Comparison of two approaches for web-based 3D visualization of smart building sensor data

Abstract. This thesis presents a comparative study on two different approaches for visualizing sensor data collected from smart buildings on the web using 3D virtual environments. The sensor data is provided by sensors that are deployed in real buildings to measure several environmental parameters including temperature, humidity, air quality and air pressure. The first approach uses the three.js WebGL framework to create the 3D model of a smart apartment where sensor data is illustrated with point and wall visualizations. Point visualizations show sensor values at the real locations of the sensors using text, icons or a mixture of the two. Wall visualizations display sensor values inside panels placed on the interior walls of the apartment. The second approach uses the Unity game engine to create the 3D model of a 4-floored hospice where sensor data is illustrated with aforementioned point visualizations and floor visualizations, where the sensor values are shown on the floor around the location of the sensors in form of color or other effects. The two approaches are compared with respect to their technical performance in terms of rendering speed, model size and request size, and with respect to the relative advantages and disadvantages of the two development environments as experienced in this thesis

Development of an open access system for remote operation of robotic manipulators

Mestrado de dupla diplomação com a UTFPR - Universidade Tecnológica Federal do ParanáExploring the realms of research, training, and learning in the field of robotic systems poses obstacles for institutions lacking the necessary infrastructure. The significant investment required to acquire physical robotic systems often limits access and hinders progress in these areas. While robotic simulation platforms provide a virtual environment for experimentation, the potential of remote robotic environments surpasses this by enabling users to interact with real robotic systems during training and research activities. This way, users, including students and researchers, can engage in a virtual experience that transcends geographical boundaries, connecting them to real-world robotic systems though the Internet. By bridging the gap between virtual and physical worlds, remote environments offer a more practical and immersive experience, and open up new horizons for collaborative research and training. Democratizing access to these technologies means empower educational institutions and research centers to engage in practical and handson learning experiences. However, the implementation of remote robotic environments comes with its own set of technical challenges: communication, security, stability and access. In light of these challenges, a ROS-based system has been developed, providing open access with promising results (low delay and run-time visualization). This system enables remote control of robotic manipulators and has been successfully validated through the remote operation of a real UR3 manipulator.Explorar as áreas de pesquisa, treinamento e aprendizado no campo de sistemas robóticos apresenta obstáculos para instituições que não possuem a infraestrutura necessária. O investimento significativo exigido para adquirir sistemas robóticos físicos muitas vezes limita o acesso e dificulta o progresso nessas áreas. Embora as plataformas de simulação robótica forneçam um ambiente virtual para experimentação, o potencial dos ambientes robóticos remotos vai além disso, permitindo que os usuários interajam com sistemas robóticos reais durante atividades de treinamento e pesquisa. Dessa forma, os usuários, incluindo estudantes e pesquisadores, podem participar de uma experiência virtual que transcende as fronteiras geográficas, conectando-os a sistemas robóticos do mundo real por meio da Internet. Ao estabelecer uma ponte entre os mundos virtual e físico, os ambientes remotos oferecem uma experiência mais prática e imersiva, abrindo novos horizontes para a pesquisa colaborativa e o treinamento. Democratizar o acesso a essas tecnologias significa capacitar instituições educacionais e centros de pesquisa a se envolverem em experiências práticas e de aprendizado prático. No entanto, a implementação de ambientes robóticos remotos traz consigo um conjunto próprio de desafios técnicos: comunicação, segurança, estabilidade e acesso. Diante desses desafios, foi desenvolvida uma plataforma baseada em ROS, oferecendo acesso aberto com resultados promissores (baixo delay e visualização em run-time). Essa plataforma possibilita o controle remoto de manipuladores robóticos e foi validada com sucesso por meio da operação remota de um manipulador UR3 real

Multi-user navigation: a 3D mobile device interactive support

Multi-User navigation within an environment with the aid of 3D mobile support provides end users with additional mobility thought and improves mobility services’ efficiency. A necessary approach of using mobile device for navigation aid is to display only a section of the view-front and to let users control the portion shown by conceptually moving on the orientation. There is a need for multiple users to be able to interact with themselves when they are within an environment and navigating with the aid of 3D mobile devices support, in order to meet-up with an appointment or to be aware of the locations of each other. Unfortunately, the predominant 3D mobile navigation system does not provide multi-user interactive services. Users cannot be aware of other users navigating within same environment using the same system on their mobile devices at the same time. This paper presents multi-user 3D mobile navigation system for providing multiple user awareness. The analysis of the results provides a unique visualization of multiple users using mobile devices to help them navigate to a target location by being aware of their whereabouts

Teollisen internetin hyödyntäminen voimalaitoksissa

The goals of this thesis were to explore the how Industrial Internet solutions could be utilized in power plants and their automation. The contents include a market analysis of the current Industrial Internet market and an analysis on the situation of competing power plant and automation system suppliers. Additionally, this thesis explains the different components of an Industrial Internet platform and studies how such a platform can be utilized to create a real-time process monitoring application for a power plant. The Industrial Internet market situation is currently in a very fast moving state, however there is no clear market shareholder that has risen above the rest. Analyzing the Industrial Internet offering of companies such as GE, Siemens and ABB lead to the conclusion that many companies are developing their own visions of Industrial Internet platforms, but none have yet to offer anything very advanced or even complete. These Industrial Internet platforms that are being developed can be summarized to be collections of components and tools that allow the utilization of advanced data collection and analytics capabilities. The key components include data sources, data pipelines, central storage, analytics, visualizations and security. Utilizing these components in the Valmet Industrial platform, this thesis presents a practical implementation of dashboards that can be used to monitor the performance of a power plant. The finished application allows a customer’s production manager to monitor process performance from any device over the internet and provides easy access to data in support of business decisions and to analyze any problematic parts of key processes. Finally, methods on how these newly developed capabilities can be utilized and integrated into business opportunities are studied to explain how the Industrial Internet platform can be utilized to improve current offerings and provide new products and services in the future. For example, predictive maintenance models can provide the capability to optimize maintenance routines and prevent process downtime. This is a logical next step to research when developing new features into the created platform. Moreover, the combination of Industrial Internet capabilities with new technologies such as virtual reality, drones and blockchains can bring completely new business opportunities in the future

access: v.10, no.02, Summer 1996

published or submitted for publicatio

Vision-Augmented molecular dynamics simulation of nanoindentation

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London.This thesis has contributed to the literature by providing a pathway to simplify the process of carrying out molecular dynamics simulation. As a part of the investigation, a user-friendly vision-augmented technique was developed to set up and carry out atomistic simulations using hand-gestures. The system is novel in its concept as it enables the user to directly manipulate the atomic structures on the screen, in 3D space using hand gestures, allowing the exploration and visualisation of molecular interactions at different relative conformations. The hand gestures are used to pick and place atoms on the screen allowing thereby the ease of preparing and carrying out molecular dynamics simulations in a more intuitive way. The end result is that users with limited expertise in developing molecular structures can now do so easily and intuitively by the use of body gestures to interact with the simulator to study the system in question. The proposed system was tested by performing parallel molecular dynamics simulations to study (i) crystal anisotropy of a diamond cubic substrate (crystalline silicon) using nanoindentation with a long-range (Screened bond order) Tersoff potential and (ii) crystal anisotropy of a body centre cubic metal (tantalum) using nanoindentation with an Embedded Atomic Method (EAM) type potential. The MD data was post-processed to reveal size effects observed in anisotropy of both these materials, namely, silicon and tantalum. The value of hardness and elastic modulus obtained from the MD data was found in accordance with what has been discovered previously by experiments, thereby validating the simulations. Based on this, it is anticipated that the proposed system will open up new horizons to the current methods on how an MD simulation is designed and executed.King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al- Saud Ministry of Higher Education and Northern Borders University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabi

Social shaping of digital publishing: exploring the interplay between culture and technology

The processes and forms of electronic publishing have been changing since the advent of the Web. In recent years, the open access movement has been a major driver of scholarly communication, and change is also evident in other fields such as e-government and e-learning. Whilst many changes are driven by technological advances, an altered social reality is also pushing the boundaries of digital publishing. With 23 articles and 10 posters, Elpub 2012 focuses on the social shaping of digital publishing and explores the interplay between culture and technology. This book contains the proceedings of the conference, consisting of 11 accepted full articles and 12 articles accepted as extended abstracts. The articles are presented in groups, and cover the topics: digital scholarship and publishing; special archives; libraries and repositories; digital texts and readings; and future solutions and innovations. Offering an overview of the current situation and exploring the trends of the future, this book will be of interest to all those whose work involves digital publishing