Proximity-based systems: Incorporating mobility and scalability through proximity sensing

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This thesis argues that the concept of spatial proximity offers a viable and practical option for the development of context-aware systems for highly mobile and dynamic environments. Such systems would overcome the shortcomings experienced by today’s location-based and infrastructure dependent systems whose ability to deliver context-awareness is prescribed by their infrastructure. The proposed architecture will also allow for scalable interaction as against the single level of interaction in existing systems which limits services to a particular sized area. The thesis examines the concept of spatial proximity and demonstrates how this concept can be exploited to take advantage of technological convergence to offer mobility and scalability to systems. It discusses the design of a proximity-based system that can deliver scalable context-aware services in highly mobile and dynamic environments. It explores the practical application of this novel design in a proximity-sensitive messaging application by creating a proof-of-concept prototype. The proof-of-concept prototype is used to evaluate the design as well as to elicit user views and expectations about a proximity-based approach. Together these provide a valuable insight into the applicability of the proximity-based approach for designing context-aware systems. The design and development work discussed in the thesis presents a Proximity-Sensitive System Architecture that can be adapted for a variety of proximity-sensitive services. This is illustrated by means of examples, including a variety of context-aware messaging applications. The thesis also raises issues for information delivery, resource sharing, and human-computer interaction. While the technological solution (proximity-based messaging) offered is only one among several that can be developed using this architecture, it offers the opportunity to stimulate ideas in the relatively new field of proximity and technological convergence research, and contributes to a better understanding of their potential role in offering context-aware services

Ubicorder: A mobile device for situated interactions with sensor networks

The Ubicorder is a mobile, location and orientation aware device for browsing and interacting with real-time sensor network data. In addition to browsing data, the Ubicorder also provides a graphical user interface (GUI) that users can use to define inference rules. These inference rules detect sensor data patterns, and translate them to higher-order events. Rules can also be recursively combined to form an expressive and robust vocabulary for detecting real-world phenomena, thus enabling users to script higher level and relevant responses to distributed sensor stimuli. The Ubicorder’s mobile, handheld form-factor enables users to easily bring the device to the phenomena of interest, hence simultaneously observe or cause real-world stimuli and manipulate in-situ the event detection rules easily using its graphical interface. In a first-use user study, participants without any prior sensor network experience rated the Ubicorder highly for its usefulness and usability when interacting with a sensor network.Things That Think Consortiu

Internet of Things-aided Smart Grid: Technologies, Architectures, Applications, Prototypes, and Future Research Directions

Traditional power grids are being transformed into Smart Grids (SGs) to address the issues in existing power system due to uni-directional information flow, energy wastage, growing energy demand, reliability and security. SGs offer bi-directional energy flow between service providers and consumers, involving power generation, transmission, distribution and utilization systems. SGs employ various devices for the monitoring, analysis and control of the grid, deployed at power plants, distribution centers and in consumers' premises in a very large number. Hence, an SG requires connectivity, automation and the tracking of such devices. This is achieved with the help of Internet of Things (IoT). IoT helps SG systems to support various network functions throughout the generation, transmission, distribution and consumption of energy by incorporating IoT devices (such as sensors, actuators and smart meters), as well as by providing the connectivity, automation and tracking for such devices. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on IoT-aided SG systems, which includes the existing architectures, applications and prototypes of IoT-aided SG systems. This survey also highlights the open issues, challenges and future research directions for IoT-aided SG systems

Prototyping sensor-actuator networks for home automation

Abstract Integrating actuators into sensor networks is often considered to be the next logical step in the evolution of wireless sensor networks. However, few practical examples of such sensor and actuator networks have been demonstrated so far. In this paper, we present a prototype system that supports the easy prototyping of such applications in the area of home automation. We demonstrate the utility of this system with a simple light control application built on top of it. We also report first experiences and insights gained with the help of real-world experiments

Very Good Benches

As cities strive to become more sustainable and highly optimized, they have begun to embrace the current trend of “smartness” in ubiquitous computing. This is seen in the implementation of “smart” infrastructure throughout neighborhoods. Objects which typically do not sense or respond to users, like benches, can now offer Wi-Fi, charging outlets and weather reports. “Very Good Benches” explores alternative networking strategies and interactions, using Research through Design, Speculative Design, and Prototyping methodologies, to create a series of smart benches that re-imagine smart infrastructure through the lens of social interaction and the optimization of public engagement. The goal of each bench is to become a “very good bench” by attracting as many user interactions as possible from the public in order to develop an internal dataset that determines how and when the bench attracts users. Each bench senses occupancy and vacancy through the use of e-textile sensors and attracts interactions through audio and visual outputs by combining solenoids and LED lights. Wheels are incorporated in the design so users are able to arrange the set of benches in ways that best suit them. Through these interactions, a dataset is developed and used to create a ranking system amongst the networked benches which drives each one to compete to be the bench with the most frequent interactions. By putting more emphasis on the benches and occupants themselves and less attention on larger ideas of optimization, more playful interactions are able to be developed through the object’s perceived personalities. These benches are then able to imagine new possibilities for smart technologies in the public realm as a result of reinterpreting the optimization and efficiency of urban infrastructure through this specific case study

A Measurement-Driven Approach to Understand Urban Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Nordic Cities

Cities are main drivers for climate change mitigation and emission reduction today. However, in many cases they lack reliable baselines of emissions to validate current developments over time, assess the impact of their projects, and prioritize investments and actions. They also need better data on a small geospatial and temporal scale to really understand local emissions. This paper describes the rationale and the design of the Carbon Track and Trace project (CTT) that aims to develop an automated system for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions monitoring through a low-cost city-level sensor network. The system is based on a flexible architecture incorporating open source sensor platforms, an Internet-of-Things wireless backbone, and extensive data analytics. We describe concept, architecture, and deployment as well as initial results