A monitoring system for a LoRa mesh network

El internet de las cosas (IoT) ha sido una tecnología en alza en los últimos años. A medida que pasa el tiempo, los pequeños aparatos se han convertido en potentes dispositivos capaces de cálculos más complejos. De entre todas estas tecnologías, particularmente una se ha puesto bastante de moda dentro del campo, las placas LoRa perfectas para establecer redes LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network). El Doctor Roger Pueyo Centelles diseñó un protocolo para redes mesh basado en LoRa, y el ingeniero Sergi Miralles realizó una primera aproximación de su implementación en c++. Posteriormente el ingeniero Joan Miquel Solé completó una versión estable del mismo. Ahora necesitamos saber más del comportamiento de este protocolo sobre el campo. En este TFG hemos creado un sistema completo de monitorización que nos ayudará en el futuro a realizar diversos análisis y experimentos adicionales con mucho menos esfuerzo.The internet of things(IoT) has been a pushing technology in the last years. As time goes by, the little devices have become more powerful and capable of doing more complex calculus. Among all these technologies one particularly has be- come quite mainstream in the field, these are the LoRa devices suitable to build low power wide area network (LPWAN). Phd. Roger Pueyo Centelles designed a protocol for LoRa mesh networks, and the Bachelor Sergi Miralles build a first approach of the protocol, afterwards Joan Miquel Solé made a stable version of it. Now we need to know more about the behaviour of this protocol over the field. In this Bachelor Thesis we created a whole monitoring system that will help us in the future doing analysis of a lot of experimental research with less effor

A real-time demand response pricing model for the smart grid

Submitted to the University of Bedfordshire, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)This thesis contributes to a novel model for Real-Time Price Suggestions (RTPS) of the Smart Grid (SG), which is the next generation modern bi-directional grid, particularly with respect to the pricing model. The research employs an experiment-based methodology which includes the use of a simulation technique. The research developed a Demand Response (DR) pricing model. Energy users are keen to reduce their bills, and Energy Providers (EP) is also keen on reducing their industrial costs. The DR model would benefit them both. The model has been tested with the UK-based traditional price value using real-time usage data. Energy users significantly reduced their bill and EP reduced their industrial cost due to load shifting. The Price Control Unit (PCU) and Price Suggestion Unit (PSU) utilise a set of embedded algorithms to vary price based upon demand. This model makes suggestions based on an energy threshold and makes use of Simultaneous Perturbation Stochastic Approximation Methods to produce prices. The results show that bill and peak load reductions benefit both the energy provider and users. The tests on a daily basis and monthly basis both benefit energy users and energy provider. The model has been validated by building a hardware prototype. This model also addresses users’ preferences; if users are non-responsive, they can still reduce their bills. The model contributes significantly to the existing models, and the novel contribution is the PSU which uniquely benefits energy users and provider. Therefore, there is a number of fundamental aspect of contributions to the model RTPS constitutes the final thesis of the PhD. The Real-Time Pricing is a better pricing system, algorithm developed on a daily basis and monthly basis and finally building a hardware prototype

Towards a programmable and virtualized mobile radio access network architecture

Emerging 5G mobile networks are envisioned to become multi-service environments, enabling the dynamic deployment of services with a diverse set of performance requirements, accommodating the needs of mobile network operators, verticals and over-the-top service providers. The Radio Access Network (RAN) part of mobile networks is expected to play a very significant role towards this evolution. Unfortunately, such a vision cannot be efficiently supported by the conventional RAN architecture, which adopts a fixed and rigid design. For the network to evolve, flexibility in the creation, management and control of the RAN components is of paramount importance. The key elements that can allow us to attain this flexibility are the programmability and the virtualization of the network functions. While in the case of the mobile core, these issues have been extensively studied due to the advent of technologies like Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and the similarities that the core shares with other wired networks like data centers, research in the domain of the RAN is still in its infancy. The contributions made in this thesis significantly advance the state of the art in the domain of RAN programmability and virtualization in three dimensions. First, we design and implement a software-defined RAN (SD-RAN) platform called FlexRAN, that provides a flexible control plane designed with support for real-time RAN control applications, flexibility to realize various degrees of coordination among RAN infrastructure entities, and programmability to adapt control over time and easier evolution to the future following SDN/NFV principles. Second, we leverage the capabilities of the FlexRAN platform to design and implement Orion, which is a novel RAN slicing system that enables the dynamic on-the-fly virtualization of base stations, the flexible customization of slices to meet their respective service needs and which can be used in an end-to-end network slicing setting. Third, we focus on the use case of multi-tenancy in a neutral-host indoors small-cell environment, where we design Iris, a system that builds on the capabilities of FlexRAN and Orion and introduces a dynamic pricing mechanism for the efficient and flexible allocation of shared spectrum to the tenants. A number of additional use cases that highlight the benefits of the developed systems are also presented. The lessons learned through this research are summarized and a discussion is made on interesting topics for future work in this domain. The prototype systems presented in this thesis have been made publicly available and are being used by various research groups worldwide in the context of 5G research