MONICA in Hamburg: Towards Large-Scale IoT Deployments in a Smart City

Modern cities and metropolitan areas all over the world face new management challenges in the 21st century primarily due to increasing demands on living standards by the urban population. These challenges range from climate change, pollution, transportation, and citizen engagement, to urban planning, and security threats. The primary goal of a Smart City is to counteract these problems and mitigate their effects by means of modern ICT to improve urban administration and infrastructure. Key ideas are to utilise network communication to inter-connect public authorities; but also to deploy and integrate numerous sensors and actuators throughout the city infrastructure - which is also widely known as the Internet of Things (IoT). Thus, IoT technologies will be an integral part and key enabler to achieve many objectives of the Smart City vision. The contributions of this paper are as follows. We first examine a number of IoT platforms, technologies and network standards that can help to foster a Smart City environment. Second, we introduce the EU project MONICA which aims for demonstration of large-scale IoT deployments at public, inner-city events and give an overview on its IoT platform architecture. And third, we provide a case-study report on SmartCity activities by the City of Hamburg and provide insights on recent (on-going) field tests of a vertically integrated, end-to-end IoT sensor application.Comment: 6 page

The Quest for Scalability and Accuracy in the Simulation of the Internet of Things: an Approach based on Multi-Level Simulation

This paper presents a methodology for simulating the Internet of Things (IoT) using multi-level simulation models. With respect to conventional simulators, this approach allows us to tune the level of detail of different parts of the model without compromising the scalability of the simulation. As a use case, we have developed a two-level simulator to study the deployment of smart services over rural territories. The higher level is base on a coarse grained, agent-based adaptive parallel and distributed simulator. When needed, this simulator spawns OMNeT++ model instances to evaluate in more detail the issues concerned with wireless communications in restricted areas of the simulated world. The performance evaluation confirms the viability of multi-level simulations for IoT environments.Comment: Proceedings of the IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Distributed Simulation and Real Time Applications (DS-RT 2017

Incorporating the GEMV2 geometry-based vehicle-to-vehicle radio propagation channe model into de artery simulation framework for vanet applications

Orientador: Prof. Dr. Evelio Martin Garcia FernándezCoorientador: Prof. Dr. Christian FacchiDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Exatas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Elétrica e e em Engenharia Automotiva Internacional, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e Ciências da Computação, Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt. Defesa : Curitiba, 27/08/2018Inclui referências: p.70-73Resumo: A comunicação veicular tem como principal objetivo a otimização do tráfego e a diminuição de acidentes nas estradas. Como trata-se de um item de segurança, é necessário que o sistema seja massivamente testado em diversas situações possíveis antes de ser colocado em prática, o que tornaria a aplicação inviável devido ao elevado custo e ao tempo. Através de simuladores computacionais é possível realizar essa operação mais eficientemente assim como confibializar o sistema como um todo. Para isso é necessário que o simulador veicular possua uma precisão mais próxima da realidade possível com uma alta escabilidade, entretanto, com um processo computacional executável. Nesse contexto, essa dissertação tem o objetivo de tornar o ambiente virtual mais realístico através da implantação de um modelo de rádio propagação propício para o ambiente veicular, o qual diferencia dos modelos tradicionais devido à alta mobilidade dos comunicantes (carros) em alta velocidade e o impacto dos mesmos na comunicação. Como simulador, foi utilizado o framework de simulação Artery, o qual é uma extensão melhorada do VEINS uma vez que agrega as funcionalidades de comunicação europeia VANET no mesmo e aumenta sua escabilidade. Além disso o Artery faz uso do Vanetza, o qual é responsável pela implementação da pilha de protocolo do ETSI ITS-G5. Tanto o Artery e Vanetza são desenvolvidos sob a plataforma Omnet++ e possuem licença de código aberto. O GEMV² é um modelo de rádio propagação determinístico e estocástico, o qual considera o impacto dos demais veículos sobre o canal de comunicação veicular. Além disso, apresenta um modelo eficiente para realísticas simulações em larga escala com milhares de veículos comunicantes em vários ambientes veiculares (urbano, rural, rodovia). Além disso apresenta um ótimo tradeoff entre escabilidade e precisão, tendo seu modelo validado através de medições de campo. Após a implementação do modelo GEMV² na estrutura de simulação Artery constatou-se uma alta sensibilidade do mesmo para variações no posicionamento da antena e do carro por si só, e assim como previsto, uma melhora aproximadamente de 82,3 dB na potência recebida se comparado com modelos tradicionais de rádio propagação usados até então no Artery, justificados pelas considerações geométricas que o modelo aplica. Palavras-chave: VANET, Artery, GEMV², modelo de rádio propagação veicular, framework de simulação. Omnet. MATLAB.Abstract: The main goal of vehicular communication is the traffic optimization and the reduction of accidents on the roads. Since it is a safety item, it is recommended that the system is massively tested in several possible situations before being put into practice, which would become the application infeasible due to the high cost and time. Through computer simulations, it is possible to perform these operations more efficiently as well as getting the whole system more trustworthy. That said, it is necessary that the network and traffic based vehicular simulator has an accuracy as close to reality as possible and with a high scalability, however, with an executable computational process. As for the simulator, the Artery simulation framework was used, which is based on VEINS and enhances this by adding the European VANET communication functionality and by increasing its scalability. In addition, Artery makes use of Vanetza, which is an implementation of the ETSI ITS-G5 protocol stack. Both Artery and Vanetza were developed under the Omnet ++ platform as open source. In this context, this dissertation aims to become the virtual environment more realistic by implementing a radio propagation model that fits the vehicular environment, which differentiates from the traditional models due to the high mobility of the communicators (vehicles) at high speed and their impact over the communication channel. The GEMV² is a deterministic and stochastic radio propagation model, which considers the impact of the other vehicles over the vehicular communication channel. In addition, it presents an efficient model for realistic large-scale simulations with thousands of communicating vehicles in various vehicular environments (urban, rural, highway). Furthermore, it can achieve a good scalability/accuracy tradeoff, having its model validated through extensive field measurements. After the implementation of the GEMV² model into the Artery simulation framework was noticed that the model has a high sensitive in relation to the antenna position and the vehicle's positioning itself. Moreover, as expected, an improvement of approximately 82.3 dB at received power emerged if compared to the traditional radio propagation models used by Artery till then, justified by the geometric considerations that the model applies. Keywords: VANET, Artery, GEMV², vehicular radio propagation model, simulation framework. Omnet. MATLAB

Approximate reinforcement learning to control beaconing congestion in distributed networks

In vehicular communications, the increase of the channel load caused by excessive periodical messages (beacons) is an important aspect which must be controlled to ensure the appropriate operation of safety applications and driver-assistance systems. To date, the majority of congestion control solutions involve including additional information in the payload of the messages transmitted, which may jeopardize the appropriate operation of these control solutions when channel conditions are unfavorable, provoking packet losses. This study exploits the advantages of non-cooperative, distributed beaconing allocation, in which vehicles operate independently without requiring any costly road infrastructure. In particular, we formulate the beaconing rate control problem as a Markov Decision Process and solve it using approximate reinforcement learning to carry out optimal actions. Results obtained were compared with other traditional solutions, revealing that our approach, called SSFA, is able to keep a certain fraction of the channel capacity available, which guarantees the delivery of emergency-related notifications with faster convergence than other proposals. Moreover, good performance was obtained in terms of packet delivery and collision ratios.This research has been supported by the projects AIM, ref. TEC2016-76465-C2-1-R, ARISE2 “Future IoT Networks and Nano-networks (FINe)” ref. PID2020-116329GB-C22, ONOFRE-3, ref. PID2020-112675RB-C41 [Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI), European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), European Union (EU)], ATENTO, ref. 20889/PI/18 (Fundación Séneca, Región de Murcia), and LIFE [Fondo SUPERA Covid-19, funded by Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Universidades Españolas and Banco Santander]. J.A.P. thanks the Spanish MECD for an FPI grant ref. BES-2017-081061. Finally, the authors acknowledge Laura Wettersten for her contribution in reviewing the grammar and spell of the manuscript

Collaborative Environments. Considerations Concerning Some Collaborative Systems

It is obvious, that all collaborative environments (workgroups, communities of practice, collaborative enterprises) are based on knowledge and between collaboration and knowledge management there is a strong interdependence. The evolution of information systems in these collaborative environments led to the sudden necessity to adopt, for maintaining the virtual activities and processes, the latest technologies/systems, which are capable to support integrated collaboration in business services. In these environments, portal-based IT platforms will integrate multi-agent collaborative systems, collaborative tools, different enterprise applications and other useful information systems.collaboration, collaborative environments, knowledge management, collaborative systems, portals, knowledge portals, agile development of portals

V2X communications performance analysis using open-source simulators

Uno de los aspectos claves de la comunicación entre Vehículos hacia Todo (V2X) es el concepto de la conciencia cooperativa, donde el intercambio periódico del estado de las informaciones permite a los vehículos ser conscientes de su entorno aumentando así la seguridad y la eficacia del tráfico. Este proyecto consta de dos objetivos, el primero ha sido implementar y diseñar una interfaz para comunicar el Objective Modular Network Tested in C ++ (OMNeT ++, un simulador de redes que permite simular escenarios V2X) con el Car Learning to Act (CARLA, un simulador de conducción autónoma), transmitiendo los mensajes simulados con el OMNeT ++ hacia el CARLA. De esta manera el vehículo egocéntrico es más consciente de su entorno. El segundo objetivo ha sido evaluar la efectividad del servicio básico de Conciencia cooperativa (CA) mediante un simulador IEEE 802.11p V2X. Las simulaciones se han ejecutado variando la densidad de vehículos y los tamaños de los Mensajes de Concència Cooperativa (CAM) en dos escenarios diferentes: una autopista y una cuadrícula de Manhattan. El rendimiento ha sido evaluado analizando la Tasa de Paquetes erróneos (PER) y el número de mensajes recibidos en los dos escenarios. En el caso de la cuadrícula de Manhattan también se ha diferenciado el caso de Vista Directa (LOS). La presencia de más vehículos ha causado más pérdidas de paquetes debido al incremento de la interferencia y la probabilidad de colisiones de paquetes, incrementando así los valores de la PER. En el momento que se ha aumentado el tamaño de los mensajes CAM, la PER también ha aumentado, ya que las interferencias de los escenarios han aumentando. En el escenario de Manhattan hay un pico de más paquetes recibidos y más interferencias en las intersecciones, lo que conlleva un incremento de la PER.Un dels aspectes claus de la comunicació entre Vehicles cap a Tot (V2X) és el concepte de la consciència cooperativa, on l'intercanvi periòdic de l'estat de les informacions permet als vehicles ser conscients del seu entorn augmentant així la seguretat i l'eficàcia del trànsit. Aquest projecte consta de dos objectius, el primer ha estat implementar i dissenyar una interfície per comunicar l'Objective Modular Network Tested in C++ (OMNeT++, un simulador de xarxes que permet simular escenaris V2X) amb el Car Learning to Act (CARLA, un simulador de conducció autònoma), transmetent els missatges simulats amb l'OMNeT++ cap al CARLA. D'aquesta manera el vehicle egocèntric és més conscient del seu entorn. El segon objectiu ha estat avaluar l'efectivitat del servei bàsic de Conciència cooperativa (CA) mitjançant un simulador IEEE 802.11p V2X. Les simulacions s'han executat variant la densitat de vehicles i les mides dels Missatges de Conciència Cooperativa (CAM) en dos escenaris diferents: una autopista i una quadrícula de Manhattan. El rendiment ha estat avaluat analitzant la Tassa de Paquets Erronis (PER) i el nombre de missatges rebuts en els dos escenaris. En el cas de la quadrícula de Manhattan també s'ha diferenciat el cas de Vista Directa (LOS). La presència de més vehicles ha causat més pèrdues de paquets a causa de l'increment de la interferència i la probabilitat de col·lisions de paquets, incrementant així els valors de la PER. En el moment que s'ha augmentat la mida dels missatges CAM, la PER també ha augmentat, ja que les interferències dels escenaris han augmentant. A l'escenari de Manhattan hi ha un pic de més paquets rebuts i més interferències a les interseccions, la qual cosa comporta un increment de la PER.A key aspect of Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication is the concept of cooperative awareness, wherein the periodic exchange of status information allows vehicles to become aware of their surroundings for increased traffic safety and efficiency. This project aimed to implement and design an interface to communicate the Objective Modular Network Tested in C++ (OMNeT++, a network simulator simulating V2X scenarios), with the Car Learning to Act (CARLA, an autonomous driver simulator), feeding the messages received from the OMNeT++ simulation to CARLA. This way, being the Ego vehicle more aware of their surroundings. This project also aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Cooperative awareness (CA) basic service through the development of an IEEE 802.11p-based V2X system simulator. The simulations were executed varying the density of vehicles and Cooperative Awareness Message (CAM)'s length in two different scenarios: the highway scenario and the Manhattan grid scenario. The performance was then assessed by analyzing the Packet Error Rate (PER), the number of messages received, and also, in the Manhattan scenario, differentiating the Line of Sight (LOS) cases. The presence of more vehicles caused higher packet losses due to increased interference and collisions probability, leading to higher PER values. When the CAM's length increased, the PER as well as the interference in the scenario increased. In the Manhattan scenarios a peak of more packets received and more interference was present in the intersections, leading to a higher PER values

Distributed Hybrid Simulation of the Internet of Things and Smart Territories

This paper deals with the use of hybrid simulation to build and compose heterogeneous simulation scenarios that can be proficiently exploited to model and represent the Internet of Things (IoT). Hybrid simulation is a methodology that combines multiple modalities of modeling/simulation. Complex scenarios are decomposed into simpler ones, each one being simulated through a specific simulation strategy. All these simulation building blocks are then synchronized and coordinated. This simulation methodology is an ideal one to represent IoT setups, which are usually very demanding, due to the heterogeneity of possible scenarios arising from the massive deployment of an enormous amount of sensors and devices. We present a use case concerned with the distributed simulation of smart territories, a novel view of decentralized geographical spaces that, thanks to the use of IoT, builds ICT services to manage resources in a way that is sustainable and not harmful to the environment. Three different simulation models are combined together, namely, an adaptive agent-based parallel and distributed simulator, an OMNeT++ based discrete event simulator and a script-language simulator based on MATLAB. Results from a performance analysis confirm the viability of using hybrid simulation to model complex IoT scenarios.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1605.0487