The current state of wireless sensing technologies possesses a good reliability in terms of time response and sensing on movable parts or in embedded structures. Nevertheless, these tech- nologies involve energy supply such as battery and suffer from low resolution and bulky signal conditioning system for data processing. Thus, a RFID passive wireless sensor is a good candidate to overcome these issues. The feasibility of implementing microstrip patch antennas for sensing application were successfully investigated; however, low sensitivity was always a big issue to be concerned. Sensors based on nanocomposites attracted a lot of attention because of their excellent performance in term of light weight, high sensitivity, good stability and high resistance to corrosion but it lacks the capability of high conductivity, which limit their implication into RFID applications. This work introduces a novel high sensitive passive wireless strain and temperature sensors based on nanocomposites as sensing layer. To accomplish this, intrinsically conductive polymer based on carbon nanofillers nanocomposites are deeply studied and characterized. Then it’s performance is evaluated. Among them a novel tertiary nanocomposite is introduced, which opens the gate to new nanocomposite applications and thus broad- ens the application spectrum. Understanding the transport mechanism to improve the conductivity of the nanocomposite and extracting individually different models based on physical explanation of their piezoresistivity, and behavior under temperature and humidity have been developed. Afterwards, selected nanocomposites based on their high sensitivity to either strain or temperature are chosen to be used as sensing layer for patch antenna. The fabricated patch antenna has only one fundamental frequency, by determining the shift in its resonance frequency as function of the desired property to be measured; the wireless sensor characteristics are then examined. For strain sensing, the effect of strain is tested experimentally with the help of end-loaded beam measurement setup. For temperature sensing, the sensors are loaded in a controlled temperature/humid chamber and with the help of a vector network analyzer, the sensitivity of the antennas are extracted by acquiring the shift in the resonance frequency. The fabricated wireless sensors based on patch antenna are fabricated on very low lossy material to improve their gain and radiation pattern. This approach could be expanded also to include different type of substrates such as stretchable substrates i.e. elastomer polymer, very thing substrates such as Kapton, paper-based substrates or liquid crystal polymer.

Lors du développement d’un nouvel avion, la phase précédant l’obtention du certificat de navigabilité est basée sur de nombreux essais au sol ou en vol. Dans le domaine spatial, le lancement est l’une des phases les plus critiques pour les systèmes et des essais au sol particulièrement rigoureux sont donc réalisés afin de vérifier que la charge utile ne sera pas endommagéeDes milliers de capteurs de pression ou de jauges de contrainte sont ainsi utilisés par les industriels du secteur pour ce type d’essais. Mais tous ces éléments sont aujourd’hui connectés par des fils, ce qui engendre des contraintes de temps, de coût et de limitation du nombre de capteurs. Leur remplacement par des réseaux de capteurs sans fil est une solution évidente qui permet également d’augmenter le nombre de points de mesure. Cependant, il n’existe aujourd’hui aucun protocole permettant de répondre aux attentes et besoins des professionnels de l’aéronautique et du spatial. Les travaux présentés dans cette thèse ont ainsi vocation à répondre aux besoins d’un canal de communication très haut débit, basse consommation, à faible puissance d’émission, fiable et autorisant un grand nombre de nœuds. Un prototype de couche physique basée sur un système OFDM ultra large bande a été réalisé, testé et validé, et permet d’atteindre un débit de plus de 200 Mbits/s. / To evaluate a system's compliance with its specified requirements, Hardware System Testing is conducted on the complete and integrated system. This phase is essential in all industry branches, especially in the very regulated and critical aerospace world. In the final phase of the development of an airplane, flight test equipment gathers and analyzes data during flight to evaluate the flight characteristics of the aircraft and validate its design, including safety aspects. One of the most critical tests is the measure of the pressure around the wings during flight. All new aircrafts are computer designed with the use of virtual wind tunnels. So very accurate measures have to be done on the aircraft to validate the model before the aircraft can be industrially produced. In the case of satellites, vibration and mechanical stress are two critical phenomena a satellite endures during launch. This is leading to the necessity for accurate ground tests using strain gauges or thermal sensors before allowing a launch. All such systems used by aircraft and satellite manufacturers today are wired systems. Sensors put around the wings or inside the satellite compartments are wired to a concentrator inside the cabin or the operator’s room. Although good performances are observed in terms of measurement accuracy, these systems have strong drawbacks. The two most important ones are the weight and the cost of both the systems and their installation. An additional drawback concerning its use on aircrafts is due to the installation of a system that increases the weight of the aircraft and immobilizes it during many weeks due to the routing of every cable inside the wings. The cost and the complexity of such systems don’t allow a great number of measurement points. The replacement of conventional measurement networks by wireless sensor networks is not an obvious solution. Despite the great interest in wireless sensor networks in the recent years, the technological barriers are still very numerous and there is currently no protocol to meet the expectations and needs of aviation professionals. The work presented in this thesis aims to meet the needs of a high-speed, low power consumption, low emission and reliable communication layer. Measurements have been performed in real conditions using commercial devices based on the protocol MB-OFDM/Wimedia, the most common standard that approach the need expressed, and have served to define the basis of the study and have helped to select best development tracks. Measurements have demonstrated also the specificity of the propagation channel. In order to reduce the time between the choice of algorithms and their testing in real conditions, it became necessary to use a design flow called Specification - Exploration – Improvement based on automatic synthesis tools. This development cycle has identified specific material needs for the design of the demonstrator.The physical layer is based on an OFDM system and UWB to achieve a data rate of over 150 Mb/s. A fully functional demonstrator, implemented on FPGA and composed of four communicating nodes was presented and has been used to validate the physical layer. Finally first steps to develop a digital ASIC are presented to achieve the goal of low power consumption

Ces travaux portent sur la question de l’autonomie énergétiquedes capteurs sans fil dans un contexte aéronautique, à laquelle la récupérationet le stockage d’énergie ambiante sont susceptibles d’apporter uneréponse. Nous étudions dans un premier temps la génération thermoélectrique,destinée à être appliquée au suivi du vieillissement structurelprès de la zone moteur, et débouchant sur la réalisation d’un démonstrateur.Nous proposons ensuite une architecture de stockage capacitif qui,en s’adaptant à son état de charge, vise à améliorer la performance de cettesolution de stockage en termes de temps de démarrage, de taux d’utilisationd’énergie et sous certaines conditions, de transfert d’énergie. Finalement,nous rapportons les résultats d’une étude prospective sur la récupérationd’énergie du vent relatif grâce au phénomène aéroacoustique. Nousmontrons que cette méthode présente un potentiel énergétique intéressant,puis nous présentons la conception et la réalisation d’un circuit optimiséde gestion de l’énergie, permettant d’alimenter grâce à cette technique uncapteur sans fil de température / This work adresses the issue of energy autonomy within wirelesssensor networks embedded in aircrafts, which may be solved throughambient energy harvesting and storage. In a first study, we develop a demonstratorbased on thermal gradients energy harvesting, which is designedto supply power to a structural health monitoring system implementednear the engine zone. Thereafter, we introduce a capacitive storagearchitecture which self-adapts to its own state of charge, aiming at improvingits performance in terms of startup time, the energy utilization ratioand under some conditions, the energy transfer. Finally, we report the resultsof a prospective study on aeroacoustic energy harvesting appliedto the relative wind. It is shown that this method exhibits an interestingpotential in terms of generated power, then we introduce the design andthe realization of an optimized energy management circuit, allowing ourtechnique to supply power to a wireless temperature sensor

This research was born from NASA Kennedy Space Center’s (KSC) need for passive, wireless and individually distinguishable cryogenic liquid and H2 gas sensors in various facilities. The risks of catastrophic accidents, associated with the storage and use of cryogenic fluids may be minimized by constant monitoring. Accidents involving the release of H2 gas or LH2 were responsible for 81% of total accidents in the aerospace industry. These problems may be mitigated by the implementation of a passive (or low-power), wireless, gas detection system, which continuously monitors multiple nodes and reports temperature and H2 gas presence. Passive, wireless, cryogenic liquid level and hydrogen (H2) gas sensors were developed on a platform technology called Orthogonal Frequency Coded (OFC) surface acoustic wave (SAW) radio frequency identification (RFID) tag sensors. The OFC-SAW was shown to be mechanically resistant to failure due to thermal shock from repeated cycles between room to liquid nitrogen temperature. This suggests that these tags are ideal for integration into cryogenic Dewar environments for the purposes of cryogenic liquid level detection. Three OFC-SAW H2 gas sensors were simultaneously wirelessly interrogated while being exposed to various flow rates of H2 gas. Rapid H2 detection was achieved for flow rates as low as 1ccm of a 2% H2, 98% N2 mixture. A novel method and theory to extract the electrical and mechanical properties of a semiconducting and high conductivity thin-film using SAW amplitude and velocity dispersion measurements were also developed. The SAW device was shown to be a useful tool in analysis and characterization of ultrathin and thin films and physical phenomena such as gas adsorption and desorption mechanisms.

yes / This is the eleventh workshop to be organised under the postgraduate programmes in electrical and electronic engineering (EEE). In total, thirty-five papers from sixty-seven submissions have been selected for the Proceedings. Over the past eleven years, the Research Seminar Series has provided a snapshot of the research agenda. In this, the 11th issue of the Workshop Proceedings, the importance of sustainable energy generation and the emerging influence of cloud computing, the growing number of applications of wireless sensors and the ubiquitous nature of the World Wide Web are in evidence. / None

The Internet of Things (IoT) is widely adopted across various fields due to its flexibility and low cost. Energy-harvesting Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are becoming a building block of many IoT applications and provide a perpetual source of energy to power energy-constrained IoT devices. However, the dynamic and stochastic nature of the available harvested energy drives the need for adaptive energy management solutions. Duty cycling is among the most prominent adaptive approaches that help consolidate the effort of energy management solutions at the routing and application layers to ensure energy sustainability and, hence, continuous network operation.  The IEEE 802.15.4 standard defines the physical layer and the Medium Access Control (MAC) sub-layer of low-data-rate wireless devices with limited energy consumption requirements. The MAC sub-layer’s functionalities include the scheduling of the duty cycle of individual devices. However, the scheduling of the duty cycle is left open to the industry. Various computational mechanisms are used to compute the duty cycle of IoT nodes to ensure optimal performance in energy sustainability and Quality of Service (QoS). Reinforcement Learning (RL) is the most employed mechanism in this context.  The literature depicts various RL-based solutions to adjust the duty cycle of IoT devices to adapt to changes in the IoT environment. However, these solutions are usually tailored to specific scenarios or focus mainly on one aspect of the problem, namely QoS performance or energy limitation. This work proposes a generic adaptive duty cycling solution and evaluates its performance under different energy generation and traffic conditions. Moreover, it emphasizes the energy sustainability aspect while taking the QoS performance into account.  While different approaches exist to achieve energy sustainability, Energy Neutral Operation (ENO)-based solutions provide the most prominent approach to ensure energy-sustainable performance. Nevertheless, these approaches do not necessarily guarantee optimal performance in QoS. This work adopts a Markov Decision Process (MDP) model from the literature that aims to minimize the distance from energy neutrality given the energy harvesting and ENO conditions. We introduce QoS penalties to the reward formulation to improve QoS performance.  We start by examining the performance in QoS against the benchmarking solution. Then, we analyze the performance using different energy harvesting and consumption profiles to further assess QoS performance and determine if energy sustainability is still maintained under different conditions. The results prove more efficient utilization of harvested energy when available in abundance. However, one limitation to our solution occurs when energy demand is high, or harvested energy is scarce. In such cases, we observe degradation in QoS due to IoT nodes adopting a low-duty cycle to avoid energy depletion. We further study the effect this limitation has on the solution's scalability. We also attempt to address this problem by assessing the performance using a routing solution that balances load distribution and, hence, energy demand across the network.

L’émergence de l’Internet des Objets révolutionne les réseaux locaux sans fil et inspirent de nombreuses applications. L’une des problématiques majeures pour les réseaux locaux sans fil est l’accès et le partage du médium radio sans fil. Plusieurs protocoles MAC mono-canal ont été proposés et abordent cette problématique avec des solutions intéressantes. Néanmoins, certains problèmes majeurs liés à l’accès au canal (nœud caché, synchronisation, propagation des RDV…) pour un contexte de transmission multi-saut, persistent encore et font toujours l’objet d’intenses études de la communauté scientifique, surtout lorsqu’il s’agit de réseaux de capteurs sans fil distribués sur des topologies étendues. Certains travaux de recherches ont proposé des protocoles MAC multi-canal, traitant souvent le cas idéal, où tous les nœuds dans le réseau sont à portée les uns des autres. Les émissions et réceptions des trames de données sont généralement précédées de trames des contrôles pour l’établissement de Rendez-vous (RDV) entre les nœuds concernés. Nous constatons que les RDV ne garantissent pas la réservation des canaux de façon déterministe sans conflit entre les nœuds dans le réseau, et peuvent rendre difficile les transmissions en multi-saut. Une solution complexe serait de propager ces RDV vers les voisins du nœud récepteur au-delà de 2 sauts. C’est face à cette complexité de gestion de RDV multi-sauts que s’inscrit notre contribution. Il s’agit pour nous de proposer une méthode d’accès multi-canal aléatoire sans RDV, en topologie multi-saut. Notre solution est implémentée sur un testbedréel constitué de nœuds WiNo mono-interface, elle est basée sur la méthode ALOHA slottée améliorée pour notre contexte multi-canal, dont nous évaluons les performances qui sont comparées au cas mono-canal. Un modèle analytique lié au contexte multi-canal sans RDV a été développé également, et comparé aux résultats de notre testbed. / The emergence of the Internet of Thingsrevolutionizeswireless local area networks and inspiringnumerous applications. One of the main issues for wirelessLANsis the access and sharing of the wireless radio medium. Several single-channel MAC protocols have been proposed and addressthis issue withinteresting solutions. However, some major problemsrelated to the channelaccess (hiddennode, synchronization, propagation of RDV) for a multi-hop transmission context, persist and are still the subject of intensive studies by the scientificcommunity, especiallywhenitcomes to a distributedwirelesssensors networks over extended topologies. Someresearch has proposed multi-channel MAC protocols, oftenaddressingthe ideal case, where all nodes in the network are within range of eachother. The transmissions and receptions of the data frames aregenerallypreceded by controls frames for the establishment of Rendez-Vous (RDV) among the nodesconcerned. Wefindthat the RDVs do not guarantee the channelsreservation in a deterministicwaywithoutconflictamong the nodes in the network, and maymakeitdifficult the multi-hop transmissions. A complex solution wouldbe to propagatetheseRDVs to the neighbors of the receivernodebeyond 2 hops. Facedwiththiscomplexity of multi-hop RDV management thatmakesour contribution. It is important for us to propose arandom multi-channelaccessmethodwithout RDV, in multi-hop topology. Our solution isimplemented on a real testbed made of multi-channel single-interface “WiNo” nodes, of whichweevaluate the performance that are compared to the single-channel case. An analytical model related to the multi-channelcontextwithout RDV wasalsodeveloped, and compared to the results of ourtestbed.

This thesis work deals with the development of three different categories of interrogation techniques for Fiber Bragg Grating based sensor networks. Such networks are used for structural health monitoring and other applications. A bulk grating based interrogation system is described first, which includes an optical source, switch, circulator, embedded controller, and software. The center wavelength determination technique employed is detailed and is shown to be highly accurate from test data. The comparison with resistance strain gauges is presented which shows that the system developed provides an accurate strain reconstruction. The system is also compared with a commercial optical spectrum analyzer and is found to exhibit good accuracy and fidelity. The system has been field tested on an aircraft structure with 14 sensors spread over 4 channels. Strain data reconstruction from these tests is shown to accurately reproduce the loading conditions. A second system developed is based on the matched filter technique using a mechanical fiber stretcher; the details of this system are presented with a mathematical treatment of the technique. The design of the fiber stretcher is also described. This design is regarded to be novel since it tries to provide large interrogation bandwidths using a parallel topology. The results of tests have shown good resolution and comparative tests with resistance strain gauges have shown accurate reproduction of strain. Finally, an interrogation system based on a wavelength tunable source is presented. This system is a precursor to a time division multiplexed interrogation system, which has also been described. Three laser configurations have been set up and characterized. The laser sweep tests have been performed on two configurations and a sensor grating reconstruction test has also been carried out.

Bevielio jutiklių tinklo valdymo protokolas. Baigiamasis magistro darbas elektronikos inžinerijos laipsniui. Vilniaus Gedimino technikos universitetas. Vilnius, 2009, 63 p., 27 iliustr., 13 lent., 23 bibl., 3 priedų. Baigiamojo magistro darbo tikslas – sukurti ir ištirti energijos išteklius taupantį protokolą, skirtą jutiklių duomenims perduoti bevieliu būdu. Išanalizuoti skirtingų protokolo konfigūracijų ir funkcionalumo įtaką jutiklio veikimo laikui iš riboto energijos šaltinio. Protokolą sukurti pagal iš anksto užsibrėžtus kriterijus bendradarbiaujant su UAB „Teltonika“. Sukurtas bevielio jutiklių tinklo protokolas veikia IEEE 802.15.4 standarto pagrindu ir atitinka visas reikalaujamas specifikacijas. Jis pasižymi sparčiu naujų jutiklių tinkle tapatumo nustatymu, sumaniais energijos taupymo sprendimais, lanksčiu konfigūravimu, priklausomai nuo norimų charakteristikų ir funkcionalumo bei turi patogią programų sąsają. Dinaminis neveikos (angl. sleep) režimo laiko parinkimas leidžia jutikliams veikti iki 2 metų (esant tam tikromis sąlygomis ir ilgiau) iš ribotos energijos (1,5 Wh) maitinimo šaltinio. / Wireless sensors network protocol. Final Master Work of electronics engineering degree. Vilnius Gediminas Technical University. Vilnius, 2009, 63 p., 27 illustrations. 13 tables., 23 bibliographical sources, 3 appendixes. The main aim of this project is to create and explore low power, energy-efficient protocol for wireless sensors, to analyze the different protocol configurations and the impact on the sensor lifetime of different system functionality using limited energy power source. Protocol designed to meet specified technical criteria in cooperation with the "Teltonika" Inc. Wireless sensors network protocol is based on IEEE 802.15.4 standard and meets all required specifications. Main protocol advantages are: fast new sensor authentication, smart battery management solutions, flexible configuration, depending on the desired characteristics and functionality and a convenient software interface. Dynamic sleep mode time selection allows the sensors to operate for up to 2 years (and more, under certain conditions) from the limited energy (1.5 Wh) power source.

Στην παρούσα διδακτορική διατριβή εξετάζονται οι δυνατότητες που προσφέρουν τα έξυπνα κινητά τηλέφωνα (smartphones) στην παροχή υπηρεσιών φροντίδας σε άτομα με χρόνιες παθήσεις, μέσω των τεχνολογιών τηλεματικής. Για το σκοπό αυτό μελετήθηκε, σχεδιάστηκε και αναπτύχθηκε ένα δίκτυο φορετών ασύρματων αισθητήρων για την αναγνώριση της φυσικής δραστηριότητας, το οποίο καταγράφει δεδομένα της κίνησης και βιολογικά σήματα, τα οποία στη συνέχεια επεξεργάζονται για την αναγνώριση της δραστηριότητας που εκτελείται, σε πραγματικό χρόνο. Σε σχέση με τις μέχρι σήμερα προσεγγίσεις, στην παρούσα εργασία γίνεται συγκριτική μελέτη πολλαπλών τεχνικών αναγνώρισης προτύπων καθώς και τεχνικών που δεν έχουν χρησιμοποιηθεί μέχρι σήμερα, ενώ γίνεται εξέταση των αποτελεσμάτων που προκύπτουν κάνοντας χρήση του συνδυασμού μικρότερου αριθμού δεδομένων. Η πληροφορία της αναγνώρισης της φυσικής δραστηριότητας συνδυάζεται στη συνέχεια με περιβαλλοντικά δεδομένα, ώστε να μελετηθούν τα μοτίβα της καθημερινής δραστηριότητας υγειών ατόμων και ατόμων με χρόνιες παθήσεις. Με την αναζήτηση Emerging Patterns στα αποθηκευμένα δεδομένα, εξετάζεται ο βαθμός συμμόρφωσης στις ιατρικές οδηγίες, αλλά οι δυνατότητες πρόβλεψης των βραχυπρόθεσμων και μακροπρόθεσμων επιπλοκών των χρόνιων παθήσεων. / The present PhD thesis examines the potentials of the usage of the smartphones in order to offer health services to patients with chronic diseases. A wearable wireless sensor network designed and developed in order to record body movement and biosignal data. Physical activity recognition techniques are applied to the recorded data, so that to extract the actual activities performed, in real time. In contrast to the research that has been carried out till today, an extensive comparison between different pattern recognition techniques is performed using all the recorded data and a reduced number of them, applying newly proposed pattern recognition. Furthermore, the recognized physical activities are combined with environmental data, in order to study the daily activity patterns of healthy persons and persons with chronic diseases. Searching for Emerging Patterns in the data, patient conformance to the medical advices, along with short and long term complications of chronic diseases are examined.