New Waves of IoT Technologies Research – Transcending Intelligence and Senses at the Edge to Create Multi Experience Environments

The next wave of Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) brings new technological developments that incorporate radical advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), edge computing processing, new sensing capabilities, more security protection and autonomous functions accelerating progress towards the ability for IoT systems to self-develop, self-maintain and self-optimise. The emergence of hyper autonomous IoT applications with enhanced sensing, distributed intelligence, edge processing and connectivity, combined with human augmentation, has the potential to power the transformation and optimisation of industrial sectors and to change the innovation landscape. This chapter is reviewing the most recent advances in the next wave of the IoT by looking not only at the technology enabling the IoT but also at the platforms and smart data aspects that will bring intelligence, sustainability, dependability, autonomy, and will support human-centric solutions.acceptedVersio

Multi-Protocol Sensor Node for Internet of Things (IoT) Applications

This paper will describe the implementation of an end-to-end IoT solution, focusing specifically in the multi-protocol sensor node using Pycom's FiPy board. A performance assessment will be presented, addressing a comparison between the different protocols (LoRa vs. Wi-Fi) in terms radio coverage, timing issues, power consumption/battery usage, among others. Further, it will be investigated the integration onto the sensor node different sensor/actuator circuit blocks for energy metering on industrial machinery as a way to optimize energy efficiency metrics. This will provide a practical use case in the field of Industry 4.0, leading to insights for power quality monitoring

Système longue portée de communication bidirectionnelle à l’intérieur d’un bâtiment

RÉSUMÉ : La conception d’un produit requiert bien souvent une équipe multidisciplinaire, d’autant plus si celui-ci est intelligent et connecté. Ce changement de perspective amène son lot de défis et force les entreprises manufacturières à évaluer l’ensemble des compétences requises à la réalisation d’un projet de connectivité. Pour notre partenaire industriel, son objectif est de surveiller, contrôler et optimiser la désinfection des salles de bain dans les hôpitaux afin de réduire les maladies nosocomiales. Il désire intégrer ces changements à son équipement actuel, bien que celui-ci est installé dans un environnement qu’il ne contrôle pas et que l’accès au réseau existant de l’hôpital lui soit interdit. Dans le cadre de cette recherche, notre partenaire industriel veut concevoir un réseau parallèle qui prend la forme d’un système de communication bidirectionnelle. La revue de la littérature scientifique a permis d’exposer les limitations des technologies existantes et de choisir une technologie appropriée. Dans ce cas précis, les réseaux longue portée offrent la meilleure solution et c’est plus précisément la technologie Weightless qui répond aux critères d’évaluation. En revanche, l’utilisation de cette technologie fait apparaitre de nombreux défis pour cette organisation. Ce projet de recherche cherche ainsi à évaluer la faisabilité technique et organisationnelle de concevoir un système longue portée au sein d’une équipe de recherche et développement d’une petite et moyenne entreprise manufacturière. L’approche utilisée comprend de développer un prototype et d’évaluer les compétences nécessaires dès le départ et celles acquises durant le projet pour surmonter les obstacles en cours de route. Cette évaluation a exposé les compétences inconnues en début de projet qui sont cruciales à son succès. Ce projet a permis de démontrer que ce système de communication longue portée requiert de multiples expertises dont celles du génie électrique, du génie informatique et logiciel. De plus, l’absence de données expérimentales sur le Weightless nous a obligé de mener nos propres tests afin d’évaluer la faisabilité technique de cette technologie. Il a été ainsi impératif de déterminer la couverture de bâtiments de différentes tailles. Nos données expérimentales ont d’ailleurs permis d’évaluer la précision d’un modèle de simulation, le COST231, afin de déterminer le nombre de stations de base nécessaires pour l’implantation d’un système de communication dans un immeuble. Nos résultats empiriques ont d’ailleurs montré l’inexactitude du modèle COST231, car celui-ci est pessimiste. Ce modèle permet cependant de donner un point de départ lors de l’implantation du système et du nombre maximal de stations de base pour couvrir le bâtiment sélectionné. Finalement, le constat de l’auteur est qu’il faut une équipe multidisciplinaire pour rassembler toute l’expertise nécessaire à la réalisation d’un projet d’un produit intelligent connecté avec le Weightless. Plusieurs compétences n’ont pu être évaluées et identifiées, car ce projet de conception est incomplet. La version commercialisable du système de communication aurait dû comprendre l’application dorsale pour gérer les messages entrants et sortants, ainsi que les interfaces humain-machine pour les utilisateurs finaux. De plus, d’autres compétences seront nécessaires si notre partenaire industriel désire migrer l’application dorsale et ses interfaces vers l’infonuage. La faisabilité organisationnelle dans le cadre d’une petite et moyenne entreprise est limite, car la taille de l’équipe de recherche et développement nécessaire pour la réalisation d’un projet de ce type est considérable. La sous-traitance devient une option non négligeable. L’auteur propose de favoriser les profils multidisciplinaires généralistes au sein d’une petite entreprise, car ceux-ci peuvent agir comme chefs d’orchestre et diriger adéquatement les fournisseurs à proposer des solutions viables.----------ABSTRACT : Product design now requires a multidisciplinary team, especially if the product is smart and connected. This shift in perspective brings its own share of challenges and forces manufacturing companies to assess the skill set required to complete a connectivity project. For our industrial partner, its goal is to monitor, control and optimize the disinfection of bathrooms in hospitals to reduce hospital-acquired infections. He wants to incorporate these features into his existing equipment, even though it is installed in an environment he does not control and access to the hospital's existing network is prohibited. As part of this research, our industrial partner wants to design a parallel network that takes the form of a two-way communication system to monitor, control and optimize the disinfection of bathrooms in hospitals to reduce hospital-acquired infections. The review of the scientific literature exposes the limitations of existing technologies and aids in choosing the right technology. Wide-area networks offer the best solution and it is more precisely the Weightless technology that meets the evaluation criteria. On the other hand, the use of this technology raises many challenges for this organization. This research project evaluates the technical and organizational feasibility of designing a wide-area system within the research and development team of a small to medium-company. The approach used involves developing a prototype and evaluating the skills that are needed from the outset and acquired in the course of overcoming challenges along the way. This evaluation exposed skills that were not identified at the beginning of the project and are crucial to its success. This wide-area communication system requires multiple forms of expertise, including electrical engineering, and computer and software engineering. Also, the lack of experimental data with Weightless forces us to conduct our own tests to assess the technical feasibility of this technology. It was thus imperative to determine the coverage area of different size buildings. Our experimental data made it possible to evaluate the accuracy of the simulation model COST231 in order to determine the number of base stations required to implement a communication system in a building. Our empirical results have shown that the COST231 model is inaccurate because it is pessimistic. This model, however, provides a starting point when implementing the system and the maximum number of base stations to cover the selected building. Finally, the author's conclusion is that it takes a multidisciplinary team to gather all the expertise needed to carry out a project for a smart connected product with Weightless. Several skills could not be assessed and identified because this design project is incomplete. The saleable version of the communication system should have included the back-end application to handle incoming and outgoing messages, as well as human-machine interfaces for end-users. In addition, other skills will be needed if our industrial partner wants to migrate the back-end application and its interfaces to a cloud. Organizational feasibility in a small and medium-sized enterprise is limited, as the size of the research and development team needed to complete a project of this type is considerable. Subcontracting becomes a valuable option. The author proposes to promote multi-disciplinary generalist profiles within a small company, as they can act as conductors and adequately direct suppliers to propose viable solutions

Development of a Random Time-Frequency Access Protocol for M2M Communication

This thesis focuses on the design and development of the random time-frequency access protocol in Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication systems and covers different aspects of the data collision problem in these systems. The randomisation algorithm, used to access channels in the frequency domain, represents the key factor that affects data collisions. This thesis presents a new randomisation algorithm for the channel selection process for M2M technologies. The new algorithm is based on a uniform randomisation distribution and is called the Uniform Randomisation Channel Selection Technique (URCST). This new channel selection algorithm improves system performance and provides a low probability of collision with minimum complexity, power consumption, and hardware resources. Also, URCST is a general randomisation technique which can be utilised by different M2M technologies. The analysis presented in this research confirms that using URCST improves system performance for different M2M technologies, such as Weightless-N and Sigfox, with a massive number of devices. The thesis also provides a rigorous and flexible mathematical model for the random time-frequency access protocol which can precisely describe the performance of different M2M technologies. This model covers various scenarios with multiple groups of devices that employ different transmission characteristics like the number of connected devices, the number of message copies, the number of channels, the payload size, and transmission time. In addition, new and robust simulation testbeds have been built and developed in this research to evaluate the performance of different M2M technologies that utilise the random time-frequency access protocol. These testbeds cover the channel histogram, the probability of collisions, and the mathematical model. The testbeds were designed to support the multiple message copies approach with various groups of devices that are connected to the same base station and employ different transmission characteristics. Utilising the newly developed channel selection algorithm, mathematical model, and testbeds, the research offers a detailed and thorough analysis of the performance of Weightless-N and Sigfox in terms of the message lost ratio (MLR) and power consumption. The analysis shows some useful insights into the performance of M2M systems. For instance, while using multiple message copies improves the system performance, it might degrade the reliability of the system as the number of devices increases beyond a specific limit. Therefore, increasing the number of message copies can be disadvantageous to M2M communication performance

Design and experimental validation of a LoRaWAN fog computing based architecture for IoT enabled smart campus applications

A smart campus is an intelligent infrastructure where smart sensors and actuators collaborate to collect information and interact with the machines, tools, and users of a university campus. As in a smart city, a smart campus represents a challenging scenario for Internet of Things (IoT) networks, especially in terms of cost, coverage, availability, latency, power consumption, and scalability. The technologies employed so far to cope with such a scenario are not yet able to manage simultaneously all the previously mentioned demanding requirements. Nevertheless, recent paradigms such as fog computing, which extends cloud computing to the edge of a network, make possible low-latency and location-aware IoT applications. Moreover, technologies such as Low-Power Wide-Area Networks (LPWANs) have emerged as a promising solution to provide low-cost and low-power consumption connectivity to nodes spread throughout a wide area. Specifically, the Long-Range Wide-Area Network (LoRaWAN) standard is one of the most recent developments, receiving attention both from industry and academia. In this article, the use of a LoRaWAN fog computing-based architecture is proposed for providing connectivity to IoT nodes deployed in a campus of the University of A Coruña (UDC), Spain. To validate the proposed system, the smart campus has been recreated realistically through an in-house developed 3D Ray-Launching radio-planning simulator that is able to take into consideration even small details, such as traffic lights, vehicles, people, buildings, urban furniture, or vegetation. The developed tool can provide accurate radio propagation estimations within the smart campus scenario in terms of coverage, capacity, and energy efficiency of the network. The results obtained with the planning simulator can then be compared with empirical measurements to assess the operating conditions and the system accuracy. Specifically, this article presents experiments that show the accurate results obtained by the planning simulator in the largest scenario ever built for it (a campus that covers an area of 26,000 m2), which are corroborated with empirical measurements. Then, how the tool can be used to design the deployment of LoRaWAN infrastructure for three smart campus outdoor applications is explained: a mobility pattern detection system, a smart irrigation solution, and a smart traffic-monitoring deployment. Consequently, the presented results provide guidelines to smart campus designers and developers, and for easing LoRaWAN network deployment and research in other smart campuses and large environments such as smart cities.This work has been funded by the Xunta de Galicia (ED431C 2016-045, ED431G/01), the Agencia Estatal de Investigación of Spain (TEC2016-75067-C4-1-R) and ERDF funds of the EU (AEI/FEDER, UE)

A Systematic Review of LPWAN and Short-Range Network using AI to Enhance Internet of Things

Artificial intelligence (AI) has recently been used frequently, especially concerning the Internet of Things (IoT). However, IoT devices cannot work alone, assisted by Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) for long-distance communication and Short-Range Network for a short distance. However, few reviews about AI can help LPWAN and Short-Range Network. Therefore, the author took the opportunity to do this review. This study aims to review LPWAN and Short-Range Networks AI papers in systematically enhancing IoT performance. Reviews are also used to systematically maximize LPWAN systems and Short-Range networks to enhance IoT quality and discuss results that can be applied to a specific scope. The author utilizes selected reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis (PRISMA). The authors conducted a systematic review of all study results in support of the authors' objectives. Also, the authors identify development and related study opportunities. The author found 79 suitable papers in this systematic review, so a discussion of the presented papers was carried out. Several technologies are widely used, such as LPWAN in general, with several papers originating from China. Many reports from conferences last year and papers related to this matter were from 2020-2021. The study is expected to inspire experimental studies in finding relevant scientific papers and become another review

Low power wide area network, cognitive radio and the internet of things : potentials for integration

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging paradigm that enables many beneficial and prospective application areas, such as smart metering, smart homes, smart industries, and smart city architectures, to name but a few. These application areas typically comprise end nodes and gateways that are often interconnected by low power wide area network (LPWAN) technologies, which provide low power consumption rates to elongate the battery lifetimes of end nodes, low IoT device development/purchasing costs, long transmission range, and increased scalability, albeit at low data rates. However, most LPWAN technologies are often confronted with a number of physical (PHY) layer challenges, including increased interference, spectral inefficiency, and/or low data rates for which cognitive radio (CR), being a predominantly PHY layer solution, suffices as a potential solution. Consequently, in this article, we survey the potentials of integrating CR in LPWAN for IoT-based applications. First, we present and discuss a detailed list of different state-of-the-art LPWAN technologies; we summarize the most recent LPWAN standardization bodies, alliances, and consortia while emphasizing their disposition towards the integration of CR in LPWAN.We then highlight the concept of CR in LPWAN via a PHY-layer front-end model and discuss the benefits of CR-LPWAN for IoT applications. A number of research challenges and future directions are also presented. This article aims to provide a unique and holistic overview of CR in LPWAN with the intention of emphasizing its potential benefits.This work was supported by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria, South Africa, through the Smart Networks collaboration initiative and Internet of Things (IoT)-Factory Program (funded by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), South Africa).http://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensorsam2021Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineerin

Experimental Evaluation of a LoRa Wildlife Monitoring Network in a Forest Vegetation Area

Smart agriculture and wildlife monitoring are one of the recent trends of Internet of Things (IoT) applications, which are evolving in providing sustainable solutions from producers. This article details the design, development and assessment of a wildlife monitoring application for IoT animal repelling devices that is able to cover large areas, thanks to the low power wide area networks (LPWAN), which bridge the gap between cellular technologies and short range wireless technologies. LoRa, the global de-facto LPWAN, continues to attract attention given its open specification and ready availability of off-the-shelf hardware, with claims of several kilometers of range in harsh challenging environments. At first, this article presents a survey of the LPWAN for smart agriculture applications. We proceed to evaluate the performance of LoRa transmission technology operating in the 433 MHz and 868 MHz bands, aimed at wildlife monitoring in a forest vegetation area. To characterize the communication link, we mainly use the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), received signal strength indicator (RSSI) and packet delivery ratio (PDR). Findings from this study show that achievable performance can greatly vary between the 433 MHz and 868 MHz bands, and prompt caution is required when taking numbers at face value, as this can have implications for IoT applications. In addition, our results show that the link reaches up to 860 m in the highly dense forest vegetation environment, while in the not so dense forest vegetation environment, it reaches up to 2050 m