The therapeutic opportunity for the elderly due to building control automation use in a retirement home was investigated. Previous research suggests that a basic understanding of elderly functional needs and building control automation capabilities is required Ifn order to secure the opportunity for maintaining existing elderly functional abilities. This study explores the extent to which building control automation can be applied in retirement homes. The research questions generated for this study were: To what extent is the success of building control automation dependent on the level of demand by residents, staff, and administration? How can elderly of varying disabilities interact with and around what building control automation features? How can building control automation support elderly independence and minimize the need for relocation to a higher level of care? What type(s) of building control automation will either promote independence or threaten it? A nurse aide questionnaire was used to identify the nurse aide's perception of the retirement home environment, residents' activities, and issues of elderly well-being. A resident questionnaire addressed residents needs and desires to maintain independent living with assistance of building control automation. And lastly, participant observation was used to reveal unique aspects of the physical environment and activities in questionnaire responses. / Master of Science

This thesis introduces a novel approach in which multiple heterogeneous devices collaborate to provide useful applications in an ad-hoc network. This thesis proposes a smart home as a particular ubiquitous computing scenario considering all the requirements given by the literature for succeed in this kind of systems. To that end, we envision a horizontally integrated smart home built up from independent components that provide services. These components are described with enough syntactic, semantic and pragmatic knowledge to accomplish spontaneous collaboration. The objective of these collaboration is domestic use, that is, the provision of valuable services for home residents capable of supporting users in their daily activities. Moreover, for the system to be attractive for potential customers, it should offer high levels of trust and reliability, all of them not at an excessive price. To achieve this goal, this thesis proposes to study the synergies available when an ontological description of home device functionality is paired with a formal method. We propose an ad-hoc home network in which components are home devices modelled as processes represented as semantic services by means of the Web Service Ontology (OWL-S). In addition, such services are specified, verified and implemented by means of the Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP), a process algebra for describing concurrent systems. The utilisation of an ontology brings the desired levels of knowledge for a system to compose services in a ad-hoc environment. Services are composed by a goal based system in order to satisfy user needs. Such system is capable of understaning, both service representations and user context information. Furthermore, the inclusion of a formal method contributes with additional semantics to check that such compositions will be correctly implemented and executed, achieving the levels of reliability and costs reduction (costs derived form the design, development and implementation of the system) needed for a smart home to succeed.

The aim of this dissertation is to bring the complete view of the Home System Integration, including public survey based on this data. Households are generally composed of several different systems that are controlled separately and are not interconnected. The purpose of Home System Integration is to connect all electronic equipment to make household safer, more efficient and more comfortable. The public survey, forming a practical part of the thesis, brings the view of Home System Integration in the Czech Republic. It can also serve as an information source for producers, sellers, their further product development and setting sales strategies.

No início do século XX, poucas décadas depois do início da eletrificação das casas, o conceito de uma residência automatizada já era utilizado como símbolo de um futuro livre das tarefas domésticas. No entanto, mesmo com o desenvolvimento de tecnologias de suporte, a automação de residências nunca contemplou uma ampla disseminação e uso. Este trabalho realiza uma análise social, econômica, tecnológica, cultural e de saúde da sociedade, desde o início do século XX até os dias atuais, para entender o comportamento humano relativo ao ambiente residencial e identificar as possíveis causas que não favoreceram a implantação de sistemas de controle e automação nestes ambientes. Ele ainda propõe uma arquitetura de sistemas eletrônicos e computacionais para o ambiente residencial, baseada em um conjunto de requerimentos e de abstrações coerentes com o contexto socioeconômico vigente e factível diante das atuais disponibilidades tecnológicas, a fim de direcionar os esforços na área e fomentar o desenvolvimento de aplicações. Adicionalmente, é apresentada uma plataforma de desenvolvimento hardware, firmware e software , denominada Home Sapiens, cuja concepção, projeto e desenvolvimento foram feitos no contexto desta tese. Baseada em nós de controle distribuídos, ela permite o acesso aos dados provenientes de sensores, a geração de informações de contexto, a identificação de serviços e a manipulação das características do ambiente residencial segundo regras de decisão, planejamento e métodos de aprendizado baseados em técnicas de Inteligência Artificial / In the early twentieth century, a few decades after the beginning of the electrification of houses, the concept of an automated home was used as a symbol of a future free of domestic chores. However, even with the development of supporting technologies, the automation of homes never contemplated a wide dissemination and use. This paper presents an analysis social, economic, technological, cultural and health of society, from the early twentieth century to the present day, to understand human behavior on the residential environment and to identify possible causes that did not favor deployment of control systems and automation in these environments. It also proposes an architecture of computer and electronic systems for the residential environment, based on a set of applications and abstractions consistent with the current socioeconomic context and feasible under the available technology in order to direct efforts in the area and promote the development of applications. Additionally, the implementation of a framework hardware, firmware and software called Home Sapiens is presented, whose conception, design and development were made in the context of this thesis. Based on distributed control nodes, it provides access to data from sensors, the generation of information of context, the identification of services and handling characteristics of the residential environment in accordance with rules of decision, planning and learning methods based on Artificial Intelligence.

No início do século XX, poucas décadas depois do início da eletrificação das casas, o conceito de uma residência automatizada já era utilizado como símbolo de um futuro livre das tarefas domésticas. No entanto, mesmo com o desenvolvimento de tecnologias de suporte, a automação de residências nunca contemplou uma ampla disseminação e uso. Este trabalho realiza uma análise social, econômica, tecnológica, cultural e de saúde da sociedade, desde o início do século XX até os dias atuais, para entender o comportamento humano relativo ao ambiente residencial e identificar as possíveis causas que não favoreceram a implantação de sistemas de controle e automação nestes ambientes. Ele ainda propõe uma arquitetura de sistemas eletrônicos e computacionais para o ambiente residencial, baseada em um conjunto de requerimentos e de abstrações coerentes com o contexto socioeconômico vigente e factível diante das atuais disponibilidades tecnológicas, a fim de direcionar os esforços na área e fomentar o desenvolvimento de aplicações. Adicionalmente, é apresentada uma plataforma de desenvolvimento hardware, firmware e software , denominada Home Sapiens, cuja concepção, projeto e desenvolvimento foram feitos no contexto desta tese. Baseada em nós de controle distribuídos, ela permite o acesso aos dados provenientes de sensores, a geração de informações de contexto, a identificação de serviços e a manipulação das características do ambiente residencial segundo regras de decisão, planejamento e métodos de aprendizado baseados em técnicas de Inteligência Artificial / In the early twentieth century, a few decades after the beginning of the electrification of houses, the concept of an automated home was used as a symbol of a future free of domestic chores. However, even with the development of supporting technologies, the automation of homes never contemplated a wide dissemination and use. This paper presents an analysis social, economic, technological, cultural and health of society, from the early twentieth century to the present day, to understand human behavior on the residential environment and to identify possible causes that did not favor deployment of control systems and automation in these environments. It also proposes an architecture of computer and electronic systems for the residential environment, based on a set of applications and abstractions consistent with the current socioeconomic context and feasible under the available technology in order to direct efforts in the area and promote the development of applications. Additionally, the implementation of a framework hardware, firmware and software called Home Sapiens is presented, whose conception, design and development were made in the context of this thesis. Based on distributed control nodes, it provides access to data from sensors, the generation of information of context, the identification of services and handling characteristics of the residential environment in accordance with rules of decision, planning and learning methods based on Artificial Intelligence.

This thesis combines two current trends - the Internet of Things and Urban Agriculture. It describes technologies for wireless sensors communication in smart homes and hardware for their implementation. Based on these technologies smart hardware for automatic plants growing is implemented and connected to cloud with remote access via iOS mobile application.

I detta examensarbete har tidsstämplar extraherats ur ett forensiskt perspektiv från ett hemautomationssystem med styrenheten Homey från Athom. Först konstruerades ett fiktivt händelsescenario gällande ett inbrott i en lägenhet med ett hemautomationssystem. Hemautomationssystemet bestod av flera perifera enheter som använde olika trådlösa nätverksprotokoll. Enheterna triggades under händelsescenariot. Därefter testades olika metoder för att få ut data i form av tidsstämplar. De metoder som testades var rest-API, UART och chip-off på flashminnet medan JTAG inte hanns med på grund av tidsbrist. Den metod som gav bäst resultat var rest-API:t som möjliggjorde extrahering av alla tidsstämplar samt information om alla enheter. I flashminnet hittades alla tidsstämplar, men det var inte möjligt att koppla ihop dessa tidsstämplar med en specifik enhet utan att använda information från rest-API:t. Trots att rest-API:t gav bäst resultat så var det den metod som krävde en mängd förutsättningar i form av bland annat inloggningsuppgifter eller en rootad mobil. Med hjälp av de extraherade tidsstämplarna rekonstruerades sedan händelsescenariot för inbrottet. / The purpose of this bachelor thesis was to extract timestamps from a home automation system with a control unit named Homey in a forensic perspective. The first step was to create a course of event regarding a burglar breaking into an apartment with home automation. The home automation system consisted of some peripheral units using different types of wireless network protocols. All these units were triggered during the break in. Thereafter different types of methods were tested in an attempt to extract the timestamps for each unit. These methods included rest-API, UART and chip-off on a flash memory. The method using JTAG were not tested due to lack of time. Rest-API was the method that provided most information about the units and time stamps. The flash memory also contained every timestamp, however it did not provide any information about which timestamp belonged to which unit. Even though the rest-API was the best method to extract data, it was also the method with most requirements such as credentials or a rooted smartphone. With the extracted timestamps it was possible to reconstruct the course of events of the break-in.

Cette thèse est une thèse CIFRE entre le LORIA et la société MEDETIC et porte sur la conception des systèmes de télésurveillance pour le maintien à domicile des personnes âgées.Le système est conçu aux personnes âgées qui veulent passer leur vieillesse dans leur propre maison, à cause de son potentiel pour augmenter l'indépendance et la qualité de la vie. Cela profiterait non seulement aux personnes âgées qui veulent vivre dans leur propre maison, mais aussi le système de santé publique en coupant des prix de façon significative.Mis à part la conception d'une architecture de télésurveillance « Vill’Âge® »basée sur des réseaux de capteurs hétérogènes (Domotique, IEEE802.15.4/Zigbee, Wifi, Bluetooth), la thèse a contribué essentiellement sur la proposition d'un protocole de clustering et de routage dans le réseau de capteurs sans fil avec une approche de la logique floue, et d'un middleware pour la collecte et le traitement des données des capteurs avec la gestion de la qualité de service comme particularité.Une première plateforme de test à été développée à Colmar (MEDETIC) et une seconde, plus complète et fait suite de cette thèse, est en cours de développement au LORIA (http://infositu.loria.fr/).Nous avons participé dans le concours de ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la recherche avec un projet intitulé MPIGate: « Multi Protocol Interface and Gateway for telecare, environment Monitoring and Control » et nous avons gagné le prix de ce concours au niveau d’émergence. / This thesis is a thesis CIFRE between LORIA and the MEDETIC Company and focuses on the design of telehomecare system for the elderly.In addition to the design of a remote surveillance architecture “Vill’Âge ®” based on networks of heterogeneous sensor (home automation, IEEE802.15.4/Zigbee, Wifi, Bluetooth), thesis has contributed essentially on the proposal of a clustering and routing protocol in the network of wireless sensors with an approach to fuzzy logic, and of a middleware for the collection and processing of data from sensors with the management of the quality of service as a special feature.A first platform was developed at Colmar (MEDETIC) and a second who is more complete is under development at LORIA (http://infositu.loria.fr/).By using this system, MEDeTIC, offers a new concept of smart homes for the senior citizens, named in French “Maisons Vill’Âge”. The first housing schemes are being built in 2 departments of France. A flat is entirely equipped to act as a demonstrator and as laboratory of research and development.The system is designed for the elderly who wish to spend their old age in their own home, because of its potential to increase independence and quality of life. This would not only benefit the elderly who want to live in their own home, but also the national health care system by cutting costs significantly. Based on this PhD thesis, MPIGate, a “Multiprotocol Interface and Gateway for for telecare, environment”, has been developed. MPIGate was awarded in the competition of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research and OSEO 2010

In today’s world, the applications of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems are leaping by extending their scope from military applications on to commercial and medical sectors as well. Owing to this commercialization, the need to append external hardware with UAV systems becomes inevitable. This external hardware could aid in enabling wireless data transfer between the UAV system and remote Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) using low powered architecture like Thread, BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). The data is being transmitted from the flight controller to the ground control station using a MAVlink (Micro Air Vehicle Link) protocol. But this radio transmission method is not secure, which may lead to data leakage problems. The ideal aim of this research is to address the issues of integrating different hardware with the flight controller of the UAV system using a light-weight protocol called UAVCAN (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Controller Area Network). This would result in reduced wiring and would harness the problem of integrating multiple systems to UAV. At the same time, data security is addressed by deploying an encryption chip into the UAV system to encrypt the data transfer using ECC (Elliptic curve cryptography) and transmitting it to cloud platforms instead of radio transmission.

Det problem som denna uppsats hade för avsikt att besvara var varför hemautomation inte används i fler hem. Genom resultaten från en enkät som distribuerades kunde slutsatsen att kostnaden för de befintliga lösningar som finns på marknaden idag inte låg i den prisklass våra respondenter ansåg rimlig. Författarna utvecklade då problemet och ställde sig frågan om en hemautomationslösning verkligen måste ha en så hög kostnad som de befintliga lösningarna har idag. För att belysa detta problem implementerades en egen kostnadseffektiv lösning där respondenternas mest önskvärda funktioner togs i beaktande och en testmiljö implementerades utefter dessa. Resultatet blev en hemautomationslösning med stor potential och med en betydligt lägre kostnad än dagens befintliga lösningar. / The problem this study intended to answer was why home automation is not used in more homes. The results of a survey that was distributed could conclude that the cost of existing solutions available on the market today is not within the price range our respondents considered reasonable. The authors then evolved the problem and asked themselves whether home automation really need such a high cost as the existing solutions today. To illustrate this problem, the authors implemented a cost-effective solution where respondents' most popular features were in regard. The result was a home automation solution with great potential and with a significantly lower cost than today's existing solutions.