SymbioCity: Smart Cities for Smarter Networks

The "Smart City" (SC) concept revolves around the idea of embodying cutting-edge ICT solutions in the very fabric of future cities, in order to offer new and better services to citizens while lowering the city management costs, both in monetary, social, and environmental terms. In this framework, communication technologies are perceived as subservient to the SC services, providing the means to collect and process the data needed to make the services function. In this paper, we propose a new vision in which technology and SC services are designed to take advantage of each other in a symbiotic manner. According to this new paradigm, which we call "SymbioCity", SC services can indeed be exploited to improve the performance of the same communication systems that provide them with data. Suggestive examples of this symbiotic ecosystem are discussed in the paper. The dissertation is then substantiated in a proof-of-concept case study, where we show how the traffic monitoring service provided by the London Smart City initiative can be used to predict the density of users in a certain zone and optimize the cellular service in that area.Comment: 14 pages, submitted for publication to ETT Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologie

Quantifying Potential Energy Efficiency Gain in Green Cellular Wireless Networks

Conventional cellular wireless networks were designed with the purpose of providing high throughput for the user and high capacity for the service provider, without any provisions of energy efficiency. As a result, these networks have an enormous Carbon footprint. In this paper, we describe the sources of the inefficiencies in such networks. First we present results of the studies on how much Carbon footprint such networks generate. We also discuss how much more mobile traffic is expected to increase so that this Carbon footprint will even increase tremendously more. We then discuss specific sources of inefficiency and potential sources of improvement at the physical layer as well as at higher layers of the communication protocol hierarchy. In particular, considering that most of the energy inefficiency in cellular wireless networks is at the base stations, we discuss multi-tier networks and point to the potential of exploiting mobility patterns in order to use base station energy judiciously. We then investigate potential methods to reduce this inefficiency and quantify their individual contributions. By a consideration of the combination of all potential gains, we conclude that an improvement in energy consumption in cellular wireless networks by two orders of magnitude, or even more, is possible.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1210.843

Methodology for simulating 5G and GNSS high-accuracy positioning

This paper focuses on the exploitation of fifth generation (5G) centimetre-wave (cmWave) and millimetre-wave (mmWave) transmissions for high-accuracy positioning, in order to complement the availability of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) in harsh environments, such as urban canyons. Our goal is to present a representative methodology to simulate and assess their hybrid positioning capabilities over outdoor urban, suburban and rural scenarios. A novel scenario definition is proposed to integrate the network density of 5G deployments with the visibility masks of GNSS satellites, which helps to generate correlated scenarios of both technologies. Then, a generic and representative modeling of the 5G and GNSS observables is presented for snapshot positioning, which is suitable for standard protocols. The simulations results indicate that GNSS drives the achievable accuracy of its hybridisation with 5G cmWave, because non-line-of-sight (NLoS) conditions can limit the cmWave localization accuracy to around 20 m. The 5G performance is significantly improved with the use of mmWave positioning with dominant line-of-sight (LoS) conditions, which can even achieve sub-meter localization with one or more base stations. Therefore, these results show that NLoS conditions need to be weighted in 5G localization, in order to complement and outperform GNSS positioning over urban environments

Mobile web resource tracking during a disaster or crisis situation

This paper proposes a prototype solution for a mobile web resource tracking system using mobile devices during an emergency situation. The system provides real time data to a decision maker so that he/she can effectively and efficiently monitor resources and assess the situation accordingly. Mobile devices (i.e., smart phones) support the ease of use for any location and at anytime. The Internet technology is selected to enable multiple or cross platform technology solutions for different mobile devices. Resources in the scope of this project are human resources (e.g., a doctor, a police officer) and a chemical list in a room. With the use of a GPS-enabled device or a wireless-enabled device, the system is used to provide the current location of the human resources. Transferring data between system databases and mobile devices is one of the important areas to address in this project. Since location data of a user is sensitive data, data should be protected via an encrypted protected network. In addition, because of the urgency of any crisis situation, it is critical that data from the system be able to be retrieved in a reasonable time frame. The investigation includes the exploration of database and data transfer solutions to meet the data availability during emergency conditions on mobile devices. This document includes a description of the system design, a review of current technologies, proposed methodology, and the implementation. Review of the literature section provides background information on current available technologies that were studied (section 3). Four identified factors are suggested in the system design – usability, security, availability, and performance. The discussion of which technology is selected for each feature can be found in the implementation section 4. Proposed future research areas can be found in the conclusion section and recommendations for future work section

Nanotools for Neuroscience and Brain Activity Mapping

Neuroscience is at a crossroads. Great effort is being invested into deciphering specific neural interactions and circuits. At the same time, there exist few general theories or principles that explain brain function. We attribute this disparity, in part, to limitations in current methodologies. Traditional neurophysiological approaches record the activities of one neuron or a few neurons at a time. Neurochemical approaches focus on single neurotransmitters. Yet, there is an increasing realization that neural circuits operate at emergent levels, where the interactions between hundreds or thousands of neurons, utilizing multiple chemical transmitters, generate functional states. Brains function at the nanoscale, so tools to study brains must ultimately operate at this scale, as well. Nanoscience and nanotechnology are poised to provide a rich toolkit of novel methods to explore brain function by enabling simultaneous measurement and manipulation of activity of thousands or even millions of neurons. We and others refer to this goal as the Brain Activity Mapping Project. In this Nano Focus, we discuss how recent developments in nanoscale analysis tools and in the design and synthesis of nanomaterials have generated optical, electrical, and chemical methods that can readily be adapted for use in neuroscience. These approaches represent exciting areas of technical development and research. Moreover, unique opportunities exist for nanoscientists, nanotechnologists, and other physical scientists and engineers to contribute to tackling the challenging problems involved in understanding the fundamentals of brain function

Design, development, and validation of a remotely reconfigurable vehicle telemetry system for consumer and government applications

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2011.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-68).This thesis explores the design and development of a cost-effective, easy-to-use system for remotely monitoring vehicle performance and drivers' habits, with the aim of collecting data for vehicle characterization and traffic shaping. Vehicular congestion and concerns over fuel reserves, pollution, and carbon emissions have recently emerged as prominent sociopolitical concerns. These problems are formidable, but could be addressed more fruitfully with better information about vehicles and drivers habits, leading to policies such as vehicle-specific congestion charging or an odometer-based road tax. Despite the proliferation of sensors in cars, data is often hidden due to the antiquated nature of the federally-required On-Board Diagnostics (OBD). Systems to log and process such data exist, but no well known reconfigurable systems augment OBD with additional sensor data and transmit it over a cellular network. This thesis proposes a system wherein vehicles become distributed sensors, each transmitting a rich supply of information. The standardization of OBD and decreasing cost of bandwidth make now an opportune time to develop a real-time logging system. Inexpensive processors make it possible to provide privacy through onboard calculation, obfuscating much personally-identifiable data. This document discusses the planning process, experimental configurations of hardware and software, results, and conclusions associated with the development of a cellular diagnostic system capable of supporting an "app" model for information feedback. I present a Bluetooth-OBD logger, a cellular logger, and a web interface capable of representing live and historical data from vehicles, including example applications for calculating congestion pricing. This project proves the feasibility of capturing data using a remotely reconfigurable controller area network (CAN) to general packet radio service (GPRS) interpreter, visualizing the information in real-time, and writing applications to make use of the incoming data. The hardware and software were proven successful in meeting the goals set for the project. The hardware proved robust, gathering data without issue for hundreds of miles. The sample data demonstrated low bandwidth use, identified network weaknesses, and pointed out issues with the currently-legislated OBD standard. This thesis closes by exploring future possibilities suggested by the development of this system, including wireless odometry and next-generation OBD.by Joshua Eric Siegel.S.B

Design and Field Test of a WSN Platform Prototype for Long-Term Environmental Monitoring

Long-term wildfire monitoring using distributed in situ temperature sensors is an accurate, yet demanding environmental monitoring application, which requires long-life, low-maintenance, low-cost sensors and a simple, fast, error-proof deployment procedure. We present in this paper the most important design considerations and optimizations of all elements of a low-cost WSN platform prototype for long-term, low-maintenance pervasive wildfire monitoring, its preparation for a nearly three-month field test, the analysis of the causes of failure during the test and the lessons learned for platform improvement. The main components of the total cost of the platform (nodes, deployment and maintenance) are carefully analyzed and optimized for this application. The gateways are designed to operate with resources that are generally used for sensor nodes, while the requirements and cost of the sensor nodes are significantly lower. We define and test in simulation and in the field experiment a simple, but effective communication protocol for this application. It helps to lower the cost of the nodes and field deployment procedure, while extending the theoretical lifetime of the sensor nodes to over 16 years on a single 1 Ah lithium battery