Estudio, configuración y prueba de un entorno de computación Condor

Escueal Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Telecomunicació

Estudio de los factores que degradan el rendimiento de los sistemas de identificación por radiofrecuencia pasivos

En este trabajo se presenta un estudio sobre los factores que degradan el rendimiento de los sistemas de identificación por radiofrecuencia pasivos y las soluciones que propone la comunidad cientifica. Se analizan las limitaciones impuestas por los estándares y regulaciones, los factores fisicos y del entorno y las limitaciones hardware y software. El estudio parte del caso de estudio de la implantación de un sistema RFID pasivo en un supermercado o entorno similar.Centro Universitario de la Defensa. Escuela de Turismo de Cartagena. Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Industrial UPCT. Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Telecomunicación (ETSIT). Escuela de Ingeniería de Caminos y Minas (EICM). Escuela de Arquitectura e Ingeniería de Edificación (ARQ&IDE). Parque Tecnológico de Fuente Álamo. Navantia. Campus Mare Nostru

Case Study: Installing RFID Systems in Supermarkets

Radio frequency identification technology (RFID) is considered as the reference technology for wireless identification and item traceability. Supermarkets are one of those scenarios where the RFID potential can be harnessed. In theory, RFID in supermarkets shows several advantages compared with traditional barcode systems, offering real‐time inventory, stock control, cash queues, among others. In practice, its massive and global implementation is still being delayed due to the high quantity of factors that degrade the RFID system performance in these scenarios, causing uncontrolled items and identification losses and, at the end, economical losses. Some works in the scientific literature studied a single or a set of problems related to RFID performance, mostly focused on a specific communication layer: antennas and hardware design, interferences at physical layer, medium access control (MAC) protocols, security issues, or middleware challenges. However, there are no works describing in depth the set of factors affecting RFID performance in a specific scenario and contemplating the entire communication layer stack. The first challenge of this chapter is to provide a complete analysis of those physical and environmental factors, hardware and software limitations, and standard and regulation restrictions that have a direct impact on the RFID system performance in supermarkets. This analysis is addressed by communication layers, paying attention to the point of view of providers, supermarket companies, and final customers. Some of the most feasible and influential research works that address individual problems are also enumerated. Finally, taking the results extracted from this study, this chapter provides a Guide of Good Practices (GGPs), giving a global vision for addressing a successful RFID implementation project, useful for researchers, developers, and installers

Software application for real-time ET (o) /ET (c) calculation through mobile devices

In the southeast of Spain, farmers usually resort to the Agricultural Information Service of Murcia (SIAM) to get the data needed for an estimation of their water use and needs. Through 48 automatic stations, the SIAM provides data about temperature, wind speed, solar radiation or humidity, on a not very user-friendly web page which is not adapted to mobile devices and shows some shortcomings in downloading data. In addition, the key reference parameter in irrigation, the daily reference evapotranspiration (ET (o) ), is not provided on the current day and the hourly ET (o) and the crop evapotranspiration (ET (c) ) are not offered either. This paper presents a new software application for mobile devices capable of providing the required data by an easy-to-use and friendly app. This tool employs the GPS co-ordinates of a place under study to get the data required from the closest SIAM stations and interpolates station data to increase accuracy. The hourly and daily ET (o) are automatically calculated using the Penman-Monteith equation, declared by the FAO in 1990 as the only valid method for calculating evapotranspiration. The ET (o) computation entails the calculation of the net solar radiation, the heat soil flux or the psychometric constant. A new extension of the tool also allows calculation of the ET (c) for a set of typical crops of the southeast of Spain. All the computed data can be stored and edited, as well as those geographical positions of interest. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first application of this kind available.This work was supported by the research Projects 3639/13TIC and 3703/13TIC. Thanks to Telenatura S.L. for its technical support

El uso de las redes sociales como herramienta de apoyo a la docencia en la UPCT

[SPA]La convergencia hacia el EEES ofrece a las universidades la oportunidad de mejorar el proceso enseñanza-aprendizaje mediante el uso de las Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones (TIC). Sin embargo, los intentos de introducir las TIC tienen como barreras la dificultad de alumnos y profesores para familiarizarse con nuevas aplicaciones. Por lo general, los estudiantes prefieren sus herramientas TIC de uso cotidiano y habitual, frente a aquellas diseñadas exclusivamente para docencia. Por ello, un factor de éxito en la integración de las TIC en el proceso enseñanza-aprendizaje está en hacer uso de aquellas herramientas TIC que ya son populares entre los estudiantes por su uso lúdico. Este es el caso de las redes sociales, plataformas web que, de ser orientadas a la docencia, permitirían llevar a cabo una transferencia de conocimiento de forma dinámica, intercambiando ideas, experiencias, y favoreciendo la participación activa de alumnos y profesores. En este trabajo se presenta una experiencia piloto de una plataforma creada en la red social Facebook como herramienta de apoyo a la docencia de la asignatura Laboratorio de Redes y Servicios de Comunicaciones, impartida en la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Telecomunicación de la Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena. Este trabajo muestra los resultados observados y las conclusiones extraídas sobre la acogida del alumnado y del profesorado en esta experiencia, y las ventajas y limitaciones de las redes sociales en su uso como apoyo a la docencia. [ENG]The convergence towards the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) offers the Universities the opportunity of, not only redesigning the study plans, but also enhancing the learning process with the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). However, the difficulties of the students and teachers to get familiar to new ICT applications are barriers to the introduction of these technologies. In particular, students prefer the ICT tools that they dayly use in their leisure time, instead of the ones specifically designed as learning platforms. This is the case of the social networks, web platforms that, when used as an aid in the teachnig-learning process, allow a dynamic knowledge transfer, sharing ideas, experiencies, and favoring a fast and active participation of students and teachers. In this work we present the pilot experiment consisting of a platform created in the Facebook social network and used as a tool to support the teaching skills in the subject Network communications and services laboratory“, taught in the Telecommunications Engieneering School of the Technical University of Cartagena. This paper shows the results observed and the conclusions extracted with respect to the students‘ and teachers‘ involvement, and the advantages and limitatios of the use social networks as tools in the teaching-learning process.Campus Mare Nostrum, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Universidad de Murcia, Región de Murci

Optimal path planning for selective waste collection in smart cities

Waste collection is one of the targets of smart cities. It is a daily task in urban areas and it entails the planning of waste truck routes, taking into account environmental, economic and social factors. In this work, an optimal path planning algorithm has been developed together with a practical software platform for smart and sustainable cities that enables computing the optimal waste collection routes, minimizing the impact, both environmental (CO2 emissions and acoustic damage) and socioeconomic (number of trucks to be used and fuel consumption). The algorithm is executed in Net2Plan, an open-source planning tool, typically used for modeling and planning communication networks. Net2Plan facilitates the introduction of the city layout input information to the algorithm, automatically importing it from geographical information system (GIS) databases using the so-called Net2Plan-GIS library, which can also include positions of smart bins. The algorithm, Net2Plan tool and its extension are open-source, available in a public repository. A practical case in the city of Cartagena (Spain) is presented, where the optimal path planning for plastic waste collection is addressed. This work contributes to the urban mobility plans of smart cities and could be extended to other smart cities scenarios with requests of optimal path planning.This research was partially funded by the Spanish National Project ONOFRE-2, ref. TEC2017-84423-C3-2-P (MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE), H2020 EU project ref. H2020-ICT-2016-2 (ID 761727) topic: ICT-7-2016 and Erasmus + Program of EU, ref. 575853-EPP-1-2016-1-ES-EPPKA2-SSA. This publication reflects the views only of the authors and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. Thanks to A. Gómez-Martínez for his administrative and technical support

Herramienta para el estudio de protocolos anticolisión en sistemas de identificación por radiofrecuencia

En el Grupo de Ingeniería Telemática se trabaja en el estudio y mejora de protocolos anticolisión para sistemas RFID. En los últimos años, el aumento de protocolos ha provocado que su estudio y comparación se convierta en una tarea tediosa y dificil de llevar a cabo. Por ello se propone una herramienta capaz de simular protocolos anticolisión RFID bajo un mismo escenario, permitiendo generar gráficas y almacenar resultados de manera rápida y sencilla, evitando así el uso de múltiples herramientas (p.ej. simular en OMNeT++, tratar los datos en Matlab, generar gráficas con Xfig). La herramienta, implementada integramente en Matlab permite, mediante una interfaz gráfica, establecer parámetros físicos (del entorno a simular y los dispositivos implicados) y de simulación, cumple los requisitos de escalabilidad y fiabilidad necesario y permite obtener múltiples resultados, representados según las necesidades del usuario.Asociación de Jóvenes Investigadores de Cartagena, (AJICT). Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena. Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Industrial UPCT, (ETSII). Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agronómica, (ETSIA), Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Telecomunicación (ETSIT). Escuela de Ingeniería de Caminos, Canales, y Puertos y de Ingeniería de Minas, (EICM). Fundación Séneca, Agencia Regional de Ciencia y Tecnología. Parque Tecnológico de Fuente Álamo. Grupo Aquilin

Experimental analysis of connectivity management in mobile operating systems

We are immerse in a world that becomes more and more mobile every day, with ubiquitous connectivity and increasing demand for mobile services. Current mobile terminals support several access technologies, enabling users to gain connectivity in a plethora of scenarios and favoring their mobility. However, the management of network connectivity using multiple interfaces is still starting to be deployed. The lack of smart connectivity management in multi interface devices forces applications to be explicitly aware of the variations in the connectivity state (changes in active interface, simultaneous access from several interfaces, etc.). In this paper, we analyze the present state of the connection management and handover capabilities in the three major mobile operating systems (OSes): Android, iOS and Windows. To this aim, we conduct a thorough experimental study on the connectivity management of each operating system, including several versions of the OS on different mobile terminals, analyzing the differences and similarities between them. Moreover, in order to assess how mobility is handled and how this can affect the final user, we perform an exhaustive experimental analysis on application behavior in intra- and inter-technology handover. Based on this experience, we identify open issues in the smartphone connectivity management policies and implementations, highlighting easy to deploy yet unimplemented improvements, as well as potential integration of mobility protocols.This work has been partially supported by the European Community through the CROWD project, FP7-ICT-318115.Publicad

La obesidad como factor de riesgo en la enfermedad renal crónica. Revisión bibliográfica.

Introduction: Obesity is a disease with metabolic impact that predisposes to developing chronic non-communicable diseases, such as type II diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure, and chronic kidney disease. It has been shown that patients with chronic kidney disease and obesity experience more significant disease deterioration and higher morbidity and mortality rates. Methodology: This is a narrative literature review study, a comprehensive revision of the bibliography on obesity as a risk factor in chronic kidney disease, conducted in scientific databases such as PubMed, SciELO, Cochrane Library, and ScienceDirect, following the PRISMA strategy. Results: Sixty studies were reviewed, which compiled the main recommendations on obesity as a risk factor in chronic kidney disease. Conclusions: Weight control is indispensable in obese patients, considering the pathophysiological implications that arise from the endocrine response of obesity and its impact on the renal glomerulus. In addition, histological changes of obesity evolve rapidly, predisposing to short-term renal complications. Therefore, incorporating nutritional protocols is crucial to prevent disease progression.Introducción: La obesidad es una enfermedad con repercusión metabólica que predispone al desarrollo de enfermedades crónicas no transmisibles como la diabetes mellitus tipo II, hipertensión arterial y enfermedad renal crónica. Se ha evidenciado que los pacientes con enfermedad renal crónica y obesidad presentan mayor deterioro de la enfermedad y elevada morbimortalidad. Metodología: Es un estudio de revisión bibliográfica tipo narrativa, una revisión amplia de la literatura, sobre la obesidad como factor de riesgo en la enfermedad renal crónica en bases de datos científicas, como PubMed, Scielo, Biblioteca Cochrane, y Science Direct, mediante parte de la estrategia PRISMA. Resultados: Se revisaron 60 estudios, que recopilaron las principales recomendaciones sobre la obesidad como factor de riesgo en la enfermedad renal crónica. Conclusiones: En pacientes obesos, es indispensable el control del peso, dadas las implicancias fisiopatológicas que responden a la respuesta endócrina de la obesidad y su efecto sobre el glomérulo renal. Además, los cambios histológicos de la obesidad evolucionan rápidamente predisponiendo complicaciones renales a corto plazo, por lo tanto, se deben incorporar protocolos nutricionales para evitar la progresión de la enfermedad. &nbsp

Testing for structural breaks in factor loadings: An application to international business cycle

This paper proposes the implementation of the Sup-Wald test of Andrews (1993) to detect structural breaks in the loadings of a static factor model. The procedure is illustrated by testing for structural breaks in the common factors of a sample of advanced countries from 1950 until 2006