RoadMic: Road Surface Monitoring Using Vehicular Sensor Networks with Microphones
Road surface analysis including pothole reports is an important problem for road maintainers and drivers. In this paper we propose a methodology for pothole detection using mobile vehicles equipped with off the shelf microphone and global positioning devices attached to an on-board computer. The approach is generic enough to be extended for other kind of event detection using different sensors as well. The vehicles are driving on public streets and measuring pothole induced sound signals. Our approach was tested and evaluated by real world experiments in a road segment for which we had established the ground truth beforehand. The results show pothole detection with high accuracy despite the…
MansOS
Often software for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is developed using a specific event based operating system (OS) such as TinyOS. However, this requires steep learning curve for the new developers. Other operating systems for embedded devices have limited support for new hardware platforms. Our goal is to provide an operating system for resource constrained devices that is easy to use for the wide range of researchers and developers familiar with C programming language and Unix operating system concepts. In addition, we provide a framework for agile portability to new hardware platforms, due to the nature of WSN systems that require specific hardware or features for the sensing tasks at ha…
MEDiSN
Staff shortages and an increasingly aging population are straining the ability of emergency departments to provide high-quality care. Moreover, there is a growing concern about the ability of hospitals to provide effective care during disaster events. Tools that automate patient monitoring would greatly improve efficiency, quality of care, and the volume of patients treated. Towards this goal, we have developed MEDiSN, a wireless sensor network for monitoring patients' vital signs in hospitals and disaster events. MEDiSN consists of Patient Monitors which are custom-built, patient-worn motes that sample, compress and secure medical data, and Relay Points that form a static multi-hop wireles…
PHASER – A Phase-Shifting Antenna for Low-Power Directional Communication
This paper describes the design and empirical evaluation of PHASER — a mote prototype for low-power directional communication in wireless sensor networks. PHASER has a modular design that includes three components: a low-power radio, an RF signal processing chip, and two off-the-shelf antennas. Directional communication is achieved by splitting the output signal from the low-power radio chip and controlling programmatically the phase of each signal as it transmitted to each antenna. The net effect of controlling the phase of the signals is that they generate patterns of constructive and destructive interference as signals propagate. PHASER is well-suited for wireless sensor networks as it d…
LynxNet: Wild Animal Monitoring Using Sensor Networks
Monitoring wild animals, especially those that are becoming endangered (for example, lynxes and wolves) is important for biology researchers. Solutions for the monitoring already exist; however, they all have drawbacks, such as limited range or lifetime, sensing modality, reporting delays, unreliability of operation. In this work we describe our experiences in designing an improved animal monitoring sensor system and low-level software for sensor node control and communication. The target animals for this particular research are wild lynxes or canines, however it can be extended to other animal species. The LynxNet system is based on tracking collars, built around TMote Mini sensor nodes, s…
MEDiSN
Staff shortages and an increasingly aging population are straining the ability of emergency departments to provide high quality care. At the same time, there is a growing concern about hospitals' ability to provide effective care during disaster events. For these reasons, tools that automate patient monitoring have the potential to greatly improve efficiency and quality of health care. Towards this goal, we have developed MEDiSN , a wireless sensor network for monitoring patients' physiological data in hospitals and during disaster events. MEDiSN comprises Physiological Monitors (PMs), which are custom-built, patient-worn motes that sample, encrypt, and sign physiological data and Relay Po…
Adaptive Vehicle Mode Monitoring Using Embedded Devices with Accelerometers
Monitoring of specific attributes such as vehicle speed and fuel consumption as well as cargo safety is an important problem for transport domain. This task is performed using specific multiagent monitoring systems. To ensure secure operation of such systems they should have autonomous and adaptive behaviour.
Performance and Implementation Modeling of Gated Linear Networks on FPGA for Lossless Image Compression
Over recent years, imaging systems have seen explosive increase in resolution. These trends present a challenge for resource-constrained embedded imaging devices. Efficient image compression is essential to reduce bandwidth consumption and to increase the capability of on-board storage. Especially, for imaging systems where information loss is not allowed, for example, in medical, military and remote sensing imaging systems. This paper explores the use of Gated Linear Networks (GLNs) for development of embedded lossless compression systems. GLNs have proved themselves via PAQ archiver series, that have been ranked among the top across several lossless compression benchmarks. We propose an a…
Wireless Sensor Network Operating System Design Rules Based on Real-World Deployment Survey
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have been a widely researched field since the beginning of the 21st century. The field is already maturing, and TinyOS has established itself as the de facto standard WSN Operating System (OS). However, the WSN researcher community is still active in building more flexible, efficient and user-friendly WSN operating systems. Often, WSN OS design is based either on practical requirements of a particular research project or research group's needs or on theoretical assumptions spread in the WSN community. The goal of this paper is to propose WSN OS design rules that are based on a thorough survey of 40 WSN deployments. The survey unveils trends of WSN applic…
SEAL: A Domain-Specific Language for Novice Wireless Sensor Network Programmers
A lot of the prospective wireless sensor network users are novice programmers. Their experience in general-purpose programming languages is either limited or completely nonexistent. There are both financial and scientific incentives to empower these users and allow them to write sensor network applications on their own, rather than having to rely on a qualified computer science professional. We present SEAL, a sensor network programming language designed for novice programmers. SEAL manages to avoid computer science concepts that are hard to grasp for novices, while remaining suitable for typical sensor network application scenarios. The language is extensible in application-specific way, h…
SADmote: A Robust and Cost-Effective Device for Environmental Monitoring
Time to deployment for wireless sensor networks could be reduced by using commercial sensor nodes. However, this may lead to suboptimal flexibility, power consumption and cost of the system. Our pilot deployment for precision agriculture and fruit growing research showed similar conclusions and outlined the design decisions leading to SADmote: a new sensor node for environmental monitoring. It was evaluated both in the lab and field, showing improved energy consumption over commercial solutions such as Tmote Sky and Waspmote.
Impact of interval walking training managed through smart mobile devices on albuminuria and leptin/adiponectin ratio in patients with type 2 diabetes
Abstract Background Interval walking training has demonstrated more pronounced positive effects on physical fitness and metabolism in type 2 diabetes (T2D), compared to continuous walking. One of the pathogenic mechanisms of T2D is associated with derangements in leptin/adiponectin axis, which might predispose affected individuals to vascular inflammation and albuminuria. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of interval walking training delivered through smart mobile devices upon albuminuria and leptin/adiponectin ratio in patients with T2D. Methods Patients with T2D aged 35–75 were randomized into control (n = 26) and interval training (IT, n = 14) groups. Patients in IT gr…