Design and implementation of application-specific medium access control protocol for scalable smart home embedded systems

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2016By incorporating electrical devices, appliances and house features in a system that is controlled and monitored either remotely or on-site, smart home technologies have recently gained an increasing popularity. There are several smart home systems already available, ranging from simple on-site home monitoring to self-learning and Wi-Fi enabled systems. However, current systems do not fully make use of recent technological advancement and synergy among a variable number of sensors for improved data collection. For a synergistic system to be provident it needs to be modular and scalable to match exact user needs (type of applications and adequate number of sensors for each application). With an increased number of sensors intelligently placed to optimize the data collection, a wireless network is indispensable for a flexible and inexpensive installation. Such a network requires an efficient medium access control protocol to sustain a reliable system, provide flexibility in design and to achieve lower power consumption. This thesis brings to light practical ways to improve current smart home systems. As the main contribution of this work, we introduce a novel application-specific medium access control protocol able to support suggested improvements. In addition, a smart home prototype system is implemented to evaluate the protocol performance and prove concepts of recommended advances. This thesis covers the design of the proposed novel medium access protocol and the software/hardware implementation of the prototype system focusing on the monitoring and data analysis side, while providing inputs for the control side of the system. The smart home system prototype is Wi-Fi and Web connected, designed and implemented to emphasize system usability and energy efficiency

A two-way interactive broadband satellite architecture to break the digital divide barrier

September 24-26, 2007, Turin, Ital

TV-Centric technologies to provide remote areas with two-way satellite broadband access

October 1-2, 2007, Rome, Italy TV-Centric Technologies To Provide Remote Areas With Two-Way Satellite Broadband Acces

Power line network automation over IP

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel UniversityA smart home contains many kinds of devices, sensors and user interfaces. In order for these to communicate with each other and share information and processing power they need to be connected together. Thus, seamless networking and device interconnectivity is a fundamental requirement for a smart home. Unfortunately, this requirement for compliance and compatibility still presents a difficult obstacle as there are numerous competing standards and technologies available today and some devices are completely without communication interface. Current state-of-the-art smart homes are implemented with home based on Web servers in order to surpass the difficulties. Also, a more sophisticated implementation is based on middleware. These two methodologies are expensive to implement. Our proposed system is cost-effective and does not require Web servers or any special hardware and has low complexity. The novelty and the achievement of the thesis is the integration of homogeneous networks through IP. In addition, the system was built-in terms of software and hardware based on a new protocol

Wireless communication, identification and sensing technologies enabling integrated logistics: a study in the harbor environment

In the last decade, integrated logistics has become an important challenge in the development of wireless communication, identification and sensing technology, due to the growing complexity of logistics processes and the increasing demand for adapting systems to new requirements. The advancement of wireless technology provides a wide range of options for the maritime container terminals. Electronic devices employed in container terminals reduce the manual effort, facilitating timely information flow and enhancing control and quality of service and decision made. In this paper, we examine the technology that can be used to support integration in harbor's logistics. In the literature, most systems have been developed to address specific needs of particular harbors, but a systematic study is missing. The purpose is to provide an overview to the reader about which technology of integrated logistics can be implemented and what remains to be addressed in the future

Development of a Smart Lighting Android-based Application using Bluetooth Low Energy

The emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) allowed new developments on home and building automation with devices that provide more power efficiency and adaptation to our needs. Therefore, this thesis presents a study about Blue- tooth Low-Energy and its application on a IoT context, through smart devices designed for home applications and to be integrated in smart home system. It is also investigated the advantages and disadvantages of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) over other communication protocols for IoT end-devices. State-of-art Smart Lighting Android-based Application using Bluetooth Low Energy (SLABLE) is implemented with BLE and covers three application layers: first a interactive mobile application for Android OS. Then the middleware to manage communication and the data gathered, implemented in a BLE built-in System-on-Chip (SoC) with the respective programming for tasks as sending and receiving informations or commands and an illumination automatic control, de- veloped in Arduino IDE. Lastly, an hardware layer that consists in sensors and a lamp dimming driver, to be integrated on a circuit board small enough to fit in already installed equipment boxes. The implemented system purpose is a transversal integration between all layers . Moreover, based on energy consumption study, it is shown that BLE modules are proven to be a good solution for IoT development due to their low-power consumption, also, for data exchange reliability and processing capacity to control and perform several actions at the same time.O aparecimento da Internet-das-Coisas(IoT) permitiu novos desenvolvimen- tos na área da automação para casas e edifícios com recurso a dispositivos que nos oferecem uma melhor eficiência energética e uma melhor adaptação às nossas necessidades. Desta forma, esta dissertação apresenta um estudo sobre Bluetooth Low-Energy e a sua aplicação no contexto da IoT, através de dispositivos inteli- gentes para aplicações domésticas e para integração em sistemas inteligentes. É também investigado as vantagens e desvantagens do mesmo face a outros proto- colos de comunicação para dispositivos IoT. O sistema doméstico inteligente e interactivo (SLABLE) apresentado no Estado- da-Arte abrange três camadas da implementação: primeiro uma aplicação móvel interativa para Android OS. A camada intermédia para gerir comunicações e reco- lha de dados, implementada num módulo SoC com BLE embutido, programado para desenvolver tarefas como enviar e receber dados ou instruções e o controlo automático da iluminação, desenvolvido em Arduino IDE. Por fim a última ca- mada consiste em sensores e um circuito de dimming para lâmpadas, para serem integrados numa PCB suficientemente pequena para caber em caixas de apare- lhagem. O objectivo do sistema implementado é a comunicação transversal entre todas as camadas. Além disso, com base no consumo de potência, mostra-se que os módulos BLE são uma boa solução para desenvolvimento de aplicações IoT devido ao seu baixo consumo energético, e também, fiabilidade da troca de dados e capacidade de processamento para controlar e realizar várias acções ao mesmo tempo

Wireless Sensor Networks and Real-Time Locating Systems to Fight against Maritime Piracy

There is a wide range of military and civil applications where Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and Multi-Agent Systems (MASs) can be used for providing context-awareness for troops and special corps. On the one hand, WSNs comprise an ideal technology to develop Real-Time Locating Systems (RTLSs) aimed at indoor environments, where existing global navigation satellite systems do not work properly. On the other hand, agent-based architectures allow building autonomous and robust systems that are capable of working on highly dynamic scenarios. This paper presents two piracy scenarios where the n-Core platform can be applied. n-Core is a hardware and software platform intended for developing and deploying easily and quickly a wide variety of WSNs applications based on the ZigBee standard. In the first scenario a RTLS is deployed to support boarding and rescue operations. In the second scenario a multi-agent system is proposed to detect the unloading of illegal traffic of merchandise at ports

Developing residential wireless sensor networks for ECG healthcare monitoring

Wireless technology development has increased rapidly due to it’s convenience and cost effectiveness compared to wired applications, particularly considering the advantages offered by Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) based applications. Such applications exist in several domains including healthcare, medical, industrial and home automation. In the present study, a home-based wireless ECG monitoring system using Zigbee technology is considered. Such systems can be useful for monitoring people in their own home as well as for periodic monitoring by physicians for appropriate healthcare, allowing people to live in their home for longer. Health monitoring systems can continuously monitor many physiological signals and offer further analysis and interpretation. The characteristics and drawbacks of these systems may affect the wearer’s mobility during monitoring the vital signs. Real-time monitoring systems record, measure, and monitor the heart electrical activity while maintaining the consumer’s comfort. Zigbee devices can offer low-power, small size, and a low-cost suitable solution for monitoring the ECG signal in the home, but such systems are often designed in isolation, with no consideration of existing home control networks and smart home solutions. The present study offers a state of the art review and then introduces the main concepts and contents of the wireless ECG monitoring systems. In addition, models of the ECG signal and the power consumption formulas are highlighted. Challenges and future perspectives are also reported. The paper concludes that such mass-market health monitoring systems will only be prevalent when implemented together with home environmental monitoring and control systems

Solutions and Tools for Secure Communication in Wireless Sensor Networks

Secure communication is considered a vital requirement in Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) applications. Such a requirement embraces different aspects, including confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of exchanged information, proper management of security material, and effective prevention and reaction against security threats and attacks. However, WSNs are mainly composed of resource-constrained devices. That is, network nodes feature reduced capabilities, especially in terms of memory storage, computing power, transmission rate, and energy availability. As a consequence, assuring secure communication in WSNs results to be more difficult than in other kinds of network. In fact, trading effectiveness of adopted solutions with their efficiency becomes far more important. In addition, specific device classes or technologies may require to design ad hoc security solutions. Also, it is necessary to efficiently manage security material, and dynamically cope with changes of security requirements. Finally, security threats and countermeasures have to be carefully considered since from the network design phase. This Ph.D. dissertion considers secure communication in WSNs, and provides the following contributions. First, we provide a performance evaluation of IEEE 802.15.4 security services. Then, we focus on the ZigBee technology and its security services, and propose possible solutions to some deficiencies and inefficiencies. Second, we present HISS, a highly scalable and efficient key management scheme, able to contrast collusion attacks while displaying a graceful degradation of performance. Third, we present STaR, a software component for WSNs that secures multiple traffic flows at the same time. It is transparent to the application, and provides runtime reconfigurability, thus coping with dynamic changes of security requirements. Finally, we describe ASF, our attack simulation framework for WSNs. Such a tool helps network designers to quantitatively evaluate effects of security attacks, produce an attack ranking based on their severity, and thus select the most appropriate countermeasures