Challenges and Limitation Analysis of an IoT-Dependent System for Deployment in Smart Healthcare Using Communication Standards Features

The use of IoT technology is rapidly increasing in healthcare development and smart healthcare system for fitness programs, monitoring, data analysis, etc. To improve the efficiency of monitoring, various studies have been conducted in this field to achieve improved precision. The architecture proposed herein is based on IoT integrated with a cloud system in which power absorption and accuracy are major concerns. We discuss and analyze development in this domain to improve the performance of IoT systems related to health care. Standards of communication for IoT data transmission and reception can help to understand the exact power absorption in different devices to achieve improved performance for healthcare development. We also systematically analyze the use of IoT in healthcare systems using cloud features, as well as the performance and limitations of IoT in this field. Furthermore, we discuss the design of an IoT system for efficient monitoring of various healthcare issues in elderly people and limitations of an existing system in terms of resources, power absorption and security when implemented in different devices as per requirements. Blood pressure and heartbeat monitoring in pregnant women are examples of high-intensity applications of NB-IoT (narrowband IoT), technology that supports widespread communication with a very low data cost and minimum processing complexity and battery lifespan. This article also focuses on analysis of the performance of narrowband IoT in terms of delay and throughput using singleand multinode approaches. We performed analysis using the message queuing telemetry transport protocol (MQTTP), which was found to be efficient compared to the limited application protocol (LAP) in sending information from sensors.Ministerio Español de Ciencia e Innovación under project number PID2020-115570GB-C22 (DemocratAI::UGR)Cátedra de Empresa Tecnología para las Personas (UGR-Fujitsu

Adaptive data synchronization algorithm for IoT-oriented low-power wide-area networks

The Internet of Things (IoT) is by now very close to be realized, leading the world towards a new technological era where people’s lives and habits will be definitively revolutionized. Furthermore, the incoming 5G technology promises significant enhancements concerning the Quality of Service (QoS) in mobile communications. Having billions of devices simultaneously connected has opened new challenges about network management and data exchange rules that need to be tailored to the characteristics of the considered scenario. A large part of the IoT market is pointing to Low-Power Wide-Area Networks (LPWANs) representing the infrastructure for several applications having energy saving as a mandatory goal besides other aspects of QoS. In this context, we propose a low-power IoT-oriented file synchronization protocol that, by dynamically optimizing the amount of data to be transferred, limits the device level of interaction within the network, therefore extending the battery life. This protocol can be adopted with different Layer 2 technologies and provides energy savings at the IoT device level that can be exploited by different applications

Improved electromagnetic compatibility standards for the interconnected wireless world

© 2019 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes,creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.The future is wireless, a world where everything is interconnected. However, the current standards for ensuring the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and the coexistence of such wireless systems urge for a major update. It is shown how novel statistical approaches based on the amplitude probability distribution detector and time-domain measurements are better suited for estimating the degradation caused by electromagnetic interferences on digital communication systems than the established practice of determining compliance according to the quasi-peak detector levels using a pass/fail criterion. Therefore, a redefinition of the test methods and of the compliance requirements in terms of EMC standards must be a priority of the international standardization bodies. Finally, a discussion of the fundamental challenges involved in this standardization breakthrough for EMC is delivered.Postprint (author's final draft

A use case of low power wide area networks in future 5G healthcare applications

Abstract. The trend in all cellular evolution to the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) has always been to offer users continuously increasing data rates. However, the next leap forwards towards the 5th Generation Mobile Networks (5G) will be mainly addressing the needs of devices. Machines communicating with each other, sensors reporting to a server, or even machines communicating with humans, these are all different aspects of the same technology; the Internet of Things (IoT). The key differentiator between Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications and IoT will be the added -feature of connecting devices and sensors not only to themselves, but also to the internet. The appropriate communications network is the key to allow this connectivity. Local Area Networks (LANs) and Wide Area Networks (WANs) have been thought of as enablers for IoT, but since they both suffered from limitations in IoT aspects, the need for a new enabling technology was evident. LPWANs are networks dedicated to catering for the needs of IoT such as providing low energy consumption for wireless devices. LPWANs can be categorized into proprietary LPWANs and cellular LPWANs. Proprietary LPWANs are created by an alliance of companies working together on creating a communications standard operating in unlicensed frequency bands. An example of proprietary LPWANs is LoRa. Whereas cellular LPWANs are standardized by the 3rd Partnership Project (3GPP) and they are basically versions of the LTE standard especially designed for machine communications. An example of cellular LPWANs is Narrowband IoT (NB IoT). This diploma thesis documents the usage of LoRa and NB IoT in a healthcare use case of IoT. It describes the steps and challenges of deploying an LTE network at a target site, which will be used by the LoRa and NB IoT sensors to transmit data through the 5G test network (5GTN) to a desired server location for storing and later analysis.Matalan tehonkulutuksen ja pitkänkantaman teknologian käyttötapaus tulevaisuuden 5G:tä hyödyntävissä terveydenhoidon sovelluksissa. Tiivistelmä. Pitemmän aikavälin tarkastelussa matkaviestintäteknologian kehittyminen nykyisin käytössä olevaan Long-Term Evolution (LTE) teknologiaan on tarkoittanut käyttäjille yhä suurempia datanopeuksia. Seuraavassa askeleessa kohti 5. sukupolven matkaviestintäverkkoja (5G) lähestytään kehitystä myös laitteiden tarpeiden lähtökohdista. Toistensa kanssa kommunikoivat koneet, palvelimille dataa lähettävät anturit tai jopa ihmisten kanssa kommunikoivat koneet ovat kaikki eri puolia samasta teknologisesta käsitteestä; esineiden internetistä (IoT). Oleellisin ero koneiden välisessä kommunikoinnissa (M2M) ja IoT:ssä on, että erinäiset laitteet tulevat olemaan yhdistettyinä paitsi toisiinsa myös internettiin. Tätä kytkentäisyyttä varten tarvitaan tarkoitukseen kehitetty matkaviestinverkko. Sekä lähiverkkoja (LAN) että suuralueverkkoja (WAN) on pidetty mahdollisina IoT mahdollistajina, mutta näiden molempien käsitteiden alle kuuluvissa teknologioissa on rajoitteita IoT:n vaatimusten lähtökohdista, joten uuden teknologian kehittäminen oli tarpeellista. Matalan tehonkulutuksen suuralueverkko (LP-WAN) on käsite, johon luokitellaan eri teknologioita, joita on kehitetty erityisesti IoT:n tarpeista lähtien. LP-WAN voidaan jaotella ainakin itse kehitettyihin ja matkaviestinverkkoihin perustuviin teknologisiin ratkaisuihin. Itse kehitetyt ratkaisut on luotu lukuisten yritysten yhteenliittymissä eli alliansseissa ja nämä ratkaisut keskittyvät lisensoimattomilla taajuuksilla toimiviin langattomiin ratkaisuihin, joista esimerkkinä laajasti käytössä oleva LoRa. Matkaviestinverkkoihin perustuvat lisensoiduilla taajuuksilla toimivat ratkaisut on puolestaan erikseen standardoitu 3GPP-nimisessä yhteenliittymässä, joka nykyisellään vastaa 2G, 3G ja LTE:n standardoiduista päätöksistä. Esimerkki 3GPP:n alaisesta LPWAN-luokkaan kuuluvasta teknologiasta on kapea kaistainen IoT-teknologia, NB-IoT. Tässä diplomityössä keskitytään terveydenhoidon käyttötapaukseen, missä antureiden mittaamaa tietoa siirretään langattomasti käyttäen sekä LoRa että NB-IoT teknologioita. Työssä kuvataan eri vaiheet ja haasteet, joita liittyi kun rakennetaan erikseen tiettyyn kohteeseen LTE-verkon radiopeitto, jotta LoRa:a ja NB-IoT:a käyttävät anturit saadaan välittämään mitattua dataa halutulle palvelimelle säilytykseen ja myöhempää analysointia varten. LTE-radiopeiton rakensi Oulun yliopiston omistama 5G testiverkko, jonka tarkoitus on tukea sekä tutkimusta että ympäröivää ekosysteemiä tulevaisuuden 5G:n kehityksessä

Performance of narrow band internet of things (NBIoT) networks

Narrow Band Internet of Things (NBIoT) is a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology that has been standardised by 3GPP in Release 13 to work in cellular networks [15]. The main characteristics of NBIoT are its extended coverage compared to other cellular technologies such as LTE; its high capacity is due to its narrow channel bandwidth of 180 KHz, which also supports the possibility of these devices having a long battery life of up to 10 years, as well as low device complexity - all of which result in low device costs [2]. NBIoT can be deployed in one of three different options, namely: a) standalone, b) in-band and c) guard band deployment mode. These characteristics of NBIoT makes it very useful in the IoT industry, allowing the technology to be used in a wide range of applications, such as health, smart cities, farming, wireless sensor networks and many more [1] [25]. NBIoT can be used to realise the maximum possible spectral efficiency, thereby increasing the capacity of the network. Penetration of NBIoT in the market has dominated other LPWANs like Sigfox and LoRA, with NBIoT having a technology share of close to 50 percent [31]. This study is aimed at exploring the deployment options of NBIoT and determining how network operators can realise the greatest value for their investment by efficiently utilising their allocated spectrum. The main target is to derive the best parameter combination for deployment of the NBIoT network with acceptable error rates in both the uplink and the downlink. Different characteristics of NBIoT were discussed in this study, and the performance of the various approaches investigated to determine their efficiency in relation to the needs of the IoT industry. The error rates of NBIoT, when used in an existing LTE network, were the main focus of this study. Software simulations were used to compare the different parameter settings to see which options provide the best efficiency and cost trade-offs for structuring an NBIoT network. The results of the tests done in this study showed that the error rates are lower for standalone deployment mode than for in-band mode, which is mainly due to less interference in standalone mode than in in-band mode. The results also show that data transmitted in smaller Transport Block Size (TBS) in the Down Link (DL) has less errors than if it’s transmitted in larger blocks. The results also show that the error rate gets lower as the number of subframe repetition increases in the downlink, which is mainly due to the redundancy in sending the same data multiple times. However in the uplink, the results show that the error rates are comparable when the signal has poor quality

Review of state-of-the-art wireless technologies and applications in smart cities

There are increasing preferences to employ wireless communication technologies for high mobility, high scalability and low-cost applications in smart city development. This paper gives a brief synopsis of typical wireless technologies in smart city applications and the comparison analysis between them. The trend for smart city wireless technology is also presented. Examples, for several key applications within smart city development (healthcare, smart grid, localization) are studied and current advanced solutions supporting these applications are summarized with futuristic trends and demands are presented

Foldable all-textile cavity-backed slot antennas for personal UWB localization

An all-textile multimoded cavity-backed slot antenna has been designed and fabricated for body-worn impulse radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) operation in the 3,744-4,742.4 MHz frequency band, thereby covering Channels 2 and 3 of the IEEE 802.15.4a standard. Its light weight, mechanical flexibility, and small footprint of 35 mm x 56 mm facilitate integration into textile for radio communication equipment for first aid responders, personal locator beacons, and equipment for localization and medical monitoring of children or the elderly. The antenna features a stable radiation pattern and reflection coefficient in diverse operating conditions such as in free space, when subject to diverse bending radii and when deployed on the torso or upper right arm of a test person. The high isolation toward the wearer's body originates from the antenna's hemispherical radiation pattern with a -3 dB beamwidth of 120 degrees and a front-to-back ratio higher than 11 dB over the entire band. Moreover, the antenna exhibits a measured maximum gain higher than 6.3 dBi and a radiation efficiency over 75%. In addition, orientation-specific pulse distortion introduced by the antenna element is analyzed by means of the System Fidelity Factor (SFF). The SFF of the communication link between two instances of this antenna is higher than 94% for all directions within the antenna's -3 dB beamwidth. This easily wearable and deployable antenna is suitable to support IR-UWB localization with an accuracy in the order of 5 cm

Learning and Management for Internet-of-Things: Accounting for Adaptivity and Scalability

Internet-of-Things (IoT) envisions an intelligent infrastructure of networked smart devices offering task-specific monitoring and control services. The unique features of IoT include extreme heterogeneity, massive number of devices, and unpredictable dynamics partially due to human interaction. These call for foundational innovations in network design and management. Ideally, it should allow efficient adaptation to changing environments, and low-cost implementation scalable to massive number of devices, subject to stringent latency constraints. To this end, the overarching goal of this paper is to outline a unified framework for online learning and management policies in IoT through joint advances in communication, networking, learning, and optimization. From the network architecture vantage point, the unified framework leverages a promising fog architecture that enables smart devices to have proximity access to cloud functionalities at the network edge, along the cloud-to-things continuum. From the algorithmic perspective, key innovations target online approaches adaptive to different degrees of nonstationarity in IoT dynamics, and their scalable model-free implementation under limited feedback that motivates blind or bandit approaches. The proposed framework aspires to offer a stepping stone that leads to systematic designs and analysis of task-specific learning and management schemes for IoT, along with a host of new research directions to build on.Comment: Submitted on June 15 to Proceeding of IEEE Special Issue on Adaptive and Scalable Communication Network

Integration of a cellular Internet-of-Things transceiver into 6G test network and evaluation of its performance

Abstract. This thesis focuses on the integration and deployment of an aftermarket cellular IoT transceiver on a 6G/5G test network for the purpose of evaluating the feasibility of such device for monitoring the network performance. The cellular technology employed was NB-IoT paired with a Raspberry Pi device as the microprocessor that collects network telemetry and uses MQTT protocol to provide constant data feed. The system was first tested in a public cellular network through a local service provider and was successfully connected to the network, establishing TCP/IP connections, and allowing internet connectivity. To monitor network information and gathering basic telemetry data, a network monitoring utility was developed. It collected data such as network identifiers, module registration status, band/channel, signal strength and GPS position. This data was then published to a MQTT broker. The Adafruit IO platform served as the MQTT broker, providing an interface to visualize the collected data. Furthermore, the system was configured for and deployed on a 6G/5G test network successfully. The device functionality that was developed and tested in the public network remained intact, enabling continuous monitoring and analysis of network data. Through this study, valuable insights into the integration and deployment of cellular IoT transceivers into cellular networks that employ the latest IoT technology were gained. The findings highlight the feasibility of utilizing such a system for network monitoring and demonstrate the potential for IoT applications in cellular networks