Sustainable gardens for smart cities using low-power communications

This paper presents a study on smart gardens in the context of smart cities, a topic that has been gaining more and more interest from the public due to the numerous problems that are felt both in terms of the environment and in terms of food consumption which, due to population increase and migration towards cities, has become a sustainability problem as agricultural production is moving further away from the consumers thus making it harder to obtain fresh good such as fruits and vegetables. Using IoT combined with communication technologies such as LoRa that have Low-power and wide-area network capabilities, it is possible to create systems that enhance sustainability through a more efficient use of resources while also making its users be more involved with the plant cultivation process and, therefore, develop more empathy towards this topic and nature in general. Several smart garden systems and contexts in which those systems are implemented will be analyzed to understand what can be done within this research field.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Things2People interaction toward energy savings in shared spaces Using BIM

People in shared building space have an important role in energy consumption because they can turn on/off equipment and heat/cooling systems. This behaviour can be influenced by giving then locally tailored context information (energy consumption, temperature, luminosity) and information about the cost of their actions. This paper presents an approach to create personalized local energy consumption predictions in a building using past sensor data, correlated with external conditions to create local context predictions. This prediction is sent in real-time to people’s mobile devices in order to influence their behaviour when increasing or decreasing temperature using heating or cooling systems. This information is essential for sustainability actions in shared spaces, where this information can have an important role. Also, the data (temperature) representation in the building information model (BIM) module can help the user understand environment conditions and, together with the user sharing their thermal feelings, can be used to change behaviour. This approach using BIM’s representation models allows Things2People interaction to improve energy savings in these shared spaces.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

IoT system for the validation of conditions in shipping couriers

Online activity has increased over the years and has become a staple in modern society. With it, online shopping businesses have become more common, as well as the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. As the shopping experience becomes less personal, some people try to exploit the system causing online businesses to increasingly suffer from return frauds. This paper proposes a solution to this problem, integrating IoT and image processing. The proposed system uses IoT to verify package conditions in courier services, and a database to monitor shipments. The methodology followed for development is described, including the research models, research questions and hypothesis. Development was based on a literature review conducted in order to understand what has been done in the area of logistics services, and what equipment and tools were used for these projects. In addition, the system’s design and architecture are described, giving insight to each components’ function in the system. The system is then implemented to simulate a realworld scenario and tests are carried out. The results of the tests are gathered and analyzed to fine-tune the system. Finally, conclusions are drawn out on the system’s capability of achieving the goals and requirements established before development.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Data center environment monitoring system

The Internet of things (IoT) is applied to many cases in the smart cities topic. We apply an IoT-developed platform using LoRa communication to a Data Center to understand temperature behavior within a concentration of servers and the working behavior of these server machines. We describe our work as an IoT platform to measure temperature, humidity, and energy consumption in these data centers. In the end, the gradient temperature was found in the rack, and the increasing temperature is correlated with energy consumption and the backup routines in the night. Our developed approach can be used to understand CPU usage and related temperature and the energy consumption.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Disaster management in smart cities

The smart city concept, in which data from different systems are available, contains a multitude of critical infrastructures. This data availability opens new research opportunities in the study of the interdependency between those critical infrastructures and cascading effects solutions and focuses on the smart city as a network of critical infrastructures. This paper proposes an integrated resilience system linking interconnected critical infrastructures in a smart city to improve disaster resilience. A data-driven approach is considered, using artificial intelligence and methods to minimize cascading effects and the destruction of failing critical infrastructures and their components (at a city level). The proposed approach allows rapid recovery of infrastructures’ service performance levels after disasters while keeping the coverage of the assessment of risks, prevention, detection, response, and mitigation of consequences. The proposed approach has the originality and the practical implication of providing a decision support system that handles the infrastructures that will support the city disaster management system—make the city prepare, adapt, absorb, respond, and recover from disasters by taking advantage of the interconnections between its various critical infrastructures to increase the overall resilience capacity. The city of Lisbon (Portugal) is used as a case to show the practical application of the approach.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

BIM in People2People and Things2People interactive process

In this research work, we present an IoT solution to environment variables using a LoRa transmission technology to give real-time information to users in a Things2People process and achieve savings by promoting behavior changes in a People2People process. These data are stored and later processed to identify patterns and integrate with visualization tools, which allow us to develop an environmental perception while using the system. In this project, we implemented a different approach based on the development of a 3D visualization tool that presents the system collected data, warnings, and other users’ perception in an interactive 3D model of the building. This data representation introduces a new People2People interaction approach to achieve savings in shared spaces like public buildings by combining sensor data with the users’ individual and collective perception. This approach was validated at the ISCTE-IUL University Campus, where this 3D IoT data representation was presented in mobile devices, and from this, influenced user behavior toward meeting campus sustainability goalsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

3D IoT dystem for environmental and energy consumption monitoring system

Energy consumption in buildings depends on the local climate, building characteristics, and user behavior. Focusing on user interaction, this research work developed a novel approach to monitoring and interaction with local users by providing in situ context information through graphic descriptions of energy consumption and indoor/outdoor environment parameters: temperature, luminosity, and humidity, which are routinely measured in real-time and stored to identify consumption patterns and other savings actions. To involve local users, collected data are represented in 3D color representation using building 3d models. A simplified color scale depicts environmental comfort (low/comfortable/high temperature/relative humidity) and energy consumption (above/below usual patterns). We found that these indices induced user commitment and increased their engagement and participation in saving actions like turning off lights and better management of air conditioning systems.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Digital twins para sustentabilidade e gestão de acidentes

Os modelos BIM são maioritariamente gerados e usados no contexto do projeto e construção. Contudo, a informação que contêm é cada vez mais utilizada na gestão dos edifícios e cidade. Este trabalho descreve o desenvolvimento de ferramentas baseadas em modelos BIM que são enquadradas no conceito de Smart City. Estas aplicações contêm informação geométrica e funcional da construção e trocam dados com outras fontes tal como sensores ambientais, de consumo de energia ou água ou com os responsáveis técnicos e utilizadores, tornando-se em Gémeos Digitais/Digital Twins. São apresentadas duas aplicações onde são usados modelos BIM de pequena e grande escala como suporte de visualização e interação com os utilizadores. Em ambas são feitas integrações de informação de várias origens que são integradas numa plataforma agregadora. Nestas aplicações o modelo BIM é uma das peças do sistema que compreende sensores, bases de dados, algoritmos de filtragem e tratamento de dados, sendo por isso necessário recorrer a técnicas de extração, compatibilização de informação de várias fontes e apresentação ao utilizador em suportes acessíveis, o que aponta caminhos para a utilização do BIM em novos cenários.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

loT system for the validation of conditions in shipping couriers

Online activity has increased over the years and has become a staple in modern society. With it, online shopping businesses have become more common, as well as the number of Internet of Things (loT) devices. As the shopping experience becomes less personal, some people try to exploit the system causing online businesses to increasingly suffer from return frauds. This paper proposes a solution to this problem, integrating loT and image processing. The proposed system uses loT to verify package conditions in courier services, and a database to monitor shipments. To develop the system, a literature review is conducted in order to understand what has been done in the area of logistics services. The literature review is also extended to projects that integrate image processing techniques with loT to determine what tools are used in the development of these projects. Furthermore, the methodology employed for the development of the system is described. This includes the research models, research questions and hypothesis.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Disaster Management in Smart Cities

The smart city concept, in which data from different systems are available, contains a multitude of critical infrastructures. This data availability opens new research opportunities in the study of the interdependency between those critical infrastructures and cascading effects solutions and focuses on the smart city as a network of critical infrastructures. This paper proposes an integrated resilience system linking interconnected critical infrastructures in a smart city to improve disaster resilience. A data-driven approach is considered, using artificial intelligence and methods to minimize cascading effects and the destruction of failing critical infrastructures and their components (at a city level). The proposed approach allows rapid recovery of infrastructures’ service performance levels after disasters while keeping the coverage of the assessment of risks, prevention, detection, response, and mitigation of consequences. The proposed approach has the originality and the practical implication of providing a decision support system that handles the infrastructures that will support the city disaster management system—make the city prepare, adapt, absorb, respond, and recover from disasters by taking advantage of the interconnections between its various critical infrastructures to increase the overall resilience capacity. The city of Lisbon (Portugal) is used as a case to show the practical application of the approach