Heuristic evaluation of an IoMT system for remote health monitoring in senior care

This paper presents the usability assessment of the design of an Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) system for older adults; the evaluation, using heuristics, was held early on the design process to assess potential problems with the system and was found to be an efficient method to find issues with the application design and led to significant usability improvements on the IoMT platform

A review of deep learning applications for the next generation of cognitive networks

Intelligence capabilities will be the cornerstone in the development of next-generation cognitive networks. These capabilities allow them to observe network conditions, learn from them, and then, using prior knowledge gained, respond to its operating environment to optimize network performance. This study aims to offer an overview of the current state of the art related to the use of deep learning in applications for intelligent cognitive networks that can serve as a reference for future initiatives in this field. For this, a systematic literature review was carried out in three databases, and eligible articles were selected that focused on using deep learning to solve challenges presented by current cognitive networks. As a result, 14 articles were analyzed. The results showed that applying algorithms based on deep learning to optimize cognitive data networks has been approached from different perspectives in recent years and in an experimental way to test its technological feasibility. In addition, its implications for solving fundamental challenges in current wireless networks are discussed

An IoT system for remote health monitoring in elderly adults through a wearable device and mobile application

With the increase in global life expectancy and the advance of technology, the creation of age-friendly environments is a priority in the design of new products for elderly people healthcare. This paper presents a proposal for a real-time health monitoring system of older adults living in geriatric residences. This system was developed to help caregivers to have a better control in monitoring the health of their patients and have closer communication with their patients’ family members. To validate the feasibility and effectiveness of this proposal, a prototype was built, using a biometric bracelet connected to a mobile application, which allows real-time visualization of all the information generated by the sensors (heart rate, body temperature, and blood oxygenation) in the bracelet. Using these data, caregivers can make decisions about the health status of their patients. The evaluation found that the users perceived the system to be easy to learn and use, providing initial evidence that our proposal could improve the quality of the adult’s healthcare.PRODEP | Ref. PRODEP UCOL-EXB-176 (Code: DSA/103.5/15/10874

Prioritization-Driven Congestion Control in Networks for the Internet of Medical Things: A Cross-Layer Proposal

Real-life implementation of the Internet of Things (IoT) in healthcare requires sufficient quality of service (QoS) to transmit the collected data successfully. However, unsolved challenges in prioritization and congestion issues limit the functionality of IoT networks by increasing the likelihood of packet loss, latency, and high-power consumption in healthcare systems. This study proposes a priority-based cross-layer congestion control protocol called QCCP, which is managed by communication devices’ transport and medium access control (MAC) layers. Unlike existing methods, the novelty of QCCP is how it estimates and resolves wireless channel congestion because it does not generate control packets, operates in a distributed manner, and only has a one-bit overhead. Furthermore, at the same time, QCCP offers packet scheduling considering each packet’s network load and QoS. The results of the experiments demonstrated that with a 95% confidence level, QCCP achieves sufficient performance to support the QoS requirements for the transmission of health signals. Finally, the comparison study shows that QCCP outperforms other TCP protocols, with 64.31% higher throughput, 18.66% less packet loss, and 47.87% less latency

Performance Evaluation of an IEEE 802.15.4 Wireless Sensor Network on a Coastal Environment

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have an enormous potential for investigating oceanographic problems such as the impact of industrial, touristic and commercial activities in coastal areas, among others. However, ocean waves, fog, humidity and other environmental conditions make difficult communication between nodes. This paper presents an evaluation on-site of the performance of an IEEE 802.15.4 WSN. In particular, received signal strength indication, throughput, round trip delay time and the rate of efficiency are evaluated.  Different settings were tested and results shown which settings performed better on these environments

Prioritization-Driven Congestion Control in Networks for the Internet of Medical Things: A Cross-Layer Proposal

Real-life implementation of the Internet of Things (IoT) in healthcare requires sufficient quality of service (QoS) to transmit the collected data successfully. However, unsolved challenges in prioritization and congestion issues limit the functionality of IoT networks by increasing the likelihood of packet loss, latency, and high-power consumption in healthcare systems. This study proposes a priority-based cross-layer congestion control protocol called QCCP, which is managed by communication devices’ transport and medium access control (MAC) layers. Unlike existing methods, the novelty of QCCP is how it estimates and resolves wireless channel congestion because it does not generate control packets, operates in a distributed manner, and only has a one-bit overhead. Furthermore, at the same time, QCCP offers packet scheduling considering each packet’s network load and QoS. The results of the experiments demonstrated that with a 95% confidence level, QCCP achieves sufficient performance to support the QoS requirements for the transmission of health signals. Finally, the comparison study shows that QCCP outperforms other TCP protocols, with 64.31% higher throughput, 18.66% less packet loss, and 47.87% less latency

A Policy-Based Multi-Agent management approach for Intelligent Traffic-Light Control

In this paper we propose the application of intelligent agents in traffic-lights, for the road control of urban transit in the city of Colima, México; using a multi-agent approach for dynamic urban traffic-lights system coordination that relies on locally available traffic data and the traffic condition of the neighboring intersections. According to this approach, our system consists of agents distributed into a hierarchical architecture. Each agent is responsible for one activity, for example, traffic data collection, preprocessing of these data and decision making of econfiguration of the traffic-lights controllers. An intelligent algorithm based on the policy management model is defined and used as an auxiliary element for the coordination mechanism in order to form an adaptive control system with learning capabilities that allows a more fluid traffic and reduce some of the problems that the society face such as the average wait time and trip travel time and the average size queue per intersection. We define a model based on configuration profiles that are used as initial configurations and new configuration profiles are created as the traffic conditions change. Our approach is experimented with traffic control of a few connected junctions and the result obtained is promising; it can reduce the average delayed time of each car at each traffic-light near an intersection rather substantially when compared with the current traffic-lights control approach

Diseños de bloques incompletos como una alternativa para la evaluación de proyectos en organizaciones gubernamentales y no gubernamentales

The transparent evaluation of projects proposals for scientific research with financial support through calls made by governmental institutions or private organizations becomes extremely important, along with increasing confidence in the researchers who participate in the calls for the allocation of financial resources. Therefore, this research presents an alternative to the process of evaluating projects with financial resources. The current method of evaluating funded projects is to obtain an average of the scores assigned to each project by a group of reviewers. However, this method does not discount the effect of the reviewer and produces a bias in the final evaluation of each project, since projects are likely to be favored when reviewers are relaxed and affected when reviewers are demanding and very strict. Method: This research proposes the use of two experimental design statistical methods for project evaluation: (a) incomplete balanced block design and (b) Alpha block design. In addition, we provide codes in the statistical software R, for both statistical designs, which allows us to implement project evaluation quickly and accurately. Results: Based on the proposed methods, it was found that the traditional method presents a very important bias due to the heterogeneity among the reviewers. Discussion and Conclusion: The use of experimental design statistical methods (balanced incomplete block design or Alpha design) can reduce this bias considerably, obtaining a higher accuracy for evaluations.La evaluación transparente de propuestas a proyectos de investigación científica con apoyo económico es de suma importancia, ya que incrementa la confianza en los investigadores que participan en las convocatorias, emitidas por las instituciones gubernamentales u organizaciones privadas, y optimiza el uso de los recursos financieros. El método actual de evaluación de proyectos con financiamiento consiste en la obtención de un promedio de las calificaciones asignadas por un grupo de evaluadores a cada proyecto. Sin embargo, este método no descuenta el efecto del evaluador y produce un sesgo en el dictamen final de cada proyecto, ya sea que los proyectos se vean favorecidos por evaluadores que no son estrictos o afectados por evaluadores exigentes. Método: En esta investigación se propone el uso de dos diseños experimentales estadísticos como una alternativa al proceso de evaluación de proyectos: (a) diseño de bloques incompletos balanceados y el (b) diseño de bloques Alpha. Además, proporcionamos códigos en el software estadístico R, para ambos diseños de experimentos, que permite implementar la evaluación de proyectos de una forma rápida y precisa. Resultados: Con base en la evaluación de los métodos propuestos, se encontró que el método tradicional presenta un sesgo muy importante considerando la heterogeneidad entre los evaluadores, mientras que, al hacer uso de los dos diseños experimentales se puede reducir este sesgo considerablemente. Discusión y Conclusión: En este artículo se propone el uso de dos diseños experimentales, los cuales son los siguientes: el diseño de bloques incompletos balanceados y diseño de bloques Alpha, para el proceso de evaluación de proyectos en instituciones gubernamentales y no gubernamentales. De acuerdo con los ejemplos realizados, ambos diseños experimentales producen resultados similares, pero que son bastante diferentes al método tradicional; básicamente, esto se debe a la capacidad de los diseños experimentales propuestos de remover el efecto del evaluador a diferencia del método tradicional. Este efecto se ve reflejado en la dictaminación final de los proyectos, ya sea en beneficio o perjuicio, ya que el ranking resultante está enmascarado con las calificaciones verdaderas de los proyectos más el efecto del evaluador