Bio-inspired Approaches for Engineering Adaptive Systems

AbstractAdaptive systems are composed of different heterogeneous parts or entities that interact and perform actions favouring the emer- gence of global desired behavior. In this type of systems entities might join or leave without disturbing the collective, and the system should self-organize and continue performing their goals. Furthermore, entities must self-evolve and self-improve by learn- ing from their interactions with the environment. The main challenge for engineering these systems is to design and develop distributed and adaptive algorithms that allow system entities to select the best suitable strategy/action and drive the system to the best suitable behavior according to the current state of the system and environment changes. This paper describes existing work related to the development of adaptive systems and approaches and shed light on how features from natural and biological systems could be exploited for engineering adaptive approaches

Energy adaptive buildings:From sensor data to being aware of users

Energie besparen is fundamenteel voor het realiseren van een duurzame energievoorziening. Het besparen van energie draagt bij aan milieudoelstellingen, verbetert de zakelijke positie van landen, en levert werkgelegenheid. Er zijn tal van mogelijkheden voor het behalen van aanzienlijke energiebesparingen in gebouwen gezien individuen en bedrijven gebaat zijn bij energiebesparingen en daardoor zelf de verantwoordelijkheid nemen. Het is bewezen dat het gedrag van gebouwgebruikers een grote impact heeft op de verwarming en ventilatie van ruimtes, en op het energieverbruik van verlichting en huishoudelijke apparaten. Huidige gebouwautomatiseringssystemen kunnen niet overweg met veranderingen in het gedrag van gebruikers en zijn daardoor niet in staat om het energieverbruik terug te dringen met behoud van gebruikerscomfort. Mijn promotieonderzoek wordt gedreven door het doel om een dergelijk energy adaptive building te realiseren dat intelligent systemen aanstuurt en zich aanpast aan de gebruiker en gebruikersactiviteiten door deze te leren, terwijl energieverspilling wordt teruggedrongen. Mijn focus ligt op het ontwikkelen van een framework, beginnende bij de hardware infrastructuur voor sensoren en actuatoren, het verwerken en analyseren van de sensordata, en de nodige informatie over de omgeving en gebruikersactiviteiten verkrijgen zodat het gebouw aangestuurd kan worden. Onze oplossing kan 35% besparen op het totale energieverbruik van een gebouw. Als een succesverhaal, besparen de software systemen zelfs 80% op het energieverbruik van de verlichting in het restaurant van de Bernoulliborg. Wij commercialiseren de resultaten verkregen in ons onderzoek door het oprichten van de start-up SustainableBuildings, een spin-off bedrijf van onze universiteit, om onze oplossing aan te bieden aan kantoorgebouwen.Saving energy is the foundation for achieving a sustainable energy supply. Saving energy contributes to environmental objectives, improves the competitiveness of a country’s businesses, and boosts employment. There are numerous opportunities for achieving significant energy savings in buildings since individuals and businesses have an interest themselves in saving energy and will shoulder the responsibility for doing so.Occupant behaviour has shown to have large impact on space heating and cooling demand, energy consumption of lighting and appliances. Current building automation systems are unable to cope with changes caused by occupants’ behaviour and interaction with the environment, therefore they fail to reduce unnecessary energy consumption while preserving user comfort.My PhD research is driven by the aim of realising such energy adaptive buildings that facilitate intelligent control, that learn and adapt to the building users and their activities, while reducing energy waste. My particular focus is on a framework, going from the hardware infrastructure for sensing and actuating, to processing and analysing sensor data, providing necessary information about the environment and occupants’ activities for the system to produce adaptive control strategies, regulating the environment accordingly.Our solution can save 35% of energy for a single building. As a success story, the software system saves 80 percent on energy spent for lighting in the restaurant of the Bernoulliborg.We are commercialising the results of our research by creating the SustainableBuildings start-up, a spin-off from our university, to offer the solutions to non-residential buildings, first in the Netherlands, and later extending wider

VAR-AS, sustained attention detection system in the learning environment

This dissertation presents a system for monitoring heart rate variability (HRV) by electrocardiogram (ECG) and photoplethysmography (PPG) for the detection of attention state in a learning environment. The ECG and PPG signs were acquired and processed through the development of a multi-microcontroller embedded system. When the waves of these signals are extracted, the heart rate is calculated through the time intervals between the R peaks for the electrocardiogram and between the beats for photopletismography. Finally, in order to indicate the level of attention on the part of the user, an input was added in which the volunteer marks the periods he or she considers to be most attentive. This data is associated with a millisecond resolution time stamp and sent in real time via Internet WiFi to a database in the cloud. After this data is stored, the HRV is analysed based on algorithms developed with the Matlab tool. These algorithms allow the study of cardiac variability according to time and frequency domains and how non-linear HRV measurements were also considered. Finally, a module for measuring skin conductivity was added, relating it to the analysis of the level of stress during the learning process. In order to prove the reliability of the system, several volunteers were tested in real environments according to a stipulated protocol. These records were analysed as a starting point to classify situations of greater attention of the volunteer in an educational scenario.Esta dissertação apresenta um sistema de monitorização da variabilidade da frequência cardíaca (VFC) através da Eletrocardiograma (ECG) e Fotoplestimografria (PPG) para a deteção do estado de atenção num ambiente de aprendizagem. Os signais de ECG e PPG foram adquiridos e processados através do desenvolvimento de um sistema embebido multi-microcontrolador. Ao extrair-se as ondas destes sinais, calcula-se a frequência cardíaca através dos intervalos de tempo entre os picos R para o eletrocardiograma e entre os batimentos para a fotopletismografia. Por fim, para poder indicaro nível da atenção da parte do utente adicionou-se um input em que o voluntário marca os períodos que considera estar mais atento. Estes dados são associados a uma marca temporal com resolução ma base de dados na nuvém. Após o armazenamento destes dados, analisa-se a VFC com base em algoritmos desenvolvidos com a ferramenta Matlab. Estes algoritmos permitem estudar a variabilidade cardíaca segundo os domínios do tempo, da frequência e como tambem foram consideradas medidas VFC não lineares. Por fim, adicionou-se um módulo para a medição da condutividade da pele, relacionando-a com a avaliação do nível de stress durante o processo de aprendizagem. Para comprovar a fiabilidade do sistema realizaram-se testes a diversos voluntários em ambientes reais de acordo com um protocolo estipulado. Estes registos foram analisados como ponto de partida para classificar situações de maior atenção do voluntário perante um cenário educativo

Survey on virtual coaching for older adults

Virtual coaching has emerged as a promising solution to extend independent living for older adults. A virtual coach system is an always-attentive personalized system that continuously monitors user's activity and surroundings and delivers interventions - that is, intentional messages - in the appropriate moment. This article presents a survey of different approaches in virtual coaching for older adults, from the less technically supported tools to the latest developments and future avenues for research. It focuses on the technical aspects, especially on software architectures, user interaction and coaching personalization. Nevertheless, some aspects from the fields of personality/social psychology are also presented in the context of coaching strategies. Coaching is considered holistically, including matters such as physical and cognitive training, nutrition, social interaction and mood.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 769830