex with growing costumer demand, a centralized approach becomes more and more inadequate. Agent-based technology provides a way to implement a desirable, robust and decentralized manufacturing environment. Agents can be viewed as generalizations of objects in object oriented programming, which takes decisions based on own intelligence as well as others. A community of agents, efficiently cooperating in order to reach a higher level or global goal, is called a MAS (Multi Agent System). This thesis deals with applying an agent based solution into the Tetra Pak A3 packaging line. A thorough study of decentralized systems in manufacturing environments is made which finally leads to the choosing of CBR (Case Based Reasoning) as reasoning paradigm for the age! nts. Agents adapt solutions to new problems by initializing voting procedures among all agents in the community. FIPA (the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents) provides specifications regarding infrastructure of the architecture surrounding the agents with focus on communication and organization.Studies of seven different cases is carried out to verify the strength of the control policies developed. Agent behaviour and line configuration is simulated in the Line Simulator implemented in Matlab