LoRa base-station-to-body communication with SIMO front-to-back diversity

The LoRa standard is currently widely employed for low-power long-range wireless sensor networks at sub-GHz frequency bands. The longer wavelengths associated with sub-GHz technology provide excellent radiowave propagation characteristics, yielding a much larger coverage than the higher frequency bands. In the case of wearable sensors, the 868 MHz band can be covered by textile substrate-integrated-waveguide antennas of a convenient size. In body-centric communication systems, front-to-back (F/B) diversity is an important asset to mitigate the shadowing of the antennas by the presence of the human body. This article describes a diversity textile-antenna-based LoRa platform with integrated transceivers. Outdoor measurement campaigns are conducted to assess the performance of the wearable LoRa nodes with F/B diversity in an urban radio propagation environment at walking and cycling speeds. These experiments prove that large ranges of 1.5 km can easily and reliably be achieved for off-body LoRa communication links. The results demonstrate a significant performance improvement in terms of packet loss in NLoS situations when comparing single-receiver performance with different spatial receiver diversity applications. In addition, link budget increases up to 5.5 dB, owing to the realized diversity gain

LoRaWAN communication implementation platforms

A key role in the development of smart Internet of Things (IoT) solutions is played by wireless communication technologies, especially LPWAN (Low-Power Wide-Area Network), which are becoming increasingly popular due to their advantages: long range, low power consumption and the ability to connect multiple edge devices. However, in addition to the advantages of communication and low power consumption, the security of transmitted data is also important. End devices very often have a small amount of memory, which makes it impossible to implement advanced cryptographic algorithms on them. The article analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of solutions based on LPWAN communication and reviews platforms for IoT device communication in the LoRaWAN (LoRa Wide Area Network) standard in terms of configuration complexity. It describes how to configure an experimental LPWAN system being built at the Department of Computer Science and Telecommunications at Poznan University of Technology for research related to smart buildings

Smartphone as an Edge for Context-Aware Real-Time Processing for Personal e-Health

The medical domain is facing an ongoing challenge of how patients can share their health information and timeline with healthcare providers. This involves secure sharing, diverse data types, and formats reported by healthcare-related devices. A multilayer framework can address these challenges in the context of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). This framework utilizes smartphone sensors, external services, and medical devices that measure vital signs and communicate such real-time data with smartphones. The smartphone serves as an “edge device” to visualize, analyze, store, and report context- aware data to the cloud layer. Focusing on medical device connectivity, mobile security, data collection, and interoperability for frictionless data processing allows for building context-aware personal medical records (PMRs). These PMRs are then securely transmitted through a communication protocol, Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT), to be then utilized by authorized medical staff and healthcare institutions. MQTT is a lightweight, intuitive, and easy-to-use messaging protocol suitable for IoMT systems. Consequently, these PMRs are to be further processed in a cloud computing platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS). Through AWS and its services, architecting a customized data pipeline from the mobile user to the cloud allows displaying of useful analytics to healthcare stakeholders, secure storage, and SMS notifications. Our results demonstrate that this framework preserves the patient’s health-related timeline and shares this information with professionals. Through a serverless Business intelligence interactive dashboard generated from AWS QuickSight, further querying and data filtering techniques are applied to the PMRs which identify key metrics and trends

Hardware Prototype for Wrist-Worn Simultaneous Monitoring of Environmental, Behavioral, and Physiological Parameters

We designed a low-cost wrist-worn prototype for simultaneously measuring environmental, behavioral, and physiological domains of influencing factors in healthcare. Our prototype continuously monitors ambient elements (sound level, toxic gases, ultraviolet radiation, air pressure, temperature, and humidity), personal activity (motion tracking and body positioning using gyroscope, magnetometer, and accelerometer), and vital signs (skin temperature and heart rate). An innovative three-dimensional hardware, based on the multi-physical-layer approach is introduced. Using board-to-board connectors, several physical hardware layers are stacked on top of each other. All of these layers consist of integrated and/or add-on sensors to measure certain domain (environmental, behavioral, or physiological). The prototype includes centralized data processing, transmission, and visualization. Bi-directional communication is based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and can connect to smartphones as well as smart cars and smart homes for data analytic and adverse-event alerts. This study aims to develop a prototype for simultaneous monitoring of the all three areas for monitoring of workplaces and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients with a concentration on technical development and validation rather than clinical investigation. We have implemented 6 prototypes which have been tested by 5 volunteers. We have asked the subjects to test the prototype in a daily routine in both indoor (workplaces and laboratories) and outdoor. We have not imposed any specific conditions for the tests. All presented data in this work are from the same prototype. Eleven sensors measure fifteen parameters from three domains. The prototype delivers the resolutions of 0.1 part per million (PPM) for air quality parameters, 1 dB, 1 index, and 1 °C for sound pressure level, UV, and skin temperature, respectively. The battery operates for 12.5 h under the maximum sampling rates of sensors without recharging. The final expense does not exceed 133€. We validated all layers and tested the entire device with a 75 min recording. The results show the appropriate functionalities of the prototype for further development and investigations

IoT based control system for energy saving in workplaces

“An interconnected world”, defined by the implementation of comprehensive smart technologies. Because of the rapid advancements in information and communication technology, including the use of Internet of Things (IoT) systems, a new term has emerged. The Internet of Things is a comprehensive network made up of many components that are interconnected with each other. The system, which consists of several modules, sensors, and computers, directly transmits data and performs predefined operations. The COVID-19 pandemic caused chaos in the organization in ways never felt before. Although many individuals across the global economy continue to work remotely, working life will look different as we move to a work -at -home system. A large number of organizations are looking for technologies that allow the Internet of Things to improve the environment more securely and reduce spending costs as companies strive to collect and improve revenue that has been lost by the epidemic. Smart office systems have been integrated in our vision to increase the efficiency of a building or workplace while reducing electricity consumption. So here we have created a better control system in the office that can be done by using microcontroller (ESP32) acting as a controller and regulator of data input from the sensors. Part of our methodology is to produce prototypes of office systems that can control and monitor all electrical appliances especially lighting systems to produce a good and conducive working environment. These results will be determined by individual preferences and sensor information that has been manually configured by the system manufacturer

Nanobiosensors: towards real-time human monitoring in aerospace medicine and other extreme conditions

Οι βιοαισθητήρες είναι υποσχόμενα εργαλεία προς την επίτευξη παρακολούθησης της ανθρώπινης υγείας και επίδοσης σε πραγματικό χρόνο και στο σημείο της παρεχόμενης φροντίδας. Η νανοτεχνολογία μπορεί να καταλύσει την διαδικασία της σμίκρυνσης των βιοαισθητήρων ή μπορεί να χρησιμοποιηθεί για την επινόηση εντελώς νέων τύπων αυτών. Η ανάπτυξη των βιοαισθητήρων, σε συνδυασμό με την ωρίμανση της τεχνητής νοημοσύνης και του διαδικτύου των πραγμάτων, μπορεί να εγκαινιάσει μία νέα εποχή για επιτόπου προβλεπτική διαγνωστική, τηλεϊατρική και γενικότερη επαύξηση της επιστημονικής γνώσης. Αυτή η δυναμική είναι άκρως ενδιαφέρουσα για τους κλάδους της ιατρικής που ασχολούνται με την διασφάλιση της ανθρώπινης υγείας, ασφάλειας και επίδοσης σε ακραίες συνθήκες με χαρακτηριστικότερο παράδειγμα τις επανδρωμένες διαστημικές πτήσεις και την ενδεχόμενη πλανητική εποίκιση. Η παρούσα ανασκόπηση επικεντρώνεται σε προσπάθειες βιοανίχνευσης στο διάστημα, αλλά επεκτείνεται και σε περαιτέρω εφαρμογές βιοαισθητήρων στην αεροπορική και την στρατιωτική ιατρική, την αθλητιατρική, καθώς και σε άλλες καταστάσεις με ακραίες περιβαλλοντικές συνθήκες για το ανθρώπινο σώμα. Τέλος, αναφέρονται μερικοί διαφόρου τύπου καινοτόμοι βιοαισθητήρες, με σκοπό να παρασχεθεί μια καλύτερη οπτική για την δυναμική των μελλοντικών συστημάτων βιοαισθητήρων. Αυτή η εργασία έχει ως στόχο να ενθαρρύνει τις επιστημονικές ομάδες που αναπτύσσουν βιοαισθητήρες να συνεργαστούν στενότερα με τους τελικούς χρήστες έτσι, ώστε να επιτευχθεί η απαιτούμενη ποιότητα εκ σχεδιασμού και, δια τούτου, να απελευθερωθεί η πλήρης δυναμική αυτής της επερχόμενης τεχνολογίας.Biosensors are promising tools for achieving point-of-care, real-time, human health, and performance monitoring. Nanotechnology can catalyze the process of biosensors miniaturization or can be used for inventing whole-new types of biosensors. The development of nanobiosensors, along with the maturation of artificial intelligence and Internet-of-Things applications, can inaugurate a new era for in-situ predictive diagnostics, telemedical practice, and general scientific understanding. This potential is of particular interest for medical fields responsible to ensure human health, safety, and performance in extreme environments, with utmost example: manned spaceflight and planets habitation. This review focuses on biosensing approaches in space, but extends further to biosensing applications in aviation, military, and sports, as other situations of extreme environmental conditions for the human body. Lastly, some miscellaneous types of nanobiosensors are mentioned, in order to provide an insight of the potential that future biosensing systems hold. Hopefully, this work will encourage nanobiosensor developers to work closely with the end-users, so that quality-by-design can be achieved, and thus the full potential of this next-generation technology can be harvested

An Internet-of-Things (IoT) Network System for Connected Safety and Health Monitoring Applications

This paper presents a hybrid wearable sensor network system towards the Internet of Things (IoT) connected safety and health monitoring applications. The system is aimed at improving safety in the outdoor workplace. The proposed system consists of a wearable body area network (WBAN) to collect user data and a low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) to connect the WBAN with the Internet. The wearable sensors in the WBAN are exerted to measure the environmental conditions around the subject using a Safe Node and monitor the vital signs of the subject using a Health Node. A standalone local server (gateway), which can process the raw sensor signals, display the environmental and physiological data, and trigger an alert if any emergency circumstance is detected, is designed within the proposed network. To connect the gateway with the Internet, an IoT cloud server is implemented to provide more functionalities, such as web monitoring and mobile applications

BPOD: A WIRELESS INTEGRATED SENSOR PLATFORM FOR CONTINUOUS LOCALIZED BIOPROCESS MONITORING

Process parameter spatial inhomogeneities inside cell culture bioreactors has attracted considerable attention, however, few technologies allow investigation of the impact of these variations on process yield. Commercially available sensing probes sit at fixed locations, failing to capture the spatial distribution of process metrics. The bio-Processing online device (bPod) addresses this problem by performing real-time in situ monitoring of dissolved oxygen (DO) within bioreactor cell cultures. The bPod is an integrated system comprised of a potentiostat analog-front-end, a Bluetooth Low Energy microcontroller, and a Clark-type electrochemical DO sensor. The Clark-type sensor uses chronoamperometry to determine the DO percent saturation within a range relevant for mammalian cell culture. The free-floating capsule is packaged inside a 3D-printed biocompatible shell and wirelessly transmits data to a smartphone while submerged in the reactor. Furthermore, the bPod demonstrated a sensitivity of 37.5 nA/DO%, and can be adapted to multiple sensor types, enabling numerous bioprocess monitoring applications

Personalized ambient parameters monitoring: design and implementing of a wrist-worn prototype for hazardous gases and sound level detection

The concentration is on “3D space utilization” as the concept and infrastructure of designing of a wearable in ambient parameters monitoring. This strategy is implemented according to “multi-layer” approach. In this approach, each group of parameters from the same category is monitored by a modular physical layer enriched with the respected sensors. Depending on the number of parameters and layers, each physical layer is located on top of another. The intention is to implement a device for “everyone in everywhere for everything”

Contribución al desarrollo de técnicas avanzadas para la evaluación de prestaciones en la Internet de las Cosas

[SPA] Las nuevas tendencias tecnológicas apuntan hacia la agregación de tecnologías simplificando su uso y control, una mayor integración con el usuario, así como un aumento exponencial del número de dispositivos conectados. Todo se engloba bajo el concepto Internet of Things (IoT) entorno un gran abanico de aplicaciones como Industria 4.0 o Smart-City, donde el vínculo con el usuario es más estrecho. La tendencia actual pretende dotar estos dispositivos de capacidades cognitivas permitiendo el aprendizaje y la actuación entre el mundo físico y social con la mínima interacción del ser humano. Tradicionalmente se ha venido utilizando Quality of Service (QoS) como métrica de evaluación objetiva. El presente estudio muestra un modelo holístico que mejora el rendimiento en IoT a partir de métricas basadas en el dominio “coste-beneficio”. El dominio beneficio está compuesto por Quality of Data (QoD), Quality of Information (QoI) y Quality of user Experience (QoE). Y el dominio coste, queda constituido únicamente por Quality Cost (QC). Estas métricas efectúan evaluaciones objetivas y subjetivas en diferentes capas de la red siendo esenciales en dispositivos con recursos limitados para la optimización de estos. En este contexto, las tecnologías Low-Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) como Long-Range (LoRa) y Long-Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) permiten comunicaciones a grandes distancias con mínimo consumo de recursos. A su vez, es una tecnología muy versátil ya que permite ser embebidos en dispositivos estáticos o móviles como Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Para este estudio, el uso de técnicas de Artificial Intelligent (AI) es fundamental para predecir futuros fallos en las métricas y actuar de forma previa maximizando la disponibilidad de la red.[ENG] The new technology trends aim at technology aggregation, simplifying their use and control, greater integration with the user, and an exponential increase in the number of connected devices. Everything is encompassed under the Internet of Things (IoT) concept on a wide range of applications, such as Industry 4.0 or Smart-Cities, where the relationship with the user is closer. The current trend seeks to provide these devices with cognitive capabilities to learn and act between the physical and social world with minimal human interaction. Traditionally, Quality of Service (QoS) has been used as an objective evaluation metric. The present doctoral thesis proposes a holistic model capable of offering a measurement of the services provided in IoT from metrics based on the cost-benefit domains. The benefit domain is composed by three components, which are Quality of Data (QoD), Quality of Information (QoI), and Quality of user Experience (QoE). The cost domain is made up solely of the Quality Cost (QC) component. These quality components can measure, through the use of different metrics, the performance of a service in different layers of the architecture, being essential for optimization in devices with limited resources. In this context, Low-Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technologies such as Long-Range (LoRa) and Long-Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) allow communications over long distances with minimum resource consumption. At the same time, it is a versatile technology since it can be embedded in static or mobile devices such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). For this reason, LoRa/LoRaWAN and UAVs will be used as case studies. Finally, Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques have become an extremely useful tool in different environments, including that of performance evaluation, and above all, for its predictive capacity. For this reason, they will also be a subject of study in this doctoral thesis.Escuela Internacional de Doctorado de la Universidad Politécnica de CartagenaUniversidad Politécnica de CartagenaPrograma de Doctorado en Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicacione