Dance of the bulrushes: building conversations between social creatures

The interactive installation is in vogue. Interaction design and physical installations are accepted fixtures of modern life, and with these technology-driven installations beginning to exert influence on modes of mass communication and general expectations for user experiences, it seems appropriate to explore the variety of interactions that exist. This paper surveys a number of successful projects with a critical eye toward assessing the type of communication and/or conversation generated between interactive installations and human participants. Moreover, this exploration seeks to identify whether specific tactics and/or technologies are particularly suited to engendering layers of dialogue or ‘conversations’ within interactive physical computing installations. It is asserted that thoughtful designs incorporating self-organizational abilities can foster rich dialogues in which participants and the installation collaboratively generate value in the interaction. To test this hypothesis an interactive installation was designed and deployed in locations in and around London. Details of the physical objects and employed technologies are discussed, and results of the installation sessions are shown to corroborate the key tenets of this argument in addition to highlighting other concerns that are specifically relevant to the broad topic of interactive design

Hybrid Satellite-Terrestrial Communication Networks for the Maritime Internet of Things: Key Technologies, Opportunities, and Challenges

With the rapid development of marine activities, there has been an increasing number of maritime mobile terminals, as well as a growing demand for high-speed and ultra-reliable maritime communications to keep them connected. Traditionally, the maritime Internet of Things (IoT) is enabled by maritime satellites. However, satellites are seriously restricted by their high latency and relatively low data rate. As an alternative, shore & island-based base stations (BSs) can be built to extend the coverage of terrestrial networks using fourth-generation (4G), fifth-generation (5G), and beyond 5G services. Unmanned aerial vehicles can also be exploited to serve as aerial maritime BSs. Despite of all these approaches, there are still open issues for an efficient maritime communication network (MCN). For example, due to the complicated electromagnetic propagation environment, the limited geometrically available BS sites, and rigorous service demands from mission-critical applications, conventional communication and networking theories and methods should be tailored for maritime scenarios. Towards this end, we provide a survey on the demand for maritime communications, the state-of-the-art MCNs, and key technologies for enhancing transmission efficiency, extending network coverage, and provisioning maritime-specific services. Future challenges in developing an environment-aware, service-driven, and integrated satellite-air-ground MCN to be smart enough to utilize external auxiliary information, e.g., sea state and atmosphere conditions, are also discussed

A Review for the Current Advancements in 5G Technology

الجيل الخامس للاتصالات أو ما يشار اليه باختصار (5G) يمثل التطور الجديد في عالم الاتصالات والذي يعتمد عليه لكسر حاجز سرعة البيانات الحالي للوصول إلى سرعات عالية. تَعِد هذه التقنية الحديثة بسرعات خيالية ستمكن المستخدمين من إجراء مكالمات صورية ذات دقة عالية جدا وبوقت حقيقي دون تقطيعات. كما وستوفر هذه التقنية أيضا البنى التحتية لما يعرف بإنترنت الأشياء (IoT) والذي سيعتمد من قبل الحكومات الالكترونية ومراكز الرعاية الصحية الالكترونية وشبكات الواصل الاجتماعي وتبادل البيانات بالإمكانات المفتوحة والتحكم عن بعد بالمنشآت الحكومية المهمة والحساسة. الغرض من ها البحث هو تقديم مسح بياني عن التحديثات الجديدة في هذا الميدان (5G) والمقاييس المتوفرة والتي هي تحت البحث والمناقشة والإمكانات المستقبلية لهذه التقنية. بالإضافة لهذا يتطرق البحث لموضوع التحديات والصعوبات التي تواجه هذه التقنية الحديثة والخطط الموضوعة لمستقبل الاتصالات.The fifth generation technology or in short (5G technology) is the recent technology that is meant to break the data limits barrier. It promises very high data rates that will provide the user with enough bandwidth to conduct a real time HD telephone conversation. It will also provide the infrastructure for the IoT (Internet of Things) that will be dedicated for electronic governments, electronic healthcare centers, social media networks, full-scale data sharing, and remote controlling for sensitive governmental facilities. This paper is intended as survey for the current developments and technologies available for the coming 5G mobile technology. It discusses the ideas, the preparations, the developments, the standards under discussion and the potentials for this technology. In addition, this work takes into consideration the challenges and the difficulties facing this new coming technology and the plans laid ahead for the futuristic mobile networks

Analysis and Comparison of Smart Homes

Tark maja on kodu, mis on osaliselt automatiseeritud. Targa maja peamine ülesanne on kõik seadmed koondada tsentraalse juhtimise alla, mis võimaldab programmeerida erinevate sündmuste korral tegevusi, mis kõige paremini maja ja omaniku soovidega kokku sobivad. Käesolev bakalaureusetöö analüüsib ning võrdleb erinevaid tehnoloogiad, mille abil on võimalik enda kodu automatiseerida. Võrreldakse kuut lahendust milleks on: Insteon, X10, Z-Wave, Android@Home, Zigbee ning DomoticHome. Lisaks on teises peatükis välja toodud kodu automatiseerimise lühiajalugu, mida siiamaani pole veel keegi kirja pannud. Samuti rakendame kaks juhtmeta ühendusega lahendust. Mõlemad süsteemid põhinevad Arduino mikrokontrolleril ning Android operatsioonisüsteemiga mobiiltelefonil. Erinevus seisneb suhtlusprotokollis. Esimene süsteem, DomoticHome, kasutab suhtlemiseks Wi-Fi tehnoloogiat. Teine põhineb Amarino toolkit-il ning Bluetooth suhtlusprotokollil. Mõlema süsteemiga saab ühendada valgusteid, temperatuuri andureid ning muud vajalikku, mis võib ühes kodus vaja minna. Seejärel saab telefoni abil neid seadmeid sisse- ja välja lülitada ning saada erinevaid mõõtmisi Arduino sensoritelt. Analüüsis sai välja toodud kõikide võrreldud tehnoloogiate plussid ning miinused vastavalt kriteeriumitele, mis lõputöö algul said ära otsustatud. Rakendamisel valmisid kaks lahendust. Mõlemaga sai sisse- ja välja lülitada Arduino külge ühendatud LED-valgustit ning mõõta toatemperatuuri thermistor-mooduli abil. Kuna DomoticHome tehnoloogia genereerib automaatselt Arduino mikrokontrollerile juhtimiskoodi, siis selle seadistamine oli võrdlemisi lihtsam kui Bluetooth ühendusega süsteemi ülespanemine. Amarino lahenduse jaoks oli vaja algul õppida Arduino mikrokontrollerit programmeerida. Tavainimese jaoks võib see osutuda keeruliseks. DomoticHome lahenduse Arduino mikrokontroller saab voolu seinapistikust või ruuterist, mille külge ta on ühendatud. Erinevalt DomoticHome-st saab Amarino Arduino mikrokontroller voolu 3-lt AA-tüüpi patareilt. Paralleelselt valminud Steve Mägi bakalaureusetöö eksperimendid näitasid, et süsteem võib mõõdukal kasutamisel järjest töötada 39 tundi ning 20 minutit. Kui inimesel pole võimalik sellise aja tagant vahetada patareisid, siis see süsteem ei sobi antud isikule ja peab valima DomoticHome lahenduse. Arvestades, et praeguseni on kodu automatsioon olnud suhteliselt kallis, siis võib loota, et kui Google enda süsteemi turule toob, siis tarkade majade arv kasvad hüppeliselt. Põhjus on selles, et süsteem toimib Androidi operatsioonisüsteemi põhjal ning tänaseks on maailmas juba 300 miljonit aktiveeritud Android seadet. üleüldiselt on tegu kiiresti areneva ning huvitava valdkonnaga. Kindlasti vajab see edasist uurimist ning arendamist

The future of housing and technology in Japan - the Connected Homes Group Study Tour.

-Future housing; future technology; Japan

INTELLIGENT BURGLAR ALARM SYSTEM

INTELLIGENT BURGLAR ALARM SYSTEM (IBAS) is done to accomplish three vital requirements on giving best burglar alarm service; which are the reliability, cost effectiveness ofthe system and also avoiding false alarm. It brings the objectives to study the limitation on the existing burglar alarm system and innovates them in order to enhance its performance and affordability.This system has two modes in which the system will be able to stay 'ON' for 24 hours. With the purchasing cost for just around RM250, this system will automatically inform the neighbors' pager and dial the nearest police station once it is triggered. With the victim's address displayed atpolice station and conformation from the neighbor (third party), the policemen can take immediate action. Another new feature added is the locket size transmitter for the premise holders which will trigger the alarm loudly in case ofemergency such as when the intruder is trying to threaten their life. This project focuses on four main areas; sensors, alarm system control unit, wireless technology and microcontroller. The methodologies that will be used in completing this project are reviewing the existing circuit, designing, constructing, testing and troubleshooting the circuit. Finally the whole system will be implemented on the scaled premise model. This project focuses on the urban residential area and also rural community. In all, this project would be very useful in various aspects since it is reliable, affordable and effective

Generic framework for the personal omni-remote controller using M2MI

A Generic Framework for the Personal Omni-Remote Controller Using M2MI is a master’s thesis outlining a generic framework for the wireless omni-remote controller that controls neighboring appliances by using Many-to-Many Invocation (M2MI). M2MI is an object-oriented abstraction of broadcast communication. First, this paper introduces the history of remote controllers and analyzes omni-remote controller projects made by other researchers in this area, such as the Pebbles PDA project at Carnegie Mellon University and HP’s COOLTOWN project. Second, this paper depicts a generic framework of the personal omni-remote controller system including architecture, type hierarchy, and service discovery. In this framework, a module approach and a decentralized dual-mode service discovery scheme are introduced. When users request a certain type of service, their omni-remote controller application will first discover the available appliances in the vicinity and then bring up the corresponding control module for the target appliance. Thus, users can control the appliance through the User Interface of the control module. To join the omni-remote controller system, servers and clients need to follow the type hierarchy convention of the system. Finally, several implementations are given to show the control of different appliances with different capabilities. These appliances include thermostats, TVs with parental control, and washing machines