Modular and generic IoT management on the cloud

Cloud computing and Internet of Things encompass various physical devices that generate and exchange data with services promoting the integration between the physical world and computer-based systems. This work presents a novel Future Internet cloud service for data collection from Internet of Things devices in an automatic, generalized and modular way. It includes a flexible API for managing devices, users and permissions by mapping data to users, publish and subscribe context data as well as storage capabilities and data processing in the form of NoSQL big data. The contributions of this work include the on the fly data collection from devices that is stored in cloud scalable databases, the vendor agnostic Internet of Things device connectivity (since it is designed to be flexible and to support device heterogeneity), and finally the modularity of the event based publish/subscribe service for context oriented data that could be easily utilized by third party services without worrying about how data are collected, stored and managed

Internet of Things as a Service (iTaaS): challenges and solutions for management of sensor data on the Cloud and the Fog

Building upon cloud, IoT and smart sensors technologies we design and de- velop an IoT as a Service (iTaaS) framework, that transforms a user device (e.g. a smart phone) to an IoT gateway that allows for fast and efficient data streams transmission to the cloud. We develop a two-fold solution, based on micro-services for the IoT (users’ smart devices) and the cloud side (back-end services). iTaaS includes configurations for (a) the IoT side to support data collection from IoT devices to a gateway on a real time basis and, (b) the cloud back-end side to support data sharing, storage and processing. iTaaS provides the technology foreground to enable immediate application deployments in the domain of interest. An obvious and promising implementation of this technology is e-Health and remote health monitoring. As a proof of concept we implement a real time remote patient monitoring system that integrates the proposed frame- work and uses BLE pulse oximeter and heart rate monitoring sensing devices. The experimental analysis shows fast data collection, as (for our experimental setup) data is transmitted from the IoT side (i.e. the gateway) to the cloud in less than 130ms. We also stress the back-end system with high user concurrency (for example with 40 users per second) and high data streams (for example 240 data records per second) and we show that the requests are executed at around 1 second, a number that signifies a satisfactory performance by considering the number of requests, the network latency and the relatively small size of the Virtual Machines implementing services on the cloud (2GB RAM, 1 CPU and 20GB hard disk size)

IoT management on the Cloud

Διπλωματική εργασία που υποβλήθηκε στη σχολή Ηλεκτρονικών Μηχανικών και Μηχανικών Υπολογιστών για τη λήψη του Προπτυχιακού ΔιπλώματοςΠερίληψη: Η ιδέα του "Διαδικτύου των Πραγμάτων" (Internet of Things) γεννήθηκε το 2008 και από τότε είναι άμεσα συνδεδεμένη με την τεχνολογία του "Υπολογιστικού Νέφους" (Cloud Computing). Πολλά περιβάλλοντα ανάπτυξης εφαρμογών του "Διαδικτύου των Πραγμάτων" δίνουν κίνητρα στους δημιουργούς λογισμικού για την ανάπτυξη «έξυπνων» εφαρμογών. Ένα από αυτά είναι το περιβάλλον του FIWARE, το οποίο επεκτείνεται συνεχώς και προσφέρει στην κοινότητά του υπηρεσίες γενικού (Generic Enablers) και ειδικού σκοπού (Specific Enablers) για την ανάπτυξη «έξυπνων» εφαρμογών στα πλαίσια του "Διαδικτύου των Πραγμάτων". Στην παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία αναπτύχθηκε η υπηρεσία ειδικού σκοπού I.I.M (Intellicloud IoT Management), η οποία στα πρότυπα της υπηρεσιο-κεντρικής αρχιτεκτονικής κάνει χρήση υπηρεσιών γενικού σκοπού που διατίθενται μέσω του FIWARE και της υποδομής "Νέφους" Intellicloud. Έχει τη δυνατότητα της διαχείρισης, αποθήκευσης και συνδρομής σε δεδομένα πολλών αισθητήρων διαφορετικού τύπου για την άμεση ενημέρωση των συνδρομητών. Η υπηρεσία διαθέτει ένα ολοκληρωμένο REST API, για λειτουργίες όπως η διαχείριση αισθητήρων, χρηστών, αδειών, συνδρομών και διαχείριση των δεδομένων των αισθητήρων. Στόχος του συστήματος είναι η ενσωμάτωση της λειτουργικότητας που προσφέρεται μέσω του API σε υπηρεσίες του περιβάλλοντος FIWARE για την σύνθεση μιας ολοκληρωμένης υπηρεσίας διαχείρισης συσκευών του "Διαδικτύου των Πραγμάτων".Summarization: The Internet of Things was “born” in 2008 and since then is directly related to Cloud Computing technology. Many IoT application development environments motivate developers to create “smart” applications. FIWARE is a platform offering an environment for rapid IoT application development through modular components called Generic and Specific Enablers. In this thesis we present the I.I.M (Intellicloud IoT Management) Specific Enabler. I.I.M is designed using SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) with the use of FIWARE Generic Enablers and is deployed on the Intellicloud infrastructure. The enabler offers management and storage services for data collected from different types of sensors. Also, I.I.M offers subscription and user notification capabilities. Services are provided through a REST API implementing sensor, user, permission, subscription and sensor data management functionality. The system aims to embed the functionality of the API to FIWARE in order to offer an entire IoT device management solution

Heart dysfunction induced by choline-deficiency in adult rats: The protective role of L-carnitine

Choline is a B vitamin co-factor and its deficiency seems to impair heart function. Carnitine, a chemical analog of choline, has been used as adjunct in the management of cardiac diseases. The study investigates the effects of choline deficiency on myocardial performance in adult rats and the possible modifications after carnitine administration. Wistar Albino rats (n=24), about 3 months old, were randomized into four groups fed with: (a) standard diet (control-CA), (b) choline deficient diet (CDD), (c) standard diet and carnitine in drinking water 0.15% w/v (CARN) and (d) choline deficient diet and carnitine (CDD+CARN). After four weeks of treatment, we assessed cardiac function under isometric conditions using the Langendorff preparations [Left Ventricular Developed Pressure (LVDP-mmHg), positive and negative first derivative of LVDP were evaluated], measured serum homocysteine and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels and performed histopathology analyses. In the CDD group a compromised myocardium contractility compared to control (P=0.01), as assessed by LVDP, was noted along with a significantly impaired diastolic left ventricular function, as assessed by (-) dp/dt (P=0.02) that were prevented by carnitine. Systolic force, assessed by (+) dp/dt, showed no statistical difference between groups. A significant increase in serum BNP concentration was found in the CDD group (P<0.004) which was attenuated by carnitine (P<0.05), whereas homocysteine presented contradictory results (higher in the CDD+CARN group). Heart histopathology revealed a lymphocytic infiltration of myocardium and valves in the CDD group that was reduced by carnitine. In conclusion, choline deficiency in adult rats impairs heart performance; carnitine acts against these changes. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved