SDN and NFV for satellite infrastructures

The integration of SDN and NFV enablers into the satellite network could prove to be an essential means to save on physical sites, improve the time to bring new services to the market and open new ways to improve network resiliency, availability and efficiency. It can be considered that the above two enablers can play a central role in the integration of satellite to terrestrial technologies by using federated management of the network resources.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Microcanonical processing methodology for ECG and intracardial potential: application to atrial fibrillation

Cardiac diseases are the principal cause of human morbidity and mortality in the western world. The electric potential of the heart is a highly complex signal emerging as a result of nontrivial flow conduction, hierarchical structuring and multiple regulation mechanisms. Its proper accurate analysis becomes of crucial importance in order to detect and treat arrhythmias or other abnormal dynamics that could lead to life-threatening conditions. To achieve this, advanced nonlinear processing methods are needed: one example here is the case of recent advances in the Microcanonical Multiscale Formalism. The aim of the present paper is to recapitulate those advances and extend the analyses performed, specially looking at the case of atrial fibrillation. We show that both ECG and intracardial potential signals can be described in a model-free way as a fast dynamics combined with a slow dynamics. Sharp differences in the key parameters of the fast dynamics appear in different regimes of transition between atrial fibrillation and healthy cases. Therefore, this type of analysis could be used for automated early warning, also in the treatment of atrial fibrillation particularly to guide radiofrequency ablation procedures.Comment: Transactions on Mass-Data Analysis of Images and Signals 4, 1 (2012). Accepte

On the virtualization and dynamic orchestration of satellite communication services

Key features of satellite communications such as wide-scale coverage, broadcast/multicast support and high availability, together with significant amounts of new satellite capacity coming online, anticipate new opportunities for satellite communications services as an integral part within upcoming 5G systems. To materialize these opportunities, satellite communications services have to be provisioned and operated in a more flexible, agile and cost-effective manner than done today. In this context, this paper describes a solution for the virtualization and dynamic orchestration of satellite communication services that builds on the introduction of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) technologies within the satellite ground segment systems. Along with the description of the main system architecture traits, the flowchart of a general procedure for the dynamic instantiation of virtualized satellite networks on top of a SDN/NFV-enabled satellite ground segment system is provided. The paper also presents experimental results for the dynamic customization of satellite network services through the implementation of a set of virtualized satellite network functions that can be orchestrated over general purpose open virtual platforms.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Dynamic Simulation of Household Refrigerators: Numerical Model and Experimental Comparison

This work presents a dynamic model to simulate a whole household refrigeration unit taking into account both the refrigeration cycle itself and the refrigerated compartments network. The methodology implemented to achieve the transient simulation of the whole system combines a steady-state approach for the refrigerating cycle loop with a transient approach for the refrigerated compartments loop. Both loops are solved at each time step (the linking boundary conditions for the refrigerating cycle and the compartments network are the air temperature of the evaporator chamber and the heat generated by the evaporator, respectively). The numerical infrastructure implemented to simulate the whole system and its elements is described in [1]. On one hand, the refrigerating cycle loop includes appropriate numerical models for the main components, namely, hermetic compressor, wire-and-tube condenser, non-adiabatic capillary tube [2], and finned-tube evaporator. In addition, the receiver located at the outlet position of the evaporator, is also considered and modeled according to [3]. On the other, the refrigerated compartments loop is made up of connected chambers and a damper to regulate the cold air flow going to the refrigerator and freezer. The transient solution of the system includes two important features: i) a numerical model for the refrigerating cycle when the compressor is turned off, and ii) a control system to regulate the compartments temperatures by means of the damper position and the compressor working condition. In the first part of this work the main details of the resolution procedure and the numerical model of both the whole system and all its components are given. In the second part a set of parametric studies to analyse the influence of specific aspects of the main elements on the refrigerating cycle is carried out, namely, arrangements of fins and tubes in the evaporator, non-adiabatic capillary tube geometrical configurations, and gap between wire-and-tube condenser and rear wall. The trends of the numerical results are compared against experimental data at similar conditions. In the last section, an illustrative numerical case including most of the model features is shown in order to see the model potential. REFERENCES [1] N. Ablanque, C. Oliet, J. Rigola, O. Lehmkuhl, C.D. Pérez-Segarra,“Modular Simulation of Vapour Compression Systems with an Object-Oriented Tool”, International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference at Purdue, 2377, Purdue, IN, USA, 2012. [2] N. Ablanque, J. Rigola, C.D. Pérez-Segarra, A. Oliva, “Numerical simulation of capillary tubes. Application to domestic refrigeration with isobutane”, International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference at Purdue, 2377, Purdue, IN, USA, 2010. [3] A. Sadurni, Numerical Analysis and Experimental Studies on Vapour Compression Refrigerating Systems. Special Emphasis on Different Cycle Configurations. PhD Thesis. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Terrassa, Spain, 2012

Satellite gateway diversity in SDN/NFV-enabled satellite ground segment systems

© 2017 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes,creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.This paper explores how to use Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) as two emerging technologies to support Satellite Gateway Diversity (GWD) solution in the forward link to provide next generation satellite system with higher capacity enhancement, failover and resiliency management. In this context, the gateway handover along with efficient traffic steering techniques are used to cope with the cases where gateway feeder links experience outage due to meteorological conditions or gateway failure. The handover typically implies that additional traffic is addressed towards another satellite gateway to handle the capacity reduction. Toward this objective, we propose an architecture framework to support GWD using SDN/NFV-enabled satellite ground segment and we evaluate our solution on a proof of concept experimental testbed based on OpenSAND emulated satellite network. The results show that our proposal can provide reasonably flexibility to handle failover and resiliency.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Approaches to manage 'affordability' of high budget impact medicines in key EU countries

Background: The launch of hepatitis C (HCV) drugs such as sofosbuvir or ledipasvir has fostered the question of affordability of novel high budget impact therapies even in countries with high domestic product. European countries have developed a variety of mechanisms to improve affordability of such therapies, including 'affordability thresholds', price volume agreements or caps on individual product sales, and special budgets for innovative drugs. While some of these mechanisms may help limit budget impact, there are still significant progresses to be made in the definition and implementation of approaches to ensure affordability, especially in health systems where the growth potential in drug spending and/or in the patient contribution to health insurance are limited. Objectives: In this article, we will review how seven countries in western Europe are approaching the question of affordability of novel therapies and are developing approaches to continue to reward new sciences while limiting budget impact. We will also discuss the question of affordability of cost-effective but hugely expensive therapies and the implications for payers and for the pharmaceutical industry. Results: There is clearly not one solution that is used consistently across countries but rather a number of 'tools' that are combined differently in each country. This illustrates the difficulty of managing affordability within different legal frameworks and within different health care system architectures.</p

Development of a prediction model of acoustic discomfort in high-speed train passengeners cars

[EN] Acoustic perception is considered as one of the most important factors in the comfort assessment in high-speed vehicles. The present study is focused in a research project developed by ALSTOM Transport and the Instituto de Biomecánica de Valencia (IBV) with the objective of generate a prediction model of interior noise acoustic discomfort in high-speed train passenger cars[ES] La percepción acústica es considerada uno de los factores de mayor importancia en la valoración del confort en vehículos de alta velocidad. El presente estudio se enmarca en un proyecto de investigación desarrollado por ALSTOM Transport y el Instituto de Biomecánica de Valencia (IBV) con el objetivo de generar un modelo de predicción del discomfort acústico del sonido interior de coches de pasajeros en vehículos de alta velocidad.a.Gibert Escofet, O.; Sapena Fernández, J.; Mateo Martínez, B.; Palomares Olivares, N. (2011). Desarrollo de un modelo de predicción de disconfort acústico en coches de vehículos de alta velocidad. Fundacion de los Ferrocarriles Espanoles. Coleccion Tecnica. (2):33-38. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/81324S3338