Towards an unsupervised speaking style voice building framework: multi-style speaker diarization

Current text-to-speech systems are developed using studio-recorded speech in a neutral style or based on acted emotions. However, the proliferation of media sharing sites would allow developing a new generation of speech-based systems which could cope with spontaneous and styled speech. This paper proposes an architecture to deal with realistic recordings and carries out some experiments on unsupervised speaker diarization. In order to maximize the speaker purity of the clusters while keeping a high speaker coverage, the paper evaluates the F-measure of a diarization module, achieving high scores (>85%) especially when the clusters are longer than 30 seconds, even for the more spontaneous and expressive styles (such as talk shows or sports).

Multiprotocol Android Application for Smart Control and Monitoring in Buildings

This paper presents a multiprotocol mobile application for building automation which supports and enables the integration of the most representative control technologies such as KNX, LonWorks and X-10. The application includes a real-time monitoring service. Finally, advanced control functionalities based on gestures recognition and predefined scenes have been implemented. This application has been developed and tested in the Energy Efficiency Research Facility located at CeDInt-UPM, where electrical loads, blinds and HVAC and lighting systems can be controlled.

On the economics of energy consumption in 4G networks: the case of Spain

Reducing energy consumption is one of the main challenges in most countries. For example, European Member States agreed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 20% in 2020 compared to 1990 levels (EC 2008). Considering each sector separately, ICTs account nowadays for 2% of total carbon emissions. This percentage will increase as the demand of communication services and applications steps up. At the same time, the expected evolution of ICT-based developments - smart buildings, smart grids and smart transportation systems among others - could result in the creation of energy-saving opportunities leading to global emission reductions (Labouze et al. 2008), although the amount of these savings is under debate (Falch 2010). The main development required in telecommunication networks ?one of the three major blocks of energy consumption in ICTs together with data centers and consumer equipment (Sutherland 2009) ? is the evolution of existing infrastructures into ultra-broadband networks, the so-called Next Generation Networks (NGN). Fourth generation (4G) mobile communications are the technology of choice to complete -or supplement- the ubiquitous deployment of NGN. The risk and opportunities involved in NGN roll-out are currently in the forefront of the economic and policy debate. However, the issue of which is the role of energy consumption in 4G networks seems absent, despite the fact that the economic impact of energy consumption arises as a key element in the cost analysis of this type of networks. Precisely, the aim of this research is to provide deeper insight on the energy consumption involved in the usage of a 4G network, its relationship with network main design features, and the general economic impact this would have in the capital and operational expenditures related with network deployment and usage.

Project based learning activities as a means of adapting conventional curricula to the demands of the 21st century aeronautical engineer: The design and building of the EYEFLY 1.

In this paper we report the process of designing and building the EYEFLY 1, a real UAS platform which has just performed its maiden flight. For the development of this aircraft, 30 groups of students from successive years at the Escuela Universitaria de Ingenier��a T��cnica Aeron��utica (EUITA) of the Universidad Polit��cnica de Madrid (UPM) carried out their compulsory End of Degree Project as a coordinated Project Based learning activity. Our conclusions clearly indicate that Project Based Learning activities can provide a valid complement to more conventional, theoretically-based, teaching methods. The combination of both approaches will allow us to maintain traditional but well-tested methods for providing our students with a sound knowledge of fundamental engineering disciplines and, at the same time, to introduce our students to exciting and relevant engineering situations and sceneries where social and business skills, such as communication skills, team-working or decision-taking, can be put into practice.

An Internet of Things approach for managing smart services provided by wearable devices.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is growing at a fast pace with new devices getting connected all the time. A new emerging group of these devices are the wearable devices, and Wireless Sensor Networks are a good way to integrate them in the IoT concept and bring new experiences to the daily life activities. In this paper we present an everyday life application involving a WSN as the base of a novel context-awareness sports scenario where physiological parameters are measured and sent to the WSN by wearable devices. Applications with several hardware components introduce the problem of heterogeneity in the network. In order to integrate different hardware platforms and to introduce a service-oriented semantic middleware solution into a single application, we propose the use of an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) as a bridge for guaranteeing interoperability and integration of the different environments, thus introducing a semantic added value needed in the world of IoT-based systems. This approach places all the data acquired (e.g., via Internet data access) at application developers disposal, opening the system to new user applications. The user can then access the data through a wide variety of devices (smartphones, tablets, computers) and Operating Systems (Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, etc.).

Aplicaci��n de nuevas tecnolog��as en los sistemas de alumbrado

A medida que transcurre el tiempo la sociedad evoluciona, las ciudades crecen, se modernizan, mejoran su infraestructura y se ofrecen m��s y mejores servicios a sus ciudadanos. Esto ha hecho que durante muchos a��os las ciudades se hayan desarrollado sin pensar en lo que vendr�� m��s adelante, contaminando el medio ambiente y consumiendo mucha energ��a y de forma ineficiente. Ante esta situaci��n, y gracias a las innovaciones tecnol��gicas en materia de comunicaciones, se est��n adoptando medidas para dirigir la evoluci��n de las ciudades hacia un modelo de ciudad inteligente y sostenible. Las redes de comunicaciones constituyen uno de los pilares sobre los que se asienta la sociedad, que se encuentra siempre en contacto con su entorno. Cada vez m��s, se tiene una mayor necesidad de conocer lo que ocurre en el entorno en tiempo real solicitando informaci��n climatol��gica en una determinada ubicaci��n, permitiendo conocer el estado del tr��fico para elegir la ruta hacia el trabajo, saber el tiempo que tardar�� el autob��s en llegar a la parada, etc. Como ��stos, se podr��an citar muchos m��s ejemplos de necesidades y servicios que demandan hoy d��a la sociedad y que, seguramente, nadie pensaba que las iba a necesitar hace unos a��os. Muchos de estos servicios en tiempo real se consiguen gracias a las redes de sensores inal��mbricas. Consiste en desplegar una serie de diminutos sensores en una zona determinada con el objetivo de recoger la informaci��n del medio, procesarla y modelarla para que est�� disponible para los usuarios. Observando la tendencia seguida por las Tecnolog��as de la Informaci��n y de las Comunicaciones (TIC) se puede constatar una continua evoluci��n hacia los dispositivos embedidos, de cada vez m��s peque��o tama��o y menor consumo y, al mismo tiempo, con mayor capacidad de proceso y memoria y facilidad para las comunicaciones. Siguiendo esta l��nea, se est�� construyendo la ciudad inteligente con capacidad para pensar y tomar decisiones, pero hay que dotarla de cierto grado de eficiencia. Se trata de aprovechar los recursos de la naturaleza para crear fuentes de energ��as limpias e ilimitadas. Empleando las tecnolog��as oportunas para transformar, por ejemplo, la energ��a del Sol o la energ��a del viento en electricidad, se puede alcanzar el modelo de ciudad que se pretende. ABSTRACT. As time passes society evolves, cities grow, modernize, improve their infrastructure and offer more and better services to their citizens. This has made for many years cities have developed without thinking about what will come later , polluting the environment and high energy consuming and inefficient . Given this situation, and thanks to the Technological innovations in communications, is being taken to direct the evolution of cities towards a smart city model sustainable. Communication networks are one of the pillars on which society rests, which is always in contact with their environment. Increasingly, there is a greater need to know what happens in the real-time environment requesting weather information in a certain location , allowing know the traffic to choose the route to work , namely the time take the bus to get to the bus stop, etc. . As these, you could cite many more Examples of needs and services that society demands today and, surely, no one thought that was going to need a few years ago. Many of these real-time services are achieved through networks wireless sensors. Is to deploy a series of sensors in a tiny given area in order to collect information from the environment, process and shape it to make it available to users. Observing the trend followed by the Information Technology and Communications (ICT ) can finding an evolving toward embeded devices of increasingly small size and lower power consumption and at the same time, higher capacity process and memory ease communications. Following this line, is under construction with capacity smart city to think and make decisions, but you have to give it some degree of efficiency. It seeks to harness the resources of nature to create clean energy sources and unlimited. Using appropriate technologies to transform, for example, energy from the sun or wind energy into electricity, it can achieve the model city intended.

Design and Validation of an Optimized MB-OFDM Ultra Wideband Transceiver System

Esta tesis est�� incluida dentro del campo del campo de Multiband Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Ultra Wideband (MB-OFDM UWB), el cual ha adquirido una gran importancia en las comunicaciones inal��mbricas de alta tasa de datos en la ��ltima d��cada. UWB surgi�� con el objetivo de satisfacer la creciente demanda de conexiones inal��mbricas en interiores y de uso dom��stico, con bajo coste y alta velocidad. La disponibilidad de un ancho de banda grande, el potencial para alta velocidad de transmisi��n, baja complejidad y bajo consumo de energ��a, unido al bajo coste de implementaci��n, representa una oportunidad ��nica para que UWB se convierta en una soluci��n ampliamente utilizada en aplicaciones de Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN). UWB est�� definido como cualquier transmisi��n que ocupa un ancho de banda de m��s de 20% de su frecuencia central, o m��s de 500 MHz. En 2002, la Comisi��n Federal de Comunicaciones (FCC) defini�� que el rango de frecuencias de transmisi��n de UWB legal es de 3.1 a 10.6 GHz, con una energ��a de transmisi��n de -41.3 dBm/Hz. Bajo las directrices de FCC, el uso de la tecnolog��a UWB puede aportar una enorme capacidad en las comunicaciones de corto alcance. Considerando las ecuaciones de capacidad de Shannon, incrementar la capacidad del canal requiere un incremento lineal en el ancho de banda, mientras que un aumento similar de la capacidad de canal requiere un aumento exponencial en la energ��a de transmisi��n. En los ��ltimos a��os, s diferentes desarrollos del UWB han sido extensamente estudiados en diferentes ��reas, entre los cuales, el protocolo de comunicaciones inal��mbricas MB-OFDM UWB est�� considerado como la mejor elecci��n y ha sido adoptado como est��ndar ISO/IEC para los WPANs. Combinando la modulaci��n OFDM y la transmisi��n de datos utilizando las t��cnicas de salto de frecuencia, el sistema MB-OFDM UWB es capaz de soportar tasas de datos con que pueden variar de los 55 a los 480 Mbps, alcanzando una distancia m��xima de hasta 10 metros. Se esperara que la tecnolog��a MB-OFDM tenga un consumo energ��tico muy bajo copando un are muy reducida en silicio, proporcionando soluciones de bajo coste que satisfagan las demandas del mercado. Para cumplir con todas estas expectativas, el desarrollo y la investigaci��n del MBOFDM UWB deben enfrentarse a varios retos, como son la sincronizaci��n de alta sensibilidad, las restricciones de baja complejidad, las estrictas limitaciones energ��ticas, la escalabilidad y la flexibilidad. Tales retos requieren un procesamiento digital de la se��al de ��ltima generaci��n, capaz de desarrollar sistemas que puedan aprovechar por completo las ventajas del espectro UWB y proporcionar futuras aplicaciones inal��mbricas en interiores. Esta tesis se centra en la completa optimizaci��n de un sistema de transceptor de banda base MB-OFDM UWB digital, cuyo objetivo es investigar y dise��ar un subsistema de comunicaci��n inal��mbrica para la aplicaci��n de las Redes de Sensores Inal��mbricas Visuales. La complejidad inherente de los procesadores FFT/IFFT y el sistema de sincronizaci��n as�� como la alta frecuencia de operaci��n para todos los elementos de procesamiento, se convierten en el cuello de la botella para el dise��o y la implementaci��n del sistema de UWB digital en base de banda basado en MB-OFDM de baja energ��a. El objetivo del transceptor propuesto es conseguir baja energ��a y baja complejidad bajo la premisa de un alto rendimiento. Las optimizaciones est��n realizadas tanto a nivel algor��tmico como a nivel arquitectural para todos los elementos del sistema. Una arquitectura hardware eficiente en consumo se propone en primer lugar para aquellos m��dulos correspondientes a n��cleos de computaci��n. Para el procesado de la Transformada R��pida de Fourier (FFT/IFFT), se propone un algoritmo mixed-radix, basado en una arquitectura con pipeline y se ha desarrollado un m��dulo de Decodificador de Viterbi (VD) equilibrado en coste-velocidad con el objetivo de reducir el consumo energ��tico e incrementar la velocidad de procesamiento. Tambi��n se ha implementado un correlador signo-bit simple basado en la sincronizaci��n del tiempo de s��mbolo es presentado. Este correlador es usado para detectar y sincronizar los paquetes de OFDM de forma robusta y precisa. Para el desarrollo de los subsitemas de procesamiento y realizar la integraci��n del sistema completo se han empleado tecnolog��as de ��ltima generaci��n. El dispositivo utilizado para el sistema propuesto es una FPGA Virtex 5 XC5VLX110T del fabricante Xilinx. La validaci��n el propuesta para el sistema transceptor se ha implementado en dicha placa de FPGA. En este trabajo se presenta un algoritmo, y una arquitectura, dise��ado con filosof��a de co-dise��o hardware/software para el desarrollo de sistemas de FPGA complejos. El objetivo principal de la estrategia propuesta es de encontrar una metodolog��a eficiente para el dise��o de un sistema de FPGA configurable optimizado con el empleo del m��nimo esfuerzo posible en el sistema de procedimiento de verificaci��n, por tanto acelerar el periodo de desarrollo del sistema. La metodolog��a de co-dise��o presentada tiene la ventaja de ser f��cil de usar, contiene todos los pasos desde la propuesta del algoritmo hasta la verificaci��n del hardware, y puede ser ampliamente extendida para casi todos los tipos de desarrollos de FPGAs. En este trabajo se ha desarrollado s��lo el sistema de transceptor digital de banda base por lo que la comprobaci��n de se��ales transmitidas a trav��s del canal inal��mbrico en los entornos reales de comunicaci��n sigue requiriendo componentes RF y un front-end anal��gico. No obstante, utilizando la metodolog��a de co-simulaci��n hardware/software citada anteriormente, es posible comunicar el sistema de transmisor y el receptor digital utilizando los modelos de canales propuestos por IEEE 802.15.3a, implementados en MATLAB. Por tanto, simplemente ajustando las caracter��sticas de cada modelo de canal, por ejemplo, un incremento del retraso y de la frecuencia central, podemos estimar el comportamiento del sistema propuesto en diferentes escenarios y entornos. Las mayores contribuciones de esta tesis son: ��� Se ha propuesto un nuevo algoritmo 128-puntos base mixto FFT usando la arquitectura pipeline multi-ruta. Los complejos multiplicadores para cada etapa de procesamiento son dise��ados usando la arquitectura modificada shiftadd. Los sistemas word length y twiddle word length son comparados y seleccionados bas��ndose en la se��al para cuantizaci��n del SQNR y el an��lisis de energ��as. ��� El desempe��o del procesador IFFT es analizado bajo diferentes situaciones aritm��ticas de bloques de punto flotante (BFP) para el control de desbordamiento, por tanto, para encontrar la arquitectura perfecta del algoritmo IFFT basado en el procesador FFT propuesto. ��� Para el sistema de receptor MB-OFDM UWB se ha empleado una sincronizaci��n del tiempo innovadora, de baja complejidad y esquema de compensaci��n, que consiste en funciones de Detector de Paquetes (PD) y Estimaci��n del Offset del tiempo. Simplificando el cross-correlation y maximizar las funciones probables solo a sign-bit, la complejidad computacional se ve reducida significativamente. ��� Se ha propuesto un sistema de decodificadores Viterbi de 64 estados de decisi��n-d��bil usando velocidad base-4 de arquitectura suma-comparaselecciona. El algoritmo Two-pointer Even tambi��n es introducido en la unidad de rastreador de origen con el objetivo de conseguir la eficiencia en el hardware. ��� Se han integrado varias tecnolog��as de ��ltima generaci��n en el completo sistema transceptor basebanda , con el objetivo de implementar un sistema de comunicaci��n UWB altamente optimizado. ��� Un dise��o de flujo mejorado es propuesto para el complejo sistema de implementaci��n, el cual puede ser usado para dise��os de Cadena de puertas de campo programable general (FPGA). El dise��o mencionado no s��lo reduce dram��ticamente el tiempo para la verificaci��n funcional, sino tambi��n provee un an��lisis autom��tico como los errores del retraso del output para el sistema de hardware implementado. ��� Un ambiente de comunicaci��n virtual es establecido para la validaci��n del propuesto sistema de transceptores MB-OFDM. Este m��todo es provisto para facilitar el uso y la conveniencia de analizar el sistema digital de basebanda sin parte frontera anal��gica bajo diferentes ambientes de comunicaci��n. Esta tesis doctoral est�� organizada en seis cap��tulos. En el primer cap��tulo se encuentra una breve introducci��n al campo del UWB, tanto relacionado con el proyecto como la motivaci��n del desarrollo del sistema de MB-OFDM. En el cap��tulo 2, se presenta la informaci��n general y los requisitos del protocolo de comunicaci��n inal��mbrica MBOFDM UWB. En el cap��tulo 3 se habla de la arquitectura del sistema de transceptor digital MB-OFDM de banda base . El dise��o del algoritmo propuesto y la arquitectura para cada elemento del procesamiento est�� detallado en este cap��tulo. Los retos de dise��o del sistema que involucra un compromiso de discusi��n entre la complejidad de dise��o, el consumo de energ��a, el coste de hardware, el desempe��o del sistema, y otros aspectos. En el cap��tulo 4, se ha descrito la co-dise��ada metodolog��a de hardware/software. Cada parte del flujo del dise��o ser�� detallado con algunos ejemplos que se ha hecho durante el desarrollo del sistema. Aprovechando esta estrategia de dise��o, el procedimiento de comunicaci��n virtual es llevado a cabo para probar y analizar la arquitectura del transceptor propuesto. Los resultados experimentales de la co-simulaci��n y el informe sint��tico de la implementaci��n del sistema FPGA son reflejados en el cap��tulo 5. Finalmente, en el cap��tulo 6 se incluye las conclusiones y los futuros proyectos, y tambi��n los resultados derivados de este proyecto de doctorado. ABSTRACT In recent years, the Wireless Visual Sensor Network (WVSN) has drawn great interest in wireless communication research area. They enable a wealth of new applications such as building security control, image sensing, and target localization. However, nowadays wireless communication protocols (ZigBee, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth for example) cannot fully satisfy the demands of high data rate, low power consumption, short range, and high robustness requirements. New communication protocol is highly desired for such kind of applications. The Ultra Wideband (UWB) wireless communication protocol, which has increased in importance for high data rate wireless communication field, are emerging as an important topic for WVSN research. UWB has emerged as a technology that offers great promise to satisfy the growing demand for low-cost, high-speed digital wireless indoor and home networks. The large bandwidth available, the potential for high data rate transmission, and the potential for low complexity and low power consumption, along with low implementation cost, all present a unique opportunity for UWB to become a widely adopted radio solution for future Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) applications. UWB is defined as any transmission that occupies a bandwidth of more than 20% of its center frequency, or more than 500 MHz. In 2002, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has mandated that UWB radio transmission can legally operate in the range from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz at a transmitter power of ���41.3 dBm/Hz. Under the FCC guidelines, the use of UWB technology can provide enormous capacity over short communication ranges. Considering Shannon���s capacity equations, increasing the channel capacity requires linear increasing in bandwidth, whereas similar channel capacity increases would require exponential increases in transmission power. In recent years, several different UWB developments has been widely studied in different area, among which, the MB-OFDM UWB wireless communication protocol is considered to be the leading choice and has recently been adopted in the ISO/IEC standard for WPANs. By combing the OFDM modulation and data transmission using frequency hopping techniques, the MB-OFDM UWB system is able to support various data rates, ranging from 55 to 480 Mbps, over distances up to 10 meters. The MB-OFDM technology is expected to consume very little power and silicon area, as well as provide low-cost solutions that can satisfy consumer market demands. To fulfill these expectations, MB-OFDM UWB research and development have to cope with several challenges, which consist of high-sensitivity synchronization, low- complexity constraints, strict power limitations, scalability, and flexibility. Such challenges require state-of-the-art digital signal processing expertise to develop systems that could fully take advantages of the UWB spectrum and support future indoor wireless applications. This thesis focuses on fully optimization for the MB-OFDM UWB digital baseband transceiver system, aiming at researching and designing a wireless communication subsystem for the Wireless Visual Sensor Networks (WVSNs) application. The inherent high complexity of the FFT/IFFT processor and synchronization system, and high operation frequency for all processing elements, becomes the bottleneck for low power MB-OFDM based UWB digital baseband system hardware design and implementation. The proposed transceiver system targets low power and low complexity under the premise of high performance. Optimizations are made at both algorithm and architecture level for each element of the transceiver system. The low-power hardwareefficient structures are firstly proposed for those core computation modules, i.e., the mixed-radix algorithm based pipelined architecture is proposed for the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT/IFFT) processor, and the cost-speed balanced Viterbi Decoder (VD) module is developed, in the aim of lowering the power consumption and increasing the processing speed. In addition, a low complexity sign-bit correlation based symbol timing synchronization scheme is presented so as to detect and synchronize the OFDM packets robustly and accurately. Moreover, several state-of-the-art technologies are used for developing other processing subsystems and an entire MB-OFDM digital baseband transceiver system is integrated. The target device for the proposed transceiver system is Xilinx Virtex 5 XC5VLX110T FPGA board. In order to validate the proposed transceiver system in the FPGA board, a unified algorithm-architecture-circuit hardware/software co-design environment for complex FPGA system development is presented in this work. The main objective of the proposed strategy is to find an efficient methodology for designing a configurable optimized FPGA system by using as few efforts as possible in system verification procedure, so as to speed up the system development period. The presented co-design methodology has the advantages of easy to use, covering all steps from algorithm proposal to hardware verification, and widely spread for almost all kinds of FPGA developments. Because only the digital baseband transceiver system is developed in this thesis, the validation of transmitting signals through wireless channel in real communication environments still requires the analog front-end and RF components. However, by using the aforementioned hardware/software co-simulation methodology, the transmitter and receiver digital baseband systems get the opportunity to communicate with each other through the channel models, which are proposed from the IEEE 802.15.3a research group, established in MATLAB. Thus, by simply adjust the characteristics of each channel model, e.g. mean excess delay and center frequency, we can estimate the transmission performance of the proposed transceiver system through different communication situations. The main contributions of this thesis are: ��� A novel mixed radix 128-point FFT algorithm by using multipath pipelined architecture is proposed. The complex multipliers for each processing stage are designed by using modified shift-add architectures. The system wordlength and twiddle word-length are compared and selected based on Signal to Quantization Noise Ratio (SQNR) and power analysis. ��� IFFT processor performance is analyzed under different Block Floating Point (BFP) arithmetic situations for overflow control, so as to find out the perfect architecture of IFFT algorithm based on the proposed FFT processor. ��� An innovative low complex timing synchronization and compensation scheme, which consists of Packet Detector (PD) and Timing Offset Estimation (TOE) functions, for MB-OFDM UWB receiver system is employed. By simplifying the cross-correlation and maximum likelihood functions to signbit only, the computational complexity is significantly reduced. ��� A 64 state soft-decision Viterbi Decoder system by using high speed radix-4 Add-Compare-Select architecture is proposed. Two-pointer Even algorithm is also introduced into the Trace Back unit in the aim of hardware-efficiency. ��� Several state-of-the-art technologies are integrated into the complete baseband transceiver system, in the aim of implementing a highly-optimized UWB communication system. ��� An improved design flow is proposed for complex system implementation which can be used for general Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) designs. The design method not only dramatically reduces the time for functional verification, but also provides automatic analysis such as errors and output delays for the implemented hardware systems. ��� A virtual communication environment is established for validating the proposed MB-OFDM transceiver system. This methodology is proved to be easy for usage and convenient for analyzing the digital baseband system without analog frontend under different communication environments. This PhD thesis is organized in six chapters. In the chapter 1 a brief introduction to the UWB field, as well as the related work, is done, along with the motivation of MBOFDM system development. In the chapter 2, the general information and requirement of MB-OFDM UWB wireless communication protocol is presented. In the chapter 3, the architecture of the MB-OFDM digital baseband transceiver system is presented. The design of the proposed algorithm and architecture for each processing element is detailed in this chapter. Design challenges of such system involve trade-off discussions among design complexity, power consumption, hardware cost, system performance, and some other aspects. All these factors are analyzed and discussed. In the chapter 4, the hardware/software co-design methodology is proposed. Each step of this design flow will be detailed by taking some examples that we met during system development. Then, taking advantages of this design strategy, the Virtual Communication procedure is carried out so as to test and analyze the proposed transceiver architecture. Experimental results from the co-simulation and synthesis report of the implemented FPGA system are given in the chapter 5. The chapter 6 includes conclusions and future work, as well as the results derived from this PhD work.

ICT: an empowering tool for social enterprises

In recent years new models for organizations working on poverty alleviation have emerged. One of them, the social enterprise, has attracted the attention of both academics and practitioners all over the world. Even if defined in different ways depending on the context, this model has an enormous potential to generate social benefits and to promote local agency and private initiative in poverty alleviation.

A model to develop a platform for personalised health applications

Antecedentes Europa vive una situaci��n insostenible. Desde el 2008 se han reducido los recursos de los gobiernos a ra��z de la crisis econ��mica. El continente Europeo envejece con ritmo constante al punto que se prev�� que en 2050 habr�� s��lo dos trabajadores por jubilado [54]. A esta situaci��n se le a��ade el aumento de la incidencia de las enfermedades cr��nicas, relacionadas con el envejecimiento, cuyo coste puede alcanzar el 7% del PIB de un pa��s [51]. Es necesario un cambio de paradigma. Una nueva manera de cuidar de la salud de las personas: sustentable, eficaz y preventiva m��s que curativa. Algunos estudios abogan por el cuidado personalizado de la salud (pHealth). En este modelo las pr��cticas m��dicas son adaptadas e individualizadas al paciente, desde la detecci��n de los factores de riesgo hasta la personalizaci��n de los tratamientos basada en la respuesta del individuo [81]. El cuidado personalizado de la salud est�� asociado a menudo al uso de las tecnolog��as de la informaci��n y comunicaci��n (TICs) que, con su desarrollo exponencial, ofrecen oportunidades interesantes para la mejora de la salud. El cambio de paradigma hacia el pHealth est�� lentamente ocurriendo, tanto en el ��mbito de la investigaci��n como en la industria, pero todav��a no de manera significativa. Existen todav��a muchas barreras relacionadas a la econom��a, a la pol��tica y la cultura. Tambi��n existen barreras puramente tecnol��gicas, como la falta de sistemas de informaci��n interoperables [199]. A pesar de que los aspectos de interoperabilidad est��n evolucionando, todav��a hace falta un dise��o de referencia especialmente direccionado a la implementaci��n y el despliegue en gran escala de sistemas basados en pHealth. La presente Tesis representa un intento de organizar la disciplina de la aplicaci��n de las TICs al cuidado personalizado de la salud en un modelo de referencia, que permita la creaci��n de plataformas de desarrollo de software para simplificar tareas comunes de desarrollo en este dominio. Preguntas de investigaci��n RQ1 >Es posible definir un modelo, basado en t��cnicas de ingenier��a del software, que represente el dominio del cuidado personalizado de la salud de una forma abstracta y representativa? RQ2 >Es posible construir una plataforma de desarrollo basada en este modelo? RQ3 >Esta plataforma ayuda a los desarrolladores a crear sistemas pHealth complejos e integrados? M��todos Para la descripci��n del modelo se adopt�� el est��ndar ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010por ser lo suficientemente general y abstracto para el amplio enfoque de esta tesis [25]. El modelo est�� definido en varias partes: un modelo conceptual, expresado a trav��s de mapas conceptuales que representan las partes interesadas (stakeholders), los artefactos y la informaci��n compartida; y escenarios y casos de uso para la descripci��n de sus funcionalidades. El modelo fue desarrollado de acuerdo a la informaci��n obtenida del an��lisis de la literatura, incluyendo 7 informes industriales y cient��ficos, 9 est��ndares, 10 art��culos en conferencias, 37 art��culos en revistas, 25 p��ginas web y 5 libros. Bas��ndose en el modelo se definieron los requisitos para la creaci��n de la plataforma de desarrollo, enriquecidos por otros requisitos recolectados a trav��s de una encuesta realizada a 11 ingenieros con experiencia en la rama. Para el desarrollo de la plataforma, se adopt�� la metodolog��a de integraci��n continua [74] que permiti�� ejecutar tests autom��ticos en un servidor y tambi��n desplegar aplicaciones en una p��gina web. En cuanto a la metodolog��a utilizada para la validaci��n se adopt�� un marco para la formulaci��n de teor��as en la ingenier��a del software [181]. Esto requiere el desarrollo de modelos y proposiciones que han de ser validados dentro de un ��mbito de investigaci��n definido, y que sirvan para guiar al investigador en la b��squeda de la evidencia necesaria para justificarla. La validaci��n del modelo fue desarrollada mediante una encuesta online en tres rondas con un n��mero creciente de invitados. El cuestionario fue enviado a 134 contactos y distribuido en algunos canales p��blicos como listas de correo y redes sociales. El objetivo era evaluar la legibilidad del modelo, su nivel de cobertura del dominio y su potencial utilidad en el dise��o de sistemas derivados. El cuestionario inclu��a preguntas cuantitativas de tipo Likert y campos para recolecci��n de comentarios. La plataforma de desarrollo fue validada en dos etapas. En la primera etapa se utiliz�� la plataforma en un experimento a peque��a escala, que consisti�� en una sesi��n de entrenamiento de 12 horas en la que 4 desarrolladores tuvieron que desarrollar algunos casos de uso y reunirse en un grupo focal para discutir su uso. La segunda etapa se realiz�� durante los tests de un proyecto en gran escala llamado HeartCycle [160]. En este proyecto un equipo de dise��adores y programadores desarrollaron tres aplicaciones en el campo de las enfermedades cardio-vasculares. Una de estas aplicaciones fue testeada en un ensayo cl��nico con pacientes reales. Al analizar el proyecto, el equipo de desarrollo se reuni�� en un grupo focal para identificar las ventajas y desventajas de la plataforma y su utilidad. Resultados Por lo que concierne el modelo que describe el dominio del pHealth, la parte conceptual incluye una descripci��n de los roles principales y las preocupaciones de los participantes, un modelo de los artefactos TIC que se usan com��nmente y un modelo para representar los datos t��picos que son necesarios formalizar e intercambiar entre sistemas basados en pHealth. El modelo funcional incluye un conjunto de 18 escenarios, repartidos en: punto de vista de la persona asistida, punto de vista del cuidador, punto de vista del desarrollador, punto de vista de los proveedores de tecnolog��as y punto de vista de las autoridades; y un conjunto de 52 casos de uso repartidos en 6 categor��as: actividades de la persona asistida, reacciones del sistema, actividades del cuidador, \engagement" del usuario, actividades del desarrollador y actividades de despliegue. Como resultado del cuestionario de validaci��n del modelo, un total de 65 personas revis�� el modelo proporcionando su nivel de acuerdo con las dimensiones evaluadas y un total de 248 comentarios sobre c��mo mejorar el modelo. Los conocimientos de los participantes variaban desde la ingenier��a del software (70%) hasta las especialidades m��dicas (15%), con declarado inter��s en eHealth (24%), mHealth (16%), Ambient Assisted Living (21%), medicina personalizada (5%), sistemas basados en pHealth (15%), inform��tica m��dica (10%) e ingenier��a biom��dica (8%) con una media de 7.25_4.99 a��os de experiencia en estas ��reas. Los resultados de la encuesta muestran que los expertos contactados consideran el modelo f��cil de leer (media de 1.89_0.79 siendo 1 el valor m��s favorable y 5 el peor), suficientemente abstracto (1.99_0.88) y formal (2.13_0.77), con una cobertura suficiente del dominio (2.26_0.95), ��til para describir el dominio (2.02_0.7) y para generar sistemas m��s espec��ficos (2_0.75). Los expertos tambi��n reportan un inter��s parcial en utilizar el modelo en su trabajo (2.48_0.91). Gracias a sus comentarios, el modelo fue mejorado y enriquecido con conceptos que faltaban, aunque no se pudo demonstrar su mejora en las dimensiones evaluadas, dada la composici��n diferente de personas en las tres rondas de evaluaci��n. Desde el modelo, se gener�� una plataforma de desarrollo llamada \pHealth Patient Platform (pHPP)". La plataforma desarrollada incluye librer��as, herramientas de programaci��n y desarrollo, un tutorial y una aplicaci��n de ejemplo. Se definieron cuatro m��dulos principales de la arquitectura: el Data Collection Engine, que permite abstraer las fuentes de datos como sensores o servicios externos, mapeando los datos a bases de datos u ontolog��as, y permitiendo interacci��n basada en eventos; el GUI Engine, que abstrae la interfaz de usuario en un modelo de interacci��n basado en mensajes; y el Rule Engine, que proporciona a los desarrolladores un medio simple para programar la l��gica de la aplicaci��n en forma de reglas \if-then". Despu��s de que la plataforma pHPP fue utilizada durante 5 a��os en el proyecto HeartCycle, 5 desarrolladores fueron reunidos en un grupo de discusi��n para analizar y evaluar la plataforma. De estas evaluaciones se concluye que la plataforma fue dise��ada para encajar las necesidades de los ingenieros que trabajan en la rama, permitiendo la separaci��n de problemas entre las distintas especialidades, y simplificando algunas tareas de desarrollo como el manejo de datos y la interacci��n as��ncrona. A pesar de ello, se encontraron algunos defectos a causa de la inmadurez de algunas tecnolog��as empleadas, y la ausencia de algunas herramientas espec��ficas para el dominio como el procesado de datos o algunos protocolos de comunicaci��n relacionados con la salud. Dentro del proyecto HeartCycle la plataforma fue utilizada para el desarrollo de la aplicaci��n \Guided Exercise", un sistema TIC para la rehabilitaci��n de pacientes que han sufrido un infarto del miocardio. El sistema fue testeado en un ensayo cl��nico randomizado en el cual a 55 pacientes se les dio el sistema para su uso por 21 semanas. De los resultados t��cnicos del ensayo se puede concluir que, a pesar de algunos errores menores prontamente corregidos durante el estudio, la plataforma es estable y fiable. Conclusiones La investigaci��n llevada a cabo en esta Tesis y los resultados obtenidos proporcionan las respuestas a las tres preguntas de investigaci��n que motivaron este trabajo: RQ1 Se ha desarrollado un modelo para representar el dominio de los sistemas personalizados de salud. La evaluaci��n hecha por los expertos de la rama concluye que el modelo representa el dominio con precisi��n y con un balance apropiado entre abstracci��n y detalle. RQ2 Se ha desarrollado, con ��xito, una plataforma de desarrollo basada en el modelo. RQ3 Se ha demostrado que la plataforma es capaz de ayudar a los desarrolladores en la creaci��n de software pHealth complejos. Las ventajas de la plataforma han sido demostradas en el ��mbito de un proyecto de gran escala, aunque el enfoque gen��rico adoptado indica que la plataforma podr��a ofrecer beneficios tambi��n en otros contextos. Los resultados de estas evaluaciones ofrecen indicios de que, ambos, el modelo y la plataforma ser��n buenos candidatos para poderse convertir en una referencia para futuros desarrollos de sistemas pHealth. ABSTRACT Background Europe is living in an unsustainable situation. The economic crisis has been reducing governments' economic resources since 2008 and threatening social and health systems, while the proportion of older people in the European population continues to increase so that it is foreseen that in 2050 there will be only two workers per retiree [54]. To this situation it should be added the rise, strongly related to age, of chronic diseases the burden of which has been estimated to be up to the 7% of a country's gross domestic product [51]. There is a need for a paradigm shift, the need for a new way of caring for people's health, shifting the focus from curing conditions that have arisen to a sustainable and effective approach with the emphasis on prevention. Some advocate the adoption of personalised health care (pHealth), a model where medical practices are tailored to the patient's unique life, from the detection of risk factors to the customization of treatments based on each individual's response [81]. Personalised health is often associated to the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), that, with its exponential development, offers interesting opportunities for improving healthcare. The shift towards pHealth is slowly taking place, both in research and in industry, but the change is not significant yet. Many barriers still exist related to economy, politics and culture, while others are purely technological, like the lack of interoperable information systems [199]. Though interoperability aspects are evolving, there is still the need of a reference design, especially tackling implementation and large scale deployment of pHealth systems. This thesis contributes to organizing the subject of ICT systems for personalised health into a reference model that allows for the creation of software development platforms to ease common development issues in the domain. Research questions RQ1 Is it possible to define a model, based on software engineering techniques, for representing the personalised health domain in an abstract and representative way? RQ2 Is it possible to build a development platform based on this model? RQ3 Does the development platform help developers create complex integrated pHealth systems? Methods As method for describing the model, the ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010 framework [25] is adopted for its generality and high level of abstraction. The model is specified in different parts: a conceptual model, which makes use of concept maps, for representing stakeholders, artefacts and shared information, and in scenarios and use cases for the representation of the functionalities of pHealth systems. The model was derived from literature analysis, including 7 industrial and scientific reports, 9 electronic standards, 10 conference proceedings papers, 37 journal papers, 25 websites and 5 books. Based on the reference model, requirements were drawn for building the development platform enriched with a set of requirements gathered in a survey run among 11 experienced engineers. For developing the platform, the continuous integration methodology [74] was adopted which allowed to perform automatic tests on a server and also to deploy packaged releases on a web site. As a validation methodology, a theory building framework for SW engineering was adopted from [181]. The framework, chosen as a guide to find evidence for justifying the research questions, imposed the creation of theories based on models and propositions to be validated within a scope. The validation of the model was conducted as an on-line survey in three validation rounds, encompassing a growing number of participants. The survey was submitted to 134 experts of the field and on some public channels like relevant mailing lists and social networks. Its objective was to assess the model's readability, its level of coverage of the domain and its potential usefulness in the design of actual, derived systems. The questionnaires included quantitative Likert scale questions and free text inputs for comments. The development platform was validated in two scopes. As a small-scale experiment, the platform was used in a 12 hours training session where 4 developers had to perform an exercise consisting in developing a set of typical pHealth use cases At the end of the session, a focus group was held to identify benefits and drawbacks of the platform. The second validation was held as a test-case study in a large scale research project called HeartCycle the aim of which was to develop a closed-loop disease management system for heart failure and coronary heart disease patients [160]. During this project three applications were developed by a team of programmers and designers. One of these applications was tested in a clinical trial with actual patients. At the end of the project, the team was interviewed in a focus group to assess the role the platform had within the project. Results For what regards the model that describes the pHealth domain, its conceptual part includes a description of the main roles and concerns of pHealth stakeholders, a model of the ICT artefacts that are commonly adopted and a model representing the typical data that need to be formalized among pHealth systems. The functional model includes a set of 18 scenarios, divided into assisted person's view, caregiver's view, developer's view, technology and services providers' view and authority's view, and a set of 52 Use Cases grouped in 6 categories: assisted person's activities, system reactions, caregiver's activities, user engagement, developer's activities and deployer's activities. For what concerns the validation of the model, a total of 65 people participated in the online survey providing their level of agreement in all the assessed dimensions and a total of 248 comments on how to improve and complete the model. Participants' background spanned from engineering and software development (70%) to medical specialities (15%), with declared interest in the fields of eHealth (24%), mHealth (16%), Ambient Assisted Living (21%), Personalized Medicine (5%), Personal Health Systems (15%), Medical Informatics (10%) and Biomedical Engineering (8%) with an average of 7.25_4.99 years of experience in these fields. From the analysis of the answers it is possible to observe that the contacted experts considered the model easily readable (average of 1.89_0.79 being 1 the most favourable scoring and 5 the worst), sufficiently abstract (1.99_0.88) and formal (2.13_0.77) for its purpose, with a sufficient coverage of the domain (2.26_0.95), useful for describing the domain (2.02_0.7) and for generating more specific systems (2_0.75) and they reported a partial interest in using the model in their job (2.48_0.91). Thanks to their comments, the model was improved and enriched with concepts that were missing at the beginning, nonetheless it was not possible to prove an improvement among the iterations, due to the diversity of the participants in the three rounds. From the model, a development platform for the pHealth domain was generated called pHealth Patient Platform (pHPP). The platform includes a set of libraries, programming and deployment tools, a tutorial and a sample application. The main four modules of the architecture are: the Data Collection Engine, which allows abstracting sources of information like sensors or external services, mapping data to databases and ontologies, and allowing event-based interaction and filtering, the GUI Engine, which abstracts the user interface in a message-like interaction model, the Workow Engine, which allows programming the application's user interaction ows with graphical workows, and the Rule Engine, which gives developers a simple means for programming the application's logic in the form of \if-then" rules. After the 5 years experience of HeartCycle, partially programmed with pHPP, 5 developers were joined in a focus group to discuss the advantages and drawbacks of the platform. The view that emerged from the training course and the focus group was that the platform is well-suited to the needs of the engineers working in the field, it allowed the separation of concerns among the different specialities and it simplified some common development tasks like data management and asynchronous interaction. Nevertheless, some deficiencies were pointed out in terms of a lack of maturity of some technological choices, and for the absence of some domain-specific tools, e.g. for data processing or for health-related communication protocols. Within HeartCycle, the platform was used to develop part of the Guided Exercise system, a composition of ICT tools for the physical rehabilitation of patients who suffered from myocardial infarction. The system developed using the platform was tested in a randomized controlled clinical trial, in which 55 patients used the system for 21 weeks. The technical results of this trial showed that the system was stable and reliable. Some minor bugs were detected, but these were promptly corrected using the platform. This shows that the platform, as well as facilitating the development task, can be successfully used to produce reliable software. Conclusions The research work carried out in developing this thesis provides responses to the three three research questions that were the motivation for the work. RQ1 A model was developed representing the domain of personalised health systems, and the assessment of experts in the field was that it represents the domain accurately, with an appropriate balance between abstraction and detail. RQ2 A development platform based on the model was successfully developed. RQ3 The platform has been shown to assist developers create complex pHealth software. This was demonstrated within the scope of one large-scale project, but the generic approach adopted provides indications that it would offer benefits more widely. The results of these evaluations provide indications that both the model and the platform are good candidates for being a reference for future pHealth developments.

Analysis of a rate-adaptive reconciliation protocol and the effect of leakage on the secret key rate

Quantum key distribution performs the trick of growing a secret key in two distant places connected by a quantum channel. The main reason is so that the legitimate users can bound the information gathered by the eavesdropper. In practical systems, whether because of finite resources or external conditions, the quantum channel is subject to fluctuations. A rate-adaptive information reconciliation protocol, which adapts to the changes in the communication channel, is then required to minimize the leakage of information in the classical postprocessing. We consider here the leakage of a rate-adaptive information reconciliation protocol. The length of the exchanged messages is larger than that of an optimal protocol; however, we prove that the min-entropy reduction is limited. The simulation results, both in the asymptotic and in the finite-length regime, show that this protocol allows to increase the amount of a distillable secret key.

The online case study development for the teaching of building structures reinforcement

The Reinforcement of Building Structures is one of the topics of the Master in Building Innovation Technology (MBIT) of Universidad Polit��cnica de Madrid (UPM). Since the beginning of the delivery of this master, case studies have been chosen as the teaching methodology. For the 2011-2012 course the online education of this subject was implemented, instead of the classical learning based on attendance. Through ICT���s (Information and Communication Technologies) students are provided with much more and more selective information than through the classical learning. ICT���s can be used for search, enquiries and reporting. Using the online tools has been proved, through the results obtained and based on the surveys made amongst students, to be a successful experience.

Positional Accuracy in Smart-Phones and Its Effect on LBS Applications.

Location-based services (LBS) highly rely on the location of the mobile user in order to provide the service tailored to that location. This location is calculated differently depending on the technology available in the used mobile device. No matter which technology is used, the location will never be calculated 100% correctly; instead there will always be a margin of error generated during the calculation, which is referred to as positional accuracy. This research has reviewed the eight most common positioning technologies available in the major current smart-phones and assessed their positional accuracy with respect to its usage by LBS applications. Given the vast majority of these applications, this research classified them into thirteen categories, and these categories were also classified depending on their level criticality as low, medium, or high critical, and whether they function indoor or outdoor. The accuracies of different positioning technologies are compared to these two criteria. Low critical outdoor and high critical indoor applications were found technologically covered; high and medium critical outdoor ones weren?t fully resolved. Finally three potential solutions are suggested to be implemented in future smartphones to resolve this technological gap: Real-Time Kinematics Global Positioning System (RTK GPS), terrestrial transmitters, and combination of Wireless Sensors Network and Radio Frequency Identification (WSN-RFID).

Background and approach to a definition of smart buildings

There is no doubt that there is no possibility of finding a single reference about domotics in the first half of the 20th century. The best known authors and those who have documented this discipline, set its origin in the 1970���s, when the x-10 technology began to be used, but it was not until 1988 when Larousse Encyclopedia decided to include the definition of "Smart Building". Furthermore, even nowadays, there is not a single definition widely accepted, and for that reason, many other expressions, namely "Intelligent Buildings" "Domotics" "Digital Home" or "Home Automation" have appeared to describe the automated buildings and homes. The lack of a clear definition for "Smart Buildings" causes difficulty not only in the development of a common international framework to develop research in this field, but it also causes insecurity in the potential user of these buildings. That is to say, the user does not know what is offered by this kind of buildings, hindering the dissemination of the culture of building automation in society. Thus, the main purpose of this paper is to propose a definition of the expression ���Smart Buildings��� that satisfactorily describes the meaning of this discipline. To achieve this aim, a thorough review of the origin of the term itself and the historical background before the emergence of the phenomenon of domotics was conducted, followed by a critical discussion of existing definitions of the term "Smart Buildings" and other similar terms. The extent of each definition has been analyzed, inaccuracies have been discarded and commonalities have been compared. Throughout the discussion, definitions that bring the term "Smart Buildings" near to disciplines such as computer science, robotics and also telecommunications have been found. However, there are also many other definitions that emphasize in a more abstract way the role of these new buildings in the society and the future of mankind.

Evaluation of the utilization of electric vehicles for building energy management in hotels

Governments are working in new policies to slow down total energy consumption and greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, promoting the deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) in all countries. In order to facilitate this deployment and help to reduce the final costs of their batteries, additional utilization of EVs when those are parked has been proposed. EVs can be used to minimize the total electricity cost of buildings (named vehicle to building applications, V2B). In this paper an economic evaluation of EVs in the Building Energy Management System is shown. The optimal storage capacity and its equivalent number of EVs are determined. This value is then used for determining the optimal charging schedule to be applied to the batteries. From this schedule, the total expected profit is derived for the case of a real hotel in Spain.

A semantic middleware architecture focused on data and heterogeneity management within the Smart Grid

There is an increasing tendency of turning the current power grid, essentially unaware of variations in electricity demand and scattered energy sources, into something capable of bringing a degree of intelligence by using tools strongly related to information and communication technologies, thus turning into the so-called Smart Grid. In fact, it could be considered that the Smart Grid is an extensive smart system that spreads throughout any area where power is required, providing a significant optimization in energy generation, storage and consumption. However, the information that must be treated to accomplish these tasks is challenging both in terms of complexity (semantic features, distributed systems, suitable hardware) and quantity (consumption data, generation data, forecasting functionalities, service reporting), since the different energy beneficiaries are prone to be heterogeneous, as the nature of their own activities is. This paper presents a proposal on how to deal with these issues by using a semantic middleware architecture that integrates different components focused on specific tasks, and how it is used to handle information at every level and satisfy end user requests.