Predictive algorithms for mobility and device lifecycle management in Cyber- Physical Systems

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are often composed of a great number of mobile, wireless networked devices. In order to guarantee the system performing, management policies focused on becoming transparent to high-level applications, the changes in the hardware platform have to be implemented. However, traditional reactive methodologies and basic proposed predictive solutions are not valid either due to the extremely dynamical behavior of CPS or because the high number of involved devices prevents fulfill the timing requirements. Therefore, in this paper, we present an advance predictive solution for managing the mobility and device lifecycle, being able to meet all requirements of CPS. The solution is based on an infinite loop, which calculates, in each iteration, a sequence of future system states using a CPS simulator and interpolation algorithms. Furthermore, an experimental validation is provided in order to determine the performing of the proposed solution

A methodology for the design of application-specific cyber-physical social sensing co-simulators

Cyber-Physical Social Sensing (CPSS) is a new trend in the context of pervasive sensing. In these new systems, various domains coexist in time, evolve together and influence each other. Thus, application-specific tools are necessary for specifying and validating designs and simulating systems. However, nowadays, different tools are employed to simulate each domain independently. Mainly, the cause of the lack of co-simulation instruments to simulate all domains together is the extreme difficulty of combining and synchronizing various tools. In order to reduce that difficulty, an adequate architecture for the final co-simulator must be selected. Therefore, in this paper the authors investigate and propose a methodology for the design of CPSS co-simulation tools. The paper describes the four steps that software architects should follow in order to design the most adequate co-simulator for a certain application, considering the final users’ needs and requirements and various additional factors such as the development team’s experience. Moreover, the first practical use case of the proposed methodology is provided. An experimental validation is also included in order to evaluate the performing of the proposed co-simulator and to determine the correctness of the proposal

Contribution to the integration of network simulators and social simulation environments for the modelling of environments and smart devices

Esta tesis doctoral se ha desarrollado en las áreas de comunicación avanzada, tecnologías de la información y seguridad pública según el NIST y también está incluido en el área científica de la información de la sociedad según la Comisión Europea. La idea del trabajo fue concebida por la falta de simuladores de entorno de Inteligencia ambiental que tengan en cuenta tanto la gente que atraviesa estos entornos como los dispositivos que existen en ellos. Por un lado, los actuales simuladores sociales como MASON, Repast o Swarm se centran en la gente que interactúa con estos entornos, pero no son capaces de profundizar en la simulación de los dispositivos y sus comunicaciones. Por otro lado, los actuales simuladores de red como el ns-3, OMNet++ o NetSim se centran en la simulación de los dispositivos de los entornos de Inteligencia Ambiental y en las comunicaciones entre ellos, pero no son capaces de hacer una simulación exhaustiva de la gente y su comportamiento. Para resolver este problema, he propuesto en este trabajo de investigación un co-simulador de Inteligencia Ambiental que he llamado Hydra y que integra tanto MASON (un simulador social) como ns-3 (un simulador de red). Mi propuesta incluye los mecanismos necesarios de coordinación para hacer que toda la simulación funcione y todos los módulos necesarios para realizar la simulación de Inteligencia Ambiental. Adicionalmente, propongo un modelo de datos global que integra los objetos del entorno social y del entorno de red; un modelo de secuencia capaz de integrar ambas simulaciones y un modelo de tiempos para calcular las limitaciones de la simulación. Basado en las características necesarias en un simulador de red, un simulador social y otras identificadas en un simulador de inteligencia ambiental, he propuesto una metodología para el diseño de simuladores de inteligencia ambiental. He usado esa metodología para definir el simulador Hydra. Hydra fue integrado en un entorno real de inteligencia ambiental obteniendo datos de sensores y actuadores en el entorno en vez de generarlos desde el propio simulador. Esta integración permite la predicción de posibles eventos futuros en el entorno cuyos efectos se podría prevenir o al menos minimizar. Hydra también se ha integrado con una plataforma semántica usando un sistema prosumer [Martin et al., 2013] para la creación sencilla de servicios por usuarios finales sin experiencia creando y desplegando servicios en una plataforma semántica. Este sistema facilita la extracción de datos que provienen de la plataforma semántica, la ejecución de simulaciones y la mejora de la experiencia de usuario. Para validar la propuesta se han llevado a cabo experimentaciones, encuestas y simulaciones. Los resultados de la validación concluyeron que: se puede obtener una simulación más completa de entornos de inteligencia ambiental usando Hydra en vez de ejecutar un simulador social y uno de red de forma separada, un metodología ayudará a la creación de co-simuladores para entornos de inteligencia ambiental, se pueden predecir eventos futuros en un entorno de inteligencia ambiental usando Hydra y la prosumerización ayuda a mejorar la experiencia de usuario. En este trabajo he propuesto la integración del ns-3 (un simulador de red) y MASON (un simulador social) para crear un sistema que he llamado Hydra y está basado en una propuesta metodología que coordina ambos simuladores. Se han propuesto modelos de datos, secuencia y tiempo para definir Hydra y se ha integrado en un entorno de inteligencia ambiental para predecir eventos, así como también se ha integrado en un sistema prosumer para facilitar su uso. Todo este trabajo se validó con resultados positivos. ----------ABSTRACT---------- This PhD Thesis work is developed in the areas of advanced communications, information technology and public safety by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and is also embraced in the information society, a science area defined by the European Commission. The idea was conceived due to the lack of Ambient Intelligence (AmI) environment simulators that consider both, the people that traverse these environments and the devices existing in them. On the one hand, current existing social simulators such as Multi-Agent Simulator Of Neighborhoods (MASON), Repast or Swarm are focused on the people that interact in these environments but are not able to do an in-depth simulation of the devices and their communications. On the other hand, current existing network simulators such as ns-3, OMNet++ or NetSim are focused on simulating the devices in AmI environments and the communications among them but are not able to do an exhaustive simulation of people and their behavior. In order to solve this problem, I propose in this work an AmI co-simulator called Hydra, that integrates MASON (a social simulator) and ns-3 (a network simulator). My proposal includes the necessary coordination mechanisms to make the whole simulation work, and all the modules necessary to perform the AmI simulation. Additionally, I propose a global data model, that integrates the objects from the social environment and the network environment; a sequence model able to integrate both simulations and a time model to calculate the limitations of the simulation. Based on the features required in a network simulator, a social simulator and additional ones identified in an AmI simulator, I proposed a methodology for the design of AmI simulators. I used that methodology to define the Hydra simulator. Hydra was integrated into a real AmI environment obtaining the data from the sensors and actuators in the environment rather than generating them in the simulator. This integration enables the prediction of possible future events in the environment that could be prevented or at least minimize its effects. Hydra was also integrated with a semantic platform using a prosumer framework [Martin et al., 2013] for easy service creation by end users with no experience creating and deploying services over a semantic AmI platform. This framework facilitates the extraction of the data provided by the semantic platform, the execution of the simulations and the improvement of the user experience. In order to validate the proposal, several experimentations, surveys and simulations were car ried out. The results from the validation concluded that: a more complete simulation of AmI environments can be obtained using Hydra than executing a social simulator and a network simulator separately, a methodology will help in the creation of co-simulators for AmI environments, future events can be predicted in an AmI environment using Hydra and prosumerization helps improving user experience. In this work, I proposed the integration of ns-3 (a network simulator) and MASON (a social simulator) to create a system I have called Hydra and is based on a proposed methodology that coordinates both simulators. Data, sequence and time models were proposed to define Hydra and it was integrated into an AmI environment for the prediction of events and it was also integrated with a prosumer framework to facilitate its use. All this work was validated with positive results

Enhancing process control in industry 4.0 scenarios using cyber-physical systems

One of the most interesting applications of Industry 4.0 paradigm is enhanced process control. Traditionally, process control solutions based on Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) consider a top-down view where processes are represented as executable high-level descriptions. However, most times industrial processes follow a bottom-up model where processes are executed by low-level devices which are hard-programmed with the process to be executed. Thus, high-level components only may supervise the process execution as devices cannot modify dynamically their behavior. Therefore, in this paper we propose a vertical CPS-based solution (including a reference and a functional architecture) adequate to perform enhanced process control in Industry 4.0 scenarios with a bottom-up view. The proposed solution employs an event-driven service-based architecture where control is performed by means of finite state machines. Furthermore, an experimental validation is provided proving that in more than 97% of cases the proposed solution allows a stable and effective contro

FarmDay: A Gamified Virtual Reality Neurorehabilitation Application for Upper Limb Based on Activities of Daily Living

Patients with upper limb disorders are limited in their activities of daily living and impose an important healthcare burden due to the repetitive rehabilitation they require. A way to reduce this burden is through home-based therapy using virtual reality solutions, since they are readily available, provide immersion, and enable accurate motion tracking, and custom applications can be developed for them. However, there is lack of guidelines for the design of effective VR rehabilitation applications in the literature, particularly for bimanual training. This work introduces a VR telerehabilitation system that uses off-the-shelf hardware, a real-time remote setup, and a bimanual training application that aims to improve upper extremity motor function. It is made of six activities and was evaluated by five physiotherapists specialised in (2) neuromotor disorders and (3) functional rehabilitation and occupational therapy. A descriptive analysis of the results obtained from the System Usability Scale test of the application and a collection of qualitative assessments of each game have been carried out. The application obtained a mean score of 86.25 (±8.96 SD) in the System Usability Scale, and the experts concluded that it accurately reproduces activities of daily living movements except for wrist and finger movements. They also offer a set of design guidelines

Towards a simulation of AmI environments integrating social and network simulations

We are heading towards a technological and hyper-connected world where every building is going to be full of sensors and actuators to monitor and interact with it, in what is known as an Ambient Intelligence (AmI) environment. The main problem when creating such environment is how expensive it can be, so a tool such a simulator could help to improve the way in which the devices are installed, testing with different configurations until you arrive to the optimal one. Also this simulator could help once the infrastructure is created to detect certain events before they happen, being able to apply a countermeasure. In this paper we propose the architecture to integrate a social and a network simulation in order to create a simulation for an AmI environment

FarmDay: A Gamified Virtual Reality Neurorehabilitation Application for Upper Limb Based on Activities of Daily Living

Patients with upper limb disorders are limited in their activities of daily living and impose an important healthcare burden due to the repetitive rehabilitation they require. A way to reduce this burden is through home-based therapy using virtual reality solutions, since they are readily available, provide immersion, and enable accurate motion tracking, and custom applications can be developed for them. However, there is lack of guidelines for the design of effective VR rehabilitation applications in the literature, particularly for bimanual training. This work introduces a VR telerehabilitation system that uses off-the-shelf hardware, a real-time remote setup, and a bimanual training application that aims to improve upper extremity motor function. It is made of six activities and was evaluated by five physiotherapists specialised in (2) neuromotor disorders and (3) functional rehabilitation and occupational therapy. A descriptive analysis of the results obtained from the System Usability Scale test of the application and a collection of qualitative assessments of each game have been carried out. The application obtained a mean score of 86.25 (±8.96 SD) in the System Usability Scale, and the experts concluded that it accurately reproduces activities of daily living movements except for wrist and finger movements. They also offer a set of design guidelines