Wireless Process Control using IEEE 802.15.4 Protocol

Projecte final de carrera fet en col.laboració amb KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyCatalà:: Considerant els beneficis potencials de les xarxes sense fils de sensors (WSNs), s'estan convertint en una interessant tecnologia tant per processos com per al control industrial així com per xarxes intel·ligents. Aquestes aplicacions motiven altres companyies, comunitats industrials i a universitats a centrar la investigació en aquesta direcció. El IEEE 802.15.4 és un estàndard proposat per ser utilitzat en comunicacions de baix consum energètic on les WSNs formen part. Malgrat l'existència de moltes implementacions d'aquests estàndard per el nostre sistema operatiu, TinyOS, no estan completament validats o no existeix un anàlisi suficient del rendiment de l'estàndard en una implementació real. En aquest projecte, es compara dues implementacions a través de diferents experiments per comprovar la validesa de les implementacions. Però la implementació seleccionada no incorpora el mecanisme de Guaranteed Time Slots (GTSs), es per això, que en aquest projecte es proporcionen tots els mecanismes necessaris per transmetre durant el Contention-Free Period (CFP): assignació, expiració, reassignació i deassignació. D'aquesta manera proporcionem la implementació del IEEE 802.15.4 amb una completa avaluació del rendiment amb la qual el correcte funcionament queda validat. Degut a que no existien resultats pràctics sobre l'ús d'aquest protocol per aplicacions de control, presentem un pendol invertit per mostrar els beneficis del control sense fils de processos utilitzant el IEEE 802.15.4 en un llaç de control. Els resultats experimentals mostren les pèrdues de paquets i retards, factors determinants per garantir l'estabilitat del sistema. D'altra banda, també demostrem i analitzem els beneficis d'aquest protocol aplicat a una xarxa intel·ligent (Smart Grid).Castellano: Considerando los potenciales beneficios de las redes inalámbricas de sensores (WSN), se están convirtiendo en una interesante tecnología para procesos, producción, y el control industrial así como para redes inteligentes. Estas aplicaciones motivan a otras compañías, comunidades industriales y a las universidades a centrar la investigación en esta dirección. El IEEE 802.15.4 es un estándar propuesto para ser utilizado en comunicaciones de bajo consumo donde las WSNs forman parte. A pesar de que existen muchas implementaciones de dicho estándar para el sistema operativo seleccionado, TinyOS, no están completamente validadas o completamente implementadas. Además, a pesar de la existencia de estudios que utilizan este protocolo, no hay un análisis suficiente del rendimiento de este estándar en una implementación real. En este proyecto, se comparan dos implementaciones a través de diferentes experimentos para comprobar la validez de dichas implementaciones. Debido al hecho de la implementación seleccionada no incluye el mecanismo Guaranteed Time Slots (GTSs), en este proyecto se proporcionan todos los mecanismo necesarios para transmitir durante el Contention-Free Period (CFP): asignación, expiación, re-asignación y de-asignación. De esta manera, proporcionamos la implementación del IEEE 802.15.4 con una completa evaluación del rendimiento con el cual su correcto comportamiento queda validado. Debido a que no existían resultados prácticos del uso de este protocolo para aplicaciones de control, presentamos un péndulo invertido para mostrar también los beneficios del control inalámbrico de procesos utilizando el IEEE 802.15.4 en un lazo de control. Los resultados experimentales muestran las perdidas de paquetes y retrasos, factores determinantes para garantizar la estabilidad del sistema. Además, demostramos y analizamos los beneficios de este protocolo aplicado a una red inteligente (Smart Grid).English: Considering the potential benefits offered by Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), they have been becoming an interesting technology for process, manufacturing, and industrial control and Smart Grid applications. These applications motivate many companies, industrial communities and academy to focus and research in this direction. The IEEE 802.15.4 is the standard proposed to be use in low-power communication of which WSN is part. Even though there are many implementations of the standard for the selected operating system, TinyOS, they are not fully validated or fully implemented. Moreover, in spite of the existence of previous studies using the protocol, there is no sufficient analysis of the performance of this standard. In this thesis, a comparison between the two main implementations is done through the experiments to validate the feasibility of the implementations. Because of the fact that the selected implementation does not have the Guaranteed Time Slots (GTSs) mechanism developed, in this thesis are provided all the mechanisms necessary to transmit during the Contention-Free Period (CFP): allocation, expiration, reallocation and deallocation. Hence, a IEEE 802.15.4 implementation is provided with a comprehensive evaluation with which the behaviour is proven. The implementation is validated in terms of packet delivery rate and delay for different network configurations and different parameters. Owing to no practical results for the use of this protocol in control applications, a inverted pendulum process is introduced to show the benefits in wireless process control by using the IEEE 802.15.4 in a real-time control loop process. The extensive experimental results show that packets losses and delays are the essential factors to guarantee the stability of the system. Furthermore, we also demonstrate and analyse the benefits of using this protocol in a Home Smart Grid setup

Wireless Process Control using IEEE 802.15.4 Protocol

Projecte final de carrera fet en col.laboració amb KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyCatalà:: Considerant els beneficis potencials de les xarxes sense fils de sensors (WSNs), s'estan convertint en una interessant tecnologia tant per processos com per al control industrial així com per xarxes intel·ligents. Aquestes aplicacions motiven altres companyies, comunitats industrials i a universitats a centrar la investigació en aquesta direcció. El IEEE 802.15.4 és un estàndard proposat per ser utilitzat en comunicacions de baix consum energètic on les WSNs formen part. Malgrat l'existència de moltes implementacions d'aquests estàndard per el nostre sistema operatiu, TinyOS, no estan completament validats o no existeix un anàlisi suficient del rendiment de l'estàndard en una implementació real. En aquest projecte, es compara dues implementacions a través de diferents experiments per comprovar la validesa de les implementacions. Però la implementació seleccionada no incorpora el mecanisme de Guaranteed Time Slots (GTSs), es per això, que en aquest projecte es proporcionen tots els mecanismes necessaris per transmetre durant el Contention-Free Period (CFP): assignació, expiració, reassignació i deassignació. D'aquesta manera proporcionem la implementació del IEEE 802.15.4 amb una completa avaluació del rendiment amb la qual el correcte funcionament queda validat. Degut a que no existien resultats pràctics sobre l'ús d'aquest protocol per aplicacions de control, presentem un pendol invertit per mostrar els beneficis del control sense fils de processos utilitzant el IEEE 802.15.4 en un llaç de control. Els resultats experimentals mostren les pèrdues de paquets i retards, factors determinants per garantir l'estabilitat del sistema. D'altra banda, també demostrem i analitzem els beneficis d'aquest protocol aplicat a una xarxa intel·ligent (Smart Grid).Castellano: Considerando los potenciales beneficios de las redes inalámbricas de sensores (WSN), se están convirtiendo en una interesante tecnología para procesos, producción, y el control industrial así como para redes inteligentes. Estas aplicaciones motivan a otras compañías, comunidades industriales y a las universidades a centrar la investigación en esta dirección. El IEEE 802.15.4 es un estándar propuesto para ser utilizado en comunicaciones de bajo consumo donde las WSNs forman parte. A pesar de que existen muchas implementaciones de dicho estándar para el sistema operativo seleccionado, TinyOS, no están completamente validadas o completamente implementadas. Además, a pesar de la existencia de estudios que utilizan este protocolo, no hay un análisis suficiente del rendimiento de este estándar en una implementación real. En este proyecto, se comparan dos implementaciones a través de diferentes experimentos para comprobar la validez de dichas implementaciones. Debido al hecho de la implementación seleccionada no incluye el mecanismo Guaranteed Time Slots (GTSs), en este proyecto se proporcionan todos los mecanismo necesarios para transmitir durante el Contention-Free Period (CFP): asignación, expiación, re-asignación y de-asignación. De esta manera, proporcionamos la implementación del IEEE 802.15.4 con una completa evaluación del rendimiento con el cual su correcto comportamiento queda validado. Debido a que no existían resultados prácticos del uso de este protocolo para aplicaciones de control, presentamos un péndulo invertido para mostrar también los beneficios del control inalámbrico de procesos utilizando el IEEE 802.15.4 en un lazo de control. Los resultados experimentales muestran las perdidas de paquetes y retrasos, factores determinantes para garantizar la estabilidad del sistema. Además, demostramos y analizamos los beneficios de este protocolo aplicado a una red inteligente (Smart Grid).English: Considering the potential benefits offered by Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), they have been becoming an interesting technology for process, manufacturing, and industrial control and Smart Grid applications. These applications motivate many companies, industrial communities and academy to focus and research in this direction. The IEEE 802.15.4 is the standard proposed to be use in low-power communication of which WSN is part. Even though there are many implementations of the standard for the selected operating system, TinyOS, they are not fully validated or fully implemented. Moreover, in spite of the existence of previous studies using the protocol, there is no sufficient analysis of the performance of this standard. In this thesis, a comparison between the two main implementations is done through the experiments to validate the feasibility of the implementations. Because of the fact that the selected implementation does not have the Guaranteed Time Slots (GTSs) mechanism developed, in this thesis are provided all the mechanisms necessary to transmit during the Contention-Free Period (CFP): allocation, expiration, reallocation and deallocation. Hence, a IEEE 802.15.4 implementation is provided with a comprehensive evaluation with which the behaviour is proven. The implementation is validated in terms of packet delivery rate and delay for different network configurations and different parameters. Owing to no practical results for the use of this protocol in control applications, a inverted pendulum process is introduced to show the benefits in wireless process control by using the IEEE 802.15.4 in a real-time control loop process. The extensive experimental results show that packets losses and delays are the essential factors to guarantee the stability of the system. Furthermore, we also demonstrate and analyse the benefits of using this protocol in a Home Smart Grid setup

Super-Flexible Sensors and Advanced 3D Morphing Actuators based on Elastic Instability

Super-flexible devices based on soft materials have the potential to sustain large mechanical deformations, enabling advanced applications such as flexible electronics, soft robots, artificial skin, and biomedical transducers. Subject to a large compression, materials may undergo different types of elastic instabilities such as wrinkles, creases, and folds. Despite recent growing interests in turning this usually unwanted phenomenon into useful engineering applications (e.g. tactile sensing), this topic remains relatively under-researched. Therefore, this thesis focuses on developing the control mechanisms of elastic instabilities, and their applications in sensing and actuation systems. Elastic instabilities induced strain-gated logic sensing technology is developed by research into micro structured metal-elastomer tri-layer system. The test structures are designed to study the deformation behaviour and to exploit the large strain sensing mechanism. The stepwise electrical signals are achieved (from ~1010 to ~120 Ω at first switching stage and then to ~50 Ω at second switching stage) that survived much higher than usual compressive strains of up to 60%. On the other hand, elastic instabilities induced topo-optical sensing strategy is created by patterning microstructure arrays within the tri-layer system. Two unwanted phenomena (creases/folds and oxygen quenching effect) are turned into a responsive and programmable 'fold to glitter' function through micro engineering, which can light up areas of an object or material by creating microscopic creases/folds within its surface. The signal-Noise-Ratio (SNR) contrast in optical pattern generation is improved by 6 folds due to the oxygen quenching effect. The numerical analysis by ABAQUS provides the fundamental theory on the mechanism of generating targeted folding through simulating the in-plane and out-of-plane strain energy localization. Different luminescent optical patterns are demonstrated under in-plane uniaxial or equi-biaxial compression. Apart from the surface deformation, the bulk deformation of heterogeneous layered structures of soft functional hydrogel is also developed to generate the controllable and reconfigurable 3D morphing device. The initial configurations with various shapes (“S”, “W” and “C”) are demonstrated due to the swelling ratio mismatch. The developed sensing and actuation technologies provide opportunities for future applications in flexible electronics, tuneable optics, soft robotics and bio-medical systems

Advances in Human-Robot Interaction

Rapid advances in the field of robotics have made it possible to use robots not just in industrial automation but also in entertainment, rehabilitation, and home service. Since robots will likely affect many aspects of human existence, fundamental questions of human-robot interaction must be formulated and, if at all possible, resolved. Some of these questions are addressed in this collection of papers by leading HRI researchers

Radio After Radio: Redefining radio art in the light of new media technology through expanded practice

I have been working in the field of radio art, and through creative practice have been considering how the convergence of new media technologies has redefined radio art, addressing the ways in which this has extended the boundaries of the art form. This practice-based research explores the rich history of radio as an artistic medium and the relationship between the artist and technology, emphasising the role of the artist as a mediator between broadcast institutions and a listening public. It considers how radio art might be defined in relation to sound art, music and media art, mapping its shifting parameters in the digital era and prompting a consideration of how radio appears to be moving from a dispersed „live‟ event to one consumed „on demand‟ by a segmented audience across multiple platforms. Exploring the implications of this transition through my radio practice focuses upon the productive tensions which characterise the artist‟s engagement with radio technology, specifically between the autonomous potentialities offered by the reappropriation of obsolete technology and the proliferation of new infrastructures and networks promised by the exponential development of new media. Switch Off takes as its overarching theme the possible futures for FM radio, incorporating elements from eight „trace‟ stations, produced as a series of radio actions investigating these tensions. Interviews have been conducted with case study subjects Vicki Bennett, Anna Friz, LIGNA, Hildegard Westerkamp and Gregory Whitehead, whose work was chosen as being exemplary of the five recurrent facets of radio arts practice I have identified: Appropriation, Transmission, Activism, Soundscape and Performance. These categories are derived from the genealogy of experimental radiophonic practice set out in Chapter One

A Network of One’s Own: Struggles to Domesticate the Internet

This thesis is a design research practice-led inquiry into the domesticated Internet. It first seeks to complicate simplistic corporate and academic visions by naming some of the struggles it encounters – not least to assert a private home and network of one's own. It is argued that a century of domestic technologies has emphasised invisibility, ubiquity, and automation in ways that obscure a network of exploited people and finite resources. Furthermore, these technological ambitions are met through machine surveillance, in ways newly enabled by the domesticated Internet, that threaten the privacy of the home. In response, this thesis seeks some practical ways to design alternatives that assert a network of one's own and makes the work it implicates visible. The methodological approach is broadly Research Through Design supplemented by a practice described as designerly hacking through which hidden technical potential is revealed and given meaning. Two empirical studies are described that together make an account of the technical possibility and social reality of the networked home: an autobiographical technical exploration of the author's home and network with the making of hacks and Research Products privately and in public; and a cultural probe engagement with six rented households surfacing contemporary accounts of the domesticated Internet and in particular the challenges and opportunities of wireless networking. Together this yields a series of technical and social insights for design and two forms are offered to communicate these: a framework for understanding change in the networked home (The Stuff of Home) and a set of 30 design patterns for a network of one's own; each invites different analyses. The conclusion then draws together the multiple threads developed through this thesis and offers some reflection on the complexity of doing contemporary technical design work

The 1995 Research Reports: NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program

This document is a collection of technical reports on research conducted by the participants in the 1995 NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). This was the eleventh year that a NASA/ASEE program has been conducted at KSC. The 1995 program was administered by the University of Central Florida in cooperation with KSC. The program was operated under the auspices of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) with sponsorship and funding from the Office of Educational Affairs, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. The KSC Program was one of nine such Aeronautics and Space Research Programs funded by NASA Headquarters in 1995. The NASA/ASEE Program is intended to be a two-year program to allow in-depth research by the University faculty member

Contributions to the privacy provisioning for federated identity management platforms

Identity information, personal data and user’s profiles are key assets for organizations and companies by becoming the use of identity management (IdM) infrastructures a prerequisite for most companies, since IdM systems allow them to perform their business transactions by sharing information and customizing services for several purposes in more efficient and effective ways. Due to the importance of the identity management paradigm, a lot of work has been done so far resulting in a set of standards and specifications. According to them, under the umbrella of the IdM paradigm a person’s digital identity can be shared, linked and reused across different domains by allowing users simple session management, etc. In this way, users’ information is widely collected and distributed to offer new added value services and to enhance availability. Whereas these new services have a positive impact on users’ life, they also bring privacy problems. To manage users’ personal data, while protecting their privacy, IdM systems are the ideal target where to deploy privacy solutions, since they handle users’ attribute exchange. Nevertheless, current IdM models and specifications do not sufficiently address comprehensive privacy mechanisms or guidelines, which enable users to better control over the use, divulging and revocation of their online identities. These are essential aspects, specially in sensitive environments where incorrect and unsecured management of user’s data may lead to attacks, privacy breaches, identity misuse or frauds. Nowadays there are several approaches to IdM that have benefits and shortcomings, from the privacy perspective. In this thesis, the main goal is contributing to the privacy provisioning for federated identity management platforms. And for this purpose, we propose a generic architecture that extends current federation IdM systems. We have mainly focused our contributions on health care environments, given their particularly sensitive nature. The two main pillars of the proposed architecture, are the introduction of a selective privacy-enhanced user profile management model and flexibility in revocation consent by incorporating an event-based hybrid IdM approach, which enables to replace time constraints and explicit revocation by activating and deactivating authorization rights according to events. The combination of both models enables to deal with both online and offline scenarios, as well as to empower the user role, by letting her to bring together identity information from different sources. Regarding user’s consent revocation, we propose an implicit revocation consent mechanism based on events, that empowers a new concept, the sleepyhead credentials, which is issued only once and would be used any time. Moreover, we integrate this concept in IdM systems supporting a delegation protocol and we contribute with the definition of mathematical model to determine event arrivals to the IdM system and how they are managed to the corresponding entities, as well as its integration with the most widely deployed specification, i.e., Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML). In regard to user profile management, we define a privacy-awareness user profile management model to provide efficient selective information disclosure. With this contribution a service provider would be able to accesses the specific personal information without being able to inspect any other details and keeping user control of her data by controlling who can access. The structure that we consider for the user profile storage is based on extensions of Merkle trees allowing for hash combining that would minimize the need of individual verification of elements along a path. An algorithm for sorting the tree as we envision frequently accessed attributes to be closer to the root (minimizing the access’ time) is also provided. Formal validation of the above mentioned ideas has been carried out through simulations and the development of prototypes. Besides, dissemination activities were performed in projects, journals and conferences.Programa Oficial de Doctorado en Ingeniería TelemáticaPresidente: María Celeste Campo Vázquez.- Secretario: María Francisca Hinarejos Campos.- Vocal: Óscar Esparza Martí