Messenger Visual, a pictogram-based instant messaging service for individuals with cognitive disability

Along history disabled individuals have suffered from social exclusion due to the limitations posed by their condition. For instance, deaf people are not able to watch television programs because of their sensory limitation. Despite this situation has improved thanks to the efforts in adapting the different services —today the majority of television programs offer subtitles or simultaneous translation to sign language—, the arrival of the Internet, as well as the rest of the information and communication technologies, poses new risks to the inclusion of disabled individuals. Taking into account the present digital exclusion situation of disabled individuals this project presents Messenger Visual, an Instant Messaging service based on pictograms for individuals with cognitive disability. Messenger Visual is composed of two different parts. On the one hand, the Instant Messaging service has been designed considering the requirements of communication based on pictograms. On the other hand, the Instant Messaging client has been designed taking into account the user interface usability requirements of individuals with cognitive disability. Finally, the project presents the methodology that we have used to evaluate Messenger Visual with a group of individuals with cognitive disability, as well as the results we have obtained. The evaluation process has lasted for six months and one-hour fortnightly sessions have been held with two groups of individuals from Fundació El Maresme with different cognitive disability profiles. These sessions have allowed us to gain better understanding of the user interface accessibility requirements, as well as to know how individuals with cognitive disability communicate using pictograms

Messenger Visual, a pictogram-based instant messaging service for individuals with cognitive disability

Along history disabled individuals have suffered from social exclusion due to the limitations posed by their condition. For instance, deaf people are not able to watch television programs because of their sensory limitation. Despite this situation has improved thanks to the efforts in adapting the different services —today the majority of television programs offer subtitles or simultaneous translation to sign language—, the arrival of the Internet, as well as the rest of the information and communication technologies, poses new risks to the inclusion of disabled individuals. Taking into account the present digital exclusion situation of disabled individuals this project presents Messenger Visual, an Instant Messaging service based on pictograms for individuals with cognitive disability. Messenger Visual is composed of two different parts. On the one hand, the Instant Messaging service has been designed considering the requirements of communication based on pictograms. On the other hand, the Instant Messaging client has been designed taking into account the user interface usability requirements of individuals with cognitive disability. Finally, the project presents the methodology that we have used to evaluate Messenger Visual with a group of individuals with cognitive disability, as well as the results we have obtained. The evaluation process has lasted for six months and one-hour fortnightly sessions have been held with two groups of individuals from Fundació El Maresme with different cognitive disability profiles. These sessions have allowed us to gain better understanding of the user interface accessibility requirements, as well as to know how individuals with cognitive disability communicate using pictograms

Contributions to the development of active RFID systems at the 433 MHz band

Donat el potencial de la tecnologia RFID activa, aquesta tesi contribueix al seu desenvolupament centrant-se en les capes més baixes de la pila de protocols, és a dir, la capa física i la capa d'enllaç de dades. Aquestes capes determinen l'abast de la comunicació entre l'interrogador i les etiquetes, el nombre d'etiquetes que un interrogador pot llegir per segon i el consum d'energia que utilitzen les etiquetes en el procés, que en són els paràmetres de rendiment clau. A la capa física la tesi avalua els aspectes de propagació de la banda 433 MHz en diferents entorns i els compara amb la banda 2.4 GHz. Els resultats demostren que, per a la mateixa potència de transmissió, els sistemes RFID actius que funcionen a la banda 433 MHz aconsegueixen un millor abast de comunicació gràcies a unes millors característiques de propagació. A la capa d'enllaç de dades la tesi proposa LPDQ (Low-Power Distributed Queuing), un nou protocol d'accés al medi, i el compara amb FSA (Frame Slotted ALOHA). LPDQ combina LPL (Low-Power Listening) per a la sincronització de xarxa i DQ (Distributed Queuing) per a la transmissió de dades. En comparació amb el cas òptim de FSA, LPDQ aconsegueix un rendiment proper al màxim teòric (99.5%) independentment del nombre d'etiquetes i redueix el consum d'energia de les etiquetes en més d'un 10%.Dado el potencial de la tecnología RFID activa, esta tesis contribuye a su desarrollo centrándose en las capas más bajas de la pila de protocolos, es decir, la capa física y la capa de enlace de datos. Estas capas determinan el alcance de la comunicación entre el interrogador y las etiquetas, el número de etiquetas que un interrogador puede leer por segundo y el consumo de energía que utilizan las etiquetas en el proceso, que son los parámetros de rendimiento clave. En la capa física la tesis evalúa los aspectos de propagación de la banda 433 MHz en diferentes entornos y los compara con la banda 2.4 GHz. Los resultados demuestran que, para la misma potencia de transmisión, los sistemas RFID activos que funcionan en la banda 433 MHz consiguen un mejor alcance de comunicación gracias a unas mejores características de propagación. En la capa de enlace de datos la tesis propone LPDQ (Low-Power Distributed Queuing), un nuevo protocolo de acceso al medio, y lo compara con FSA (Frame Slotted ALOHA). LPDQ combina LPL (Low-Power Listening) para la sincronización de red y DQ (Distributed Queuing) para la transmisión de datos. En comparación con el caso óptimo de FSA, LPDQ consigue un rendimiento cercano al máximo teórico (99.5%) independientemente del número de etiquetas y reduce el consumo de energía de las etiquetas en más de un 10%.Given the potential of active RFID technology, this thesis contributes to its development by focusing on the lowest layers of the stack, that is, the physical and data-link layers. These layers determine the tag communication range, packet throughput and energy consumption, which are key performance parameters. At the physical layer, the thesis studies propagation aspects of the 433 MHz band in different environments and compares it to the 2.4 GHz band, which is also used in active RFID systems. The results demonstrate that active RFID systems operating at the 433 MHz band can achieve a better communication range at the same transmit power due to better propagation characteristics. At the data-link layer, the thesis proposes LPDQ (Low-Power Distributed Queuing), a new MAC (media access control) protocol, and compares it to FSA (Frame Slotted ALOHA). LPDQ combines LPL (Low-Power Listening) for network synchronization and DQ (Distributed Queuing) for data transmission. Compared to the optimal FSA case, LPDQ can achieve a performance close to the theoretical maximum (99.5%), regardless of the number of tags, and reduces tag energy consumption by more than 10%

LoRa-E: Overview and Performance Analysis

International audienceLong Range-Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum(LR-FHSS) is the new physical layer designed to addressextremely long-range and large-scale communication scenarios,such as satellite IoT. At its core is a fast frequency hoppingtechnique designed to offer higher network capacity whileoffering the same radio link budget as LoRa. Additionally,LR-FHSS finely manages packet transmission thanks to its designprinciples, enabling QoS policies on a per-packet basis. Giventhe notorious adoption of LoRaWAN in the IoT applicationlandscape, this article is a reference for understanding howexactly LR-FHSS works, the performance it can offer, and itslimitations and research opportunities

Experimental Interference Robustness Evaluation of IEEE 802.15.4-2015 OQPSK-DSSS and SUN-OFDM Physical Layers for Industrial Communications

International audienceIn this paper, we experimentally evaluate and compare the robustness against interference of the OQPSK-DSSS (Offset Quadrature Phase Shift Keying-Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) and the SUN-OFDM (Smart Utility Network-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) physical layers, as defined in the IEEE 802.15.4-2015 standard. The objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the impact that different levels of interference produce on these modulations, in terms of the resulting PDR (Packet Delivery Ratio) and depending on the length of the packet being transmitted. The results show that the SUN-OFDM physical layer provides significant benefits compared to the ubiquitous OQPSK-DSSS in terms of interference robustness, regardless of the interference type and the packet length. Overall, this demonstrates the suitability of choosing the SUN-OFDM physical layer when deploying low-power wireless networks in industrial scenarios, especially taking into consideration the possibility of trading-off robustness and spectrum efficiency depending on the application requirements

Developing and evaluating a pictogram-based Instant Messaging service for individuals with cognitive disabilities

Information and communication technologies pose accessibility problems to people with disabilities because its design fails to take into account their communication and usability requirements. The impossibility to access the services provided by these technologies creates a situation of exclusion that reduces the self-suficiency of disabled individuals and causes social isolation, which in turn diminishes their overall quality of life. Considering the importance of these technologies and services in our society, we have developed a pictogram-based Instant Messaging service for individuals with cognitive disabilities who have reading and writing problems. Along the paper we introduce and discuss the User Centred Design methodology that we have used to develop and evaluate the pictogram-based Instant Messaging service and client with individuals with cognitive disabilities taking into account their communication and usability requirements. From the results obtained in the evaluation process we can state that individuals with cognitive disabilities have been able to use the pictogram-based Instant Messaging service and client to communicate with their relatives and acquaintances, thus serving as a tool to help reducing their social and digital exclusion situation

Experimental Interference Robustness Evaluation of IEEE 802.15.4-2015 OQPSK-DSSS and SUN-OFDM Physical Layers for Industrial Communications

In this paper, we experimentally evaluate and compare the robustness against interference of the OQPSK-DSSS (Offset Quadrature Phase Shift Keying-Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) and the SUN-OFDM (Smart Utility Network-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) physical layers, as defined in the IEEE 802.15.4-2015 standard. The objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the impact that different levels of interference produce on these modulations, in terms of the resulting PDR (Packet Delivery Ratio) and depending on the length of the packet being transmitted. The results show that the SUN-OFDM physical layer provides significant benefits compared to the ubiquitous OQPSK-DSSS in terms of interference robustness, regardless of the interference type and the packet length. Overall, this demonstrates the suitability of choosing the SUN-OFDM physical layer when deploying low-power wireless networks in industrial scenarios, especially taking into consideration the possibility of trading-off robustness and spectrum efficiency depending on the application requirements

Messenger Visual, a pictogram-based instant messaging service for individuals with cognitive disability

Along history disabled individuals have suffered from social exclusion due to the limitations posed by their condition. For instance, deaf people are not able to watch television programs because of their sensory limitation. Despite this situation has improved thanks to the efforts in adapting the different services —today the majority of television programs offer subtitles or simultaneous translation to sign language—, the arrival of the Internet, as well as the rest of the information and communication technologies, poses new risks to the inclusion of disabled individuals. Taking into account the present digital exclusion situation of disabled individuals this project presents Messenger Visual, an Instant Messaging service based on pictograms for individuals with cognitive disability. Messenger Visual is composed of two different parts. On the one hand, the Instant Messaging service has been designed considering the requirements of communication based on pictograms. On the other hand, the Instant Messaging client has been designed taking into account the user interface usability requirements of individuals with cognitive disability. Finally, the project presents the methodology that we have used to evaluate Messenger Visual with a group of individuals with cognitive disability, as well as the results we have obtained. The evaluation process has lasted for six months and one-hour fortnightly sessions have been held with two groups of individuals from Fundació El Maresme with different cognitive disability profiles. These sessions have allowed us to gain better understanding of the user interface accessibility requirements, as well as to know how individuals with cognitive disability communicate using pictograms

Developing and evaluating a pictogram-based instant messaging service for individuals with cognitive disabilities

Information and communication technologies pose accessibility problems to people with disabilities because its design fails to take into account their communication and usability requirements. The impossibility to access the services provided by these technologies creates a situation of exclusion that reduces the self-sufficiency of disabled individuals and causes social isolation, which in turn diminishes their overall quality of life. Considering the importance of these technologies and services in our society, we have developed a pictogram-based Instant Messaging service for individuals with cognitive disabilities who have reading and writing problems. Along the paper we introduce and discuss the User Centred Design methodology that we have used to develop and evaluate the pictogram-based Instant Messaging service and client with individuals with cognitive disabilities taking into account their communication and usability requirements. From the results obtained in the evaluation process we can state that individuals with cognitive disabilities have been able to use the pictogram-based Instant Messaging service and client to communicate with their relatives and acquaintances, thus serving as a tool to help reducing their social and digital exclusion situation