Position discrimination of a 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.15.4 RF mobile source inside-outside a vehicle

Thanks to the recent advancements in the automotive industry, in smart city infrastructure and in electronics miniaturization, low-power wireless sensors are becoming a reference sensing technology connecting the internet of things (IoT) with the conventional world. This study provides an empirical solution to the modern radio location problem of inside-outside position discrimination for a mobile radio frequency (RF) source. The solution is delivered by a detection system that is fully enclosed inside a modern vehicle cabin, whereas the RF ranging is based solely on the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) and the individual sensor’s directivity achieved through shielding. The RF detection system is provided through a low-power wireless sensing network as a complete 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.15.4 solution, anticipating the future integration of this technology in the next generation of smartphones. The RSSI fingerprinting database, which is derived from empirical outdoor measurements for a range up to 5 m, delivers a consistent performance inside the highly RF-reflective vehicle cabin by exploiting the sensor position and directivity, focused on the front of each seat to avoid future human interference. Moreover, a theoretical propagation model based on Friis’ transmission equation constructed on system parameters shows a high correlation with the RSSI fingerprinting experimental model, supporting the consistency of the empirical model, and demonstrating a similar high inside-outside discrimination. The decision algorithm logics used for inside-outside discrimination illustrate a strong example for sensor group decision based on two spatial thresholds: maximum detection range for outside discrimination and the cabin width for inside discrimination. This study’s location system design creates exploitation possibilities beyond the vehicle environment. Various applications that require complete sensor encasement, such as road flushed traffic sensors or underground systems..

Novas soluções para a interação entre operador e passageiro nos transportes públicos

Environmental awareness has been increasing over the years. Since the transportation sector is one of the great contributors of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, it is necessary to motivate people to leave their car at home and use public transport. However, service providers must meet passengers' needs in a more personalized way and improve the quality of the service they offer. This project aims to provide a tool that positively impacts the required shift towards sustainability, and it relies on the exchange of passenger information to achieve this goal. The challenge proposed by the company, OPT, is based on the creation of new solutions for the interaction between operator and passenger through the Smartphone. Given that OPT is headquartered in Porto, its area of intervention par excellence is focused on the Metropolitan Area of Porto (MAP). The project focused on the acquisition of passenger data from this same area to characterize it in terms of urban mobility. The study has the MAP as a starting point however, the goal is to create a solution that is scalable to any city. The project began by characterizing the current situation regarding passenger information in the metropolitan area of Porto and a passenger survey was conducted to understand their perception towards information in public transports. Despite the available app offer, there are opportunities for improvement in the context of the integration of essential app functionalities and user experience. In addition, a bilateral interaction between the two stakeholders is needed in order to generate relevant information from user feedback. In this way, a new mobile application concept for public transport was designed to co-create value and improve the quality of service and allow seamless mobility across the travel network. Taking into account the commercial potential of this project, the strategies of innovation and business are based on the optimization of resources and value for the clientAo longo dos anos, a consciencialização das populações relativamente ao meio ambiente tem vindo a aumentar. O setor dos transportes, nomeadamente o de passageiros, tem um grande impacto na emissão de gases poluentes e, por isso, a utilização do veículo próprio como meio de transporte de eleição tem de ser reduzida. Para isto, é necessário que o transporte público se torne apelativo e sirva as necessidades das pessoas de forma personalizada e com qualidade. Este projeto é desenvolvido de acordo com a premissa de melhoria da qualidade dos transportes públicos e baseia-se na troca de informação para atingir este objetivo. O desafio lançado pela OPT assenta na criação de novas soluções para a interação entre operador e passageiro. Tendo em conta que a OPT está sediada no Porto, a sua área de intervenção por excelência foca-se na Área Metropolitana do Porto (AMP) e, por isso, o projeto focou-se na aquisição de dados desta mesma área para a caracterizar em termos de mobilidade. O estudo tem a AMP como ponto de partida, no entanto, o objetivo é criar uma solução que seja escalável para qualquer cidade. Para analisar o estado da informação ao público na área metropolitana do Porto, procedeu-se ao levantamento da oferta e à realização de um inquérito aos passageiros. Apesar de existir alguma oferta relativamente a aplicações móveis que disponibilizam informação, existem oportunidades de melhoria no contexto da integração de funcionalidades essenciais e user experience. Além disso, a evolução indica uma interação entre os intervenientes de forma a que se possa gerar informação relevante a partir do feedback do utilizador. Desta forma, foi concetualizado um novo modelo de aplicação móvel para os transportes públicos. O objetivo é baseado na co-criação de valor para melhorar a qualidade do serviço e permitir uma mobilidade contínua, motivando assim para a utilização dos transportes coletivos. Tendo em conta o potencial comercial deste projeto, reflete-se sobre as estratégias de inovação e negócio tendo por base a otimização dos recursos e o valor para o clienteMestrado em Engenharia e Gestão Industria

The always best positioned paradigm for mobile indoor applications

In this dissertation, methods for personal positioning in outdoor and indoor environments are investigated. The Always Best Positioned paradigm, which has the goal of providing a preferably consistent self-positioning, will be defined. Furthermore, the localization toolkit LOCATO will be presented, which allows to easily realize positioning systems that follow the paradigm. New algorithms were developed, which particularly address the robustness of positioning systems with respect to the Always Best Positioned paradigm. With the help of this toolkit, three example positioning-systems were implemented, each designed for different applications and requirements: a low-cost system, which can be used in conjunction with user-adaptive public displays, a so-called opportunistic system, which enables positioning with room-level accuracy in any building that provides a WiFi infrastructure, and a high-accuracy system for instrumented environments, which works with active RFID tags and infrared beacons. Furthermore, a new and unique evaluation-method for positioning systems is presented, which uses step-accurate natural walking-traces as ground truth. Finally, six location based services will be presented, which were realized either with the tools provided by LOCATO or with one of the example positioning-systems.In dieser Doktorarbeit werden Methoden zur Personenpositionierung im Innen- und Außenbereich von Gebäuden untersucht. Es wird das ,,Always Best Positioned” Paradigma definiert, welches eine möglichst lückenlose Selbstpositionierung zum Ziel hat. Weiterhin wird die Lokalisierungsplattform LOCATO vorgestellt, welche eine einfache Umsetzung von Positionierungssystemen ermöglicht. Hierzu wurden neue Algorithmen entwickelt, welche gezielt die Robustheit von Positionierungssystemen unter Berücksichtigung des ,,Always Best Positioned” Paradigmas angehen. Mit Hilfe dieser Plattform wurden drei Beispiel Positionierungssysteme entwickelt, welche unterschiedliche Einsatzgebiete berücksichtigen: Ein kostengünstiges System, das im Zusammenhang mit benutzeradaptiven öffentlichen Bildschirmen benutzt werden kann; ein sogenanntes opportunistisches Positionierungssystem, welches eine raumgenaue Positionierung in allen Gebäuden mit WLAN-Infrastruktur ermöglicht, sowie ein metergenaues Positionierungssystem, welches mit Hilfe einer Instrumentierung aus aktiven RFID-Tags und Infrarot-Baken arbeitet. Weiterhin wird erstmalig eine Positionierungsevaluation vorgestellt, welche schrittgenaue, natürliche Bewegungspfade als Referenzsystem einsetzt. Im Abschluss werden 6 lokationsbasierte Dienste vorgestellt, welche entweder mit Hilfe von LOCATO oder mit Hilfe einer der drei Beispiel-Positionierungssysteme entwickelt wurden

\u27Code\u27 and the Slow Erosion of Privacy

The notion of software code replacing legal code as a mechanism to control human behavior-- code as law --is often illustrated with examples in intellectual property and freedom of speech. This Article examines the neglected issue of the impact of code as law on privacy. To what extent is privacy-related code being used, either to undermine or to enhance privacy? On the basis of cases in the domains of law enforcement, national security, E-government, and commerce, it is concluded that technology rarely incorporates specific privacy-related norms. At the same time, however, technology very often does have clear effects on privacy, as it affects the reasonable expectation of privacy. Technology usually makes privacy violations easier. Particularly information technology is much more a technology of control than it is a technology of freedom. Privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) have yet to be implemented on any serious scale. The consequent eroding effect of technology on privacy is a slow, hardly perceptible process. If one is to stop this almost natural process, a concerted effort is called for, possibly in the form of privacy impact assessments, enhanced control mechanisms, and awareness-raising

Privacy-preserving human mobility and activity modelling

The exponential proliferation of digital trends and worldwide responses to the COVID-19 pandemic thrust the world into digitalization and interconnectedness, pushing increasingly new technologies/devices/applications into the market. More and more intimate data of users are collected for positive analysis purposes of improving living well-being but shared with/without the user's consent, emphasizing the importance of making human mobility and activity models inclusive, private, and fair. In this thesis, I develop and implement advanced methods/algorithms to model human mobility and activity in terms of temporal-context dynamics, multi-occupancy impacts, privacy protection, and fair analysis. The following research questions have been thoroughly investigated: i) whether the temporal information integrated into the deep learning networks can improve the prediction accuracy in both predicting the next activity and its timing; ii) how is the trade-off between cost and performance when optimizing the sensor network for multiple-occupancy smart homes; iii) whether the malicious purposes such as user re-identification in human mobility modelling could be mitigated by adversarial learning; iv) whether the fairness implications of mobility models and whether privacy-preserving techniques perform equally for different groups of users. To answer these research questions, I develop different architectures to model human activity and mobility. I first clarify the temporal-context dynamics in human activity modelling and achieve better prediction accuracy by appropriately using the temporal information. I then design a framework MoSen to simulate the interaction dynamics among residents and intelligent environments and generate an effective sensor network strategy. To relieve users' privacy concerns, I design Mo-PAE and show that the privacy of mobility traces attains decent protection at the marginal utility cost. Last but not least, I investigate the relations between fairness and privacy and conclude that while the privacy-aware model guarantees group fairness, it violates the individual fairness criteria.Open Acces

Urban Informatics

This open access book is the first to systematically introduce the principles of urban informatics and its application to every aspect of the city that involves its functioning, control, management, and future planning. It introduces new models and tools being developed to understand and implement these technologies that enable cities to function more efficiently – to become ‘smart’ and ‘sustainable’. The smart city has quickly emerged as computers have become ever smaller to the point where they can be embedded into the very fabric of the city, as well as being central to new ways in which the population can communicate and act. When cities are wired in this way, they have the potential to become sentient and responsive, generating massive streams of ‘big’ data in real time as well as providing immense opportunities for extracting new forms of urban data through crowdsourcing. This book offers a comprehensive review of the methods that form the core of urban informatics from various kinds of urban remote sensing to new approaches to machine learning and statistical modelling. It provides a detailed technical introduction to the wide array of tools information scientists need to develop the key urban analytics that are fundamental to learning about the smart city, and it outlines ways in which these tools can be used to inform design and policy so that cities can become more efficient with a greater concern for environment and equity

Urban Informatics

This open access book is the first to systematically introduce the principles of urban informatics and its application to every aspect of the city that involves its functioning, control, management, and future planning. It introduces new models and tools being developed to understand and implement these technologies that enable cities to function more efficiently – to become ‘smart’ and ‘sustainable’. The smart city has quickly emerged as computers have become ever smaller to the point where they can be embedded into the very fabric of the city, as well as being central to new ways in which the population can communicate and act. When cities are wired in this way, they have the potential to become sentient and responsive, generating massive streams of ‘big’ data in real time as well as providing immense opportunities for extracting new forms of urban data through crowdsourcing. This book offers a comprehensive review of the methods that form the core of urban informatics from various kinds of urban remote sensing to new approaches to machine learning and statistical modelling. It provides a detailed technical introduction to the wide array of tools information scientists need to develop the key urban analytics that are fundamental to learning about the smart city, and it outlines ways in which these tools can be used to inform design and policy so that cities can become more efficient with a greater concern for environment and equity

Urban Informatics

This open access book is the first to systematically introduce the principles of urban informatics and its application to every aspect of the city that involves its functioning, control, management, and future planning. It introduces new models and tools being developed to understand and implement these technologies that enable cities to function more efficiently – to become ‘smart’ and ‘sustainable’. The smart city has quickly emerged as computers have become ever smaller to the point where they can be embedded into the very fabric of the city, as well as being central to new ways in which the population can communicate and act. When cities are wired in this way, they have the potential to become sentient and responsive, generating massive streams of ‘big’ data in real time as well as providing immense opportunities for extracting new forms of urban data through crowdsourcing. This book offers a comprehensive review of the methods that form the core of urban informatics from various kinds of urban remote sensing to new approaches to machine learning and statistical modelling. It provides a detailed technical introduction to the wide array of tools information scientists need to develop the key urban analytics that are fundamental to learning about the smart city, and it outlines ways in which these tools can be used to inform design and policy so that cities can become more efficient with a greater concern for environment and equity

CITIES: Energetic Efficiency, Sustainability; Infrastructures, Energy and the Environment; Mobility and IoT; Governance and Citizenship

This book collects important contributions on smart cities. This book was created in collaboration with the ICSC-CITIES2020, held in San José (Costa Rica) in 2020. This book collects articles on: energetic efficiency and sustainability; infrastructures, energy and the environment; mobility and IoT; governance and citizenship