Using Augmented Reality and Internet of Things to improve accessibility of people with motor disabilities in the context of Smart Cities

Smart Cities need to be designed to allow the inclusion of all kinds of citizens. For instance, motor disabled people like wheelchair users may have problems to interact with the city. Internet of Things (IoT) technologies provide the tools to include all citizens in the Smart City context. For example, wheelchair users may not be able to reach items placed beyond their arm’s length, limiting their independence in everyday activities like shopping, or visiting libraries. We have developed a system that enables wheelchair users to interact with items placed beyond their arm’s length, with the help of Augmented Reality (AR) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies. Our proposed system is an interactive AR application that runs on different interfaces, allowing the user to digitally interact with the physical items on the shelf, thanks to an updated inventory provided by an RFID system. The resulting experience is close to being able to browse a shelf, clicking on it and obtaining information about the items it contains, allowing wheelchair users to shop independently, and providing autonomy in their everyday activities. Fourteen wheelchair users with different degrees of impairment have participated in the study and development of the system. The evaluation results show promising results towards more independence of wheelchair users, providing an opportunity for equality improvement.This work was partly funded by the Spanish Government through projects TIN2012-34965 PIGALL, TIN2011-27076-C03-02 CO-PRIVACY, TIN2014-57364-C2-2-R SMARTGLACIS, TEC2015-71303-R SINERGIA, and TSI-020602-2012-147 IRIS. The authors also acknowledge support from Obra Social “la Caixa” -ACUP through project 2011ACUP00261

Remarks on Peinado et al.'s Analysis of J3Gen

Peinado et al. analyzed the security of the J3Gen pseudorandom number generator proposed by Melià-Seguí et al., and claimed weaknesses regarding its security properties. They also presented a deterministic attack based on the decimation of the J3Gen output sequences. We show that the assumptions made by Peinado et al. are not correct and that the proposed deterministic attack against J3Gen does not hold in practice

Context-aware routing system in an indoor scenario

The main aim of this report is to develop, design and analyse a system to simulate a context-aware routing algorithm in an indoor scenario. The context-aware purpose of this project is to take advantage of the interaction of the routing system with an entity when it is relevant. From all the context entities, the spatial environment is one of the most important, and the one which more information can be taken advantage of. Benefits can be obtained from using context-awareness in many ways, which have a special interest in the Information Technologies area. The intention of this report is to create a new application using context information related to the space, to be more precise, the position of the entities within a concrete location, and its preferences. The primary target is to design a supermarket in which benefits can be obtained from the position of the customers, their preferences (concretely the shopping list) and also the location of the products, to create an intelligent and efficient supermarket for the customer (but also for the supermarket in itself) point of view. Knowing the position of the customers and the location of the products in the supermarket can be useful to draw up efficient routes that can guide the customers through the corridors to buy their products quickly, which is the main reason why the system uses a shortest path routing algorithm to find the best route from the customer to the wished product. This algorithm considers the shortest distance and also the position of the rest of the customers so the system is able to guide the customers through another path in cases where they reach congested zones in the supermarket. Bluetooth wireless technology is used to accomplish the localization and system communication task. In addition the routing algorithm is adapted to fit the requirements of the intelligent supermarket. The design and implementation of a GUI simulator written in Java that represents the designed system is the main goal of this project. This simulator serves as a tool to test the system operation offering the possibility to modify parameters such as the rate and distribution type of the arrival of customers, the number of customers, subjective criteria of congestion and speed of the simulation among other parameters. Different types of statistics and the possibility to generate files with the information of the simulation are the main outcomes of this project, besides the GUI. In addition, this information can be translated into a Matlab script using a parser designed for this purpose. Finally the results and conclusions of the system are presented, and the future lines to follow the development of this innovative project

J3Gen : a PRNG for Low-Cost Passive RFID

Pseudorandom number generation (PRNG) is the main security tool in low-cost passive radio-frequency identification (RFID) technologies, such as EPC Gen2. We present a lightweight PRNG design for low-cost passive RFID tags, named J3Gen. J3Gen is based on a linear feedback shift register (LFSR) configured with multiple feedback polynomials. The polynomials are alternated during the generation of sequences via a physical source of randomness. J3Gen successfully handles the inherent linearity of LFSR based PRNGs and satisfies the statistical requirements imposed by the EPC Gen2 standard. A hardware implementation of J3Gen is presented and evaluated with regard to different design parameters, defining the key-equivalence security and nonlinearity of the design. The results of a SPICE simulation confirm the power-consumption suitability of the proposal

Lessons learned on adult student engagement in an online gameful course

Gamification has captured the interest of both Human-Computer Interaction and Educational Sciences during the last past years. However, most of the available case studies in the literature are not focused in online higher education environments, even less considering the demographics of adult learners. This paper presents the design and development of an online gameful course of Computer Networks formed by two groups with an average age older than the common university students. This approach aims to encourage adult learners to solve non-graded formative activities and to increase their sense of kinship to the group. After one semester, the results revealed a moderate effect on student engagement, but a low enrolment rate. In contrast, a similar previous study revealed promising outcomes. The main goal of this work is to present the obtained results and to analyse the relevant issues in order to understand the source of the engagement differences perceived

J3Gen: A PRNG for Low-Cost Passive RFID

Pseudorandom number generation (PRNG) is the main security tool in low-cost passive radio-frequency identification (RFID) technologies, such as EPC Gen2. We present a lightweight PRNG design for low-cost passive RFID tags, named J3Gen. J3Gen is based on a linear feedback shift register (LFSR) configured with multiple feedback polynomials. The polynomials are alternated during the generation of sequences via a physical source of randomness. J3Gen successfully handles the inherent linearity of LFSR based PRNGs and satisfies the statistical requirements imposed by the EPC Gen2 standard. A hardware implementation of J3Gen is presented and evaluated with regard to different design parameters, defining the key-equivalence security and nonlinearity of the design. The results of a SPICE simulation confirm the power-consumption suitability of the proposal

Lightweight PRNG for Low-Cost Passive RFID Security Improvement

Els sistemes RFID estan composats per tags (coneguts també amb el nom d'etiquetes electròniques) que emmagatzemen un codi d'identificació que es pot obtenir via radiofreqüència per un equip lector, i ser transmesa a la xarxa a través dels sistemes d'informació. L'RFID de baix cost integra diferents tecnologies amb un denominador comú, la limitació de recursos computacionals dels tags (és a dir el seu baix cost). La tecnologia RFID de baix cost més comuna és l'Electronic Product Code Class 1 Generation 2 (EPC Gen2). El desenvolupament dels tags d'aquesta tecnologia ha de fer front a diverses limitacions, com són el cost de fabricació, compatibilitat amb les regulacions, consum de potència i funcionalitat. Com a conseqüència, les capacitats computacionals dels tags EPC Gen2 són limitades. En aquest sentit, les especificacions de la tecnologia EPC Gen2 només considera dos funcions de seguretat en els tags: generadors de nombres pseudoaleatoris (PRNGs) i operacions protegides amb contrasenya. La pseudoaleatorietat proporcionada als tags s'empra, de fet, per xifrar les operacions protegides amb contrasenya. Els PRNGs també són la base del mecanisme d'anticol·lisió en el procés d'inventariat dels tags, i del mecanisme de comprovació de recepció de certes operacions de l'estàndard EPC Gen2 (per exemple l'escriptura en memòria o la desactivació de tags). Per tant, els PRNGs són els elements bàsics en la seguretat de la tecnologia EPC Gen2. La contribució d'aquesta tesi és la millora de l'estat de l'art en la seguretat per la tecnologia RFID EPC Gen2. Amb el coneixement obtingut de l'anàlisi de tags comercials, i l'avaluació de propostes de la literatura científica, es proposa un nou disseny de PRNG compatible amb els requisits de la tecnologia EPC Gen2, millorant-ne les propietats de seguretat. Es pot concloure que el treball inclòs en aquesta tesi condueix a un nou paradigma en el disseny i recomanacions per a la seguretat en sistemes RFID de baix cost, i en particular, per la tecnologia EPC Gen2.Los sistemas RFID se componen de tags (conocidos también como etiquetas electrónicas) que almacenan un código de identificación que se puede obtener vía radiofrecuencia por un equipo lector, y ser transmitida a la red a través del sistema de información. RFID de bajo coste integra diferentes tecnologías con un denominador común, la limitación de recursos computacionales de las etiquetas. La tecnología RFID de bajo coste más común es el Electronic Product Code Class 1 Generation 2 (EPC Gen2). El desarrollo de los tags de esta tecnologia tiene que superar diferentes limitaciones, como son el coste de fabricación, compatibilidad con las regulaciones, consumo de potencia y funcionalidad. Como consecuencia, las capacidades computacionales de los tags EPC Gen2 son limitadas. En este sentido, las especificaciones de la tecnología EPC Gen2 solo considera dos funciones de seguridad en los tags: generadores de números pseudo-aleatorios (PRNGs) y operaciones protegidas por contraseña. La pseudoaletoriedad proporcionada a los tags se utiliza, de hecho, para cifrar operaciones protegidas por contraseña. Los PRNGs también son la base del mecanismo de anticolisión en el proceso de inventariado de los tags, y del mecanismo de comprobación de recepción de ciertas operaciones del estándar EPC Gen2 (por ejemplo la escritura en memoria o la desactivación de los tags). Por tanto, los PRNGs son los elementos básicos en la seguridad de la tecnología EPC Gen2. La contribución de esta tesis es la mejora del estado del arte en la seguridad para la tecnología RFID EPC Gen2. Con el conocimiento obtenido del análisis de tags comerciales, i la evaluación de propuestas de la literatura científica, se propone un nuevo diseño de PRNG compatible con los requisitos de la tecnología EPC Gen2, mejorando sus propiedades de seguridad. Se puede concluir que el trabajo incluido en esta tesis conduce a un nuevo paradigma en el diseño y recomendaciones para la seguridad en sistemas RFID de bajo coste, y en particular, para la tecnología EPC Gen2.RFID systems are composed by tags (also known as electronic labels) storing an identification sequence which can be wirelessly retrieved by an interrogator, and transmitted to the network through middleware and information systems. Low-cost RFID integrates different technologies, regarding the resource constrained characteristic (thus, reduced cost) of the RFID tags. The main example of low-cost RFID is the Electronic Product Code Class 1 Generation 2 (EPC Gen2) technology, which is designed to balance cost and functionality. The development of EPC Gen2 tags faces, in fact, several challenging constraints such as cost, compatibility regulations, power consumption, and performance requirements. As a consequence, the computational capabilities of EPC Gen2 tags are very simple. In this sense, the EPC Gen2 specification only considers two basic on board security features: pseudo-random number generators (PRNGs) and password-protected operations. The pseudo-randomness offered by on-board PRNGs is, indeed, used to protect the password-protected operations. PRNGs are also used as an anti-collision mechanism for inventorying processes, and to acknowledge other Gen2 specific operations (e.g., memory writing, decommission of tags, and self-destruction). PRNGs are, therefore, the crucial components that guarantee Gen2 security. The contribution of this dissertation is the improvement of the state of the art on security in RFID EPC Gen2 technology. With the knowledge obtained from the analysis of commercial EPC Gen2 tags, and the evaluation of scientific proposals, we have been able to propose a new PRNG design compatible with the hardware and statistical EPC Gen2 requirements, and with improved security properties. We can conclude that our work leads to new design paradigms and recommendations for the security in low-cost RFID, and particularly for the EPC Gen2 technology

Gesture detection using passive RFID tags to enable people-centric IoT applications

Our society may enhance and create new services in a people-centric IoT context through the exchange of information with sensor devices. Unfortunately, communication and services may be compromised due to a number of factors including unreliable communication, complexity, and security threats like spoofing. Within the technologies involved in the IoT paradigm, passive RFID allows the inventorying of simple objects toward wireless communication with a low-cost investment. We present a solution to increase the personalization of IoT applications and services (e.g., accessing a restricted area with a contact- less card) by detecting people-object gestures with an accelerometer-enabled passive RFID tag. We demonstrate the feasibility of our proposal by achieving a precision of 85 percent in people-object gestures classification. As a future task, we aim to implement it in a real scenario