Sensing dynamic interaction with the environment

Study of the dynamic interaction with the environment and loading of the human body is important in ergonomics, sports and rehabilititation. This paper presents a method to estimate power transfer between the human body and the environment during short interactions and relatively arbitrary movements using a combination of inertial and force sensing

Building accurate radio environment maps from multi-fidelity spectrum sensing data

In cognitive wireless networks, active monitoring of the wireless environment is often performed through advanced spectrum sensing and network sniffing. This leads to a set of spatially distributed measurements which are collected from different sensing devices. Nowadays, several interpolation methods (e.g., Kriging) are available and can be used to combine these measurements into a single globally accurate radio environment map that covers a certain geographical area. However, the calibration of multi-fidelity measurements from heterogeneous sensing devices, and the integration into a map is a challenging problem. In this paper, the auto-regressive co-Kriging model is proposed as a novel solution. The algorithm is applied to model measurements which are collected in a heterogeneous wireless testbed environment, and the effectiveness of the new methodology is validated

A Sensing Error Aware MAC Protocol for Cognitive Radio Networks

Cognitive radios (CR) are intelligent radio devices that can sense the radio environment and adapt to changes in the radio environment. Spectrum sensing and spectrum access are the two key CR functions. In this paper, we present a spectrum sensing error aware MAC protocol for a CR network collocated with multiple primary networks. We explicitly consider both types of sensing errors in the CR MAC design, since such errors are inevitable for practical spectrum sensors and more important, such errors could have significant impact on the performance of the CR MAC protocol. Two spectrum sensing polices are presented, with which secondary users collaboratively sense the licensed channels. The sensing policies are then incorporated into p-Persistent CSMA to coordinate opportunistic spectrum access for CR network users. We present an analysis of the interference and throughput performance of the proposed CR MAC, and find the analysis highly accurate in our simulation studies. The proposed sensing error aware CR MAC protocol outperforms two existing approaches with considerable margins in our simulations, which justify the importance of considering spectrum sensing errors in CR MAC design.Comment: 21 page, technical repor

Current, emerging and future technologies for sensing the environment

This paper reviews current technologies that are used for environmental monitoring, and presents emerging technologies that will dramatically improve our ability to obtain spatially distributed, real-time data about key indicators of environmental quality at specific locations. Futuristic approaches to environmental monitoring that employ fundamental breakthroughs in materials science to revolutionise the way we monitor our environment will also be considered. In particular, approaches employing biomimetic and 'adaptive'/'stimuli-responsive' materials will be highlighted, as these could play an important role in the realization of small, low power, low cost, autonomous sensing and communications platforms that could form the building blocks of the much vaunted environmental 'sensor web'