367 research outputs found
Complexity Science in Human Change
This reprint encompasses fourteen contributions that offer avenues towards a better understanding of complex systems in human behavior. The phenomena studied here are generally pattern formation processes that originate in social interaction and psychotherapy. Several accounts are also given of the coordination in body movements and in physiological, neuronal and linguistic processes. A common denominator of such pattern formation is that complexity and entropy of the respective systems become reduced spontaneously, which is the hallmark of self-organization. The various methodological approaches of how to model such processes are presented in some detail. Results from the various methods are systematically compared and discussed. Among these approaches are algorithms for the quantification of synchrony by cross-correlational statistics, surrogate control procedures, recurrence mapping and network models.This volume offers an informative and sophisticated resource for scholars of human change, and as well for students at advanced levels, from graduate to post-doctoral. The reprint is multidisciplinary in nature, binding together the fields of medicine, psychology, physics, and neuroscience
On the Road to 6G: Visions, Requirements, Key Technologies and Testbeds
Fifth generation (5G) mobile communication systems have entered the stage of commercial development, providing users with new services and improved user experiences as well as offering a host of novel opportunities to various industries. However, 5G still faces many challenges. To address these challenges, international industrial, academic, and standards organizations have commenced research on sixth generation (6G) wireless communication systems. A series of white papers and survey papers have been published, which aim to define 6G in terms of requirements, application scenarios, key technologies, etc. Although ITU-R has been working on the 6G vision and it is expected to reach a consensus on what 6G will be by mid-2023, the related global discussions are still wide open and the existing literature has identified numerous open issues. This paper first provides a comprehensive portrayal of the 6G vision, technical requirements, and application scenarios, covering the current common understanding of 6G. Then, a critical appraisal of the 6G network architecture and key technologies is presented. Furthermore, existing testbeds and advanced 6G verification platforms are detailed for the first time. In addition, future research directions and open challenges are identified for stimulating the on-going global debate. Finally, lessons learned to date concerning 6G networks are discussed
Multifunction Radios and Interference Suppression for Enhanced Reliability and Security of Wireless Systems
Wireless connectivity, with its relative ease of over-the-air information sharing, is a key technological enabler that facilitates many of the essential applications, such as satellite navigation, cellular communication, and media broadcasting, that are nowadays taken for granted. However, that relative ease of over-the-air communications has significant drawbacks too. On one hand, the broadcast nature of wireless communications means that one receiver can receive the superposition of multiple transmitted signals. But on the other hand, it means that multiple receivers can receive the same transmitted signal. The former leads to congestion and concerns about reliability because of the limited nature of the electromagnetic spectrum and the vulnerability to interference. The latter means that wirelessly transmitted information is inherently insecure.
This thesis aims to provide insights and means for improving physical layer reliability and security of wireless communications by, in a sense, combining the two aspects above through simultaneous and same frequency transmit and receive operation. This is so as to ultimately increase the safety of environments where wireless devices function or where malicious wirelessly operated devices (e.g., remote-controlled drones) potentially raise safety concerns. Specifically, two closely related research directions are pursued. Firstly, taking advantage of in-band full-duplex (IBFD) radio technology to benefit the reliability and security of wireless communications in the form of multifunction IBFD radios. Secondly, extending the self-interference cancellation (SIC) capabilities of IBFD radios to multiradio platforms to take advantage of these same concepts on a wider scale.
Within the first research direction, a theoretical analysis framework is developed and then used to comprehensively study the benefits and drawbacks of simultaneously combining signals detection and jamming on the same frequency within a single platform. Also, a practical prototype capable of such operation is implemented and its performance analyzed based on actual measurements. The theoretical and experimental analysis altogether give a concrete understanding of the quantitative benefits of simultaneous same-frequency operations over carrying out the operations in an alternating manner. Simultaneously detecting and jamming signals specifically is shown to somewhat increase the effective range of a smart jammer compared to intermittent detection and jamming, increasing its reliability.
Within the second research direction, two interference mitigation methods are proposed that extend the SIC capabilities from single platform IBFD radios to those not physically connected. Such separation brings additional challenges in modeling the interference compared to the SIC problem, which the proposed methods address. These methods then allow multiple radios to intentionally generate and use interference for controlling access to the electromagnetic spectrum. Practical measurement results demonstrate that this effectively allows the use of cooperative jamming to prevent unauthorized nodes from processing any signals of interest, while authorized nodes can use interference mitigation to still access the same signals. This in turn provides security at the physical layer of wireless communications
PROCEEDINGS 5th PLATE Conference
The 5th international PLATE conference (Product Lifetimes and the Environment) addressed product lifetimes in the context of sustainability. The PLATE conference, which has been running since 2015, has successfully been able to establish a solid network of researchers around its core theme. The topic has come to the forefront of current (political, scientific & societal) debates due to its interconnectedness with a number of recent prominent movements, such as the circular economy, eco-design and collaborative consumption. For the 2023 edition of the conference, we encouraged researchers to propose how to extend, widen or critically re-construct thematic sessions for the PLATE conference, and the paper call was constructed based on these proposals. In this 5th PLATE conference, we had 171 paper presentations and 238 participants from 14 different countries. Beside of paper sessions we organized workshops and REPAIR exhibitions
11th International Conference on Business, Technology and Innovation 2022
Welcome to IC – UBT 2022
UBT Annual International Conference is the 11th international interdisciplinary peer reviewed conference which publishes works of the scientists as well as practitioners in the area where UBT is active in Education, Research and Development. The UBT aims to implement an integrated strategy to establish itself as an internationally competitive, research-intensive university, committed to the transfer of knowledge and the provision of a world-class education to the most talented students from all background. The main perspective of the conference is to connect the scientists and practitioners from different disciplines in the same place and make them be aware of the recent advancements in different research fields, and provide them with a unique forum to share their experiences. It is also the place to support the new academic staff for doing research and publish their work in international standard level.
This conference consists of sub conferences in different fields like: Security Studies Sport, Health and Society Psychology Political Science Pharmaceutical and Natural Sciences Mechatronics, System Engineering and Robotics Medicine and Nursing Modern Music, Digital Production and Management Management, Business and Economics Language and Culture Law Journalism, Media and Communication Information Systems and Security Integrated Design Energy Efficiency Engineering Education and Development Dental Sciences Computer Science and Communication Engineering Civil Engineering, Infrastructure and Environment Architecture and Spatial Planning Agriculture, Food Science and Technology Art and Digital Media
This conference is the major scientific event of the UBT. It is organizing annually and always in cooperation with the partner universities from the region and Europe. We have to thank all Authors, partners, sponsors and also the conference organizing team making this event a real international scientific event.
Edmond Hajrizi, President of UBT UBT – Higher Education Institutio
Real-Time Waveform Prototyping
Mobile Netzwerke der fünften Generation zeichen sich aus durch vielfältigen Anforderungen und Einsatzszenarien. Drei unterschiedliche Anwendungsfälle sind hierbei besonders relevant: 1) Industrie-Applikationen fordern Echtzeitfunkübertragungen mit besonders niedrigen Ausfallraten. 2) Internet-of-things-Anwendungen erfordern die Anbindung einer Vielzahl von verteilten Sensoren. 3) Die Datenraten für Anwendung wie z.B. der Übermittlung von Videoinhalten sind massiv gestiegen.
Diese zum Teil gegensätzlichen Erwartungen veranlassen Forscher und Ingenieure dazu, neue Konzepte und Technologien für zukünftige drahtlose Kommunikationssysteme in Betracht zu ziehen. Ziel ist es, aus einer Vielzahl neuer Ideen vielversprechende Kandidatentechnologien zu identifizieren und zu entscheiden, welche für die Umsetzung in zukünftige Produkte geeignet sind. Die Herausforderungen, diese Anforderungen zu erreichen, liegen jedoch jenseits der Möglichkeiten, die eine einzelne Verarbeitungsschicht in einem drahtlosen Netzwerk bieten kann. Daher müssen mehrere Forschungsbereiche Forschungsideen gemeinsam nutzen.
Diese Arbeit beschreibt daher eine Plattform als Basis für zukünftige experimentelle Erforschung von drahtlosen Netzwerken unter reellen Bedingungen. Es werden folgende drei Aspekte näher vorgestellt:
Zunächst erfolgt ein Überblick über moderne Prototypen und Testbed-Lösungen, die auf großes Interesse, Nachfrage, aber auch Förderungsmöglichkeiten stoßen. Allerdings ist der Entwicklungsaufwand nicht unerheblich und richtet sich stark nach den gewählten Eigenschaften der Plattform. Der Auswahlprozess ist jedoch aufgrund der Menge der verfügbaren Optionen und ihrer jeweiligen (versteckten) Implikationen komplex. Daher wird ein Leitfaden anhand verschiedener Beispiele vorgestellt, mit dem Ziel Erwartungen im Vergleich zu den für den Prototyp erforderlichen Aufwänden zu bewerten.
Zweitens wird ein flexibler, aber echtzeitfähiger Signalprozessor eingeführt, der auf einer software-programmierbaren Funkplattform läuft. Der Prozessor ermöglicht die Rekonfiguration wichtiger Parameter der physikalischen Schicht während der Laufzeit, um eine Vielzahl moderner Wellenformen zu erzeugen. Es werden vier Parametereinstellungen 'LLC', 'WiFi', 'eMBB' und 'IoT' vorgestellt, um die Anforderungen der verschiedenen drahtlosen Anwendungen widerzuspiegeln. Diese werden dann zur Evaluierung der die in dieser Arbeit vorgestellte Implementierung herangezogen.
Drittens wird durch die Einführung einer generischen Testinfrastruktur die Einbeziehung externer Partner aus der Ferne ermöglicht. Das Testfeld kann hier für verschiedenste Experimente flexibel auf die Anforderungen drahtloser Technologien zugeschnitten werden. Mit Hilfe der Testinfrastruktur wird die Leistung des vorgestellten Transceivers hinsichtlich Latenz, erreichbarem Durchsatz und Paketfehlerraten bewertet. Die öffentliche Demonstration eines taktilen Internet-Prototypen, unter Verwendung von Roboterarmen in einer Mehrbenutzerumgebung, konnte erfolgreich durchgeführt und bei mehreren Gelegenheiten präsentiert werden.:List of figures
List of tables
Abbreviations
Notations
1 Introduction
1.1 Wireless applications
1.2 Motivation
1.3 Software-Defined Radio
1.4 State of the art
1.5 Testbed
1.6 Summary
2 Background
2.1 System Model
2.2 PHY Layer Structure
2.3 Generalized Frequency Division Multiplexing
2.4 Wireless Standards
2.4.1 IEEE 802.15.4
2.4.2 802.11 WLAN
2.4.3 LTE
2.4.4 Low Latency Industrial Wireless Communications
2.4.5 Summary
3 Wireless Prototyping
3.1 Testbed Examples
3.1.1 PHY - focused Testbeds
3.1.2 MAC - focused Testbeds
3.1.3 Network - focused testbeds
3.1.4 Generic testbeds
3.2 Considerations
3.3 Use cases and Scenarios
3.4 Requirements
3.5 Methodology
3.6 Hardware Platform
3.6.1 Host
3.6.2 FPGA
3.6.3 Hybrid
3.6.4 ASIC
3.7 Software Platform
3.7.1 Testbed Management Frameworks
3.7.2 Development Frameworks
3.7.3 Software Implementations
3.8 Deployment
3.9 Discussion
3.10 Conclusion
4 Flexible Transceiver
4.1 Signal Processing Modules
4.1.1 MAC interface
4.1.2 Encoding and Mapping
4.1.3 Modem
4.1.4 Post modem processing
4.1.5 Synchronization
4.1.6 Channel Estimation and Equalization
4.1.7 Demapping
4.1.8 Flexible Configuration
4.2 Analysis
4.2.1 Numerical Precision
4.2.2 Spectral analysis
4.2.3 Latency
4.2.4 Resource Consumption
4.3 Discussion
4.3.1 Extension to MIMO
4.4 Summary
5 Testbed
5.1 Infrastructure
5.2 Automation
5.3 Software Defined Radio Platform
5.4 Radio Frequency Front-end
5.4.1 Sub 6 GHz front-end
5.4.2 26 GHz mmWave front-end
5.5 Performance evaluation
5.6 Summary
6 Experiments
6.1 Single Link
6.1.1 Infrastructure
6.1.2 Single Link Experiments
6.1.3 End-to-End
6.2 Multi-User
6.3 26 GHz mmWave experimentation
6.4 Summary
7 Key lessons
7.1 Limitations Experienced During Development
7.2 Prototyping Future
7.3 Open points
7.4 Workflow
7.5 Summary
8 Conclusions
8.1 Future Work
8.1.1 Prototyping Workflow
8.1.2 Flexible Transceiver Core
8.1.3 Experimental Data-sets
8.1.4 Evolved Access Point Prototype For Industrial Networks
8.1.5 Testbed Standardization
A Additional Resources
A.1 Fourier Transform Blocks
A.2 Resource Consumption
A.3 Channel Sounding using Chirp sequences
A.3.1 SNR Estimation
A.3.2 Channel Estimation
A.4 Hardware part listThe demand to achieve higher data rates for the Enhanced Mobile Broadband scenario and novel fifth generation use cases like Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency and Massive Machine-type Communications drive researchers and engineers to consider new concepts and technologies for future wireless communication systems. The goal is to identify promising candidate technologies
among a vast number of new ideas and to decide, which are suitable for implementation in future products. However, the challenges to achieve those demands are beyond the capabilities a single processing layer in a wireless network can offer. Therefore, several research domains have to collaboratively exploit research ideas.
This thesis presents a platform to provide a base for future applied research on wireless networks. Firstly, by giving an overview of state-of-the-art prototypes and testbed solutions. Secondly by introducing a flexible, yet real-time physical layer signal processor running on a software defined radio platform. The processor enables reconfiguring important parameters of the physical layer during run-time in order to create a multitude of modern waveforms. Thirdly, by introducing a generic test infrastructure, which can be tailored to prototype diverse wireless technology and which is remotely accessible in order to invite new ideas by third parties. Using the test infrastructure, the performance of the flexible transceiver is evaluated regarding latency, achievable throughput and packet error rates.:List of figures
List of tables
Abbreviations
Notations
1 Introduction
1.1 Wireless applications
1.2 Motivation
1.3 Software-Defined Radio
1.4 State of the art
1.5 Testbed
1.6 Summary
2 Background
2.1 System Model
2.2 PHY Layer Structure
2.3 Generalized Frequency Division Multiplexing
2.4 Wireless Standards
2.4.1 IEEE 802.15.4
2.4.2 802.11 WLAN
2.4.3 LTE
2.4.4 Low Latency Industrial Wireless Communications
2.4.5 Summary
3 Wireless Prototyping
3.1 Testbed Examples
3.1.1 PHY - focused Testbeds
3.1.2 MAC - focused Testbeds
3.1.3 Network - focused testbeds
3.1.4 Generic testbeds
3.2 Considerations
3.3 Use cases and Scenarios
3.4 Requirements
3.5 Methodology
3.6 Hardware Platform
3.6.1 Host
3.6.2 FPGA
3.6.3 Hybrid
3.6.4 ASIC
3.7 Software Platform
3.7.1 Testbed Management Frameworks
3.7.2 Development Frameworks
3.7.3 Software Implementations
3.8 Deployment
3.9 Discussion
3.10 Conclusion
4 Flexible Transceiver
4.1 Signal Processing Modules
4.1.1 MAC interface
4.1.2 Encoding and Mapping
4.1.3 Modem
4.1.4 Post modem processing
4.1.5 Synchronization
4.1.6 Channel Estimation and Equalization
4.1.7 Demapping
4.1.8 Flexible Configuration
4.2 Analysis
4.2.1 Numerical Precision
4.2.2 Spectral analysis
4.2.3 Latency
4.2.4 Resource Consumption
4.3 Discussion
4.3.1 Extension to MIMO
4.4 Summary
5 Testbed
5.1 Infrastructure
5.2 Automation
5.3 Software Defined Radio Platform
5.4 Radio Frequency Front-end
5.4.1 Sub 6 GHz front-end
5.4.2 26 GHz mmWave front-end
5.5 Performance evaluation
5.6 Summary
6 Experiments
6.1 Single Link
6.1.1 Infrastructure
6.1.2 Single Link Experiments
6.1.3 End-to-End
6.2 Multi-User
6.3 26 GHz mmWave experimentation
6.4 Summary
7 Key lessons
7.1 Limitations Experienced During Development
7.2 Prototyping Future
7.3 Open points
7.4 Workflow
7.5 Summary
8 Conclusions
8.1 Future Work
8.1.1 Prototyping Workflow
8.1.2 Flexible Transceiver Core
8.1.3 Experimental Data-sets
8.1.4 Evolved Access Point Prototype For Industrial Networks
8.1.5 Testbed Standardization
A Additional Resources
A.1 Fourier Transform Blocks
A.2 Resource Consumption
A.3 Channel Sounding using Chirp sequences
A.3.1 SNR Estimation
A.3.2 Channel Estimation
A.4 Hardware part lis
Automatic Detection of Dementia and related Affective Disorders through Processing of Speech and Language
In 2019, dementia is has become a trillion dollar disorder. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a type of dementia in which the main observable symptom is a decline in cognitive functions, notably memory, as well as language and problem-solving. Experts agree that early detection is crucial to effectively develop and apply interventions and treatments, underlining the need for effective and pervasive assessment and screening tools. The goal of this thesis is to explores how computational techniques can be used to process speech and language samples produced by patients suffering from dementia or related affective disorders, to the end of automatically detecting them in large populations us- ing machine learning models. A strong focus is laid on the detection of early stage dementia (MCI), as most clinical trials today focus on intervention at this level. To this end, novel automatic and semi-automatic analysis schemes for a speech-based cogni- tive task, i.e., verbal fluency, are explored and evaluated to be an appropriate screening task. Due to a lack of available patient data in most languages, world-first multilingual approaches to detecting dementia are introduced in this thesis. Results are encouraging and clear benefits on a small French dataset become visible. Lastly, the task of detecting these people with dementia who also suffer from an affective disorder called apathy is explored. Since they are more likely to convert into later stage of dementia faster, it is crucial to identify them. These are the fist experiments that consider this task us- ing solely speech and language as inputs. Results are again encouraging, both using only speech or language data elicited using emotional questions. Overall, strong results encourage further research in establishing speech-based biomarkers for early detection and monitoring of these disorders to better patients’ lives.Im Jahr 2019 ist Demenz zu einer Billionen-Dollar-Krankheit geworden. Die Alzheimer- Krankheit (AD) ist eine Form der Demenz, bei der das Hauptsymptom eine Abnahme der kognitiven Funktionen ist, insbesondere des Gedächtnisses sowie der Sprache und des Problemlösungsvermögens. Experten sind sich einig, dass eine frühzeitige Erkennung entscheidend für die effektive Entwicklung und Anwendung von Interventionen und Behandlungen ist, was den Bedarf an effektiven und durchgängigen Bewertungsund Screening-Tools unterstreicht. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es zu erforschen, wie computergest ützte Techniken eingesetzt werden können, um Sprach- und Sprechproben von Patienten, die an Demenz oder verwandten affektiven Störungen leiden, zu verarbeiten, mit dem Ziel, diese in großen Populationen mit Hilfe von maschinellen Lernmodellen automatisch zu erkennen. Ein starker Fokus liegt auf der Erkennung von Demenz im Frühstadium (MCI), da sich die meisten klinischen Studien heute auf eine Intervention auf dieser Ebene konzentrieren. Zu diesem Zweck werden neuartige automatische und halbautomatische Analyseschemata für eine sprachbasierte kognitive Aufgabe, d.h. die verbale Geläufigkeit, erforscht und als geeignete Screening-Aufgabe bewertet. Aufgrund des Mangels an verfügbaren Patientendaten in den meisten Sprachen werden in dieser Arbeit weltweit erstmalig mehrsprachige Ansätze zur Erkennung von Demenz vorgestellt. Die Ergebnisse sind ermutigend und es werden deutliche Vorteile an einem kleinen französischen Datensatz sichtbar. Schließlich wird die Aufgabe untersucht, jene Menschen mit Demenz zu erkennen, die auch an einer affektiven Störung namens Apathie leiden. Da sie mit größerer Wahrscheinlichkeit schneller in ein späteres Stadium der Demenz übergehen, ist es entscheidend, sie zu identifizieren. Dies sind die ersten Experimente, die diese Aufgabe unter ausschließlicher Verwendung von Sprache und Sprache als Input betrachten. Die Ergebnisse sind wieder ermutigend, sowohl bei der Verwendung von reiner Sprache als auch bei der Verwendung von Sprachdaten, die durch emotionale Fragen ausgelöst werden. Insgesamt sind die Ergebnisse sehr ermutigend und ermutigen zu weiterer Forschung, um sprachbasierte Biomarker für die Früherkennung und Überwachung dieser Erkrankungen zu etablieren und so das Leben der Patienten zu verbessern
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