The Investigation of Pump Performance and Evaluation over the Internet

Selection and configuration are widely met tasks in design; this is an example of a web-based selection/configuration tool with embedded optimisation. Pumps inevitably deteriorate over their product lifecycle, in which interaction generally occurs in terms of flow, pressure and electricity consumption. Practical implementations of pump scheduling suggest that a 10% of the annual expenditure on energy costs may be saved. The object is to minimise the energy cost incurred, while selecting the best schedule of legal available pumps. The results illustrate that the recording of pump characteristics over the internet provides an efficient method of pump performance and evaluation

A hardware library for sensors/actuators interfaces in sensor networks

Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. J. Portilla, J. L. Buron, T. Riesgo, and A. de Castro, "A hardware library for sensors/actuators interfaces in sensor networks", and 13th IEEE International Conference on Electronics, Circuits and Systems, ICECS 2006, Nice (France), 2006, pp. 1244 - 1247.Sensor networks have reached a great relevance during the last years. The idea is to use a high number of nodes measuring different physical parameters in several environments, which implies different research challenges (low power consumption, communication protocols, platform hardware design, etc). There is a tendency to use modular hardware nodes in order to make easier rapid prototyping as well as to be able to redesign faster and reuse part of the hardware modules. One of the main obstacles for rapid prototyping is that sensors present heterogeneous interfaces. In this paper, a VHDL library for sensors/actuators interfaces is proposed in order to have a set of different sensor interfaces that include the most common in the sensors/actuators world, enabling a rapid connection to a new sensor/actuator

Integrated hardware interfaces for modular sensor networks

Portilla, J., de Castro, A., Abril, A., Riesgo, T., “Integrated hardware interfaces for modular sensor networks”, Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering”, 6590, 9, 2007. Copyright 2007. Society of Photo‑Optical Instrumentation Engineers. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited.Sensor networks have reached a great relevance during the last years. The idea is to use a large number of nodes measuring different physical parameters in several environments, which implies different research challenges (low power consumption, communication protocols, platform hardware design, etc). There is a tendency to use modular hardware nodes in order to make easier rapid prototyping as well as to be able to redesign faster and reuse part of the hardware modules. One of the main obstacles for rapid prototyping is that sensors present heterogeneous interfaces. In this paper, a VHDL library for sensors/actuators interfaces is proposed. The purpose is to have a set of different sensor interfaces that include the most common in the sensors/actuators world, enabling the rapid connection to a new sensor/actuator. Moreover, the concept presented here may be used for new interfaces that can be easily developed. The VHDL implementation is independent of the final platform (any FPGA or ASIC) in order to minimize redesign effort and make easier rapid prototyping. The interfaces are installed in a UPM platform for sensor networks

Innovative algorithms and data structures for signal treatment applied to ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451 smart transducers

2014 - 2015Technologies and, in particular sensors, permeate more and more application sectors. From energy management, to the factories one, to houses, environments, infrastructure, and building monitoring, to healthcare and traceability systems, sensors are more and more widespread in our daily life. In the growing context of the Internet of Things capabilities to acquire magnitudes of interest, to elaborate and to communicate data is required to these technologies. These capabilities of acquisition, elaboration, and communication can be integrated on a unique device, a smart sensor, which integrates the sensible element with a simple programmable logic device, capable of managing elaboration and communication. An efficient implementation of communication is required to these technologies, in order to better exploit the available bandwidth, minimizing energy consumption. Moreover, these devices have to be easily interchangeable (plug and play) in such a way that they could be easily usable. Nowadays, smart sensors available on the market reveal several problems such as programming complexity, for which depth knowledge is required, and limited software porting capability. The family of standards IEEE 1451 is written with the aim to define a set of common communication interfaces. These documents come from the Institute of Electric and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) with the aim to create a standard interface which allows devices interoperability produced from different manufacturers, but it is not concerned with problems related to bandwidth, management, elaboration and programming. For this family of standards, now under review, it is expected a further development, with the aim to renew applicable standards, and to add new layers of standardization. The draft of the ISO/IEC/IEEE 21451.001 proposes to solve problems related to the bandwidth and the elaboration management, relocating a part of processing in the point of acquisition, taking advantage of elaboration capabilities of smart sensors. This proposal is based on a Real Time Segmentation and Labeling algorithm, a new sampling technique, which allows to reduce the high number of samples to be transferred, with the same information content. This algorithm returns a data structure, according to which the draft expects two elaboration layers: a first layer, in order to elaborate basic information of the signal processing, and a second layer, for more complex elaboration. [edited by author]XIV n.s

High Efficiency Real-Time Sensor and Actuator Control and Data Processing

The advances in sensor and actuator technology foster the use of large multitransducer networks in many different fields. The increasing complexity of such networks poses problems in data processing, especially when high-efficiency is required for real-time applications. In fact, multi-transducer data processing usually consists of interconnection and co-operation of several modules devoted to process different tasks. Multi-transducer network modules often include tasks such as control, data acquisition, data filtering interfaces, feature selection and pattern analysis. Heterogeneous techniques derived from chemometrics, neural networks, fuzzy-rules used to implement such tasks may introduce module interconnection and co-operation issues. To help dealing with these problems the author here presents a software library architecture for a dynamic and efficient management of multi-transducer data processing and control techniques. The framework’s base architecture and the implementation details of several extensions are described. Starting from the base models available in the framework core dedicated models for control processes and neural network tools have been derived. The Facial Automaton for Conveying Emotion (FACE) has been used as a test field for the control architecture

Development of a Raspberry Pi based, SDI-12 sensor environmental data logger

SDI-12 is a powerful tool for sensor networking and environmental data acquisition (EDA). Sensory networks are employed by many commercial and non-commercial entities across a wide range of applications to achieve better outcomes for the environment, the investing parties or the wider community. Monitoring systems can reduce operation costs and improve quality of products or produce. Many applications for sensor networks are of ethical significance for example, applications related to sustainable living, education, scientific research and food production. Despite the potential benefits, whether people adopt a system is largely dependent on associated costs and complexity. Consequently an inexpensive, reliable and easy to use system is more likely to be adopted. The Raspberry Pi is a powerful and inexpensive computing platform for embedded projects which incorporates a 40 pin general purpose input output (GPIO) header for connecting to digital peripherals, which is used as the basis of this project. The prototype SDI-12 logger software is written in C++ and uses an existing Arduino SDI12 C++ library that has been modified for use with the Raspberry Pi computer. The system is evaluated for its suitability as a simple easy to configure (plug-and-play) type logger. The SDI-12 software developed, while functional, has only a subset of the features that a market ready device will need. Future work includes adding control outputs for automation, a graphical user interface and also leveraging the Raspberry Pi’s network capabilities to allow remote access for setting and disabling alarms and also for uploading of data to an online database for remote access

Web service control of component-based agile manufacturing systems

Current global business competition has resulted in significant challenges for manufacturing and production sectors focused on shorter product lifecyc1es, more diverse and customized products as well as cost pressures from competitors and customers. To remain competitive, manufacturers, particularly in automotive industry, require the next generation of manufacturing paradigms supporting flexible and reconfigurable production systems that allow quick system changeovers for various types of products. In addition, closer integration of shop floor and business systems is required as indicated by the research efforts in investigating "Agile and Collaborative Manufacturing Systems" in supporting the production unit throughout the manufacturing lifecycles. The integration of a business enterprise with its shop-floor and lifecycle supply partners is currently only achieved through complex proprietary solutions due to differences in technology, particularly between automation and business systems. The situation is further complicated by the diverse types of automation control devices employed. Recently, the emerging technology of Service Oriented Architecture's (SOA's) and Web Services (WS) has been demonstrated and proved successful in linking business applications. The adoption of this Web Services approach at the automation level, that would enable a seamless integration of business enterprise and a shop-floor system, is an active research topic within the automotive domain. If successful, reconfigurable automation systems formed by a network of collaborative autonomous and open control platform in distributed, loosely coupled manufacturing environment can be realized through a unifying platform of WS interfaces for devices communication. The adoption of SOA- Web Services on embedded automation devices can be achieved employing Device Profile for Web Services (DPWS) protocols which encapsulate device control functionality as provided services (e.g. device I/O operation, device state notification, device discovery) and business application interfaces into physical control components of machining automation. This novel approach supports the possibility of integrating pervasive enterprise applications through unifying Web Services interfaces and neutral Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) message communication between control systems and business applications over standard Ethernet-Local Area Networks (LAN's). In addition, the re-configurability of the automation system is enhanced via the utilisation of Web Services throughout an automated control, build, installation, test, maintenance and reuse system lifecycle via device self-discovery provided by the DPWS protocol...cont'd

Enabling peer-to-peer remote experimentation in distributed online remote laboratories

Remote Access Laboratories (RALs) are online platforms that allow human user interaction with physical instruments over the Internet. Usually RALs follow a client-server paradigm. Dedicated providers create and maintain experiments and corresponding educational content. In contrast, this dissertation focuses on a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) service model for RALs where users are encouraged to host experiments at their location. This approach can be seen as an example of an Internet of Things (IoT) system. A set of smart devices work together providing a cyber-physical interface for users to run experiments remotely via the Internet. The majority of traditional RAL learning activities focus on undergraduate education where hands-on experience such as building experiments, is not a major focus. In contrast this work is motivated by the need to improve Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education for school-aged children. Here physically constructing experiments forms a substantial part of the learning experience. In the proposed approach, experiments can be designed with relatively simple components such as LEGO Mindstorms or Arduinos. The user interface can be programed using SNAP!, a graphical programming tool. While the motivation for the work is educational in nature, this thesis focuses on the technical details of experiment control in an opportunistic distributed environment. P2P RAL aims to enable any two random participants in the system - one in the role of maker creating and hosting an experiment and one in the role of learner using the experiment - to establish a communication session during which the learner runs the remote experiment through the Internet without requiring a centralized experiment or service provider. The makers need to have support to create the experiment according to a common web based programing interface. Thus, the P2P approach of RALs requires an architecture that provides a set of heterogeneous tools which can be used by makers to create a wide variety of experiments. The core contribution of this dissertation is an automaton-based model (twin finite state automata) of the controller units and the controller interface of an experiment. This enables the creation of experiments based on a common platform, both in terms of software and hardware. This architecture enables further development of algorithms for evaluating and supporting the performance of users which is demonstrated through a number of algorithms. It can also ensure the safety of instruments with intelligent tools. The proposed network architecture for P2P RALs is designed to minimise latency to improve user satisfaction and learning experience. As experiment availability is limited for this approach of RALs, novel scheduling strategies are proposed. Each of these contributions has been validated through either simulations, e.g. in case of network architecture and scheduling, or test-bed implementations, in case of the intelligent tools. Three example experiments are discussed along with users' feedback on their experience of creating an experiment and using others’ experimental setup. The focus of the thesis is mainly on the design and hosting of experiments and ensuring user accessibility to them. The main contributions of this thesis are in regards to machine learning and data mining techniques applied to IoT systems in order to realize the P2P RALs system. This research has shown that a P2P architecture of RALs can provide a wide variety of experimental setups in a modular environment with high scalability. It can potentially enhance the user-learning experience while aiding the makers of experiments. It presents new aspects of learning analytics mechanisms to monitor and support users while running experiments, thus lending itself to further research. The proposed mathematical models are also applicable to other Internet of Things applications