MaxMAC: a Maximally Traffic-Adaptive MAC Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy efficiency is a major concern in the design of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and their communication protocols. As the radio transceiver typically accounts for a major portion of a WSN node���s power consumption, researchers have proposed Energy-Efficient Medium Access (E2-MAC) protocols that switch the radio transceiver off for a major part of the time. Such protocols typically trade off energy-efficiency versus classical quality of service parameters (throughput, latency, reliability). Today���s E2-MAC protocols are able to deliver little amounts of data with a low energy footprint, but introduce severe restrictions with respect to throughput and latency. Regrettably, they yet fail to adapt to varying traffic load at run-time. This paper presents MaxMAC, an E2-MAC protocol that targets at achieving maximal adaptivity with respect to throughput and latency. By adaptively tuning essential parameters at run-time, the protocol reaches the throughput and latency of energy-unconstrained CSMA in high-traffic phases, while still exhibiting a high energy-efficiency in periods of sparse traffic. The paper compares the protocol against a selection of today���s E2-MAC protocols and evaluates its advantages and drawbacks.

Diagnostic accuracy of pulmonary CT angiography at low tube voltage: intraindividual comparison of a normal-dose protocol at 120 kVp and a low-dose protocol at 80 kVp using reduced amount of contrast medium in a simulation study

The purpose of this study was to simulate pulmonary emboli (PE) and image quality at low tube energy and reduced contrast material volume in normal-dose pulmonary CT angiography (CTA) images and to analyze the diagnostic accuracy with normal- and low-dose pulmonary CTA.

A Smart TCP Acknowledgment Approach for Multihop Wireless Networks

Reliable data transfer is one of the most difficult tasks to be accomplished in multihop wireless networks. Traditional transport protocols like TCP face severe performance degradation over multihop networks given the noisy nature of wireless media as well as unstable connectivity conditions in place. The success of TCP in wired networks motivates its extension to wireless networks. A crucial challenge faced by TCP over these networks is how to operate smoothly with the 802.11 wireless MAC protocol which also implements a retransmission mechanism at link level in addition to short RTS/CTS control frames for avoiding collisions. These features render TCP acknowledgments (ACK) transmission quite costly. Data and ACK packets cause similar medium access overheads despite the much smaller size of the ACKs. In this paper, we further evaluate our dynamic adaptive strategy for reducing ACK-induced overhead and consequent collisions. Our approach resembles the sender side's congestion control. The receiver is self-adaptive by delaying more ACKs under nonconstrained channels and less otherwise. This improves not only throughput but also power consumption. Simulation evaluations exhibit significant improvement in several scenarios

Linked services for M2M communication with Enterprise IT systems

Linking the physical world to the Internet, also known as the Internet of Things, has increased available information and services in everyday life and in the Enterprise world. In Enterprise IT an increasing number of communication is done between IT backend systems and small IoT devices, for example sensor networks or RFID readers. This introduces some challenges in terms of complexity and integration. We are working on the integration of IoT devices into Enterprise IT by leveraging SOA techniques and Semantic Web technologies. We present a SOA based integration platform for connecting WSNs and large enterprise business processes. For ensuring interoperability our platform is based on Linked Services. These are thoroughly described, machine-readable, machine-reasonable service descriptions.

Micro-blogging adoption in the enterprise: an empirical analysis

Given the increasing interest in using social software for company-internal communication and collaboration, this paper examines drivers and inhibitors of micro-blogging adoption at the workplace. While nearly one in two companies is currently planning to introduce social software, there is no empirically validated research on employees��� adoption. In this paper, we build on previous focus group results and test our research model in an empirical study using Structural Equation Modeling. Based on our findings, we derive recommendations on how to foster adoption. We suggest that micro-blogging should be presented to employees as an efficient means of communication, personal brand building, and knowledge management. In order to particularly promote content contribution, privacy concerns should be eased by setting clear rules on who has access to postings and for how long they will be archived.

The Integration of Electricity from Renewable Energy Sources in the European Union Electricity Market ��� The case for ���Smart Grids���

The power sector is to play a central role in a low carbon economy. In all the decarbonisation scenarios of the European Union renewable energy sources (RES) will be a crucial part of the solution. Current grids constitute however major bottlenecks for the future expansion of RES. Recognising the need for a modernisation of its grids, the European Union has called for the creation of a "smart supergrid" interconnecting European grids at the continental level and making them "intelligent" through the addition of information and communication technology (ICT). To implement its agenda the EU has taken a leading role in coordinating research efforts and creating a common legislative framework for the necessary modernisation of Europe���s grids. This paper intends to give both an overview and a critical appraisal of the measures taken so far by the European Union to "transform" the grids into the backbone of a decarbonised electricity system. It suggests that if competition is to play a significant role in the deployment of smart grids, the current regulatory paradigm will have to be fundamentally reassessed

Communication Middleware for Distributed Hard Real-Time Systems in Java

Distributed real-time embedded systems are becoming increasingly important to society. More demands will be made on them and greater reliance will be placed on the delivery of their services. A relevant subset of them is high-integrity or hard real-time systems, where failure can cause loss of life, environmental harm, or signi���cant ���nancial loss. Additionally, the evolution of communication networks and paradigms as well as the necessity of demanding processing power and fault tolerance, motivated the interconnection between electronic devices; many of the communications have the possibility of transferring data at a high speed. The concept of distributed systems emerged as systems where different parts are executed on several nodes that interact with each other via a communication network. Java���s popularity, facilities and platform independence have made it an interesting language for the real-time and embedded community. This was the motivation for the development of RTSJ (Real-Time Speci���cation for Java), which is a language extension intended to allow the development of real-time systems. The use of Java in the development of high-integrity systems requires strict development and testing techniques. However, RTJS includes a number of language features that are forbidden in such systems. In the context of the HIJA project, the HRTJ (Hard Real-Time Java) pro���le was developed to de���ne a robust subset of the language that is amenable to static analysis for high-integrity system certi���cation. Currently, a speci���cation under the Java community process (JSR- 302) is being developed. Its purpose is to de���ne those capabilities needed to create safety critical applications with Java technology called Safety Critical Java (SCJ). However, neither RTSJ nor its pro���les provide facilities to develop distributed realtime applications. This is an important issue, as most of the current and future systems will be distributed. The Distributed RTSJ (DRTSJ) Expert Group was created under the Java community process (JSR-50) in order to de���ne appropriate abstractions to overcome this problem. Currently there is no formal speci���cation. The aim of this thesis is to develop a communication middleware that is suitable for the development of distributed hard real-time systems in Java, based on the integration between the RMI (Remote Method Invocation) model and the HRTJ pro���le. It has been designed and implemented keeping in mind the main requirements such as the predictability and reliability in the timing behavior and the resource usage. iThe design starts with the de���nition of a computational model which identi���es among other things: the communication model, most appropriate underlying network protocols, the analysis model, and a subset of Java for hard real-time systems. In the design, the remote references are the basic means for building distributed applications which are associated with all non-functional parameters and resources needed to implement synchronous or asynchronous remote invocations with real-time attributes. The proposed middleware separates the resource allocation from the execution itself by de���ning two phases and a speci���c threading mechanism that guarantees a suitable timing behavior. It also includes mechanisms to monitor the functional and the timing behavior. It provides independence from network protocol de���ning a network interface and modules. The JRMP protocol was modi���ed to include two phases, non-functional parameters, and message size optimizations. Although serialization is one of the fundamental operations to ensure proper data transmission, current implementations are not suitable for hard real-time systems and there are no alternatives. This thesis proposes a predictable serialization that introduces a new compiler to generate optimized code according to the computational model. The proposed solution has the advantage of allowing us to schedule the communications and to adjust the memory usage at compilation time. In order to validate the design and the implementation a demanding validation process was carried out with emphasis in the functional behavior, the memory usage, the processor usage (the end-to-end response time and the response time in each functional block) and the network usage (real consumption according to the calculated consumption). The results obtained in an industrial application developed by Thales Avionics (a Flight Management System) and in exhaustive tests show that the design and the prototype are reliable for industrial applications with strict timing requirements. Los sistemas empotrados y distribuidos de tiempo real son cada vez m��s importantes para la sociedad. Su demanda aumenta y cada vez m��s dependemos de los servicios que proporcionan. Los sistemas de alta integridad constituyen un subconjunto de gran importancia. Se caracterizan por que un fallo en su funcionamiento puede causar p��rdida de vidas humanas, da��os en el medio ambiente o cuantiosas p��rdidas econ��micas. La necesidad de satisfacer requisitos temporales estrictos, hace m��s complejo su desarrollo. Mientras que los sistemas empotrados se sigan expandiendo en nuestra sociedad, es necesario garantizar un coste de desarrollo ajustado mediante el uso t��cnicas adecuadas en su dise��o, mantenimiento y certi���caci��n. En concreto, se requiere una tecnolog��a ���exible e independiente del hardware. La evoluci��n de las redes y paradigmas de comunicaci��n, as�� como la necesidad de mayor potencia de c��mputo y de tolerancia a fallos, ha motivado la interconexi��n de dispositivos electr��nicos. Los mecanismos de comunicaci��n permiten la transferencia de datos con alta velocidad de transmisi��n. En este contexto, el concepto de sistema distribuido ha emergido como sistemas donde sus componentes se ejecutan en varios nodos en paralelo y que interact��an entre ellos mediante redes de comunicaciones. Un concepto interesante son los sistemas de tiempo real neutrales respecto a la plataforma de ejecuci��n. Se caracterizan por la falta de conocimiento de esta plataforma durante su dise��o. Esta propiedad es relevante, por que conviene que se ejecuten en la mayor variedad de arquitecturas, tienen una vida media mayor de diez anos y el lugar �� donde se ejecutan puede variar. El lenguaje de programaci��n Java es una buena base para el desarrollo de este tipo de sistemas. Por este motivo se ha creado RTSJ (Real-Time Speci���cation for Java), que es una extensi��n del lenguaje para permitir el desarrollo de sistemas de tiempo real. Sin embargo, RTSJ no proporciona facilidades para el desarrollo de aplicaciones distribuidas de tiempo real. Es una limitaci��n importante dado que la mayor��a de los actuales y futuros sistemas ser��n distribuidos. El grupo DRTSJ (DistributedRTSJ) fue creado bajo el proceso de la comunidad de Java (JSR-50) con el ���n de de���nir las abstracciones que aborden dicha limitaci��n, pero en la actualidad aun no existe una especi���cacion formal. El objetivo de esta tesis es desarrollar un middleware de comunicaciones para el desarrollo de sistemas distribuidos de tiempo real en Java, basado en la integraci��n entre el modelo de RMI (Remote Method Invocation) y el per���l HRTJ. Ha sido dise��ado e implementado teniendo en cuenta los requisitos principales, como la predecibilidad y la con���abilidad del comportamiento temporal y el uso de recursos. El dise��o parte de la de���nici��n de un modelo computacional el cual identi���ca entre otras cosas: el modelo de comunicaciones, los protocolos de red subyacentes m��s adecuados, el modelo de an��lisis, y un subconjunto de Java para sistemas de tiempo real cr��tico. En el dise��o, las referencias remotas son el medio b��sico para construcci��n de aplicaciones distribuidas las cuales son asociadas a todos los par��metros no funcionales y los recursos necesarios para la ejecuci��n de invocaciones remotas s��ncronas o as��ncronas con atributos de tiempo real. El middleware propuesto separa la asignaci��n de recursos de la propia ejecuci��n de���niendo dos fases y un mecanismo de hebras especi���co que garantiza un comportamiento temporal adecuado. Adem��s se ha incluido mecanismos para supervisar el comportamiento funcional y temporal. Se ha buscado independencia del protocolo de red de���niendo una interfaz de red y m��dulos espec�����cos. Tambi��n se ha modi���cado el protocolo JRMP para incluir diferentes fases, par��metros no funcionales y optimizaciones de los tama��os de los mensajes. Aunque la serializaci��n es una de las operaciones fundamentales para asegurar la adecuada transmisi��n de datos, las actuales implementaciones no son adecuadas para sistemas cr��ticos y no hay alternativas. Este trabajo propone una serializaci��n predecible que ha implicado el desarrollo de un nuevo compilador para la generaci��n de c��digo optimizado acorde al modelo computacional. La soluci��n propuesta tiene la ventaja que en tiempo de compilaci��n nos permite plani���car las comunicaciones y ajustar el uso de memoria. Con el objetivo de validar el dise��o e implementaci��n se ha llevado a cabo un exigente proceso de validaci��n con ��nfasis en: el comportamiento funcional, el uso de memoria, el uso del procesador (tiempo de respuesta de extremo a extremo y en cada uno de los bloques funcionales) y el uso de la red (consumo real conforme al estimado). Los buenos resultados obtenidos en una aplicaci��n industrial desarrollada por Thales Avionics (un sistema de gesti��n de vuelo) y en las pruebas exhaustivas han demostrado que el dise��o y el prototipo son ���ables para aplicaciones industriales con estrictos requisitos temporales.

Contribution To Signalling Of 3d Video Streams In Communication Systems Using The Session Initiation Protocol

Las tecnolog��as de v��deo en 3D han estado al alza en los ��ltimos a��os, con abundantes avances en investigaci��n unidos a una adopci��n generalizada por parte de la industria del cine, y una importancia creciente en la electr��nica de consumo. Relacionado con esto, est�� el concepto de v��deo multivista, que abarca el v��deo 3D, y puede definirse como un flujo de v��deo compuesto de dos o m��s vistas. El v��deo multivista permite prestaciones avanzadas de v��deo, como el v��deo estereosc��pico, el ���free viewpoint video���, contacto visual mejorado mediante vistas virtuales, o entornos virtuales compartidos. El prop��sito de esta tesis es salvar un obst��culo considerable de cara al uso de v��deo multivista en sistemas de comunicaci��n: la falta de soporte para esta tecnolog��a por parte de los protocolos de se��alizaci��n existentes, que hace imposible configurar una sesi��n con v��deo multivista mediante mecanismos est��ndar. As�� pues, nuestro principal objetivo es la extensi��n del Protocolo de Inicio de Sesi��n (SIP) para soportar la negociaci��n de sesiones multimedia con flujos de v��deo multivista. Nuestro trabajo se puede resumir en tres contribuciones principales. En primer lugar, hemos definido una extensi��n de se��alizaci��n para configurar sesiones SIP con v��deo 3D. Esta extensi��n modifica el Protocolo de Descripci��n de Sesi��n (SDP) para introducir un nuevo atributo de nivel de medios, y un nuevo tipo de dependencia de descodificaci��n, que contribuyen a describir los formatos de v��deo 3D que pueden emplearse en una sesi��n, as�� como la relaci��n entre los flujos de v��deo que componen un flujo de v��deo 3D. La segunda contribuci��n consiste en una extensi��n a SIP para manejar la se��alizaci��n de videoconferencias con flujos de v��deo multivista. Se definen dos nuevos paquetes de eventos SIP para describir las capacidades y topolog��a de los terminales de conferencia, por un lado, y la configuraci��n espacial y mapeo de flujos de una conferencia, por el otro. Tambi��n se describe un mecanismo para integrar el intercambio de esta informaci��n en el proceso de inicio de una conferencia SIP. Como tercera y ��ltima contribuci��n, introducimos el concepto de espacio virtual de una conferencia, o un sistema de coordenadas que incluye todos los objetos relevantes de la conferencia (como dispositivos de captura, pantallas, y usuarios). Explicamos c��mo el espacio virtual se relaciona con prestaciones de conferencia como el contacto visual, la escala de v��deo y la fidelidad espacial, y proporcionamos reglas para determinar las prestaciones de una conferencia a partir del an��lisis de su espacio virtual, y para generar espacios virtuales durante la configuraci��n de conferencias.

Design and modeling of the multi-agent robotic system: SMART

This article presents the design, kinematic model and communication architecture for the multi-agent robotic system called SMART. The philosophy behind this kind of system requires the communication architecture to contemplate the concurrence of the whole system. The proposed architecture combines different communication technologies (TCP/IP and Bluetooth) under one protocol designed for the cooperation among agents and other elements of the system such as IP-Cameras, image processing library, path planner, user Interface, control block and data block. The high level control is modeled by Work-Flow Petri nets and implemented in C++ and C������. Experimental results show the performance of the designed architecture.

Open multi-technology building energy management system

Energy Efficiency is one of the goals of the Smart Building initiatives. This paper presents an Open Energy Management System which consists of an ontology-based multi-technology platform and a wireless transducer network using 6LoWPAN communication technology. The system allows the integration of several building automation protocols and eases the development of different kind of services to make use of them. The system has been implemented and tested in the Energy Efficiency Research Facility at CeDInt-UPM.

Sistema de Aparcamiento Inteligente Aplicado a las Smart Cities

En las ��ltimas d��cadas el mundo ha sufrido un aumento exponencial en la utilizaci��n de soluciones tecnol��gicas, lo que ha desembocado en la necesidad de medir situaciones o estados de los distintos objetos que nos rodean. A menudo, no es posible cablear determinados sensores por lo que ese aumento en la utilizaci��n de soluciones tecnol��gicas, se ha visto traducido en un aumento de la necesidad de utilizaci��n de sens��rica sin cables para poder hacer telemetr��as correctas. A nivel social, el aumento de la demograf��a mundial est�� estrechamente ligado al aumento de la necesidad de servicios tecnol��gicos, por lo que es l��gico pensar que a m��s habitantes, m��s tecnolog��a ser�� consumida. El objetivo de este Proyecto Final de Carrera est�� basado en la utilizaci��n de diversos nodos o tambi��n llamados motas capaces de realizar transferencia de datos en modo sin cables, permitiendo as�� realizar una aplicaci��n real que solvente problemas generados por el aumento de la densidad de poblaci��n. En concreto se busca la realizaci��n de un sistema de aparcamiento inteligente para estacionamientos en superficie, ayudando por tanto a las tareas de ordenaci��n vehicular dentro del marco de las Smart cities. El sistema est�� basado en el protocolo de comunicaciones 802.15.4 (ZigBee) cuyas caracter��sticas fundamentales radican en el bajo consumo de energ��a de los componentes hardware asociados. En primer lugar se realizar�� un Estado del Arte de las Redes Inal��mbricas de Sensores, abordando tanto la arquitectura como el est��ndar Zigbee y finalmente los componentes XBee que se van a utilizar en este Proyecto. Seguidamente se realizar�� la algoritmia necesaria para el buen funcionamiento del sistema inteligente de estacionamiento y finalmente se realizar�� un piloto demostrador del correcto funcionamiento de la tecnolog��a. ABSTRACT In the last decades the world has experienced an exponential increase in the use of technological solutions, which has resulted in the need to measure situations or states of the objects around us. Often, wired sensors cannot be used at many situations, so the increase in the use of technological solutions, has been translated into a increase of the need of using wireless sensors to make correct telemetries. At the social level, the increase in global demographics is closely linked to the increased need for technological services, so it is logical that more people, more technology will be consumed. The objective of this Final Project is based on the use of various nodes or so-called motes, capable of performing data transfer in wireless mode, thereby allowing performing a real application solving problems generated by the increase of population densities. Specifically looking for the realization of a smart outdoor parking system, thus helping to vehicular management tasks within the framework of the Smart Cities. The system is based on the communication protocol 802.15.4 (ZigBee) whose main characteristics lie in the low energy consumption associated to the hardware components. First there will be a State of the Art of Wireless Sensor Networks, addressing both architecture and finally the Zigbee standard XBee components to be used in this project. Then the necessary algorithms will be developed for the proper working of the intelligent parking system and finally there will be a pilot demonstrator validating the whole system.

Distributes award protocol: A cooperation and communication method for robots.

In this Master���s Thesis a new Distributed Award Protocol (DAP) for robot communication and cooperation is presented. Task assignment (contract awarding) is done dynamically with contracts assigned to robots based upon the best bid received. Instead of having a manager and a contractor it is proposed a fully distributed bidding/awarding mechanism without a distinguished master. The best bidding robots are awarded with contract for execution. The contractors make decisions locally. This brings the following benefits: no communication bottleneck, low computational power requirement, increased robustness. DAP can handle multitasking. Tasks can be injected into system during the execution of already allocated tasks. As tasks have priorities, in the next cycle after taking into account actual bid parameters of all robots, tasks can be re-allocated. The aim is to minimize a global cost function which is a compromise between cost of task execution and cost of resources usage. Information about tasks and bid values is spread among robots with the use of a Round Robin Route, which is a novel solution proposed in this work. This method allows also identifying failed robots. Such failed robot is eliminated from the list of awarded robots and its replacement is found so the task is still executed by a team. If the failure of a robot was temporary (e.g. communication noise) and the robot can recover, it can again participate in the next bidding/awarding process. Using a bidding/awarding mechanism allows robots to dynamically relocate among tasks. This is also contributes to system robustness. DAP was evaluated through multiple experiments done in the multi-robot simulation system. Various scenarios were tested to check the idea of the main algorithm. Different failures of robots (communication failures, partial hardware malfunctions) were simulated and observations were made regarding how DAP recovers from them. Also the DAP flexibility to environment changes was watched. The experiments in the simulated environment confirmed the above features of DAP.

The Role of ICT in Scaling Up the Impact of Social Enterprises

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can help social enterprises and other organizations working on global sustainability issues and in the human development sector in general scale their social impact. The flexibility, dynamism, and ubiquity of ICTs make them powerful tools for improving relationships among organizations and their beneficiaries, multiplying the effects of action against many, if not all, aspects of global unsustainability, including poverty and exclusion. The scaling of social impact occurs in two different dimensions. On one hand, ICTs can increase the value proposition of a program or action (depth scaling) in different ways: providing accurate and fast needs recognition, adapting products and services, creating opportunities, building fairer markets, mobilizing actions on environmental and social issues, and creating social capital. On the other hand, ICTs can also increase the number of people reached by the organization (breadth scaling) by accessing new resources, creating synergies and networks, improving organizational efficiency, increasing its visibility, and designing new access channels to beneficiaries. This article analyzes the role of ICT in the depth and breadth scaling of social impact.