Ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence: New challenges for computing

The IST Advisory Group (ISTAG) of the European Union had a vision of "Ambient Intelligence" (AmI) in 1999. It refers to "an exciting new paradigm of information technology, in which people are empowered through a digital environment that is aware of their presence and context sensitive, adaptive and responsive to their needs, habits, gestures and emotions". In AmI the technology will become invisible, embedded, present whenever we need it, enabled by simple interactions, attuned to all our senses and adaptive to users and contexts (Scenarios for Ambient Intelligence). AmI proposes a shift in computing from the traditional computer to a whole set of devices placed around us providing users with an intelligent background

Monitorización de emergencia de víctimas de catástrofes. Proyecto MERIS

La gestión de una catástrofe requiere acciones inmediatas y bien planificadas. Las personas que sufren traumas y no mueren de inmediato tienen grandes posibilidades de sobrevivir, si reciben una pronta atención médica especializada; pasado ese breve plazo, la mortalidad crece notablemente. El proyecto MERIS descrito en este artículo pretende optimizar la asignación de recursos humanos y técnicos durante la atención prehospitalaria en situaciones de emergencia, a través de un dispositivo electrónico que permita al personal de emergencias el acceso a la información en tiempo real sobre el estado de todas las víctimas recuperables.Peer Reviewe

A reconfigurable FPGA-based architecture for modular nodes in wireless sensor networks

Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. J. Portilla, T. Riesgo, and Á. de Castro, "A reconfigurable FPGA-based architecture for modular nodes in wireless sensor networks", 3rd Southern Conference on Programmable Logic, SPL 2007, Mar del Plata (Argentina), pp. 203 - 206A reconfigurable platform for sensor networks is presented. This platform has features that allow easy reuse of the node in several applications avoiding redesigning the system from scratch. The node includes an FPGA which is the core of the reconfiguration capabilities of the node. Several hardware interfaces for sensor standard protocols like I2C or PWM have been developed and implemented in the FPGA. Remote reconfiguration is an important feature and sensor networks can take advantage of it in order to improve the global performance

Estimación de la digestibilidad del pasto a partir de la materia seca indigestible a lo largo de la estación de pastoreo

4 páginas, 3 tablas.-- Ponencia presentada a las XIX Jornadas Científicas de la Sociedad Española de Ovinotecnia y Caprinotecnia (Burgos, España, 1994).La determinación de la digestibilidad de los alimentos es el parámetro más utilizado como indicador de su valor nutritivo. Además, en el caso de los rumiantes en pastoreo, es una medida necesaria para estimar la ingestión, a partir de la excreción fecal. Uno de los métodos que se está desarrollando para la determinación de la digestibilidad de los alimentos en los rumiantes, es la utilización de la Materia Seca Indigestible (MSI) como marcador interno. En el presente trabajo se determinó la digestibilidad de un pasto a partir de la MSI presente en heces y extrusa, en 5 momentos durante la época estival: 29 junio al 3 julio (Pl), 20 julio al 24 julio (P2), 24-28 agosto (P3), 21-25 septiembre (P4), 19-23 octubre (P5). Las muestras de heces y extrusa se obtuvieron en un experimento en pastoreo, en el que se utilizaron 4 ovejas merinas provistas de arneses para la recogida de heces, y 3 ovejas, de la misma raza, provistas de una fístula esofágica. Para la determinación de la MSI de las heces y extrusas, las muestras se incubaron, en el rumen de 3 ovejas merinas provistas de una cánula ruminal, utilizando la técnica de las Bolsas de Nylon, durante 192h. Los coeficientes de digestibilidad obtenidos fueron diferentes en los distintos períodos estudiados (P<0.001). Los valores encontrados fueron de 56.4%, 70.5%, 78.4%, 68.1%, 63.4%, en los períodos Pl, P2, P3, P4, P5 respectivamente. El % de MSI, en las heces obtenidas en los períodos estudiados, no presentó diferencias estadísticamente significativas, mientras que este efecto tuvo una marcada influencia sobre el % de MSI presente en las extrusas.Peer reviewe

A 3D multi-objective optimization planning algorithm for wireless sensor networks

The complexity of planning a wireless sensor network is dependent on the aspects of optimization and on the application requirements. Even though Murphy's Law is applied everywhere in reality, a good planning algorithm will assist the designers to be aware of the short plates of their design and to improve them before the problems being exposed at the real deployment. A 3D multi-objective planning algorithm is proposed in this paper to provide solutions on the locations of nodes and their properties. It employs a developed ray-tracing scheme for sensing signal and radio propagation modelling. Therefore it is sensitive to the obstacles and makes the models of sensing coverage and link quality more practical compared with other heuristics that use ideal unit-disk models. The proposed algorithm aims at reaching an overall optimization on hardware cost, coverage, link quality and lifetime. Thus each of those metrics are modelled and normalized to compose a desirability function. Evolutionary algorithm is designed to efficiently tackle this NP-hard multi-objective optimization problem. The proposed algorithm is applicable for both indoor and outdoor 3D scenarios. Different parameters that affect the performance are analyzed through extensive experiments; two state-of-the-art algorithms are rebuilt and tested with the same configuration as that of the proposed algorithm. The results indicate that the proposed algorithm converges efficiently within 600 iterations and performs better than the compared heuristics

Rapid prototyping for multi-application sensor networking

Jorge Portilla, Teresa Riesgo, Ana Abril, and Angel De Castro, “Rapid prototyping for multi-application sensor networking,” Spie Newsroom, Spie, (2007). Copyright © 2015 SPIE Society of Photo‑Optical Instrumentation Engineers. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited.Developing integrated hardware interfaces for different actuators allows rapid and easy integration into existing wireless network

Power Estimation Technique for DSP Architectures.

The main goal of power estimation is to optimize the power consumption of a electronic design. Power is a strongly pattern dependent function. Input statistics greatly influence on average power. We solve the pattern dependence problem for intellectual property (IP) designs. In this paper, we present a power macro-modeling technique for digital signal processing (DSP) architectures in terms of the statistical knowledge of their primary inputs. During the power estimation procedure, the sequence of an input stream is generated by a genetic algorithm using input metrics. Then, a Monte Carlo zero delay simulation is performed and a power dissipation macro-model function is built from power dissipation results. From then on, this macro-model function can be used to estimate power dissipation of the system just by using the statistics of the macro-block’s primary in puts. In experiments with the DSP system, the average error is 26%

Wireless Sensor Network Application for Environmental Impact Analysis and Control

Traditional Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) applications take advantage of the new low cost low power consuming integrated sensors that appear with the evolution of Micro Electromechanical Systems (MEMS). This kind of sensors is suitable for WSNs, due to the reduced size, their interfaces and their low power consumption. However, during the last years, WSNs have found new niches of application where such sensors are not usable, due to the nature of the parameter to be measured. In these scenarios, new approaches must be taken in order to satisfy the requirements. But new problems appear, like cost and size increase. In this paper, an application where parameters like gas concentration, conductivity or pH have to be measured in a coffee factory is presented. The drawbacks of such a solution are highlighted, and the solution in the field of the wireless sensor networks adopted is detailed

A BDD proposal for Probabilistic Switching Activity Estimation

Switching activity computation is a essential stage for dynamic power estimation. Binary decision diagrams (BDD) are widely used in probabilistic activity estimation. However, the BDD size used for switching activity increases significantly in respect to the logic function BDDs. In this paper we propose a new BDD structure for activity computations in which important size reductions are achieved with no accuracy loss. The proposal includes the definition of a BDD activity operator. This operator has been implemented in a BDD package and then, in an automated tool. This implementation has permitted the analysis of several circuits and has corroborated the size reductions and the accuracy of the result

Integrated hardware interfaces for modular sensor networks

Portilla, J., de Castro, A., Abril, A., Riesgo, T., “Integrated hardware interfaces for modular sensor networks”, Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering”, 6590, 9, 2007. Copyright 2007. Society of Photo‑Optical Instrumentation Engineers. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited.Sensor networks have reached a great relevance during the last years. The idea is to use a large number of nodes measuring different physical parameters in several environments, which implies different research challenges (low power consumption, communication protocols, platform hardware design, etc). There is a tendency to use modular hardware nodes in order to make easier rapid prototyping as well as to be able to redesign faster and reuse part of the hardware modules. One of the main obstacles for rapid prototyping is that sensors present heterogeneous interfaces. In this paper, a VHDL library for sensors/actuators interfaces is proposed. The purpose is to have a set of different sensor interfaces that include the most common in the sensors/actuators world, enabling the rapid connection to a new sensor/actuator. Moreover, the concept presented here may be used for new interfaces that can be easily developed. The VHDL implementation is independent of the final platform (any FPGA or ASIC) in order to minimize redesign effort and make easier rapid prototyping. The interfaces are installed in a UPM platform for sensor networks