COTORRA: COntext-aware Testbed fOR Robotic Applications

Edge & Fog computing have received considerable attention as promising candidates for the evolution of robotic systems. In this letter, we propose COTORRA, an Edge & Fog driven robotic testbed that combines context information with robot sensor data to validate innovative concepts for robotic systems prior to being applied in a production environment. In lab/university, we established COTORRA as an easy applicable and modular testbed on top of heterogeneous network infrastructure. COTORRA is open for pluggable robotic applications. To verify its feasibility and assess its performance, we ran set of experiments that show how autonomous navigation applications can achieve target latencies bellow 15ms or perform an inter-domain (DLT) federation within 19 seconds.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to IEEE Communications Letter

On providing mobility management in WOBANs: Integration with PMIPv6 and MIH

The Wireless-Optical Broadband Access Network (WOBAN) is a promising access architecture that combines the high performance of optical networks with the ubiquity and convenience of wireless technologies. This article proposes a network-based mobility framework that is specially tailored for WOBANs. The proposed architecture is based on Proxy Mobile IPv6 and IEEE 802.21 mobility management protocols, but it also defines a number of optimizations that enable the seamless handover of mobile nodes. In particular, the hierarchical architecture together with the broadcast-and-select nature of the optical part of the WOBAN are leveraged to: optimize the mobility of users with respect to the overall network resources, both at the wireless access and optical distribution parts, remove the overhead of IP-in-IP tunneling between the PMIPv6 entities, and perform an efficient bicasting during the handover process to minimize packet loss.The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the EU-funded MEDIEVAL (grant FP7-ICT-2009-5/258053), the CAM-funded Medianet project (under code S-2009/TIC-1468) and the MICINN research grant TIN2010-20136-C03.European Community's Seventh Framework ProgramPublicad

Beyond Multi-access Edge Computing: Essentials to realize a Mobile, Constrained Edge

ETSI Multi-access Edge computing (MEC) main purpose is to improve latency and bandwidth consumption by keeping local traffic local while providing computing resources near the end-user. Despite its clear benefits, the next-generation of hyper-distributed applications (e.g., edge robotics, augmented environments, or smart agriculture) will exacerbate latency and bandwidth requirements, posing significant challenges to today's MEC deployments. In this work, we leverage on the current study item ETSI GR MEC 036, introducing a lightweight constrained version of a MEC platform that can be deployed in a mobile end terminal or in its closed locality. This work presents design options for cMEC, and how it can untangle the aforementioned gaps while being architectural compatible with a full-fledged MEC framework. Finally, key use cases and still open challenges are discussed, including recommendations to extend the current MEC standard towards constrained environments

Using RAW as Control Plane for Wireless Deterministic Networks: Challenges Ahead

This paper provides extensive analysis of RAW (Reliable and Available Wireless) enhancements and solutions needed to manage industrial environments more effectively. Starting from the description of the industrial use case, an analysis of gaps and potential new extensions is performed. Namely, the need to (i) support multi-domain operation, at both technology and administrative levels; (ii) integrate RAW with edge architectures; and, (iii) the support for mobility support in RAW networks, are analysed. The identified gaps are indeed not yet tackled by the relevant standardisation development organisations, mainly the Internet Engineering Task Force, and are thus object of our future wor

Field evaluation of a 4G “True-IP” network

This article presents field evaluation results of an IP-based architecture for heterogeneous environments, covering UMTS- like TD-CDMA (Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access) wireless access technology, wireless and wired LANs, that has been developed under the aegis of the IST Moby Dick project. The architecture treats all transmission capabilities as basic physical and data-link layers, and attempts to replace all higher-level tasks by IP-based strategies. The Moby Dick architecture incorporates mobile-IPv6, fast handover, AAA-control (Authentication, Authorization, Accounting), Charging and Quality of Service. The architecture allows for an optimized control on the radio link layer resources. The Moby Dick architecture has been implemented and was evaluated on field trials with multiple services

Polymer Composites Containing Gated Mesoporous Materials for On-Command Controlled Release

Polyamidic nanofibrous membranes containing gated silica mesoporous particles, acting as carriers, are described as novel hybrid composite materials for encapsulation and on-command delivery of garlic extracts. The carrier system consists of MCM-41 solids functionalized in the outer surface, with linear polyamines (solid P1) and with hydrolyzed starch (solid P2), both acting as molecular gates. Those particles were adsorbed on electospun nylon-6 nanofibrous membranes yielding to composite materials M1 and M2. FE-SEM analysis confirmed the presence of particles incorporated on the nylon nanofibers. The release of the entrapped molecules (garlic extract) from the P1, P2, M1, and M2 materials was evaluated using cyclic voltammetry measurements. Electrochemical studies showed that at acidic pH P1 and M1 were unable to release their entrapped cargo (closed gate), whereas at neutral pH both materials release their loading (open gate). Dealing with P2 and M2 materials, in the absence of pancreatin a negligible release is observed (closed gate), whereas in the presence of enzyme the load is freely to diffuse to the solution. These newly developed composite nanomaterials, provide a homogeneous easy-to-handle system with controlled delivery and bioactive-protective features, having potential applications on pharmacology, medical and engineering fields.The authors wish to express their gratitude to the Generalitat Valenciana (Grisolia scholarship 2011/012, project PROM-ETEO/2009/016), Spanish Government (MINECO Projects AGL2012-39597-C02-01, AGL2012-39597-C02-02 and MAT2012-38429-C04-01) and the CIBER-BBN for their support. IILA thanks DISTAM and Universita degli di Milano for a specialization scholarship. We would also like to thank the Institut de Ciencia dels Materials (ICMUV) and to the Microscopy Service of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia for technical support. We thank Roquette for the Glucidex samples.Acosta Romero, C.; Pérez Esteve, E.; Fuenmayor, CA.; Benedetti, S.; Cosio, MS.; Soto Camino, J.; Sancenón Galarza, F.... (2014). Polymer Composites Containing Gated Mesoporous Materials for On-Command Controlled Release. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. 6(9):6453-6460. https://doi.org/10.1021/am405939y645364606