17,079 research outputs found
PhyNetLab: An IoT-Based Warehouse Testbed
Future warehouses will be made of modular embedded entities with
communication ability and energy aware operation attached to the traditional
materials handling and warehousing objects. This advancement is mainly to
fulfill the flexibility and scalability needs of the emerging warehouses.
However, it leads to a new layer of complexity during development and
evaluation of such systems due to the multidisciplinarity in logistics,
embedded systems, and wireless communications. Although each discipline
provides theoretical approaches and simulations for these tasks, many issues
are often discovered in a real deployment of the full system. In this paper we
introduce PhyNetLab as a real scale warehouse testbed made of cyber physical
objects (PhyNodes) developed for this type of application. The presented
platform provides a possibility to check the industrial requirement of an
IoT-based warehouse in addition to the typical wireless sensor networks tests.
We describe the hardware and software components of the nodes in addition to
the overall structure of the testbed. Finally, we will demonstrate the
advantages of the testbed by evaluating the performance of the ETSI compliant
radio channel access procedure for an IoT warehouse
An Adaptive Design Methodology for Reduction of Product Development Risk
Embedded systems interaction with environment inherently complicates
understanding of requirements and their correct implementation. However,
product uncertainty is highest during early stages of development. Design
verification is an essential step in the development of any system, especially
for Embedded System. This paper introduces a novel adaptive design methodology,
which incorporates step-wise prototyping and verification. With each adaptive
step product-realization level is enhanced while decreasing the level of
product uncertainty, thereby reducing the overall costs. The back-bone of this
frame-work is the development of Domain Specific Operational (DOP) Model and
the associated Verification Instrumentation for Test and Evaluation, developed
based on the DOP model. Together they generate functionally valid test-sequence
for carrying out prototype evaluation. With the help of a case study 'Multimode
Detection Subsystem' the application of this method is sketched. The design
methodologies can be compared by defining and computing a generic performance
criterion like Average design-cycle Risk. For the case study, by computing
Average design-cycle Risk, it is shown that the adaptive method reduces the
product development risk for a small increase in the total design cycle time.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figure
A terrestrial search for dark contents of the vacuum, such as dark energy, using atom interferometry
We describe the theory and first experimental work on our concept for
searching on earth for the presence of dark content of the vacuum (DCV) using
atom interferometry. Specifically, we have in mind any DCV that has not yet
been detected on a laboratory scale, but might manifest itself as dark energy
on the cosmological scale. The experimental method uses two atom
interferometers to cancel the effect of earth's gravity and diverse noise
sources. It depends upon two assumptions: first, that the DCV possesses some
space inhomogeneity in density, and second that it exerts a sufficiently strong
non-gravitational force on matter. The motion of the apparatus through the DCV
should then lead to an irregular variation in the detected matter-wave phase
shift. We discuss the nature of this signal and note the problem of
distinguishing it from instrumental noise. We also discuss the relation of our
experiment to what might be learned by studying the noise in gravitational wave
detectors such as LIGO.The paper concludes with a projection that a future
search of this nature might be carried out using an atom interferometer in an
orbiting satellite. The apparatus is now being constructed
Stretchable electronic platform for soft and smart contact lens applications
A stretchable platform with spherical-shaped electronics based on thermo-
plastic polyurethane (TPU) is introduced for soft smart contact lenses. The
low glass transition temperature of TPU, its relatively low hardness, and its
proven biocompatibility (i.e., protection of exterior body wounds) fulfill the
essential requirements for eye wearable devices. These requirements include
optical transparency, conformal fitting, and flexibility comparable with soft
contact lenses (e.g., hydrogel-based). Moreover, the viscoelastic nature of
TPU allows planar structures to be thermoformed into spherical caps with a
well-defined curvature (i.e., eye’s curvature at the cornea: 9 mm). Numerical
modeling and experimental validation enable fine-tuning of the thermo -
forming parameters and the optimization of strain-release patterns. Such
tight control is proven necessary to achieve oxygen permeable, thin, nonde-
velopable, and wrinkle-free contact lenses with integrated electronics (silicon
die, radio-frequency antenna, and stretchable thin-film interconnections). This
work paves the way toward fully autonomous smart contact lenses potentially
for vision correction or sensing applications, among others
Internet of Things-aided Smart Grid: Technologies, Architectures, Applications, Prototypes, and Future Research Directions
Traditional power grids are being transformed into Smart Grids (SGs) to
address the issues in existing power system due to uni-directional information
flow, energy wastage, growing energy demand, reliability and security. SGs
offer bi-directional energy flow between service providers and consumers,
involving power generation, transmission, distribution and utilization systems.
SGs employ various devices for the monitoring, analysis and control of the
grid, deployed at power plants, distribution centers and in consumers' premises
in a very large number. Hence, an SG requires connectivity, automation and the
tracking of such devices. This is achieved with the help of Internet of Things
(IoT). IoT helps SG systems to support various network functions throughout the
generation, transmission, distribution and consumption of energy by
incorporating IoT devices (such as sensors, actuators and smart meters), as
well as by providing the connectivity, automation and tracking for such
devices. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on IoT-aided SG
systems, which includes the existing architectures, applications and prototypes
of IoT-aided SG systems. This survey also highlights the open issues,
challenges and future research directions for IoT-aided SG systems
FPGAs in Industrial Control Applications
The aim of this paper is to review the state-of-the-art of Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technologies and their contribution to industrial control applications. Authors start by addressing various research fields which can exploit the advantages of FPGAs. The features of these devices are then presented, followed by their corresponding design tools. To illustrate the benefits of using FPGAs in the case of complex control applications, a sensorless motor controller has been treated. This controller is based on the Extended Kalman Filter. Its development has been made according to a dedicated design methodology, which is also discussed. The use of FPGAs to implement artificial intelligence-based industrial controllers is then briefly reviewed. The final section presents two short case studies of Neural Network control systems designs targeting FPGAs
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