On the feasibility of Bluetooth, Zigbee and IEEE 802.15.4 technologies on board high speed trains

This paper studies the feasibility of using low-power wireless technologies such as Bluetooth, IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee in high-speed railway scenarios that involve bidirectional land-to-train communication. The presented results have been obtained through experimental tests conducted at the high-speed railway line connecting Madrid to Barcelona. A multiplatform communication system has been installed in a high-speed train, circulating at velocities up to 300 km/h, whereas autonomous devices have been disseminated along of the railway path to communicate with the onboard devices. The conclusions drawn from this work will be used as guidelines for the future implementation of autonomous communication platforms for high-speed rail connectivity.Postprint (author’s final draft

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

Real-time signal detection and classification algorithms for body-centered systems

El principal motivo por el cual los sistemas de comunicación en el entrono corporal se desean con el objetivo de poder obtener y procesar señales biométricas para monitorizar e incluso tratar una condición médica sea ésta causada por una enfermedad o el rendimiento de un atleta. Dado que la base de estos sistemas está en la sensorización y el procesado, los algoritmos de procesado de señal son una parte fundamental de los mismos. Esta tesis se centra en los algoritmos de tratamiento de señales en tiempo real que se utilizan tanto para monitorizar los parámetros como para obtener la información que resulta relevante de las señales obtenidas. En la primera parte se introduce los tipos de señales y sensores en los sistemas en el entrono corporal. A continuación se desarrollan dos aplicaciones concretas de los sistemas en el entorno corporal así como los algoritmos que en las mismas se utilizan. La primera aplicación es el control de glucosa en sangre en pacientes con diabetes. En esta parte se desarrolla un método de detección mediante clasificación de patronones de medidas erróneas obtenidas con el monitor contínuo comercial "Minimed CGMS". La segunda aplicacióin consiste en la monitorizacióni de señales neuronales. Descubrimientos recientes en este campo han demostrado enormes posibilidades terapéuticas (por ejemplo, pacientes con parálisis total que son capaces de comunicarse con el entrono gracias a la monitorizacióin e interpretación de señales provenientes de sus neuronas) y también de entretenimiento. En este trabajo, se han desarrollado algoritmos de detección, clasificación y compresión de impulsos neuronales y dichos algoritmos han sido evaluados junto con técnicas de transmisión inalámbricas que posibiliten una monitorización sin cables. Por último, se dedica un capítulo a la transmisión inalámbrica de señales en los sistemas en el entorno corporal. En esta parte se estudia las condiciones del canal que presenta el entorno corporal para la transmisión de sTraver Sebastiá, L. (2012). Real-time signal detection and classification algorithms for body-centered systems [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/16188Palanci

Wireless Sensor Networks for Condition Monitoring in the Railway Industry : a Survey

In recent years, the range of sensing technologies has expanded rapidly, whereas sensor devices have become cheaper. This has led to a rapid expansion in condition monitoring of systems, structures, vehicles, and machinery using sensors. Key factors are the recent advances in networking technologies such as wireless communication and mobile adhoc networking coupled with the technology to integrate devices. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) can be used for monitoring the railway infrastructure such as bridges, rail tracks, track beds, and track equipment along with vehicle health monitoring such as chassis, bogies, wheels, and wagons. Condition monitoring reduces human inspection requirements through automated monitoring, reduces maintenance through detecting faults before they escalate, and improves safety and reliability. This is vital for the development, upgrading, and expansion of railway networks. This paper surveys these wireless sensors network technology for monitoring in the railway industry for analyzing systems, structures, vehicles, and machinery. This paper focuses on practical engineering solutions, principally,which sensor devices are used and what they are used for; and the identification of sensor configurations and network topologies. It identifies their respective motivations and distinguishes their advantages and disadvantages in a comparative review

Bluetooth Low Energy sensor networks for railway applications

©2017 IEEE. 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.This paper analyzes the viability of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) as the enabling technology in railway scenarios to allow sensor data transmission from ground to train. This proposal is based on using the broadcasting capabilities introduced by the Bluetooth specifications since v4.0. The last version, v5.0, extends the range the speed and the broadcast capacity. However, due to its recent publication it is hard to find real devices with it implemented in the market. The proposed schema has been validated by means of experimental measurements using v4.2.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Experimental Characterisation of Body-Centric Radio Channels Using Wireless Sensors

PhDWireless sensors and their applications have become increasingly attractive for industry, building automation and energy control, paving the way for new applications of sensor networks which go well beyond traditional sensor applications. In recent years, there has been a rapid growth in the number of wireless devices operating in close proximity to the human body. Wearable sensor nodes are growing popular not only in our normal living lifestyle, but also within healthcare and military applications, where different radio units operating in/on/off body communicate pervasively. Expectations go beyond the research visions, towards deployment in real-world applications that would empower business processes and future business cases. Although theoretical and simulation models give initial results of the antenna behaviour and the radio channel performance of wireless body area network (WBAN) devices, empirical data from different set of measurements still form an essential part of the radio propagation models. Usually, measurements are performed in laboratory facilities which are equipped with bulky and expensive RF instrumentation within calibrated and controllable environments; thus, the acquired data has the highest possible reliability. However, there are still measurement uncertainties due to cables and connections and significant variations when designs are deployed and measured in real scenarios, such as hospitals wards, commercial buildings or even the battle field. Consequently, more flexible and less expensive measurement tools are required. In this sense, wireless sensor nodes offer not only easiness to deploy or flexibility, but also adaptability to different environments. In this thesis, custom-built wireless sensor nodes are used to characterise different on-body radio channels operating in the IEEE 802.15.4 communication standard at the 2.45 GHz ISM band. Measurement results are also compared with those from the conventional technique using a Vector Network Analyser. The wireless sensor nodes not only diminished the effect of semi-rigid or flexible coaxial cables (scattering or radiation) used with the Vector Network Analyser (VNA), but also provided a more realistic response of the radio link channel. The performance of the wireless sensors is presented over each of the 16 different channels present at the 2.45 GHz band. Additionally, custom-built wireless sensors are used to characterise and model the performance of different on-body radio links in dynamic environments, such as jogging, rowing, and cycling. The use of wireless sensors proves to be less obstructive and more flexible than traditional measurements using coaxial cables, VNA or signal generators. The statistical analysis of different WBAN channels highlighted important radio propagation features which can be used as sport classifiers models and motion detection. Moreover, specific on-body radio propagation channels are further explored, with the aim to recognize physiological features such as motion pattern, breathing activity and heartbeat. The time domain sample data is transformed to the frequency domain using a non-parametric FFT defined by the Welch’s periodogram. The Appendix-Section D explores other digital signal processing techniques which include spectrograms (STFT) and wavelet transforms (WT). Although a simple analysis is presented, strong DSP techniques proved to be good for signal de-noising and multi-resolution analysis. Finally, preliminary results are presented for indoor tracking using the RSS recorded by multiple wireless sensor nodes deployed in an indoor scenario. In contrast to outdoor environments, indoor scenarios are subject to a high level of multipath signals which are dependent on the indoor clutter. The presented algorithm is based on path loss analysis combined with spatial knowledge of each wireless sensor

IoT protocols, architectures, and applications

The proliferation of embedded systems, wireless technologies, and Internet protocols have made it possible for the Internet-of-things (IoT) to bridge the gap between the physical and the virtual world and thereby enabling monitoring and control of the physical environment by data processing systems. IoT refers to the inter-networking of everyday objects that are equipped with sensing, computing, and communication capabilities. These networks can collaborate to autonomously solve a variety of tasks. Due to the very diverse set of applications and application requirements, there is no single communication technology that is able to provide cost-effective and close to optimal performance in all scenarios. In this chapter, we report on research carried out on a selected number of IoT topics: low-power wide-area networks, in particular, LoRa and narrow-band IoT (NB-IoT); IP version 6 over IEEE 802.15.4 time-slotted channel hopping (6TiSCH); vehicular antenna design, integration, and processing; security aspects for vehicular networks; energy efficiency and harvesting for IoT systems; and software-defined networking/network functions virtualization for (SDN/NFV) IoT