Smart Antennas and Intelligent Sensors Based Systems: Enabling Technologies and Applications

open access articleThe growing communication and computing capabilities in the devices enlarge the connected world and improve the human life comfort level. The evolution of intelligent sensor networks and smart antennas has led to the development of smart devices and systems for real-time monitoring of various environments. The demand of smart antennas and intelligent sensors significantly increases when dealing with multiuser communication system that needs to be adaptive, especially in unknown adverse environment [1–3]. The smart antennas based arrays are capable of steering the main beam in any desired direction while placing nulls in the unwanted directions. Intelligent sensor networks integration with smart antennas will provide algorithms and interesting application to collect various data of environment to make intelligent decisions [4, 5]. The aim of this special issue is to provide an inclusive vision on the current research in the area of intelligent sensors and smart antenna based systems for enabling various applications and technologies. We cordially invite some researchers to contribute papers that discuss the issues arising in intelligent sensors and smart antenna based system. Hence, this special issue offers the state-of-the-art research in this field

Distributed Memo: A Heterogeneously Distributed and Parallel Software Development Environment

Heterogeneously distributed and parallel computing environments are highly dependent on hardware, data migration, and protocols. The result is significant difficulty in software reuse, portability across platforms, and an increased overall development effort. The appearance of a shared directory of unordered queues can be provided by integrating heterogeneous computers transparently. This integration provides a conducive environment for parallel and distributed application development, by abstracting the issues of hardware and communication. Object oriented technology is exploited to provide this seamless environment

Distributed-Memo: Heterogeneously Concurrent Programming with a Shared Directory of Unordered Queues

Heterogeneously distributed and parallel computing environments are highly dependent on hardware, data migration, and protocols. The result is significant difficulty in software reuse, portability across platforms, and an increased overall development effort. The appearance of a shared directory of unordered queues can be provided by integrating heterogeneous computers transparently. This integration provides a conducive environment for parallel and distributed application development, by abstracting the issues of hardware and communication. Object oriented technology is exploited to provide this seamless environment

Towards video streaming in IoT environments: vehicular communication perspective

Multimedia oriented Internet of Things (IoT) enables pervasive and real-time communication of video, audio and image data among devices in an immediate surroundings. Today's vehicles have the capability of supporting real time multimedia acquisition. Vehicles with high illuminating infrared cameras and customized sensors can communicate with other on-road devices using dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) and 5G enabled communication technologies. Real time incidence of both urban and highway vehicular traffic environment can be captured and transmitted using vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication modes. Video streaming in vehicular IoT (VSV-IoT) environments is in growing stage with several challenges that need to be addressed ranging from limited resources in IoT devices, intermittent connection in vehicular networks, heterogeneous devices, dynamism and scalability in video encoding, bandwidth underutilization in video delivery, and attaining application-precise quality of service in video streaming. In this context, this paper presents a comprehensive review on video streaming in IoT environments focusing on vehicular communication perspective. Specifically, significance of video streaming in vehicular IoT environments is highlighted focusing on integration of vehicular communication with 5G enabled IoT technologies, and smart city oriented application areas for VSV-IoT. A taxonomy is presented for the classification of related literature on video streaming in vehicular network environments. Following the taxonomy, critical review of literature is performed focusing on major functional model, strengths and weaknesses. Metrics for video streaming in vehicular IoT environments are derived and comparatively analyzed in terms of their usage and evaluation capabilities. Open research challenges in VSV-IoT are identified as future directions of research in the area. The survey would benefit both IoT and vehicle industry practitioners and researchers, in terms of augmenting understanding of vehicular video streaming and its IoT related trends and issues

Enhancing Employability for Autistic Graduates: Using TRIZ Theory to Design Virtual Reality Solutions for Fostering Inclusive Communications in Workplace Environments

The underemployment of post-secondary graduates with autism (AP-PSD) is a critical concern. This issue often stems from difficulties in workplace integration and communication. This research explores the potential of virtual reality (VR) systems to alleviate these challenges by simulating work environments. The methodology, rooted in the TRIZ Theory, a problem-solving algorithm, refines the use of VR systems for enhanced adaptability and efficiency. The primary objectives include enhancing employers\u27 understanding of AP-PSD-related issues and identifying significant workplace challenges faced by AP-PSDs. Through literature reviews, surveys, and focus groups, the study investigates the factors impacting AP-PSDs and identifies key components to develop a more effective VR system to support their workplace integration

A Phenomenological Study of Teacher-to-Student Technology-Mediated Communication in Secondary Virtual School Environments

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe teacher experiences of teacher-to-student technology-mediated communication (TMC) in secondary virtual school (VS) environments in Alabama. The central research question for this study was: How do virtual school teachers in Alabama describe their experiences of teacher-to-student technology-mediated communication in secondary virtual school environments? Five sub-questions were also used: (1) How does technology-mediated communication meet the needs of individual teachers? (2) How does technology-mediated communication lead to better work performance? (3) How do teachers describe characteristics of the tasks that must be performed? (4) How do teachers describe characteristics of the technology that are used? (5) How do user characteristics impact the use of technology-mediated communication? The theory guiding this qualitative study was Goodhue and Thompson’s (1995) task-technology-fit (TTF) theory. Students educated in virtual environments use TMC, so teachers must know what kinds of TMC work best. The problem is that the teacher voice has been ignored in identifying teacher-to-student TMC that is effective in secondary VS environments. Using purposeful sampling of 12 VS teachers in Alabama, this research utilized semi-structured interviews, artifacts, and an asynchronous online focus group to uncover teacher experiences of teacher-to-student interactions in VS environments. Data analysis included bracketing, coding, establishing patterns, textural and structural descriptions, and development of the essence of participants’ experiences. In seeking meaning from their experiences, the predominant theme of whatever is best for the students became evident. Four themes developed pertaining to the participants’ experiences: Teacher mindset, teacher presence, integration of technology into instruction, and technology issues

Design and development of the network interface, packets scheduling and interference mitigation schemes for LTE based femtocell networks / Sinan Ghassan Abid Ali Al-Nasir

Cellular networks face numerous challenges in providing services for indoor users.Therefore, femtocells are suggested as a solution to indoor coverage issues that macro cells have failed to address to date in cellular networks such as Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), and Long Term Evolution (LTE). Although femtocells can provide various benefits for both operators and users, many technical challenges must be resolved for effective femtocell deployment in real environments. In this thesis, the network interface, the packet scheduling and the interference management challenges are investigated in order to address these issues with proper solutions. The network interface challenge is related to the integration of the femtocell in a cellular network such as LTE. The proposed solution is to deploy an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) as an integration platform between the femtocell and the LTE cellular network. Thus, an IMS module has been implemented for signalling in a LTE-based femtocell network that contains both registration and invitation procedures. Based on this study, it has been observed that the integration of an IMS in a LTE based femtocell network can improve the network performance since the Packet Loss Ratio (PLR) can be minimised

A National Survey of Teachers on Their Perceptions, Challenges, and Uses of Information and Communication Technology

This study had five main purposes: (a) to investigate the extent to which literacy teachers nationwide integrate information and communication technologies (ICTs) into literacy instruction; (b) to investigate the extent to which ICTs are utilized in ways that promote the acquisition of literacy skills within digital environments; (c) to identify the perceived obstacles and challenges teachers face in their attempts to integrate ICTs into instruction; (d) to determine how literacy teachers define ICT integration and how they perceive the importance of ICT integration into reading instruction; and (e) to identify the distinguishing characteristics of teachers who report no or minimal integration of ICTs in their literacy instruction when compared to teachers who report extensive integration. These issues were addressed using online survey methodology with a national sample of literacy teachers (n = 1442). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and regression analysis. Results indicated that: (a) literacy teachers use ICTs relatively little in instruction and with little variety; (b) they typically do not use ICTs in ways that enhance skills for reading in online environments; (c) lack of time, lack of equipment, and lack of professional development are major barriers to ICT integration; (d) a majority of teachers have an incomplete or narrow view of what constitutes ICT integration; and (e) professional development factors, teaching experience, beliefs about technology, technology skill, technology access and support, and perceived obstacles all predict teachers\u27 ICT use at statistically significant levels. Implications for professional development and educational policy are discussed

Computing education competence in Higher Education: challenges for teachers

Abstract This paper presents positions and reflections about integrating Information and Communication Technologies (ICT's) to teaching practice in higher education and teaching-learning digital environments. The main issues discussed deal with the education a teacher must receive in order to achieve an ICT pedagogical integration in virtual or non-virtual environments, andto designlearning activities that contribute to knowledge building and application for problem solving froma transdisciplinaryapproach

Ontological View-driven Semantic Integration in Open Environments

In an open computing environment, such as the World Wide Web or an enterprise Intranet, various information systems are expected to work together to support information exchange, processing, and integration. However, information systems are usually built by different people, at different times, to fulfil different requirements and goals. Consequently, in the absence of an architectural framework for information integration geared toward semantic integration, there are widely varying viewpoints and assumptions regarding what is essentially the same subject. Therefore, communication among the components supporting various applications is not possible without at least some translation. This problem, however, is much more than a simple agreement on tags or mappings between roughly equivalent sets of tags in related standards. Industry-wide initiatives and academic studies have shown that complex representation issues can arise. To deal with these issues, a deep understanding and appropriate treatment of semantic integration is needed. Ontology is an important and widely accepted approach for semantic integration. However, usually there are no explicit ontologies with information systems. Rather, the associated semantics are implied within the supporting information model. It reflects a specific view of the conceptualization that is implicitly defining an ontological view. This research proposes to adopt ontological views to facilitate semantic integration for information systems in open environments. It proposes a theoretical foundation of ontological views, practical assumptions, and related solutions for research issues. The proposed solutions mainly focus on three aspects: the architecture of a semantic integration enabled environment, ontological view modeling and representation, and semantic equivalence relationship discovery. The solutions are applied to the collaborative intelligence project for the collaborative promotion / advertisement domain. Various quality aspects of the solutions are evaluated and future directions of the research are discussed