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24 pages, 1641 KiB

Open AccessArticle

DMRVR: Dynamic Milk-Run Vehicle Routing Solution Using Fog-Based Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

by Daniel Domingos Adriano, Carlos Montez, Antonio G. N. Novaes and Michelle Wangham

Electronics 2020, 9(12), 2010; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9122010 - 27 Nov 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 7886

Abstract

Milk-run tours with time windows are an essential strategy to collect goods to minimize production and transportation costs. Due to unexpected events at the supplier production or traffic congestion, delays can occur during the vehicle route execution, causing non-compliance between the logistics operator [...] Read more.

Milk-run tours with time windows are an essential strategy to collect goods to minimize production and transportation costs. Due to unexpected events at the supplier production or traffic congestion, delays can occur during the vehicle route execution, causing non-compliance between the logistics operator and the company. This paper describes the DMRVR (Dynamic Milk-Run Vehicle Routing) solution that uses a dynamic routing algorithm along with fog-based vehicular ad hoc networks for implementing the collection of goods in milk-run operations that respect the company’s time window. When a production delay occurs, the supplier sends a message through the vehicular network to alert the pickup vehicle, forcing it to make dynamic route changes to satisfy the constraints. We have implemented a queue with a timeout and retransmission features to improve the vehicular network’s message delivery. To assess the DMRVR solution, we analyzed the efficiency of the dynamic vehicle routing and the vehicular network impacts. In the experiments, we used an event-based network simulator OMNeT++ bidirectionally coupled with SUMO (Simulation of Urban Mobility), aiming to make the most realistic simulations. Simulation results show the average route time was lower than the time limit imposed by the company with the DMRVR solution. In dense vehicular network scenarios, the message delivery success rate is higher. Conversely, when the vehicular network scenario is sparse, it is necessary to balance network coverage and distribute more RSUs in specific places. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Wireless Sensor Networks in Monitoring)

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24 pages, 18904 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Visitor Assistance System Based on LoRa for Nature Forest Parks

by Ana Elisa Ferreira, Fernando Molano Ortiz, Thales Teixeira de Almeida and Luís Henrique M. K. Costa

Electronics 2020, 9(4), 696; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9040696 - 24 Apr 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2822

Abstract

Ecotourism activities are attracting more people each day, including national forest parks. Unfortunately, the number of incidents involving visitors to natural parks grows at the same pace. Among the most prevalent risks inside forests are getting lost and the occurrence of natural disasters. [...] Read more.

Ecotourism activities are attracting more people each day, including national forest parks. Unfortunately, the number of incidents involving visitors to natural parks grows at the same pace. Among the most prevalent risks inside forests are getting lost and the occurrence of natural disasters. In this work, we propose a system for monitoring and assisting visitors of forest parks, based on a low power wide range wireless network, LoRa. The proposed visitor assisting system is composed of mobile terminals that communicate between them and with fixed infrastructure, using a protocol designed for exchanging visitor locations data. The infrastructure consists of wireless gateways distributed on the trails, the totems. User terminals, the mobile nodes, work collaboratively through a Delay and Disruption Tolerant Network (DTN), to cope with the possibility that the gateway infrastructure does not cover the whole trail. In addition to improvements and gains for minimizing risks, the proposal also brings contributions to the preservation of the environment, raising awareness of the influence of human presence in the natural environment and to the development of environmental education actions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Wireless Sensor Networks in Monitoring)

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13 pages, 3831 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Structural Health Monitoring System for Snow and Wind Load Measurement

by Bogdan Dziadak

Electronics 2020, 9(4), 609; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9040609 - 3 Apr 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2655

Abstract

This article presents a system for monitoring the load caused by strong winds and snow on buildings’ roofs. An estimation of the total load on the structure is obtained by measuring the strain on the main roof girders. The system is based on [...] Read more.

This article presents a system for monitoring the load caused by strong winds and snow on buildings’ roofs. An estimation of the total load on the structure is obtained by measuring the strain on the main roof girders. The system is based on a wireless sensor network structure. The measurement node uses metal strain gauges and strain sensors based on conductive carbon polymers. The application of such sensors allowed us to achieve a measurement resolution of 5.5 ustrain. The node is managed by an Atmeg8A microcontroller. The use of energy saving modes allows for a battery life of 6 months. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Wireless Sensor Networks in Monitoring)

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17 pages, 2144 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sensor Selection via Maximizing Hybrid Bayesian Fisher Information and Mutual Information in Unreliable Sensor Networks

by Qingli Yan and Jianfeng Chen

Electronics 2020, 9(2), 283; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9020283 - 7 Feb 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2200

Abstract

The sensor selection problem is addressed for unreliable sensor networks. The Bayesian Fisher information (BFI) matrix, mutual information (MI) and their relationship are investigated under Gaussian mixture noise conditions. To overcome the flaw that the sensor selection methods based on either BFI matrix [...] Read more.

The sensor selection problem is addressed for unreliable sensor networks. The Bayesian Fisher information (BFI) matrix, mutual information (MI) and their relationship are investigated under Gaussian mixture noise conditions. To overcome the flaw that the sensor selection methods based on either BFI matrix or MI could not provide coincident results, the multiple objective optimal (MOP) -based sensor selection approach is developed via minimizing the number of selected sensors while maximizing corresponding BFI matrix and MI. The variable weight decision making (VWDM) and technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) approaches are then proposed to find the candidate that can better trade off the cost and two performance metrics. Comparison results demonstrated that the proposed method can find a more informative sensor group, and ultimately, its overall localization performance outperforms the sensor selection methods based on BFI or MI. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Wireless Sensor Networks in Monitoring)

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19 pages, 5013 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

A Wireless Sensors Network for Monitoring the Carasau Bread Manufacturing Process

by Matteo Baire, Andrea Melis, Matteo B. Lodi, Pierluigi Tuveri, Chiara Dachena, Marco Simone, Alessandro Fanti, Giorgio Fumera, Tonino Pisanu and Giuseppe Mazzarella

Electronics 2019, 8(12), 1541; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics8121541 - 13 Dec 2019

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 5327

Abstract

This work copes with the design and implementation of a wireless sensors network architecture to automatically and continuously monitor, for the first time, the manufacturing process of Sardinian Carasau bread. The case of a traditional bakery company facing the challenge of the Food-Industry [...] Read more.

This work copes with the design and implementation of a wireless sensors network architecture to automatically and continuously monitor, for the first time, the manufacturing process of Sardinian Carasau bread. The case of a traditional bakery company facing the challenge of the Food-Industry 4.0 competitiveness is investigated. The process was analyzed to identify the most relevant variables to be monitored during the product manufacturing. Then, a heterogeneous, multi-tier wireless sensors network was designed and realized to allow the real-time control and the data collection during the critical steps of dough production, sheeting, cutting and leavening. Commercial on-the-shelf and cost-effective integrated electronics were employed, making the proposed approach of interest for many practical cases. Finally, a user-friendly interface was provided to enhance the understanding, control and to favor the process monitoring. With the wireless senors network (WSN) we designed, it is possible to monitor environmental parameters (temperature, relative humidity, gas concentrations); cinematic quantities of the belts; and, through a dedicated image processing system, the morphological characteristics of the bread before the baking. The functioning of the WSN was demonstrated and a statistical analysis was performed on the variables monitored during different seasons. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Wireless Sensor Networks in Monitoring)

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18 pages, 4741 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

WSN Hardware for Automotive Applications: Preliminary Results for the Case of Public Transportation

by Matteo Baire, Andrea Melis, Matteo Bruno Lodi, Chiara Dachena, Alessandro Fanti, Simona Farris, Tonino Pisanu and Giuseppe Mazzarella

Electronics 2019, 8(12), 1483; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics8121483 - 4 Dec 2019

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4036

Abstract

The ubiquitous nature and great potential of Wireless Sensors Network has not yet been fully exploited in automotive applications. This work deals with the choice of the cost-effective hardware required to face the challenges and issues proposed by the new trend in the [...] Read more.

The ubiquitous nature and great potential of Wireless Sensors Network has not yet been fully exploited in automotive applications. This work deals with the choice of the cost-effective hardware required to face the challenges and issues proposed by the new trend in the development of intelligent transportation systems. With this aim, a preliminary WSN architecture is proposed. Several commercially available open-source platforms are compared and the Raspberry Pi stood out as a suitable and viable solution. The sensing layer is designed with two goals. Firstly, accelerometric, temperature, and relative humidity sensors were integrated on a dedicated PCB to test if mechanical or environmental stresses during bus rides could be harmful to the device or to its performances. The physical quantities are monitored automatically to alert the driver, thus improving the quality of service. Then, the rationale and functioning of the management and service layer is presented. The proposed cost-effective WSN node was employed and tested to transmit messages and videos, while investigating if any quantitative relationship exists between these operations and the environmental and operative conditions experienced by the hardware. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Wireless Sensor Networks in Monitoring)

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18 pages, 3957 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Air Quality Monitoring Using Assistive Robots for Ambient Assisted Living and Enhanced Living Environments through Internet of Things

by Gonçalo Marques, Ivan Miguel Pires, Nuno Miranda and Rui Pitarma

Electronics 2019, 8(12), 1375; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics8121375 - 20 Nov 2019

Cited by 45 | Viewed by 5629

Abstract

This paper presents iAirBot, an assistive robot for indoor air quality monitoring based on Internet of Things. The system can communicate with occupants and triggers alerts automatically using social networks. The information can be accessed by the caregiver to plan interventions for enhanced [...] Read more.

This paper presents iAirBot, an assistive robot for indoor air quality monitoring based on Internet of Things. The system can communicate with occupants and triggers alerts automatically using social networks. The information can be accessed by the caregiver to plan interventions for enhanced living environments in a timely manner. The results are promising, as the proposed architecture presents a cost-effective assistive robot for indoor quality monitoring. It connects several technological fields and knowledge areas, such as ambient assisted living, Internet of Things, wireless sensor networks, social networks, and indoor air quality. When compared to other systems, iAirBot stands out for the modularity and scalability of its sensors network, as well as the use of social networks for information sharing. Therefore, iAirBot is a significant system for enhanced living environments, occupational health, and well-being. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Wireless Sensor Networks in Monitoring)

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Review

Jump to: Research

26 pages, 14878 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Closing the Wearable Gap-Part VII: A Retrospective of Stretch Sensor Tool Kit Development for Benchmark Testing

by Purva Talegaonkar, David Saucier, Will Carroll, Preston Peranich, Erin Parker, Carver Middleton, Samaneh Davarzani, Alana Turner, Karen Persons, Landon Casey, Reuben F. Burch V, John E. Ball, Harish Chander, Adam Knight, Tony Luczak, Brian K. Smith and R. K. Prabhu

Electronics 2020, 9(9), 1457; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9091457 - 7 Sep 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3744

Abstract

This paper presents a retrospective of the benchmark testing methodologies developed and accumulated into the stretch sensor tool kit (SSTK) by the research team during the Closing the Wearable Gap series of studies. The techniques developed to validate stretchable soft robotic sensors (SRS) [...] Read more.

This paper presents a retrospective of the benchmark testing methodologies developed and accumulated into the stretch sensor tool kit (SSTK) by the research team during the Closing the Wearable Gap series of studies. The techniques developed to validate stretchable soft robotic sensors (SRS) as a means for collecting human kinetic and kinematic data at the foot-ankle complex and at the wrist are reviewed. Lessons learned from past experiments are addressed, as well as what comprises the current SSTK based on what the researchers learned over the course of multiple studies. Three core components of the SSTK are featured: (a) material testing tools, (b) data analysis software, and (c) data collection devices. Results collected indicate that the stretch sensors are a viable means for predicting kinematic data based on the most recent gait analysis study conducted by the researchers (average root mean squared error or RMSE = 3.63°). With the aid of SSTK defined in this study summary and shared with the academic community on GitHub, researchers will be able to undergo more rigorous validation methodologies of SRS validation. A summary of the current state of the SSTK is detailed and includes insight into upcoming experiments that will utilize more sophisticated techniques for fatigue testing and gait analysis, utilizing SRS as the data collection solution. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Wireless Sensor Networks in Monitoring)

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