Information-Centric Semantic Web of Things

In the Semantic Web of Things (SWoT) paradigm, a plethora of micro-devices permeates an environment. Storage and information processing are decentralized: each component conveys and even processes a (very) small amount of annotated metadata. In this perspective, the node-centric Internet networking model is inadequate. This paper presents a framework for resource discovery in semantic-enhanced pervasive environments leveraging an information-centric networking approach. Information gathered through different Internet of Things (IoT) technologies can be exploited by both ubiquitous and Web-based semantic-aware applications through a uniform set of operations. Experimental results and a case study support sustainability and effectiveness of the proposal

Semantic Blockchain to Improve Scalability in the Internet of Things

Generally scarce computational and memory resource availability is a well known problem for the IoT, whose intrinsic volatility makes complex applications unfeasible. Noteworthy efforts in overcoming unpredictability (particularly in case of large dimensions) are the ones integrating Knowledge Representation technologies to build the so-called Semantic Web of Things (SWoT). In spite of allowed advanced discovery features, transactions in the SWoT still suffer from not viable trust management strategies. Given its intrinsic characteristics, blockchain technology appears as interesting from this perspective: a semantic resource/service discovery layer built upon a basic blockchain infrastructure gains a consensus validation. This paper proposes a novel Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) based on a semantic blockchain for registration, discovery, selection and payment. Such operations are implemented as smart contracts, allowing distributed execution and trust. Reported experiments early assess the sustainability of the proposal

A Mobile and Web Platform for Crowdsourcing OBD-II Vehicle Data

On-Board Diagnostics 2 (OBD-II) protocol allows monitoring vehicle status parameters. Analyzing them is highly useful for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) research, applications and services. Unfortunately, large-scale OBD datasets are not publicly available due to the effort of producing them as well as due to competitiveness in the automotive sector. This paper proposes a framework to enable a worldwide crowdsourcing approach to the generation of OBD-II data, similarly to OpenStreetMap (OSM) for cartography. The proposal comprises: (i) an extension of the GPX data format for route logging, augmented with OBD-II parameters; (ii) a fork of an open source Android OBD-II data logger to store and upload route traces, and (iii) a Web platform extending the OSM codebase to support storage, search and editing of traces with embedded OBD data. A full platform prototype has been developed and early scalability tests have been carried out in various workloads to assess the sustainability of the proposal

A knowledge-based framework enabling decision support in RFID solutions for healthcare

The benefits of RFID technology in the healthcare sector are widely acknowledged. Nevertheless, the adoption of RFID as a means for pure item identification prevents adequate support to most knowledge-intensive medical tasks. Here an innovative Decision Support System for healthcare applications is presented, based on a semantic enhancement of RFID standard protocols. Semantically annotated descriptions of both medications and patient's case history are stored in RFID tags and used to help doctors in providing the correct therapy. The proposed system allows to discover possible incompatibilities in a therapy suggesting alternative treatments. © 2010 IEEE