We describe a framework for global shipping container monitoring using machine learning with multi-sensor hubs and infrared catadioptric imaging. A wireless mesh radio satellite tag architecture provides connectivity anywhere in the world which is a significant improvement to legacy methods. We discuss the design and testing of a low-cost long-wave infrared catadioptric imaging device and multi-sensor hub combination as an intelligent edge computing system that, when equipped with physics-based machine learning algorithms, can interpret the scene inside a shipping container to make efficient use of expensive communications bandwidth. The histogram of oriented gradients and T-channel (HOG+) feature as introduced for human detection on low-resolution infrared catadioptric images is shown to be effective for various mirror shapes designed to give wide volume coverage with controlled distortion. Initial results for through-metal communication with ultrasonic guided waves show promise using the Dynamic Wavelet Fingerprint Technique (DWFT) to identify Lamb waves in a complicated ultrasonic signal.

[pt] Existe uma crescente necessidade em transferir energia e comunicar dados entre dispositivos através de paredes metálicas de forma não intrusiva. Os meios de comunicação tradicionais para este fim, em sua maioria, baseiam-se essencialmente no uso de condutores elétricos ou ondas eletromagnéticas. O primeiro necessita de algum mecanismo de penetração e o segundo, apesar de não intrusivo, torna-se limitado devido ao efeito de blindagem de Faraday. Uma alternativa é encontrada no uso de ondas acústicas para transferir os dados e energia através de paredes metálicas. Recentemente, grande esforço tem sido empregado nesse tipo de comunicação, todavia há ainda carência de trabalhos que tratem do canal acústico na presença de multicamadas além de resultados experimentais com paredes metálicas curvas. Possíveis aplicações nestes contextos são encontrados no monitoramento de vasos de pressão com fluido no seu interior ou até mesmo de tubulações metálicas transportando líquidos. A presente dissertação avalia, de forma analítica, numérica e experimental, a transmissão de energia e a comunicação através de um canal acústico composto por camadas metal-líquido-metal com paredes curvilíneas. Para tal, inicialmente, são analisados e comparados dois modelos, existentes na literatura, fundamentados na propagação de ondas ultrassônicas, um analítico e outro numérico, ambos baseados em analogias acustoelétricas. Os dois modelos são estendidos permitindo a inclusão de múltiplas camadas de diferentes materiais. A avaliação da eficiência de energia e a capacidade de transferência de dados é feita com base nos modelos e validada experimentalmente utilizando uma placa reta de alumínio e um par de transdutores piezoelétricos axialmente alinhados e acoplados ao mesmo. Um circuito elétrico é desenvolvido para a transmissão de energia entre as duas faces da placa e para a comunicação de dados digitais por meio de modulação do tipo ASK. O circuito é então simulado utilizando-se um software de simulação de circuitos elétricos, PUC-Rio - Certificação Digital N. 1521906/CA projetado e montado com placas de circuito impresso. Em seguida, é realizado um segundo experimento utilizando uma seção curva metálica com uma camada intermediária de água como canal acústico . Nesse, são estudadas as transferências de energia e dados utilizando o circuito elétrico desenvolvido o qual é conectado a um par de transdutores piezoelétricos acoplados ao canal acústico. Resultados do experimento na placa reta de alumínio revelam boa consonância entre os modelos e o experimento, tanto por uma análise em frequência quanto no domínio do tempo. Tendo sido o modelo analítico o que melhor representa o fenômeno físico em questão devido ao maior rigor no tratamento do mecanismo de perdas. Para o segundo experimento, resultados comprovam a possibilidade de comunicação através de múltiplas camadas metálicas e líquidas em paredes curvas, mostrando que o sistema é capaz de transmitir dados de um sensor de temperatura e pressão a uma taxa de 9600 bps. Tanto o sensor quanto os seus circuitos periféricos são integralmente alimentados pela energia que atravessa o canal acústico, num total de aproximadamente 140 mW. / [en] Nonintrusive power transfer and data communication between devices through metallic walls is an increasing need in several sensing systems. Traditional means of communication mainly use electric conductors or electromagnetic waves. The first needs some mechanism for penetration whereas the latter, although nonintrusive, can be extremely limited due to the Faraday shielding effect. An alternative is found in the use of acoustic waves to transfer data and energy through metallic walls. Although great effort has been recently directed towards this type of communication, there still is a shortage of data dealing with the acoustic channel in the presence of multiple layers as well as of experimental results with curved metallic walls. Possible applications in these contexts may be found when monitoring pressure vessels filled with a fluid or pipes conveying liquids. The present dissertation evaluates, analytically, numerically and experimentally, the transmission of energy and data communication through a multi-layered, liquidmetal acoustic channel, composed of two curved metallic walls with a layer of liquid between them. For this, initially, two models based on propagation of ultrasonic waves are analyzed and compared, one analytical and the other numerical, both relying on electric-acoustic analogies. Both are extended to include more than one layer of material. The energy efficiency assessment and data transfer capability are addressed through the models and also experimentally validated using an acoustic channel comprising a flat aluminum plate and two axially aligned piezoelectric transducers coupled to it. In addition, an electric circuit is developed for the transmission of energy from outside to inside and the communication of digital data from the inside to the outside by ASK modulation and demodulation. The circuit is simulated using electrical circuit simulation software, designed and assembled with printed circuit boards. Thereafter, a second experiment where the acoustic channel is composed by a curved metallic section with an intermediate PUC-Rio - Certificação Digital No 1521906/CA fluid layer is implemented. In this, the power and data transfer are studied using the developed electric circuit, which is connected to a pair of piezoelectric transducers coupled to the acoustic channel. Results for the flat aluminum plate reveal good agreement between both models and the experiment, both by frequency and time domain analysis. The analytical model best reproduced the physical phenomenon of interest due to its stricter treatment of loss mechanisms. The second experiment proved the feasibility of multi-layered liquid-metal communication on curved walls and showed that the system is able to transmit data from temperature and pressure sensors at a rate of 9600 bps. The sensor and all its peripheral circuitry were fully powered by the energy flowing through the acoustic channel in total of approximately 140 mW.

RF and acoustic communications are widely used in terrestrial and underwater environments, respectively. This thesis examines the use of ultrasonic communication alternately in terrestrial applications. We first investigate the ultrasonic channel in order to observe whether reliable communication is possible among the ultrasonic nodes as an alternative to RF-based communications. Some key characteristics of the single-input-single-output (SISO) and single-inputmultiple- output (SIMO) ultrasonic channel are inspected with extensive experiments utilizing ultrasonic transmitters and receivers. Well known receiver diversity techniques are employed to combine the observations of multiple receiving ultrasonic transducers in a SIMO scheme and receiver diversity gain is attained. The thesis also covers the implementation of a receiver node by using a low-cost microcontroller.

Radio frequency (RF) communication, although most popular, is unsuitable for environments involving aqueous and animal/plant tissue media, cluttered environments (e.g., small regions with many radios), applications requiring extremely low power consumption, etc. For such environments, magnetic induction (MI) communication appears to be a viable new technology. It has many desirable properties for propagation in challenging environments. In this thesis, we have experimentally explored the use of Magnetic Induction (MI) based communications for communication through the body. Such communication modalities are essential for wireless communication between implanted therapeutic devices. RF is known to work poorly in this environment due to primarily an ionized aqueous propagation media. We have built a custom experimental testbed using magnetic coils and performed simulations of intrabody propagation for MI based communication using the Sim4Life package. Ultrasound (US) communications have been explored extensively for intra-body environments, and we compare MI against US as well. We experimentally showed that ultrasonic coupling (USC) works better than magnetic resonance coupling (MRC) for transmission through the body at 8 MHz frequency, as USC generates more power than MRC. We have also experimentally compared MR coupling against other forms of intra-body communication, such as galvanic and capacitive. We have done a deep in-depth study of in/on body simulation. According to those studies, the simulations work quite well, and yield a percentage error in the power received for USC as 3-4 %, while for MRC, as 4-5 %. The orientation of USC and MRC sensors causes only 1-2 % error, which doesn't have much impact. / Computer and Information Science