A Smart Pillow for Health Sensing System Based on Temperature and Humidity Sensors

The quality of sleep affects the patient's health, along with the observation of vital life signs such as body temperature and sweat in sleep, is essential in the monitoring of sleep as well as clinical diagnosis. However, traditional methods in recording physiological change amidst sleep is difficult without being intrusive. The smart pillow is developed to provide a relatively easy way to observe one's sleep condition, employing temperature and humidity sensors by implanting them inside the pillow in strategic positions. With the patient's head on the pillow, the roles of sensors are identified as main, auxiliary or environmental temperature, based on the differences of value from three temperature sensors, thus the pattern of sleep can be extracted by statistical analysis, and the body temperature is inferred by a specially designed Fuzzy Logic System if the head-on position is stable for more than 15 min. Night sweat is reported on data from the humidity sensor. Therefore, a cloud-based health-sensing system is built in the smart pillow to collect and analyze data. Experiments from various individuals prove that statistical and inferred results reflect normal and abnormal conditions of sleep accurately. The daily sleeping information of patients from the pillow is helpful in the decision-making of diagnoses and treatment, and users can change their habits of sleep gradually by observing the data with their health professional

Pillow Based Sleep Tracking Device Using Raspberry Pi

Almost half of all people have sleep interruptions at some point in their lives, making sleep disorders a common issue that affects a sizeable section of the population. Both their physical and emotional well-being may suffer as a result of this.Insomnia, which is a prevalent sleep disorder, is identified by symptoms including insufficient sleep duration and quality, trouble initiating sleep, multiple nighttime awakenings, early morning awakenings, and non-restorative sleep. It is essential to employ sleep monitoring systems to detect sleeping disorders as soon as possible for prompt diagnosis and treatment. To avoid sleep related health issues, there are plenty of Wearables based tracking devices in the market today. Yet, the need to set it up, wear it every day and night to be able to track required data, is a cumbersome process that requires human intervention.So, I have come up with the idea of developing a pillow-based sleep tracking device to suggest an alternate to Wearables, given that pillows are stationary devices that would involuntarily be used by everyone during their nap times. The process includes steps of measuring the sensory data obtained by a pressure sensor which is connected to a pressure amplifier bag placed under the pillow, targets detecting sleep duration and REM cycles. Sound levels of snoring detection is achieved through sound sensor (sleep-disordered respiration), temperature and humidity levels throughout the sleep time is measured by sensory reaction of a DHT-11 temperature and humidity sensor, set up with pillows and positional sleep area

Non-Invasive Data Acquisition and IoT Solution for Human Vital Signs Monitoring: Applications, Limitations and Future Prospects

The rapid development of technology has brought about a revolution in healthcare stimulating a wide range of smart and autonomous applications in homes, clinics, surgeries and hospitals. Smart healthcare opens the opportunity for a qualitative advance in the relations between healthcare providers and end-users for the provision of healthcare such as enabling doctors to diagnose remotely while optimizing the accuracy of the diagnosis and maximizing the benefits of treatment by enabling close patient monitoring. This paper presents a comprehensive review of non-invasive vital data acquisition and the Internet of Things in healthcare informatics and thus reports the challenges in healthcare informatics and suggests future work that would lead to solutions to address the open challenges in IoT and non-invasive vital data acquisition. In particular, the conducted review has revealed that there has been a daunting challenge in the development of multi-frequency vital IoT systems, and addressing this issue will help enable the vital IoT node to be reachable by the broker in multiple area ranges. Furthermore, the utilization of multi-camera systems has proven its high potential to increase the accuracy of vital data acquisition, but the implementation of such systems has not been fully developed with unfilled gaps to be bridged. Moreover, the application of deep learning to the real-time analysis of vital data on the node/edge side will enable optimal, instant offline decision making. Finally, the synergistic integration of reliable power management and energy harvesting systems into non-invasive data acquisition has been omitted so far, and the successful implementation of such systems will lead to a smart, robust, sustainable and self-powered healthcare system

Agent-Based Simulation of Smart Beds With Internet-of-Things for Exploring Big Data Analytics

[EN] Internet-of-Things (IoT) can allow healthcare professionals to remotely monitor patients by analyzing the sensors outputs with big data analytics. Sleeping conditions are one of the most influential factors on health. However, the literature lacks of the appropriate simulation tools to widely support the research on the recognition of sleeping postures. This paper proposes an agent-based simulation framework to simulate sleeper movements on a simulated smart bed with load sensors. This framework allows one to define sleeping posture recognition algorithms and compare their outcomes with the poses adopted by the sleeper. This novel presented ABS-BedIoT simulator allows users to graphically explore the results with starplots, evolution charts, and final visual representations of the states of the bed sensors. This simulator can also generate logs text files with big data for applying offline big data techniques on them. The source code of ABS-BedIoT and some examples of logs are freely available from a public research repository. The current approach is illustrated with an algorithm that properly recognized the simulated sleeping postures with an average accuracy of 98%. This accuracy is higher than the one reported by an existing alternative work in this area.This work was supported in part by the Estancias de movilidad en el extranjero Jose Castillejo para jovenes doctores Program through the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport under Grant CAS17/00005, in part by the Universidad de Zaragoza, Fundacion Bancaria Ibercaja, and Fundacion CAI in the Programa Ibercaja-CAI de Estancias de Investigacion under Grant IT24/16, in part by the Desarrollo Colaborativo de Soluciones AAL through the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under Grant TIN2014-57028-R, in part by the Organismo Autonomo Programas Educativos Europeos under Grant 2013-1-CZ1-GRU06-14277, and in part by the Fondo Social Europeo and the Departamento de Tecnologia y Universidad del Gobierno de Aragon for their joint support under Grant Ref-T81.García-Magariño, I.; Lacuesta Gilabert, R.; Lloret, J. (2018). Agent-Based Simulation of Smart Beds With Internet-of-Things for Exploring Big Data Analytics. IEEE Access. 6:366-379. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2017.2764467S366379

Low-cost Soil Moisture Sensors Based on Inductive Coils Tested on Different Sorts of Soils

[EN] The use of precision agriculture and the Internet of Things has improved the efficiency of many cultures. Nevertheless, there are a few low-cost options to monitor soil moisture. Moreover, those options depend on the specific characteristics of the soil. In this paper, we attempt to find a sensor, based on mutual inductance, that could be used for more than one sort of soil. We study three prototypes, one of them with casing. The sensors are powered with a voltage of 10 peak to peak volts. One of the soils has a high content of organic matter and sand while the other is rich in sand and silt. The best prototype for the soil with high levels of organic matter has 10 turns on the powered coil and 5 on the induced coil. The best frequency for this sensor is 1340 kHz. For the soil with a significant quantity of silt, the best prototype has 80 turns on the powered coil and 40 on the induced coil. The frequency at which this sensor works best is 229 kHz, which happens to be its peak frequency. With those characteristics regressions lines with R2 values higher than 0.75 can be modeledThis work is partially found by the Conselleria de Educación, Cultura y Deporte with the Subvenciones para la contratación de personal investigador en fase postdoctoral, grant number APOSTD/2019/04, by European Union through the ERANETMED (Euromediterranean Cooperation through ERANET joint activities and beyond) project ERANETMED3-227 SMARTWATIR, and by the European Union with the Fondo Europeo Agrícola de Desarrollo Rural (FEADER) Europa invierte en zonas rurales, the MAPAMA, and Comunidad de Madrid with the IMIDRA, under the mark of the PDR-CM 2014-2020 project number PDR18-XEROCESPED.Parra-Boronat, M.; Parra-Boronat, L.; Lloret, J.; Mauri, PV.; Llinares Palacios, JV. (2019). Low-cost Soil Moisture Sensors Based on Inductive Coils Tested on Different Sorts of Soils. IEEE. 616-622. https://doi.org/10.1109/IOTSMS48152.2019.8939258S61662

Architecture and communication protocol to monitor and control water quality and irrigation in agricultural environments

[ES] La introducción de soluciones tecnológicas en la agricultura permite reducir el uso de recursos y aumentar la producción de los cultivos. Además, la calidad del agua de regadío se puede monitorizar para asegurar la seguridad de los productos para el consumo humano. Sin embargo, la localización remota de la mayoría de los campos presenta un problema para proveer de cobertura inalámbrica a los nodos sensores y actuadores desplegados en los campos y los canales de agua para regadío. El trabajo presentado en esta tesis aborda el problema de habilitar la comunicación inalámbrica entre los dispositivos electrónicos desplegados para la monitorización de la calidad del agua y el campo a través de un protocolo de comunicación y arquitectura heterogéneos. La primera parte de esta tesis introduce los sistemas de agricultura de precisión (PA) y la importancia de la monitorización de la calidad del agua y el campo. Asimismo, las tecnologías que permiten la comunicación inalámbrica en sistemas PA y el uso de soluciones alternativas como el internet de las cosas bajo tierra (IoUT) y los vehículos aéreos no tripulados (UAV) se introducen también. Después, se realiza un análisis en profundidad del estado del arte respecto a los sensores para la monitorización del agua, el campo y las condiciones meteorológicas, así como sobre las tecnologías inalámbricas más empleadas en PA. Además, las tendencias actuales y los desafíos de los sistemas de internet de las cosas (IoT) para regadío, incluyendo las soluciones alternativas introducidas anteriormente, han sido abordados en detalle. A continuación, se presenta la arquitectura propuesta para el sistema, la cual incluye las áreas de interés para las actividades monitorización que incluye las áreas de los canales y el campo. A su vez, la descripción y los algoritmos de operación de los nodos sensores contemplados para cada área son proporcionados. El siguiente capítulo detalla el protocolo de comunicación heterogéneo propuesto, incluyendo los mensajes y alertas del sistema. Adicionalmente, se presenta una nueva topología de árbol para redes híbridas LoRa/WiFi multisalto. Las funcionalidades específicas adicionales concebidas para la arquitectura propuesta están descritas en el siguiente capítulo. Éstas incluyen algoritmos de agregación de datos para la topología propuesta, un esquema de las amenazas de seguridad para los sistemas PA, algoritmos de ahorro de energía y tolerancia a fallos, comunicación bajo tierra para IoUT y el uso de drones para adquisición de datos. Después, los resultados de las simulaciones para las soluciones propuestas anteriormente son presentados. Finalmente, se tratan las pruebas realizadas en entornos reales para el protocolo heterogéneo presentado, las diferentes estrategias de despliegue de los nodos empleados, el consumo energético y la función de cuantificación de fruta. Estas pruebas demuestran la validez de la arquitectura y protocolo de comunicación heterogéneos que se han propuesto.[CA] La introducció de solucions tecnològiques en l'agricultura permet reduir l'ús de recursos i augmentar la producció dels cultius. A més, la qualitat de l'aigua de regadiu es pot monitoritzar per assegurar la qualitat dels productes per al consum humà. No obstant això, la localització remota de la majoria dels camps presenta un problema per a proveir de cobertura sense fils als nodes sensors i actuadors desplegats als camps i els canals d'aigua per a regadiu. El treball presentat en aquesta tesi tracta el problema d'habilitar la comunicació sense fils entre els dispositius electrònics desplegats per a la monitorització de la qualitat de l'aigua i el camp a través d'un protocol de comunicació i arquitectura heterogenis. La primera part d'aquesta tesi introdueix els sistemes d'agricultura de precisió (PA) i la importància de la monitorització de la qualitat de l'aigua i el camp. Així mateix, també s'introdueixen les tecnologies que permeten la comunicació sense fils en sistemes PA i l'ús de solucions alternatives com l'Internet de les coses sota terra (IoUT) i els vehicles aeris no tripulats (UAV). Després, es realitza una anàlisi en profunditat de l'estat de l'art respecte als sensors per a la monitorització de l'aigua, el camp i les condicions meteorològiques, així com sobre les tecnologies sense fils més emprades en PA. S'aborden les tendències actuals i els reptes dels sistemes d'internet de les coses (IoT) per a regadiu, incloent les solucions alternatives introduïdes anteriorment. A continuació, es presenta l'arquitectura proposada per al sistema, on s'inclouen les àrees d'interès per a les activitats monitorització en els canals i el camp. Finalment, es proporciona la descripció i els algoritmes d'operació dels nodes sensors contemplats per a cada àrea. El següent capítol detalla el protocol de comunicació heterogeni proposat, així como el disseny del missatges i alertes que el sistema proposa. A més, es presenta una nova topologia d'arbre per a xarxes híbrides Lora/WiFi multi-salt. Les funcionalitats específiques addicionals concebudes per l'arquitectura proposada estan descrites en el següent capítol. Aquestes inclouen algoritmes d'agregació de dades per a la topologia proposta, un esquema de les alertes de seguretat per als sistemes PA, algoritmes d'estalvi d'energia i tolerància a fallades, comunicació per a IoUT i l'ús de drons per a adquisició de dades. Després, es presenten els resultats de les simulacions per a les solucions proposades. Finalment, es duen a terme les proves en entorns reals per al protocol heterogeni dissenyat. A més s'expliquen les diferents estratègies de desplegament dels nodes empleats, el consum energètic, així com, la funció de quantificació de fruita. Els resultats d'aquetes proves demostren la validesa de l'arquitectura i protocol de comunicació heterogenis propost en aquesta tesi.[EN] The introduction of technological solutions in agriculture allows reducing the use of resources and increasing the production of the crops. Furthermore, the quality of the water for irrigation can be monitored to ensure the safety of the produce for human consumption. However, the remote location of most fields presents a problem for providing wireless coverage to the sensing nodes and actuators deployed on the fields and the irrigation water canals. The work presented in this thesis addresses the problem of enabling wireless communication among the electronic devices deployed for water quality and field monitoring through a heterogeneous communication protocol and architecture. The first part of the dissertation introduces Precision Agriculture (PA) systems and the importance of water quality and field monitoring. In addition, the technologies that enable wireless communication in PA systems and the use of alternative solutions such as Internet of Underground Things (IoUT) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are introduced as well. Then, an in-depth analysis on the state of the art regarding the sensors for water, field and meteorology monitoring and the most utilized wireless technologies in PA is performed. Furthermore, the current trends and challenges for Internet of Things (IoT) irrigation systems, including the alternate solutions previously introduced, have been discussed in detail. Then, the architecture for the proposed system is presented, which includes the areas of interest for the monitoring activities comprised of the canal and field areas. Moreover, the description and operation algorithms of the sensor nodes contemplated for each area is provided. The next chapter details the proposed heterogeneous communication protocol including the messages and alerts of the system. Additionally, a new tree topology for hybrid LoRa/WiFi multi-hop networks is presented. The specific additional functionalities intended for the proposed architecture are described in the following chapter. It includes data aggregation algorithms for the proposed topology, an overview on the security threats of PA systems, energy-saving and fault-tolerance algorithms, underground communication for IoUT, and the use of drones for data acquisition. Then, the simulation results for the solutions previously proposed are presented. Finally, the tests performed in real environments for the presented heterogeneous protocol, the different deployment strategies for the utilized nodes, the energy consumption, and a functionality for fruit quantification are discussed. These tests demonstrate the validity of the proposed heterogeneous architecture and communication protocol.García García, L. (2021). Architecture and communication protocol to monitor and control water quality and irrigation in agricultural environments [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/17422

Quantifying Quality of Life

Describes technological methods and tools for objective and quantitative assessment of QoL Appraises technology-enabled methods for incorporating QoL measurements in medicine Highlights the success factors for adoption and scaling of technology-enabled methods This open access book presents the rise of technology-enabled methods and tools for objective, quantitative assessment of Quality of Life (QoL), while following the WHOQOL model. It is an in-depth resource describing and examining state-of-the-art, minimally obtrusive, ubiquitous technologies. Highlighting the required factors for adoption and scaling of technology-enabled methods and tools for QoL assessment, it also describes how these technologies can be leveraged for behavior change, disease prevention, health management and long-term QoL enhancement in populations at large. Quantifying Quality of Life: Incorporating Daily Life into Medicine fills a gap in the field of QoL by providing assessment methods, techniques and tools. These assessments differ from the current methods that are now mostly infrequent, subjective, qualitative, memory-based, context-poor and sparse. Therefore, it is an ideal resource for physicians, physicians in training, software and hardware developers, computer scientists, data scientists, behavioural scientists, entrepreneurs, healthcare leaders and administrators who are seeking an up-to-date resource on this subject

4th International Symposium on Ambient Intelligence (ISAmI 2013)

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) is a recent paradigm emerging from Artificial Intelligence (AI), where computers are used as proactive tools assisting people with their day-to-day activities, making everyone’s life more comfortable. Another main concern of AmI originates from the human computer interaction domain and focuses on offering ways to interact with systems in a more natural way by means user friendly interfaces. This field is evolving quickly as can be witnessed by the emerging natural language and gesture based types of interaction. The inclusion of computational power and communication technologies in everyday objects is growing and their embedding into our environments should be as invisible as possible. In order for AmI to be successful, human interaction with computing power and embedded systems in the surroundings should be smooth and happen without people actually noticing it. The only awareness people should have arises from AmI: more safety, comfort and wellbeing, emerging in a natural and inherent way. ISAmI is the International Symposium on Ambient Intelligence and aiming to bring together researchers from various disciplines that constitute the scientific field of Ambient Intelligence to present and discuss the latest results, new ideas, projects and lessons learned, namely in terms of software and applications, and aims to bring together researchers from various disciplines that are interested in all aspects of this area

Quantifying Quality of Life

Describes technological methods and tools for objective and quantitative assessment of QoL Appraises technology-enabled methods for incorporating QoL measurements in medicine Highlights the success factors for adoption and scaling of technology-enabled methods This open access book presents the rise of technology-enabled methods and tools for objective, quantitative assessment of Quality of Life (QoL), while following the WHOQOL model. It is an in-depth resource describing and examining state-of-the-art, minimally obtrusive, ubiquitous technologies. Highlighting the required factors for adoption and scaling of technology-enabled methods and tools for QoL assessment, it also describes how these technologies can be leveraged for behavior change, disease prevention, health management and long-term QoL enhancement in populations at large. Quantifying Quality of Life: Incorporating Daily Life into Medicine fills a gap in the field of QoL by providing assessment methods, techniques and tools. These assessments differ from the current methods that are now mostly infrequent, subjective, qualitative, memory-based, context-poor and sparse. Therefore, it is an ideal resource for physicians, physicians in training, software and hardware developers, computer scientists, data scientists, behavioural scientists, entrepreneurs, healthcare leaders and administrators who are seeking an up-to-date resource on this subject

A human centric approach to the Internet of things

This research focuses on human interaction with the IoT, not only from the perspective of the user, but also considering the requirements that smart objects should meet to support human activities. It analyses how the IoT was originally conceived from a technology and data driven approach, and why there is a need to provide an IoT framework that considers humans’ tasks and goals. As such, the nature of the actions and interactions found in a human-based IoT are discussed in the context of social-like collaborations, where actors are in pursue of a common goal. This thesis reframes Human-IoT interaction as a social, collaborative system, described in terms of its capacity to support the activities of the involved social actors in pursuit of a common goal. A structure is proposed to describe the nature of these interactions, and a methodology to model user behaviour based on the tasks and goals supporting a theme is proposed. The methodology is used to analyse the requirements of a domestic IoT system, leading to the implementation of a demonstrator system, and a study to validate the method. This research posits that user experience should inform IoT system design to prevent misunderstanding of its purpose