Single-Board-Computer Clusters for Cloudlet Computing in Internet of Things

The number of connected sensors and devices is expected to increase to billions in the near future. However, centralised cloud-computing data centres present various challenges to meet the requirements inherent to Internet of Things (IoT) workloads, such as low latency, high throughput and bandwidth constraints. Edge computing is becoming the standard computing paradigm for latency-sensitive real-time IoT workloads, since it addresses the aforementioned limitations related to centralised cloud-computing models. Such a paradigm relies on bringing computation close to the source of data, which presents serious operational challenges for large-scale cloud-computing providers. In this work, we present an architecture composed of low-cost Single-Board-Computer clusters near to data sources, and centralised cloud-computing data centres. The proposed cost-efficient model may be employed as an alternative to fog computing to meet real-time IoT workload requirements while keeping scalability. We include an extensive empirical analysis to assess the suitability of single-board-computer clusters as cost-effective edge-computing micro data centres. Additionally, we compare the proposed architecture with traditional cloudlet and cloud architectures, and evaluate them through extensive simulation. We finally show that acquisition costs can be drastically reduced while keeping performance levels in data-intensive IoT use cases.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2017-82113-C2-1-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad RTI2018-098062-A-I00European Union’s Horizon 2020 No. 754489Science Foundation Ireland grant 13/RC/209

Estimation of the optimum speed to minimize the driver stress based on the previous behavior

Proceedings of 7th International Symposium on Ambient Intelligence (ISAmI 2016), Seville, Spain on June 1st–3rdStress is one of the most important factors in car accidents. When the driver is in this mental state, their skills and abilities are reduced. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to predict stress level on a road. Prediction model is based on deep learning. The stress level estimation considers the previous driver's driving behavior before reaching the road section, the road state (weather and traffic), and the previous driving made by the driver. We employ this algorithm to build a speed assistant. The solution provides an optimum average speed for each road stage that minimizes the stress. Validation experiment has been conducted using five different datasets with 100 samples. The proposal is able to predict the stress level given the average speed by 84.20% on average. The system reduces the heart rate (15.22%) and the aggressiveness of driving. The proposed solution is implemented on Android mobile devices and uses a heart rate chest strap.The research leading to these results has received funding from the “HERMES-SMART DRIVER/CITIZEN” projects TIN2013-46801-C4-2-R /1-R funded by the Spanish MINECO, from the grant PRX15/00036 from the Ministerio de Educación Cultura y Deporte

Design of a Speed Assistant to Minimize the Driver Stress

Stress is one of the most important factors in traffic accidents. When the driver is in this mental state, their skills and abilities are reduced. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to estimate the optimal speed to minimize stress levels on upcoming road segments when driving. The prediction model is based on deep learning. The stress level estimation considers the previous driver's driving behavior before reaching the road section to be assessed, the road state (weather and traffic), and the previous drives made by the driver. We use this algorithm to build a speed assistant. The solution provides an optimum average speed for each road segment that minimizes the stress. A validation experiment has been conducted in a real setting using two different types of vehicles. The proposal is able to predict the stress levels given the average speed by 84.20% on average. On the other hand, the speed assistant reduces the stress levels (estimated from the driver’s heart rate signal) and the aggressiveness of driving regardless of the vehicle type. The proposed solution is implemented on Android mobile devices and uses a heart rate chest strap

Benchmarking real-time vehicle data streaming models for a smart city

The information systems of smart cities offer project developers, institutions, industry and experts the possibility to handle massive incoming data from diverse information sources in order to produce new information services for citizens. Much of this information has to be processed as it arrives because a real-time response is often needed. Stream processing architectures solve this kind of problems, but sometimes it is not easy to benchmark the load capacity or the efficiency of a proposed architecture. This work presents a real case project in which an infrastructure was needed for gathering information from drivers in a big city, analyzing that information and sending real-time recommendations to improve driving efficiency and safety on roads. The challenge was to support the real-time recommendation service in a city with thousands of simultaneous drivers at the lowest possible cost. In addition, in order to estimate the ability of an infrastructure to handle load, a simulator that emulates the data produced by a given amount of simultaneous drivers was also developed. Experiments with the simulator show how recent stream processing platforms like Apache Kafka could replace custom-made streaming servers in a smart city to achieve a higher scalability and faster responses, together with cost reduction.This research is partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the “HERMES – SmartDriver” project (TIN2013-46801-C4-2-R), the “HERMES – Smart Citizen” project (TIN2013-46801-C4-1-R), and the “HERMES –Space&Time” project (TIN2013-46801-C4-3-R)

A scalable data streaming infrastructure for smart cities

Proceedings of JARCA 2016: XVIII JARCA Workshop on Qualitative Systems and Applications in Diagnosis, Robotics and Ambient Intelligence: El Toyo, Almería (Spain), 23-29 June, 2016Many of the services a smart city can provide to its citizens rely on the ability of its infrastructure to collect and process in real time vast amounts of continuous data that sensors deployed through the city produce. In this paper we present the server in- frastructure we have designed in the context of the HERMES project to collect the data from sensors and aggregate it in streams for their use in services of the smart city.Research reported in this paper was supported by the Spanish Economy Ministry through the “HERMES–Smart Driver” project (TIN2013-46801-C4-2-R) and the “HERMES–Smart Citizen” project (TIN2013-46801-C4-1-R

Plataforma para gestión de información de ciudadanos de una SmartCity

JARCA 2015: Actas de las XVII Jornadas de ARCA: Sistemas Cualitativos y sus Aplicaciones en Diagnosis, Robótica, Inteligencia Ambiental y Ciudades Inteligentes = Proceedings of the XVII ARCA Days: Qualitative Systems and its Applications in Diagnose Robotics, Ambient Intelligence and Smart Cities, Vinaros (Valencia), 23 al 27 de Junio de 2015El aumento de la población en áreas urbanas y el ritmo de vida cada vez más sedentario es una preocupación creciente. Por otra parte, los avances tecnológicos en sensores y redes de comunicaciones permiten obtener mucha información, que antes no era posible conocer, prácticamente en tiempo real. Este trabajo en progreso utiliza estos avances, para recopilar datos de los habitantes de una zona urbana en una plataforma web en que en un futuro, los profesionales puedan obtener datos anónimos, analizarlos y suministrar patrones de salud en base a los mismos, dotando al sistema de la capacidad de crear planes de acción comunes y personalizados a los perfiles de los ciudadanos, con el fin de mejorar su calidad de vida.Este trabajo ha sido parcialmente financiado por el proyecto del Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad HERMES (TIN2013-46801-C4-1-r) y los proyectos de excelencia de la Junta de Andalucía Simon (P11-TIC-8052) y Context-Learning (P11-TIC-7124)

Infraestructuras para gestión de información de una SmartCity

JARCA 2015: Actas de las XVII Jornadas de ARCA: Sistemas Cualitativos y sus Aplicaciones en Diagnosis, Robótica, Inteligencia Ambiental y Ciudades Inteligentes = Proceedings of the XVII ARCA Days: Qualitative Systems and its Applications in Diagnose Robotics, Ambient Intelligence and Smart Cities, Vinaros (Valencia), 23 al 27 de Junio de 2015.En este trabajo se describe la infraestructura propuesta en el proyecto Nacional Hermes en el que se plantea un modelo de transición para llegar a crear ciudades inteligentes sin necesidad de grandes inversiones en infraestructuras.Este trabajo ha sido parcialmente financiado por el proyecto del Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad HERMES (TIN2013-46801-C4-1-r) y los proyectos de excelencia de la Junta de Andalucía Simon (P11-TIC-8052) y Context-Learning (P11-TIC-7124

Notes for genera – Ascomycota

Knowledge of the relationships and thus the classification of fungi, has developed rapidly with increasingly widespread use of molecular techniques, over the past 10--15 years, and continues to accelerate. Several genera have been found to be polyphyletic, and their generic concepts have subsequently been emended. New names have thus been introduced for species which are phylogenetically distinct from the type species of particular genera. The ending of the separate naming of morphs of the same species in 2011, has also caused changes in fungal generic names. In order to facilitate access to all important changes, it was desirable to compile these in a single document. The present article provides a list of generic names of Ascomycota (approximately 6500 accepted names published to the end of 2016), including those which are lichen-forming. Notes and summaries of the changes since the last edition of `Ainsworth Bisby's Dictionary of the Fungi' in 2008 are provided. The notes include the number of accepted species, classification, type species (with location of the type material), culture availability, life-styles, distribution, and selected publications that have appeared since 2008. This work is intended to provide the foundation for updating the ascomycete component of the ``Without prejudice list of generic names of Fungi'' published in 2013, which will be developed into a list of protected generic names. This will be subjected to the XIXth International Botanical Congress in Shenzhen in July 2017 agreeing to a modification in the rules relating to protected lists, and scrutiny by procedures determined by the Nomenclature Committee for Fungi (NCF). The previously invalidly published generic names Barriopsis, Collophora (as Collophorina), Cryomyces, Dematiopleospora, Heterospora (as Heterosporicola), Lithophila, Palmomyces (as Palmaria) and Saxomyces are validated, as are two previously invalid family names, Bartaliniaceae and Wiesneriomycetaceae. Four species of Lalaria, which were invalidly published are transferred to Taphrina and validated as new combinations. Catenomycopsis Tibell Constant. is reduced under Chaenothecopsis Vain., while Dichomera Cooke is reduced under Botryosphaeria Ces. De Not. (Art. 59)