Methodology for enterprise interoperability assessment

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de ComputadoresWith the evolution of modern enterprises and the increasing market competitiveness, the creation of ecosystems with large amounts of data and knowledge generally needing to be exchanged electronically, is arising. However, this enterprise inter and intra-connectivity is suffering from interoperability issues. Not visible when it is effective, the lack of interoperability poses a series of challenging problems to the industrial community, which can reduce the envisaged efficiency and increase costs. Those problems are mostly caused by misinterpretations of data at the systems level, but problems at the organizational and human levels may pose equivalent difficulties. Existing research and technology provides several frameworks to assist the development of collaborative environments and enterprise networks with well-defined methods to facilitate interoperability. Nonetheless, the interoperability process is not guaranteed and is not easily sustainable, changing upon frequent market and requirement variations. For these reasons, there is a need for a testing methodology to assess the capability of enterprises to cooperate at a certain point in time. This dissertation proposes a methodology to assess that capability, with a corresponding framework to evaluate the interoperability process, applying eliminatory tests to assess the structure of the organizations, the conceptual models and their implementation. This work contributes to increase the chances enterprises have of interoperating effectively, and enables the adoption of extraordinary measures to improve their current interoperability situation

Monitoring and Information Alignment in Pursuit of an IoT-Enabled Self-Sustainable Interoperability

To remain competitive with big corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often need to be more dynamic, adapt to new business situations, react faster, and thereby survive in today‘s global economy. To do so, SMEs normally seek to create consortiums, thus gaining access to new and more opportunities. However, this strategy may also lead to complications. Due to the different sources of enterprise models and semantics, organizations are experiencing difficulties in seamlessly exchanging vital information via electronic means. In their attempt to address this issue, most seek to achieve interoperability by establishing peer-to-peer mappings with different business partners, or by using neutral data standards to regulate communications in optimized networks. Moreover, systems are more and more dynamic, frequently changing to answer new customer‘s requirements, causing new interoperability problems and a reduction of efficiency. Another situation that is constantly changing is the devices used in the enterprises, as the Enterprise Information Systems, devices are used to register internal data, and to be used to monitor several aspects. These devices are constantly changing, following the evolution and growth of the market. So, it is important to monitor these devices and doing a model representation of them. This dissertation proposes a self-sustainable interoperable framework to monitor existing enterprise information systems and their devices, monitor the device/enterprise network for changes and automatically detecting model changes. With this, network harmonization disruptions are detected in a timely way, and possible solutions are suggested to regain the interoperable status, thus enhancing robustness for reaching sustainability of business networks along time

Cognitive Buildings

Cognitive building is a pioneering topic envisioning the future of our built environment. The concept of "cognitive" provides a paradigm shift that steps from the static concept of the building as a container of human activities towards the modernist vision of "machine à habiter" of Le Corbusier, where the technological content adds the capability of learning from users' behavior and environmental variables to adapt itself to achieve major goals such as user comfort, energy-saving, flexible functionality, high durability, and good maintainability. The concept is based on digital frameworks and IoT networks towards the concept of a smart city

State-of-the-Art Sensors Technology in Spain 2015: Volume 1

This book provides a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art sensors technology in specific leading areas. Industrial researchers, engineers and professionals can find information on the most advanced technologies and developments, together with data processing. Further research covers specific devices and technologies that capture and distribute data to be processed by applying dedicated techniques or procedures, which is where sensors play the most important role. The book provides insights and solutions for different problems covering a broad spectrum of possibilities, thanks to a set of applications and solutions based on sensory technologies. Topics include: • Signal analysis for spectral power • 3D precise measurements • Electromagnetic propagation • Drugs detection • e-health environments based on social sensor networks • Robots in wireless environments, navigation, teleoperation, object grasping, demining • Wireless sensor networks • Industrial IoT • Insights in smart cities • Voice recognition • FPGA interfaces • Flight mill device for measurements on insects • Optical systems: UV, LEDs, lasers, fiber optics • Machine vision • Power dissipation • Liquid level in fuel tanks • Parabolic solar tracker • Force sensors • Control for a twin roto

Rakennusten energiasuorituskyvyn parantaminen hyödyntämällä saatavilla olevaa dataa

The objective of this research is to find out how the energy performance of buildings can be improved effectively by exploiting available data in the operations and maintenance phase. In this research building automation systems, open data and Internet of Things are studied as value generating technological solutions. The research process is based on reviewing research literature, conducting interviews and analyzing measurement data recorded by the building automation system of a case office building. The study identified 11 initiatives to close existing energy performance gaps. These initiatives belonged to categories of developing building services equipment control, increasing the extent of available data, observing the state of user experience and facilitating maintenance processes. Then the three most effective were chosen for a feasibility study. This effectiveness of an initiative was judged by evaluating it in the dimensions of expected benefits and challenge to implement in an indicative manner by 13 interviewees in four stakeholder groups. This simple evaluation method turned out to serve its purpose well: Vague evaluation dimensions covered both quantitative and qualitative aspects, while stakeholder groups had different perspectives on the initiatives. Thus the method is recommended for similar problems, as long as only indicative results are pursued. Out of the 11 initiatives, the most effective ones were considered to be those that are simple and do not require any installation work, or at the most the installation of transmitters or sensors: 1) adaptive heating control, 2) user satisfaction measurement systems, 3) energy performance monitoring systems and 4) selected equipment group control interfaces. Feasibility studies suggested that adaptive heating control has the potential to increase energy performance with negligible installation work, user satisfaction measurement system would be sensible to pilot as a service, energy efficiency monitoring in small-scale would be convenient to purchase as a service and selected group control interfaces enable large savings with small trouble. The least effective initiatives were considered to be the ones that are complex, risk user satisfaction or require the integration of numerous systems.Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää miten rakennusten energiasuorituskykyä voidaan parantaa tehokkaasti hyödyntämällä saatavilla olevaa dataa käyttö- ja ylläpitovaiheessa. Tutkimuksessa arvoa tuottavina teknologisina osaratkaisuina tutkitaan rakennusautomaatiojärjestelmiä, avointa dataa ja Esineiden Internetiä. Tutkimusmenetelminä käytetään kirjallisuustutkimusta, haastatteluja ja toimistorakennuksen rakennusautomaatiojärjestelmän tuottaman mittaustiedon analysointia. Tutkimus tuotti 11 energiasuorituskyvyn ongelmakohtien korjaamiseen tähtäävää aloitetta. Näiden aloitteiden päämäärinä oli taloteknisten laitteiden ohjauksen kehittäminen, käytettävissä olevan datan lisääminen, käyttäjätyytyväisyyden tarkkailu tai ylläpidon prosessien helpottaminen. Aloitteista kolmelle tehokkaimmiksi arvioiduille tehtiin tarkempi toteutettavuustutkimus. Tehokkuusarviointi perustui neljään sidosryhmään jaetun 13 haastateltavan suuntaa-antavaan näkemykseen aloitteiden toimeenpanon hyödyistä ja haasteista. Tämä yksinkertainen arviointitapa osoittautui toimivaksi: Moniselitteiset arviointiulottuvuudet kattoivat sekä määrälliset että laadulliset näkökulmat, kun taas eri sidosryhmät painottivat aloitteiden eri ominaisuuksia. Näin ollen kyseinen arviointimenetelmä soveltuu samankaltaisiin ongelmiin, kunhan tulosten suuntaa-antava taso on riittävä tutkimuksen tavoitteisiin nähden. Näistä 11 aloitteesta tehokkaimmiksi koettiin pääosin sellaiset, jotka ovat yksinkertaisia eivätkä vaadi laajaa asennustyötä: 1) adaptiivinen lämmityksen säätö, 2) käyttäjätyytyväisyyden mittausjärjestelmä, 3) energiatehokkuuden seurantajärjestelmä ja 4) laitteiden ryhmähallintaan perustuvat käyttöliittymät. Toteutettavuustutkimusten perusteella adaptiivinen lämmityksensäätö voisi parantaa energiasuorituskykyä pienellä asennustyöllä, käyttäjätyytyväisyyden mittausjärjestelmää olisi järkevää aluksi kokeilla palveluna, energiatehokkuuden seuranta pienessä mittakaavassa olisi kätevää ostaa palveluna ja ryhmäohjaukseen perustuvat käyttöliittymät voisivat säästää huomattavasti energiaa pienellä vaivalla. Tehottomimmiksi arvioidut aloitteet olivat monimutkaisia, vaaransivat käyttäjätyytyväisyyden tai vaativat useiden järjestelmien yhteensovittamista

Sustainable Construction Engineering and Management

This Book is a Printed Edition of the Special Issue which covers sustainability as an emerging requirement in the fields of construction management, project management and engineering. We invited authors to submit their theoretical or experimental research articles that address the challenges and opportunities for sustainable construction in all its facets, including technical topics and specific operational or procedural solutions, as well as strategic approaches aimed at the project, company or industry level. Central to developments are smart technologies and sophisticated decision-making mechanisms that augment sustainable outcomes. The Special Issue was received with great interest by the research community and attracted a high number of submissions. The selection process sought to balance the inclusion of a broad representative spread of topics against research quality, with editors and reviewers settling on thirty-three articles for publication. The Editors invite all participating researchers and those interested in sustainable construction engineering and management to read the summary of the Special Issue and of course to access the full-text articles provided in the Book for deeper analyses