163 research outputs found
Improving domiciliary robotic services by integrating the ASTRO Robot in an AmI Infrastructure
This work describes the ECHORD Experiment ASTROMOBILE, a project aimed to design, develop and test a system for favourable independent living, improved quality of life and efficiency of care for senior citizens in domestic environments. The system, composed of a mobile robotic platform (called ASTRO) and an Ambient Intelligent Infrastructure that actively cooperated between them and with the end-user, was designed and implemented with a user-centred design approach, involving different stakeholders. The system was designed to deliver services to users, like drug delivery, stand support, reminding, info-entertainment. The design took advantages of the integration of robotic platforms with smart environments, to provide to users higher quality and localization based services. Senior end-users were involved in the experimentation of the system in the DomoCasa Living Lab and feedbacks were gathered for the technology assessment. Particularly, this paper demonstrates the general feasibility of the ASTROMOBILE system and thanks to users feedbacks its acceptability and usability
A wireless telecommunications network for real-time monitoring of greenhouse microclimate
An innovative wireless monitoring system for measuring greenhouse climatic parameters was developed to overcome the problems related to wires cabling such as presence of a dense net of wires hampering the cultivation practices, wires subjected to high temperature and relative humidity, rodents that can damage wires. The system exploits battery-powered environmental sensors, such as air temperature and relative humidity sensors, wind speed and direction, and solar radiation sensors, integrated in the contest of an 802.15.4-based wireless sensors network. Besides, a fruit diameter measurement sensor was integrated into the system. This approach guarantees flexibility, ease of deployment and low power consumption. Data collected from the greenhouse are then sent to a remote server via a general packet radio service link. The proposed solution has been implemented in a real environment. The test of the communication system showed that 0.3% of the sent data packed were lost; the climatic parameters measured with the wireless system were compared with data collected by the wired system showing a mean value of the absolute difference equal to 0.6°C for the value of the greenhouse air temperature. The wireless climate monitoring system showed a good reliability, while the sensor node batteries showed a lifetime of 530 days
'HighChest': An augmented freezer designed for smart food management and promotion of eco-efficient behaviour
This paper introduces HighChest, an innovative smart freezer designed to promote energy efficient behavior and the responsible use of food. Introducing a novel humanâmachine interface (HMI) design developed through assessment phases and a user involvement stage, HighChest is state of the art, featuring smart services that exploit embedded sensors and Internet of things functionalities, which enhance the local capabilities of the appliance. The industrial design thinking approach followed for the advanced HMI is intended to maximize the social impact of the food management service, enhancing both the user experience of the product and the userâs willingness to adopt eco- and energy-friendly behaviors. The sensor equipment realizes automatic recognition of food by learning from the users, as well as automatic localization inside the deposit space. Moreover, it provides monitoring of the applianceâs usage, avoiding temperature and humidity issues related to improper use. Experimental tests were conducted to evaluate the localization system, and the results showed 100% accuracy for weights greater or equal to 0.5 kg. Drifts due to the lid opening and prolonged usage time were also measured, to implement automatic reset corrections
Applications of Engineering 4.0 to Improve the Safety of Metalworking Operators: The Ansaldo Energia Case
The paper describes how, on behalf of Ansaldo Energia Spa, a multidisciplinary team developed a methodology based on Industry 4.0 technologies, an approach that allows rescue teams to quickly intervene in the event of a mandown in isolated areas of the plant, where the unfortunate person would risk being found with significant delay and onsequent problems for his physical well-being.
Under the supervision of the team, a highly specialized supplier created a suitable hardware and software device to achieve this outcome. Such a device can immediately warn rescue crews in real time as soon as an incident occurs, as well as geo-locate the man on the ground with exceptional precision.
Once developed, the approach was standardized in a set of sequential and generic procedures in order to make it adaptable to any sort of firm, construction site, or workshop where a man-down event may happen. The methodology is set up as a real toolkit to protect operators from severe damage that can result from long waits for rescue teams, whenever operators experience negative events for their safety being them exogenous (fainting illnesses, heart attacks, epileptic attacks, strokes, etc.) or endogenous (accidents in the workplace)
Combining Wireless Sensor Networks and Semantic Middleware for an Internet of Things-Based Sportsman/Woman Monitoring Application.
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are spearheading the efforts taken to build and deploy systems aiming to accomplish the ultimate objectives of the Internet of Things. Due to the sensors WSNs nodes are provided with, and to their ubiquity and pervasive capabilities, these networks become extremely suitable for many applications that so-called conventional cabled or wireless networks are unable to handle. One of these still underdeveloped applications is monitoring physical parameters on a person. This is an especially interesting application regarding their age or activity, for any detected hazardous parameter can be notified not only to the monitored person as a warning, but also to any third party that may be helpful under critical circumstances, such as relatives or healthcare centers. We propose a system built to monitor a sportsman/woman during a workout session or performing a sport-related indoor activity. Sensors have been deployed by means of several nodes acting as the nodes of a WSN, along with a semantic middleware development used for hardware complexity abstraction purposes. The data extracted from the environment, combined with the information obtained from the user, will compose the basis of the services that can be obtained
Routing and Mobility on IPv6 over LoWPAN
The IoT means a world-wide network of interconnected objects based on standard communication
protocols. An object in this context is a quotidian physical device augmented with
sensing/actuating, processing, storing and communication capabilities. These objects must be
able to interact with the surrounding environment where they are placed and to cooperate with
neighbouring objects in order to accomplish a common objective. The IoT objects have also the
capabilities of converting the sensed data into automated instructions and communicating them
to other objects through the communication networks, avoiding the human intervention in several
tasks. Most of IoT deployments are based on small devices with restricted computational
resources and energy constraints. For this reason, initially the scientific community did not
consider the use of IP protocol suite in this scenarios because there was the perception that it
was too heavy to the available resources on such devices. Meanwhile, the scientific community
and the industry started to rethink about the use of IP protocol suite in all IoT devices and now
it is considered as the solution to provide connectivity between the IoT devices, independently
of the Layer 2 protocol in use, and to connect them to the Internet. Despite the use of IP suite
protocol in all devices and the amount of solutions proposed, many open issues remain unsolved
in order to reach a seamless integration between the IoT and the Internet and to provide the
conditions to IoT service widespread. This thesis addressed the challenges associated with the
interconnectivity between the Internet and the IoT devices and with the security aspects of
the IoT. In the interconnectivity between the IoT devices and the Internet the problem is how
to provide valuable information to the Internet connected devices, independently of the supported
IP protocol version, without being necessary accessed directly to the IoT nodes. In order
to solve this problem, solutions based on Representational state transfer (REST) web services
and IPv4 to IPv6 dual stack transition mechanism were proposed and evaluated. The REST web
service and the transition mechanism runs only at the border router without penalizing the IoT
constrained devices. The mitigation of the effects of internal and external security attacks
minimizing the overhead imposed on the IoT devices is the security challenge addressed in this
thesis. Three different solutions were proposed. The first is a mechanism to prevent remotely
initiated transport level Denial of Service attacks that avoids the use of inefficient and hard to
manage traditional firewalls. It is based on filtering at the border router the traffic received
from the Internet and destined to the IoT network according to the conditions announced by
each IoT device. The second is a network access security framework that can be used to control
the nodes that have access to the network, based on administrative approval, and to enforce
security compliance to the authorized nodes. The third is a network admission control framework
that prevents IoT unauthorized nodes to communicate with IoT authorized nodes or with
the Internet, which drastically reduces the number of possible security attacks. The network
admission control was also exploited as a management mechanism as it can be used to manage
the network size in terms of number of nodes, making the network more manageable, increasing
its reliability and extending its lifetime.A IoT (Internet of Things) tem suscitado o interesse tanto da comunidade académica como
da indústria, uma vez que os campos de aplicação são inúmeros assim como os potenciais ganhos
que podem ser obtidos através do uso deste tipo de tecnologia. A IoT significa uma rede
global de objetos ligados entre si através de uma rede de comunicações baseada em protocolos
standard. Neste contexto, um objeto é um objeto físico do dia a dia ao qual foi adicionada a
capacidade de medir e de atuar sobre variáveis físicas, de processar e armazenar dados e de
comunicar. Estes objetos têm a capacidade de interagir com o meio ambiente envolvente e de
cooperar com outros objetos vizinhos de forma a atingirem um objetivo comum. Estes objetos
também têm a capacidade de converter os dados lidos em instruções e de as comunicar a outros
objetos através da rede de comunicações, evitando desta forma a intervenção humana em
diversas tarefas. A maior parte das concretizações de sistemas IoT são baseados em pequenos
dispositivos autónomos com restrições ao nível dos recursos computacionais e de retenção de
energia. Por esta razão, inicialmente a comunidade científica não considerou adequado o uso
da pilha protocolar IP neste tipo de dispositivos, uma vez que havia a perceção de que era muito
pesada para os recursos computacionais disponíveis. Entretanto, a comunidade científica e a
indústria retomaram a discussão acerca dos benefícios do uso da pilha protocolar em todos os
dispositivos da IoT e atualmente é considerada a solução para estabelecer a conetividade entre
os dispositivos IoT independentemente do protocolo da camada dois em uso e para os ligar à
Internet. Apesar do uso da pilha protocolar IP em todos os dispositivos e da quantidade de
soluções propostas, são vários os problemas por resolver no que concerne à integração contínua
e sem interrupções da IoT na Internet e de criar as condições para a adoção generalizada deste
tipo de tecnologias.
Esta tese versa sobre os desafios associados à integração da IoT na Internet e dos aspetos de
segurança da IoT. Relativamente à integração da IoT na Internet o problema é como fornecer
informação válida aos dispositivos ligados à Internet, independentemente da versão do protocolo
IP em uso, evitando o acesso direto aos dispositivos IoT. Para a resolução deste problema foram
propostas e avaliadas soluções baseadas em web services REST e em mecanismos de transição
IPv4 para IPv6 do tipo pilha dupla (dual stack). O web service e o mecanismo de transição são
suportados apenas no router de fronteira, sem penalizar os dispositivos IoT. No que concerne
à segurança, o problema é mitigar os efeitos dos ataques de segurança internos e externos
iniciados local e remotamente. Foram propostas três soluções diferentes, a primeira é um
mecanismo que minimiza os efeitos dos ataques de negação de serviço com origem na Internet e
que evita o uso de mecanismos de firewalls ineficientes e de gestão complexa. Este mecanismo
filtra no router de fronteira o tráfego com origem na Internet é destinado à IoT de acordo
com as condições anunciadas por cada um dos dispositivos IoT da rede. A segunda solução,
é uma framework de network admission control que controla quais os dispositivos que podem
aceder à rede com base na autorização administrativa e que aplica políticas de conformidade
relativas à segurança aos dispositivos autorizados. A terceira é um mecanismo de network
admission control para redes 6LoWPAN que evita que dispositivos não autorizados comuniquem
com outros dispositivos legítimos e com a Internet o que reduz drasticamente o número de
ataques à segurança. Este mecanismo também foi explorado como um mecanismo de gestão uma
vez que pode ser utilizado a dimensão da rede quanto ao número de dispositivos, tornando-a
mais fácil de gerir e aumentando a sua fiabilidade e o seu tempo de vida
Soluções IoT para caracterização de tráfego em cidades inteligentes
mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e TelemáticaAs agências que administram o tráfego rodoviário têm de tomar decisões importantes,
a fim de definir quais as secções de estrada que têm o maior risco
de impactes relacionados com o tráfego. Neste contexto, reconhece-se que
a implementação do Sistema Avançado de Gestão de Tráfego (SAGT) pode
melhorar não apenas a eficiência da rede, mas também minimizar outras externalidades
de tráfego. Neste contexto, novas soluções de software e hardware,
capazes de fornecer informações melhoradas a partir da dinâmica do
tráfego, podem desempenhar um papel essencial no conhecimento que temos
e a forma como o SAGT é executado. Em particular, a disponibilidade de
dados georreferenciados está a aumentar rápidamente, seja em dispositivos
móveis, como em redes sociais e monitoramento de redes de sensores. Um
dos desafios é combinar e melhorar o potencial de cada fonte de informação,
e depois juntar várias fontes num modelo agregado. Nesta dissertação é
descrita a arquitetura e implementação de diferentes dispositivos para recolha
de dados, um protótipo para monitorização com integração de parâmetros
do motor em tempo-real e uma aplicação móvel, o desenvolvimento de toda
a infra-estrutura necessária e ainda uma aplicação web que combine estes
dados e forneça ferramentas de análise e visualização. Nesta dissertação é
possível que os utilizadores possam utilizar estas ferramentas para adotarem
escolhas mais sustentáveis e uso de estradas menos congestionadas, contribuindo
para a diminuição do congestionamento do tráfego, poupando tempo,
aumentando o fluxo de tráfego, e contribuindo positivamente para o impacte
ambiental.Agencies managing road traffic need to make informed decisions, in order to
define which road sections have the highest risk of traffic-related impacts. In
this context, it is recognized that the implementation of Advanced Traffic Management
System (ATMS) may improve not only network efficiency but also
minimize other traffic externalities. In this context, novel software and hardware
solutions, capable of providing improved information from the traffic dynamics,
can play an essential role in the knowledge we have, and the way
ATMS is executed. In particular, the availability of geo-referenced data is increasing
quickly, either from nomadic devices as well as from social media,
and monitoring sensors networks. One of the challenges is to combine and to
improve the potential of each source of information, and then combine multiple
sources together in an aggregate model. This dissertation describes the architecture
and implementation of an accurate, high-frequency vehicle tracker,
with the integration of real-time engine statistics, and enhanced with an autonomous
inertial model as well as a mobile application for data collection
from the embedded sensors and positioning, the development of all necessary
infrastructure and a web application that combine these data and provide
analysis and visualization tools. In this dissertation it is possible for users to
use these tools to adopt more sustainable choices and use of less congested
roads, contributing to the reduction of traffic congestion, saving time, improving
traffic throughput, and contributing positively to the environmental impact
Enhancing the efficiency of electricity utilization through home energy management systems within the smart grid framework
The concept behind smart grids is the aggregation of “intelligence” into the grid, whether through communication systems technologies that allow broadcast/data reception in real-time, or through monitoring and systems control in an autonomous way. With respect to the technological advancements, in recent years there has been a significant increment in devices and new strategies for the implementation of smart buildings/homes, due to the growing awareness of society in relation to environmental concerns and higher energy costs, so that energy efficiency improvements can provide real gains within modern society. In this perspective, the end-users are seen as active players with the ability to manage their energy resources, for example, microproduction units, domestic loads, electric vehicles and their participation in demand response events. This thesis is focused on identifying application areas where such technologies could bring benefits for their applicability, such as the case of wireless networks, considering the positive and negative points of each protocol available in the market. Moreover, this thesis provides an evaluation of dynamic prices of electricity and peak power, using as an example a system with electric vehicles and energy storage, supported by mixed-integer linear programming, within residential energy management. This thesis will also develop a power measuring prototype designed to process and determine the main electrical measurements and quantify the electrical load connected to a low voltage alternating current system. Finally, two cases studies are proposed regarding the application of model predictive control and thermal regulation for domestic applications with cooling requirements, allowing to minimize energy consumption, considering the restrictions of demand, load and acclimatization in the system
Smart kitchen for Ambient Assisted Living
El envejecimiento de la población es una realidad en todos los países desarrollados. Las predicciones de crecimiento de esta población son alarmantes, planteando un reto para los servicios sociales y sanitarios. Las personas ancianas padecen diversas discapacidades que se van acentuando con la edad, siendo más propensas a sufrir accidentes domésticos, presentando problemas para realizar tareas cotidianas, etc. Esta situación conlleva a una pérdida paulatina de capacidades que en muchas ocasiones acaba con la vida autónoma de la persona. En este contexto, las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TIC) aplicadas al entorno doméstico pueden jugar un papel importante, permitiendo que las personas ancianas vivan más tiempo, de forma independiente en su propio hogar, presentando, por tanto, una alternativa a la hospitalización o institucionalización de las mismas. Este trabajo da un paso más en este sentido, presentando el diseño y desarrollo de un Ambiente Inteligente en la cocina, que ayuda a las personas ancianas y/o con discapacidad a desempeñar sus actividades de la vida diaria de una forma más fácil y sencilla. Esta tesis realiza sus principales aportaciones en dos campos: El metodológico y el tecnológico. Por un lado se presenta una metodología sistemática para extraer necesidades de colectivos específicos a fin de mejorar la información disponible por el equipo de diseño del producto, servicio o sistema. Esta metodología se basa en el estudio de la interacción Hombre-Máquina en base a los paradigmas y modelos existentes y el modelado y descripción de las capacidades del usuario en la misma utilizado el lenguaje estandarizado propuesto en la Clasificación Internacional del Funcionamiento, de la Discapacidad y de la Salud (CIF). Adicionalmente, se plantea el problema de la evaluación tecnológica, diseñando la metodología de evaluación de la tecnología con la finalidad de conocer su accesibilidad, funcionalidad y usabilidad del sistema desarrollado y aplicándola a 61 usuarios y 31 profesionales de la gerontología. Desde un punto de vista técnico, se afronta el diseño de un ambiente asistido inteligente (Ambient Assisted Living, AAL) en la cocina, planteando y definiendo la arquitectura del sistema. Esta arquitectura, basada en OSGi (Open Services Gateway initiative), oferta un sistema modular, con altas capacidades de interoperabilidad y escalabilidad. Además, se diseña e implementa una red de sensores distribuida en el entorno con el fin de obtener la mayor información posible del contexto, presentando distintos algoritmos para obtener información de alto nivel: detección de caídas o localización. Todos los dispositivos presentes en el entorno han sido modelados utilizando la taxonomía propuesta en OSGi4AmI, extendiendo la misma a los electrodomésticos más habituales de la cocina. Finalmente, se presenta el diseño e implementación de la inteligencia del sistema, que en función de la información procedente del contexto y de las capacidades del usuario da soporte a las principales actividades de la vida diaria (AVD) en la cocina
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