Low-power wide-area networks : design goals, architecture, suitability to use cases and research challenges

Previous survey articles on Low-Powered Wide-Area Networks (LPWANs) lack a systematic analysis of the design goals of LPWAN and the design decisions adopted by various commercially available and emerging LPWAN technologies, and no study has analysed how their design decisions impact their ability to meet design goals. Assessing a technology's ability to meet design goals is essential in determining suitable technologies for a given application. To address these gaps, we have analysed six prominent design goals and identified the design decisions used to meet each goal in the eight LPWAN technologies, ranging from technical consideration to business model, and determined which specific technique in a design decision will help meet each goal to the greatest extent. System architecture and specifications are presented for those LPWAN solutions, and their ability to meet each design goal is evaluated. We outline seventeen use cases across twelve domains that require large low power network infrastructure and prioritise each design goal's importance to those applications as Low, Moderate, or High. Using these priorities and each technology's suitability for meeting design goals, we suggest appropriate LPWAN technologies for each use case. Finally, a number of research challenges are presented for current and future technologies. © 2013 IEEE

Internet of underground things in precision agriculture: Architecture and technology aspects

The projected increases in World population and need for food have recently motivated adoption of information technology solutions in crop fields within precision agriculture approaches. Internet Of Underground Things (IOUT), which consists of sensors and communication devices, partly or completely buried underground for real-time soil sensing and monitoring, emerge from this need. This new paradigm facilitates seamless integration of underground sensors, machinery, and irrigation systems with the complex social network of growers, agronomists, crop consultants, and advisors. In this paper, state-of-the-art communication architectures are reviewed, and underlying sensing technology and communication mechanisms for IOUT are presented. Moreover, recent advances in the theory and applications of wireless underground communication are also reported. Finally, major challenges in IOUT design and implementation are identified

Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN): Technology Review And Experimental Study on Mobility Effect

In the past decade, we have witnessed explosive growth in the number of low-power embedded and Internet-connected devices, reinforcing the new paradigm, Internet of Things (IoT). IoT devices like smartphones, home security systems, smart electric meters, garage parking indicators, etc., have penetrated deeply into our daily lives. These IoT devices are increasingly attached and operated in mobile objects like unmanned vehicles, trains, airplanes, etc. The low power wide area network (LPWAN), due to its long-range, low-power and low-cost communication capability, is actively considered by academia and industry as the future wireless communication standard for IoT. However, despite the increasing popularity of mobile IoT, little is known about the suitability of LPWAN for those mobile IoT applications in which nodes have varying degrees of mobility. To fill this knowledge gap, in this thesis:1. We present a thorough review on LPWAN technology focusing on the mobility effect. 2. We conduct an experimental study to evaluate, analyze, and characterize LPWAN in both indoor and outdoor mobile environments.Our experimental results indicate that the performance of LPWAN is surprisingly susceptible to mobility, even to minor human mobility, and the effect of mobility significantly escalates as the distance to the gateway increases. These results call for development of new mobility-aware LPWAN protocols to support mobile IoT

Frost monitoring cyber-physical system: a survey on prediction and active protection methods

Frost damage in broadacre cropping and horticulture (including viticulture) results in substantial economic losses to producers and may also disrupt associated product value chains. Frost risk windows are changing in timing, frequency, and duration. Faced with the increasing cost of mitigation infrastructure and competition for resources (e.g., water and energy), multiperil insurance, and the need for supply chain certainty, producers are under pressure to innovate in order to manage and mitigate risk. Frost protection systems are cyber-physical systems (CPSs) consisting of sensors (event detection), intelligence (prediction), and actuators (active protection methods). The Internet-of-Things communication protocols joining the CPS components are also evaluated. In this context, this article introduces and reviews existing methods of frost management. This article focuses on active protection methods because of their potential for real-time deployment during frost events. For integrated frost prediction and active protection systems, prediction method, sensor types, and integration architecture are assessed, research gaps are identified and future research directions proposed

IoT pohjainen betonin kuivumisolosuhteiden hallinta uusien asuinrakennuskohteiden tuotantovaiheessa

Recently, moisture related problems, particularly in relatively new residential buildings, have drawn a significant amount of media attention. Consequently, numerous researches and studies have been conducted in order to detect, analyse, and prevent future moisture problems from occurring. Unwanted moisture in the structures has been found to cause both considerable financial losses and severe health issues due to potential growth of mold, dust mite presence and VOC emissions. There are many causes to the above-mentioned problems throughout the building life cycle, including inadequate design, negligent construction and inappropriate use and maintenance. One of the major single causes is construction moisture that is not properly controlled and removed during the construction phase. The aim of this Master’s thesis is to determine whether it is technically possible and financially feasible to actively steer the construction site management to maintain at all times indoor conditions that are optimal for drying of concrete with the help of real-time IoT-based monitoring technology, and additionally support or even replace current humidity measurement process. Secondary aim is to determine which wireless area network (WAN) is best suited for achieving the former aim, both from technical and financial point of view, taking into account the constantly changing construction environment conditions. The theory section is compiled as a literature survey containing previous studies and literature on concrete including the Finnish building code, the Building Information Ltd and the Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries (CFCI) the as the main source, due to the fact that the concreting conditions in Finland and other Nordic countries are rather challenging, also implying that the quality of Finnish concrete technology is very advanced. The empirical part consists of building, testing and installing the IoT-architecture on the pilot construction site, collecting, analysing and storing sensor data, and developing a web based application designed for the construction site management. The thesis proves that real-time control of drying conditions provides significant financial benefits by cutting down construction time, by optimizing the use of heating energy and by reducing the need for traditional moisture measurements. The case study also shows that the construction management is benefitting greatly from a supplementary mobile web application highlighting the importance of building physics in the drying process.Viime aikoina etenkin uudehkojen asuinrakennusten kosteus- ja homeongelmat ovat saaneet huomattavaa näkyvyyttä mediassa, minkä seurauksena lukuisia uusia tutkimuksia on tehty selvittääkseen ongelmien perimmäiset syyt sekä pystyäkseen ehkäisemään tulevia ongelmia. Kosteusvaurioiden syiksi on todettu mm. uusien energiamääräysten mukaiset erityisen haasteelliset arkkitehti-, rakenne- ja talotekniikkasuunnitelmat, rakennustuotannon ylikuumentuminen ja sitä kautta kasvanut riski työmaalla tapahtuviin virheisiin sekä vääränlainen käyttö ja ylläpito. Yksi isoimmista yksittäisistä syistä on kuitenkin rakennuskosteus eli rakennusmateriaalien kuten betonielementtien valmistuskosteus ja rakenteisiin rakennusaikana päässyt kosteus, jota pitäisi pystyä hallitsemaan nykyistä paremmin. Diplomityön tavoitteena on selvittää, voiko reaaliaikaisella, IoT-teknologiaan perustuvalla työmaan rakennusaikaisten ulko- ja sisäolosuhteiden seurannalla ja betonin kosteuden mittauksella aktiivisesti ohjata työmaan johtoa betonin kuivumiselle optimaalisten olosuhteiden ylläpitämisessä sekä täydentämään tai jopa mahdollisesti korvaamaan nykyistä kosteudenmittausprosessia. Toissijaisena tavoitteena on selvittää, mikä langaton tiedonsiirtoverkko sopii kyseisten tavoitteiden saavuttamisessa parhaiten, sekä tekniseltä toteutukseltaan että kustannustehokkuuden näkökulmasta, ottaen huomioon haastavat ja muuttuvat työmaaolosuhteet. Tutkimuksen teoreettinen osuus on toteutettu kirjallisuuskatsauksena. Tämän tutkimuksen lähteinä on käytetty pääasiassa Suomen rakentamismääräykokoelman, Rakennustiedon (RT), Betoniteollisuus Ry:n ja Betoniyhdistys Ry:n (BY) betonirakenteiden ohjeita ja määräyksiä, johtuen siitä, että Suomessa ja muissa pohjoismaissa rakennusolosuhteet ovat hyvin haastavat, mikä tarkoittaa myös sitä, että suomalainen betonitekniikka on laadullisesti hyvin korkealla tasolla. Tutkimuksen empiirinen osuus koostuu IoT-arkkitehtuurin rakentamisesta ja asentamisesta pilottityömaalle, sensorien datan keräämisestä, analyysistä ja talletuksesta sekä työmaahenkilöstölle tarkoitetun verkkopohjaisen applikaation kehittämisestä. Tutkimus osoittaa, että reaaliaikaisella kuivumisolosuhteiden seurannalla voidaan saavuttaa projektista riippuen hyvinkin merkittävää taloudellista hyötyä lyhentämällä rakennusvaiheen kestoa, tehostamalla lämmitysenergian käyttöä ja vähentämällä perinteisten kosteusmittausten määrää. Pilottiprojekti osoittaa, että työnjohto hyötyy selvästi applikaation käytöstä ja se auttaa ennen kaikkea nuoria ja vähemmän kokeneita työnjohtajia ymmärtämään työmaan rakennusfysiikan merkityksen betonin kuivumisprosessissa

A low-cost and do-it-yourself device for pumping monitoring in deep aquifers

Water crises due to climate change, high population growth and increasing demands from industry and agriculture claim for increasing efficiency and universalizing water resources management strategies and techniques. Water monitoring helps providing necessary evidences for making sound decisions about managing water resources both now and in the future. In this work, a low cost and “do it yourself” communication device is proposed to record water production and energy consumption of electric pumpings from deep boreholes/wells, and to predict the impact of the ongoing and previous pumpings in the evolution of the water level in the aquifer. The proposal incorporates an edge-computing approach for the simulation of the aquifer response in real-time. Computation of results of interest is performed at the sensor, minimizing communication requirements and ensuring almost immediate results. An approximated solution to physically based modeling of aquifer response is computed thanks to the a priori expression of the water level time evolution in a reduced basis. The accuracy is enough to detect deviations from expected behaviour. The energy consumption of the device is very much reduced with respect to that of a full modelling, which can be computed off-line for calibrating reduced model parameters and perform detailed analyses. The device is tested in a real scenario, in a mountain subbasin of the Ebro river in Spain, obtaining a good trade-off between performance, price, and energy consumption.This research has been partly supported by EU under grant agreement N. 825184 and funded by the Government of Spain under contracts PID2019-106774RB-C21, PID2019-106774RB-C22, and PID2020-113172RB-I00 and by the Government of Catalonia as Consolidated Research Groups 2017-SGR-688 and 2017-SGR-990, and Pre-consolidated Research Group 2017-SGR-1496. The APC was funded by the Open program from Universitat Rovira i Virgili.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version