Ok Google, Start a Fire. IoT devices as witnesses and actors in fire investigations.

Fire incidents are amongst the most destructive events an investigator might encounter, completely transforming a scene with most of the objects left in ashes or highly damaged. Until now, fire investigations relied heavily on burn patterns and electrical artifacts to find possible starting locations, as well as witness statements and more recently witness imagery. As Internet of Things (IoT) devices, often seen as connected smart devices, become more common, the various sensors embedded within them provide a novel source of traces about the environment and events within. They collect and store information in different locations, often not touched by the event, such as remote servers (cloud) or companion smartphones, widening the investigation field for fire incidents. This work presents two controlled fire incidents in apartments that we furnished, equipped with IoT devices, and subsequently burnt. We studied the traces retrievable from the objects themselves after the incident, the companion smartphone apps, and the cloud and assessed the value of the information they conveyed. This research highlighted the pertinence to consider traces from IoT devices in the forensic process of fire investigation

Artemisa: early design of an eco-driving assistant

Actas del XIII Jornadas de ARCA: Sistemas Cualitativos y sus Aplicaciones en Diagnosis, Robótica e Inteligencia Ambiental, Huelva 26 – 29 de Junio de 2011Eco-driving is becoming a very important topic in recent years since aspects such as environmental pollution, energy conservation, global warming and user safety depend on it. To save fuel, it requires a combination of vehicle design principles (including aerodynamics, engine optimization, fuel type and vehicle weight) and that the driver adopt an efficient driving style. This paper presents an eco-driving assistant that evaluates the driver's driving style from the standpoint of fuel consumption. Then, based on the assessment provides advice to adopt eco-driving habits. Eco-driving assistant will facilitate that drivers learn the techniques of efficient driving. We solution runs on mobile devices with Android OS requiring minimal HW inside the vehicle. Furthermore, analyze better driver's driving style than other solutions because it takes into account environmental variables that influence in the fuel consumption.The research leading to these results has received funding by the ARTEMISA project TIN2009-14378-C02-02 within the Spanish "Plan Nacional de I+D+I", and the Madrid regional community projects S2009/TIC-1650 and CCG10- UC3M/TIC-4992

Design of a Power Quality Monitoring System Based on IOIO and Android Application

This study describes the design of the complete electrical sensing system, comprising of an IOIO Microcontroller Unit which connects to an Android Smartphone and the GSM network that can be adopted for power quality monitoring by the electric distribution networks (in this case the Tanzania Electric Supply Company , TANESCO was used as a case study) in order that the primary power faults parameters can be communicated to respective control centres and electronically stored for further analysis. This system is designed to improve the accessibility of power-quality information and to increase understanding of the growing importance of electricity reliability and power quality to the economy. The prototype was implemented using the Input-Output (IOIO) board, an Android SmartPhone, the Global System for Mobile Communications (originally Groupe Spécial Mobile – GSM) network and a cell phone, as control centre. The study focused on how to communicate an alert of an event that cause fault in the electric distribution line to a control centre . Currently, TANESCO’s distribution network has no fault parameter being communicated (relayed) to control centre. Control centres rely on the information from customers. Say there is low voltage at customer end, unless customer informs customer’s service desk, the fault go unreported. Communication of faults at distribution networks is imperative because its absence leads to disruption and damage to electrical appliances and equipment coupled to the power system, and hence, to economic losses and even danger to life and health of service staff. Keywords: IOIO board, PQ, PLC, GSM, GPS, SCADA. Android Smartphon

Smart automotive technology adherence to the law: (de)constructing road rules for autonomous system development, verification and safety

Driving is an intuitive task that requires skill, constant alertness and vigilance for unexpected events. The driving task also requires long concentration spans, focusing on the entire task for prolonged periods, and sophisticated negotiation skills with other road users including wild animals. Modern motor vehicles include an array of smart assistive and autonomous driving systems capable of subsuming some, most, or in limited cases, all of the driving task. Building these smart automotive systems requires software developers with highly technical software engineering skills, and now a lawyer’s in-depth knowledge of traffic legislation as well. This article presents an approach for deconstructing the complicated legalese of traffic law and representing its requirements and flow. Our approach (de)constructs road rules in legal terminology and specifies them in ‘structured English logic’ that is expressed as ‘Boolean logic’ for automation and ‘Lawmaps’ for visualization. We demonstrate an example using these tools leading to the construction and validation of a ‘Bayesian Network model’. We strongly believe these tools to be approachable by programmers and the general public, useful in development of Artificial Intelligence to underpin motor vehicle smart systems, and in validation to ensure these systems are considerate of the law when making decisions.fals

Application of Real Field Connected Vehicle Data for Aggressive Driving Identification on Horizontal Curves

The emerging technology of connected vehicles generates a vast amount of data that could be used to enhance roadway safety. In this paper, we focused on safety applications of a real field connected vehicle data on a horizontal curve. The database contains connected vehicle data that were collected on public roads in Ann Arbor, Michigan with instrumented vehicles. Horizontal curve negotiations are associated with a great number of accidents, which are mainly attributed to driving errors. Aggressive/risky driving is a contributing factor to the high rate of crashes on horizontal curves. Using basic safety message data in connected vehicle data set, this paper modeled aggressive/risky driving while negotiating a horizontal curve. The model was developed using the machine learning method of random forest to classify the value of time to lane crossing (TLC), a proxy for aggressive/risky driving, based on a set of motion-related metrics as features. Three scenarios were investigated considering different TLCs value for tagging aggressive driving moments. The model contributed to high detection accuracy in all three scenarios. This suggests that the motion-related variables used in the random forest model can accurately reflect drivers\u27 instantaneous decisions and identify their aggressive driving behavior. The results of this paper inform the design of warning/feedback systems and control assistance from unsafe events which are transmittable through vehicles-to-vehicles and vehicles-to-infrastructure applications

Spartan Daily, November 7, 2013

Volume 141, Issue 31https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/1450/thumbnail.jp

An Internet of Things (IoT) Robotic Light Switch

The purpose of this project was to design and build an Internet of Things (IoT) Robotic Light Switch. This light switch would act as a complementary device to existing toggle switches and equip them with typical smart device features such as remote control (via Wi-Fi), digital voice assistant control, motion-sensing and integration with other smart home solutions (such as IFTTT). All these features would be supported by a dedicated web page that would also be able to view the usage statistics of the device. This device is aimed at offering users an extremely easy-to-install home automation solution that needs no wiring and gives users the flexibility to implement a phased transition to home automation rather than having to revamp their entire home lighting system. The device was designed to meet certain basic constraints. First and foremost, the device must be extremely simple to install to an existing light switch and should not require any professional services for installation. Secondly, the configuration of the device should be relatively simple and there should be ways to easily re-configure the remote communication method settings when moving the device from one location to another. Besides this, the device should offer a remote communication platform such as a webpage that can be used to control the switch, view all switching/sensor activity and integrate the switch with other smart home solutions/services. The body of the device was 3D printed and an adhesive was used to snap the device on to existing switches. A webserver was set up to offer a web platform that allowed the use of all features of the device. Also, the webserver allowed integration with 3rd party services such as IFTTT and digital voice assistant. Integration with other services allowed additional features such automated switching based on motion-sensing and GPS-location of user, voice command control via Cortana/Siri etc. Finally, a business canvas model was developed using this device as a case-study. The model addressed all aspects that would need to be considered if the proposed device was commercialized including a detailed cost analysis

TheiaVision: ultrasonic glasses for people with visual impairment

There are a lot of people living in the world, whose eyesight is either very poor or who cannot see at all. People with visual impairment have a wide variety of tools and other resources available to them. The exact choice depends on the specific needs and vision remainder of the individual. However, most of these devices have some form of disadvantage to them, whether it is high price or the fact that they are mostly seer-oriented, with only some applications to expand their capabilities to also make them helpful to the blind and visually impaired community. TheiaVision is a system that was developed in the course of this thesis, which actively monitors the immediate surroundings of the individual with the help of ultrasonic sensors. Based on the measurements obtained, the system warns the user of obstacles that are in a too close proximity, thus helping people with vision disorders navigate the environment a bit easier. The system can be developed further by adding various features, such as GPS navigation and voice commands, to further simplify the life of the user

Older Adults and Voice Interaction: A Pilot Study with Google Home

In this paper we present the results of an exploratory study examining the potential of voice assistants (VA) for some groups of older adults in the context of Smart Home Technology (SHT). To research the aspect of older adults' interaction with voice user interfaces (VUI) we organized two workshops and gathered insights concerning possible benefits and barriers to the use of VA combined with SHT by older adults. Apart from evaluating the participants' interaction with the devices during the two workshops we also discuss some improvements to the VA interaction paradigm

D2Gen: A Decentralized Device Genome Based Integrity Verification Mechanism for Collaborative Intrusion Detection Systems

Collaborative Intrusion Detection Systems are considered an effective defense mechanism for large, intricate, and multilayered Industrial Internet of Things against many cyberattacks. However, while a Collaborative Intrusion Detection System successfully detects and prevents various attacks, it is possible that an inside attacker performs a malicious act and compromises an Intrusion Detection System node. A compromised node can inflict considerable damage on the whole collaborative network. For instance, when a malicious node gives a false alert of an attack, the other nodes will unnecessarily increase their security and close all of their services, thus, degrading the system’s performance. On the contrary, if the spurious node approves malicious traffic into the system, the other nodes would also be compromised. Therefore, to detect a compromised node in the network, this article introduces a device integrity check mechanism based on “Digital Genome.” In medical science, a genome refers to a set that contains all of the information needed to build and maintain an organism. Based on the same concept, the digital genome is computed over a device’s vital hardware, software, and other components. Hence, if an attacker makes any change in a node’s hardware and software components, the digital genome will change, and the compromised node will be easily detected. It is envisaged that the proposed integrity attestation protocol can be used in diverse Internet of Things and other information technology applications to ensure the legitimate operation of end devices. This study also proffers a comprehensive security and performance analysis of the proposed framework