This dissertation presents LAISYC, a modular location-aware architecture for intelligent real-time mobile applications that is fully-implementable by third party mobile app developers and supports high-precision and high-accuracy positioning systems such as GPS. LAISYC significantly improves device battery life, provides location data authenticity, ensures security of location data, and significantly reduces the amount of data transferred between the phone and server. The design, implementation, and evaluation of LAISYC using real mobile phones include the following modules: the GPS Auto-Sleep module saves battery energy when using GPS, maintaining acceptable movement tracking (approximately 89% accuracy) with an approximate average doubling of battery life. The Location Data Signing module adds energy-efficient data authenticity to this architecture that is missing in other architectures, with an average approximate battery life decrease of only 7%. The Session Management and Adaptive Location Data Buffering modules also contribute to battery life savings by providing energy-efficient real-time data communication between a mobile phone and server, increasing the average battery life for application data transfer by approximately 28% and reducing the average energy cost for location data transfer by approximately 38%. The Critical Point Algorithm module further reduces battery energy expenditures and the amount of data transferred between the mobile phone and server by eliminating non-essential GPS data (an average 77% reduction), with an average doubling of battery life as the interval of time between location data transmissions is doubled. The Location Data Encryption module ensures the security of the location data being transferred, with only a slight impact on battery life (i.e., a decrease of 4.9%). The LAISYC architecture was validated in two innovative mobile apps that would not be possible without LAISYC due to energy and data transfer constraints. The first mobile app, TRAC-IT, is a multi-modal travel behavior data collection tool that can provide simultaneous real-time location-based services. In TRAC-IT, the GPS Auto-Sleep, Session Management, Adaptive Location Data Buffering, Critical Point algorithm, and the Session Management modules all contribute energy savings that enable the phone's battery to last an entire day during real-time high-resolution GPS tracking. High-resolution real-time GPS tracking is critical to TRAC-IT for reconstructing detailed travel path information, including distance traveled, as well as providing predictive, personalized traffic alerts based on historical and real-time data. The Location Data Signing module allows transportation analysts to trust information that is recorded by the application, while the Location Data Encryption module protects the privacy of users' location information. The Session Management, Adaptive Location Data Buffering, and Critical Point algorithm modules allow TRAC-IT to avoid data overage costs on phones with limited data plans while still supporting real-time location data communication. The Adaptive Location Data Buffering module prevents tracking data from being lost when the user is outside network coverage or is on a voice call for networks that do not support simultaneous voice and data communications. The second mobile app, the Travel Assistance Device (TAD), assists transit riders with intellectual disabilities by prompting them when to exit the bus as well as tracking the rider in real-time and alerting caregivers if they are lost. In the most recent group of TAD field tests in Tampa, Florida, TAD provided the alert in the ideal location to transit riders in 100% (n = 33) of tests. In TAD, the GPS Auto-Sleep, Session Management, Adaptive Location Data Buffering, Critical Point algorithm, and the Session Management modules all contribute energy savings that enable the phone's battery to last an entire day during real-time high-resolution GPS tracking. High-resolution GPS tracking is critical to TAD for providing accurate instructions to the transit rider when to exit the bus as well as tracking an accurate location of the traveler so that caregivers can be alerted if the rider becomes lost. The Location Data Encryption module protects the privacy of the transit rider while they are being tracked. The Session Management, Adaptive Location Data Buffering, and Critical Point algorithm modules allow TAD to avoid data overage costs on phones with limited data plans while still supporting real-time location data communication for the TAD tracking alert features. Adaptive Location Data Buffering module prevents transit rider location data from being lost when the user is outside network coverage or is on a voice call for networks that do not support simultaneous voice and data communications.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo central o desenvolvimento da infra-estrutura de sensoriamento e atuação para a avaliação de Sistemas de Posicionamento Dinâmico de modelos reduzidos de embarcações em tanques de provas. Ele descreve a concepção, o projeto, a implementação e os testes de um sistema sensor de posição e orientação do modelo, assim como o hardware dos propulsores utilizados como atuadores do modelo. O sistema sensor é baseado na emissão e recepção de sinais acústicos sincronizados de alta freqüência (ultra-som). Utiliza-se o Método Esférico 3-D como algoritmo de triangularização, obtendo-se a estimativa da posição por meio da minimização de uma medida quadrática do erro. Além disso, foi também aplicado o filtro estendido de Kalman como algoritmo de estimação. São apresentadas de forma clara e objetiva as dificuldades encontradas no decorrer do desenvolvimento do trabalho, bem como as soluções adotadas para contorná-las, analisando as influências das condições atmosféricas e do ambiente laboratorial no processo de medição, os resultados obtidos a partir dos ensaios, a robustez e o desempenho do sistema sensor. / The main objective of this work is the development of both sensing and actuation infra-structure for the performance evaluation of Dynamic Positioning Systems for reduced scale model of ships in towing tanks or offshore tanks. It describes the conception, design, implementation and tests of a range and orientation sensor system, as well as the hardware of the propellers used as the model actuators. The sensor system is based on the emission and reception of high frequency synchronized accoustic signals (ultra-sound). A 3-D spherical method based on the minimization of a quadratic measure of the error is used to estimate the position of the ship model. Furthermore the extended Kalman filter is also used. The difficulties found during the development of the project are presented as well as the solutions adopted to circumvent them. The experimental results obtained are discussed. In particular, the influence of both the local atmosphere and the lab environment on the performance of the sensor system are taken into account.

O uso crescente de dispositivos móveis e o advento da Internet das Coisas têm demandado esforços para prover alternativas de comunicação sem fio. A utilização de sistemas óticos para a transmissão de dados apresenta-se como uma tecnologia promissora e complementar à comunicação por radiofrequência, especialmente devido aos desenvolvimentos consideráveis na tecnologia de iluminação por estado sólido e sua adoção em vários domínios. Os diodos de emissão de luz podem ser utilizados na promoção de comunicação por luz visível em ambientes internos e externos. Nos ambientes externos há inúmeras oportunidades a serem exploradas no que concerne aos Sistemas Inteligentes de Transporte, visto que os diodos de emissão de luz têm sido utilizados em luminárias públicas, semáforos e veículos. Esta pesquisa propôs o desenvolvimento e a avaliação de um sistema de comunicação por luz visível entre elementos da infraestrutura urbana e veículos, mais especificamente, luminárias públicas baseadas em diodos de emissão de luz e o modal de transporte público representado pelos ônibus que circulam em faixas exclusivas. A metodologia foi composta por simulação computacional e pela construção de um protótipo para auxiliar na validação das soluções propostas. O sistema complementar de comunicação sem fio por meio da luz proposto fornece pode fornecer subsídios à determinação do posicionamento preciso dos ônibus, suprindo as deficiências do sistema GPS em locais menos favoráveis à recepção de seus sinais em uma cidade. Essas informações auxiliam os usuários e os gestores do transporte público, atendendo alguns domínios de serviço em Sistemas Inteligentes de Transporte, de acordo com a norma ISO 14813. Os resultados obtidos nos testes com o protótipo, bem como, aqueles observados na simulação, comprovaram a viabilidade do sistema proposto, com o estabelecimento da comunicação entre luminária e ônibus, inclusive quando trafegando a 60 km/h. / The increasing use of mobile devices and the advent of the Internet of Things have called for efforts to provide alternatives for wireless communication. The use of optical systems for data transmission is a promising and complementary technology to radiofrequency communication, especially due to the considerable developments in solidstate lighting technology and its adoption in various domains. Light-emitting diodes can be used to promote visible light communication in indoor and outdoor environments. In outdoor environments there are numerous opportunities to be explored with regard to Intelligent Transport Systems, since light-emitting diodes have been used in public luminaires, traffic lights and vehicles. This research proposed the development and evaluation of a visible light communication system between elements of the urban infrastructure and vehicles, more specifically, public luminaires based on light-emitting diodes and the mode of public transport represented by buses that circulate in exclusive lanes. The methodology was composed by computational simulation and the construction of a prototype, to assist in the validation of the proposed solutions. The proposed complementary wireless communication system through light provides subsidies to determine the precise positioning of buses, supplying deficiencies of the GPS system in places less favorable to the reception of their signals in a city. This information helps the users and the managers of the public transport, attending some service domains in Intelligent Transport Systems, according to the ISO 14813 standard. The results obtained in the tests with the prototype, as well as those observed in the simulation, proved the feasibility of the proposed system, with the establishment of communication between luminaire and bus, even when traveling at 60 km/h.

O uso crescente de dispositivos móveis e o advento da Internet das Coisas têm demandado esforços para prover alternativas de comunicação sem fio. A utilização de sistemas óticos para a transmissão de dados apresenta-se como uma tecnologia promissora e complementar à comunicação por radiofrequência, especialmente devido aos desenvolvimentos consideráveis na tecnologia de iluminação por estado sólido e sua adoção em vários domínios. Os diodos de emissão de luz podem ser utilizados na promoção de comunicação por luz visível em ambientes internos e externos. Nos ambientes externos há inúmeras oportunidades a serem exploradas no que concerne aos Sistemas Inteligentes de Transporte, visto que os diodos de emissão de luz têm sido utilizados em luminárias públicas, semáforos e veículos. Esta pesquisa propôs o desenvolvimento e a avaliação de um sistema de comunicação por luz visível entre elementos da infraestrutura urbana e veículos, mais especificamente, luminárias públicas baseadas em diodos de emissão de luz e o modal de transporte público representado pelos ônibus que circulam em faixas exclusivas. A metodologia foi composta por simulação computacional e pela construção de um protótipo para auxiliar na validação das soluções propostas. O sistema complementar de comunicação sem fio por meio da luz proposto fornece pode fornecer subsídios à determinação do posicionamento preciso dos ônibus, suprindo as deficiências do sistema GPS em locais menos favoráveis à recepção de seus sinais em uma cidade. Essas informações auxiliam os usuários e os gestores do transporte público, atendendo alguns domínios de serviço em Sistemas Inteligentes de Transporte, de acordo com a norma ISO 14813. Os resultados obtidos nos testes com o protótipo, bem como, aqueles observados na simulação, comprovaram a viabilidade do sistema proposto, com o estabelecimento da comunicação entre luminária e ônibus, inclusive quando trafegando a 60 km/h. / The increasing use of mobile devices and the advent of the Internet of Things have called for efforts to provide alternatives for wireless communication. The use of optical systems for data transmission is a promising and complementary technology to radiofrequency communication, especially due to the considerable developments in solidstate lighting technology and its adoption in various domains. Light-emitting diodes can be used to promote visible light communication in indoor and outdoor environments. In outdoor environments there are numerous opportunities to be explored with regard to Intelligent Transport Systems, since light-emitting diodes have been used in public luminaires, traffic lights and vehicles. This research proposed the development and evaluation of a visible light communication system between elements of the urban infrastructure and vehicles, more specifically, public luminaires based on light-emitting diodes and the mode of public transport represented by buses that circulate in exclusive lanes. The methodology was composed by computational simulation and the construction of a prototype, to assist in the validation of the proposed solutions. The proposed complementary wireless communication system through light provides subsidies to determine the precise positioning of buses, supplying deficiencies of the GPS system in places less favorable to the reception of their signals in a city. This information helps the users and the managers of the public transport, attending some service domains in Intelligent Transport Systems, according to the ISO 14813 standard. The results obtained in the tests with the prototype, as well as those observed in the simulation, proved the feasibility of the proposed system, with the establishment of communication between luminaire and bus, even when traveling at 60 km/h.

Cognitive radio is a recent novel approach for the realization of intelligent and sophisticated wireless systems. Although the research and development on cognitive radio is still in the stage of infancy, there are significant interests and efforts towards realization of cognitive radio. Cognitive radio systems are envisioned to support context awareness and related systems. The context can be spectrum, environment, location, waveform, power and other radio resources. Significant amount of the studies related to cognitive radio in the literature focuses on the spectrum awareness since it is one of the most crucial features of cognitive radio systems. However, the rest of the features of cognitive radio such as location and environment awareness have not been investigated thoroughly. For instance, location aware systems are widespread and the demand for more advanced ones are growing. Therefore, the main objective of this dissertation is to develop an underlying location awareness architecture for cognitive radio systems, which is described as location awareness engine, in order to support goal driven and autonomous location aware systems. A cognitive radio conceptual model with location awareness engine and cycle is developed by inspiring from the location awareness features of human being and bat echolocation systems. Additionally, the functionalities of the engine are identified and presented. Upon providing the functionalities of location awareness engine, the focus is given to the development of cognitive positioning systems. Furthermore, range accuracy adaptation, which is a cognitive behavior of bats, is developed for cognitive positioning systems. In what follows, two main approaches are investigated in order to improve the performance of range accuracy adaptation method. The first approach is based on idea of improving the spectrum availability through hybrid underlay and overlay dynamic spectrum access method. On the other hand, the second approach emphasizes on spectrum utilization, where we study performance of range accuracy adaptation from both theoretical and practical perspectives considering whole spectrum utilization approach. Furthermore, we introduced a new spectrum utilization technique that is referred as dispersed spectrum utilization. The performance analysis of dispersed spectrum utilization approach is studied considering time delay estimation problem in cognitive positioning systems. Afterward, the performance of whole and dispersed spectrum utilization approaches are compared in the context of cognitive positioning systems. Finally, some representative advanced location aware systems for cognitive radio networks are presented in order to demonstrate some potential applications of the proposed location awareness engine in cognitive radio systems.

Este trabalho apresenta a modelagem do sistema elétrico de potência de uma plataforma de perfuração dotada de sistema de posicionamento dinâmico. Para tanto, inicialmente são apresentados os conceitos fundamentais de tais unidades, servindo como base teórica e justificando a necessidade de tal estudo. Posteriormente, são apresentados de forma mais detalhada os sistemas de propulsão e geração com as respectivas estratégias de controle. Para a propulsão, estes são acionados por motores de indução trifásicos tendo velocidade controlada a partir da estratégia Direct Torque Control utilizando inversores de três níveis. Para a geração, são utilizados motores diesel como máquinas primárias acoplados a geradores síncronos trifásicos, juntamente com seus respectivos reguladores de velocidade e de tensão. Primeiramente, a operacionalidade destes modelos propostos é confirmada a partir de simulações no programa computacional MATLABR®, utilizando-se a ferramenta gráfica Simulink. Na sequência, a modelagem do sistema de potência completo é obtida no mesmo programa computacional, onde são incluídos os devidos cabeamentos, transformadores e cargas dinâmicas representando os equipamentos de perfuração e de baixa tensão. Utilizando-se de patamares de carga e comandos de velocidade de propulsores obtidos de uma plataforma real em operação de perfuração são realizadas simulações neste sistema completo, tanto com os barramentos de alta tensão interligados quanto segregados. Dentre os resultados obtidos, observa-se que os controles de tensão e de frequência são adequados, além da correta divisão de carga entre geradores a partir do método droop compensado. Por fim, com o intuito de mostrar a potencialidade do sistema obtido, são realizadas análises de curto-circuito mantendo os barramentos de alta tensão interligados, onde é possível observar a propagação da queda de tensão quando a falta ocorre em um barramento de baixa tensão, além das consequências para todo o sistema quando tais faltas são aplicadas no nível de alta tensão. / This work presents the electrical power system modeling of a drilling rig equipped with a dynamic positioning system. Initially, fundamental concepts of such units are presented, bringing a theoretical basis and justifying the need for this study. Subsequently, the propulsion and generation systems as well as their respective control strategies are presented in detail. In regard to the thrusters, they are driven by three-phase induction motors and their speed are controlled by Direct Torque Control strategy using three-level inverters. In respect of the generation system, the prime movers are modeled as diesel engines coupled to three-phase synchronous generators, in addition to their respective speed and voltage regulators. Firstly, the functionality of the proposed models is confirmed by simulations in MATLABR® using Simulink graphical tool. After, the modeling of the complete power system is obtained on the same software, which considers the inclusion of appropriate wiring, transformers and dynamic loads representing the drilling and low voltage equipment. By using load levels and thruster speed commands from an actual vessel during a drilling operation, simulations are carried out at the complete system, considering the high voltage busbars at either connected or segregated configuration. Among the obtained results, it is possible to observe suitable voltage and frequency controls, besides the correct generators load sharing in compensated droop mode. Lastly, to present the potentiality of the obtained system, a short-circuit analysis is performed with the high voltage busbars connected, where it is noticed the means of the voltage drop propagates through the system when the fault occurs at a low voltage busbar, besides the consequences when similar faults are applied at the high voltage level.

Disputats. Universität Hohenheim, 2005.

Alternate realities have fascinated mankind since early prehistory and with the advent of the computer and the smartphone we have seen the rise of many different categories of alternate reality that seek to augment, diminish, mix with or ultimately replace our familiar real world in order to expand our capabilities and our understanding. This thesis presents parallel reality as a new category of alternate reality which further addresses the vacancy problem that manifests in many previous alternate reality experiences. Parallel reality describes systems comprising two environments that the user may freely switch between, one real and the other virtual, both complete unto themselves. Parallel reality is framed within the larger ecosystem of previously explored alternate realities through a thorough review of existing categorisation techniques and taxonomies, leading to the introduction of the combined Milgram/Waterworth model and an extended definition of the vacancy problem for better visualising experience in alternate reality systems. Investigation into whether an existing state of the art alternate reality modality (Situated Simulations) could allow for parallel reality investigation via the Virtual Time Windows project was followed by the development of a bespoke parallel reality platform called Mirrorshades, which combined the modern virtual reality hardware of the Oculus Rift with the novel indoor positioning system of IndoorAtlas. Users were thereby granted the ability to walk through their real environment and to at any point switch their view to the equivalent vantage point within an immersive virtual environment. The benefits that such a system provides by granting users the ability to mitigate the effects of the extended vacancy problem and explore parallel real and virtual environments in tandem was experimentally shown through application to a use case within the realm of cultural heritage at a 15th century chapel. Evaluation of these user studies lead to the establishment of a number of best practice recommendations for future parallel reality endeavours.

There is a sharp increase in the number of old people living alone throughout the world. More often than not, such people require continuous and immediate care and attention in their everyday lives, hence the need for round the clock monitoring, albeit in a respectful, dignified and non-intrusive way. For example, continuous care is required when they become frail and less active, and immediate attention is required when they fall or remain in the same position for a long time. To this extent, various monitoring technologies have been developed, yet there are major improvements still to be realised. Current technologies include indoor positioning systems (IPSs) and health monitoring systems. The former relies on defined configurations of various sensors to capture a person's position within a given space in real-time. The functionality of the sensors varies depending on receiving appropriate data using WiFi, radio frequency identification (RFIO), ultrawide band (UWB), dead reckoning (OR), infrared indoor (IR), Bluetooth (BLE), acoustic signal, visible light detection, and sound signal monitoring. The systems use various algorithms to capture proximity, location detection, time of arrival, time difference of arrival angle, and received signal strength data. Health monitoring technologies capture important health data using accelerometers and gyroscope sensors. In some studies, audio fingerprinting has been used to detect indoor environment sound variation and have largely been based on recognising TV sound and songs. This has been achieved using various staging methods, including pre-processing, framing, windowing, time/frequency domain feature extraction, and post-processing. Time/frequency domain feature extraction tools used include Fourier Transforms (FTs}, Modified Discrete Cosine Transform (MDCT}, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Mel-Frequency Cepstrum Coefficients (MFCCs), Constant Q Transform (CQT}, Local Energy centroid (LEC), and Wavelet transform. Artificial intelligence (Al) and probabilistic algorithms have also been used in IPSs to classify and predict different activities, with interesting applications in healthcare monitoring. Several tools have been applied in IPSs and audio fingerprinting. They include Radial Basis Kernel (RBF), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Decision Trees (DTs), Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), Na'ive Bayes (NB), Gaussian Mixture Modelling (GMM), Clustering algorithms, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), and Deep Learning (DL). Despite all these attempts, there is still a major gap for a completely non-intrusive system capable of monitoring what an elderly person living alone is doing, where and for how long, and providing a quick traffic-like risk score prompting, therefore immediate action or otherwise. In this thesis, a cost-effective and completely non-intrusive indoor positioning and activity-monitoring system for elderly people living alone has been developed, tested and validated in a typical residential living space. The proposed system works based on five phases: (1)Set-up phase that defines the typical activities of daily living (TADLs). (2)Configuration phase that optimises the implementation of the required sensors in exemplar flat No.1. (3)Learning phase whereby sounds and position data of the TADLs are collected and stored in a fingerprint reference data set. (4)Listening phase whereby real-time data is collected and compared against the reference data set to provide information as to what a person is doing, when, and for how long. (5)Alert phase whereby a health frailty score varying between O unwell to 10 healthy is generated in real-time. Two typical but different residential flats (referred to here are Flats No.1 and 2) are used in the study. The system is implemented in the bathroom, living room, and bedroom of flat No.1, which includes various floor types (carpet, tiles, laminate) to distinguish between various sounds generated upon walking on such floors. The data captured during the Learning Phase yields the reference data set and includes position and sound fingerprints. The latter is generated from tests of recording a specific TADL, thus providing time and frequency-based extracted features, frequency peak magnitude (FPM), Zero Crossing Rate (ZCR), and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). The former is generated from distance measurement. The sampling rate of the recorded sound is 44.1kHz. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is applied on 0.1 seconds intervals of the recorded sound with minimisation of the spectral leakage using the Hamming window. The frequency peaks are detected from the spectrogram matrices to get the most appropriate FPM between the reference and sample data. The position detection of the monitored person is based on the distance between that captured from the learning and listening phases of the system in real-time. A typical furnished one-bedroom flat (flat No.2) is used to validate the system. The topologies and floorings of flats No.1 and No.2 are different. The validation is applied based on "happy" and "unusual" but typical behaviours. Happy ones include typical TADLs of a healthy elderly person living alone with a risk metric higher than 8. Unusual one's mimic acute or chronic activities (or lack thereof), for example, falling and remaining on the floor, or staying in bed for long periods, i.e., scenarios when an elderly person may be in a compromised situation which is detected by a sudden drop of the risk metric (lower than 4) in real-time. Machine learning classification algorithms are used to identify the location, activity, and time interval in real-time, with a promising early performance of 94% in detecting the right activity and the right room at the right time.

Recent accessibility drives and price wars between the major South African (SA) cell phone companies suggest that the landscape for the adoption of mobile learning (m-learning) at the Higher Education Institution (HEI) level may be changing. As such, there is a need to gauge the current mobile readiness of students for m-learning. Mobile technology readiness refers to the extent to which students have access to mobile devices (not only handsets), and can afford data bundles that meet or exceed the requirements of a base set of currently available m-learning applications (Naicker and Van der Merwe 2012). Mobile operational readiness refers to students’ awareness of, attitude towards, support and training that is required for m-learning. This study conducted an assessment of the technology and operational readiness of students at a SA HEI. An in-depth literature survey was undertaken to delineate technology and operational readiness of students for m-learning. For technology readiness, an investigation was conducted on m- learning applications that are currently available and the technology requirements of these mobile applications. This was undertaken to determine the extent that the current student mobile handset profile match these requirements. The literature review also included a search for mobile opeeratratiioonnaall ffaactorctorss ssuuchch aass ssttuuddeennttss’’ aawwaarenerenessss ooff aanndd aattttiittuuddee ttoowwaarrddss mm--lleaearrnininngg as well as m-learning support and training that students require. The philosophical underpinning of this study was based on Activity Theory. The strategy of inquiry employed was a case study approach. Data was collected from students at the Durban University of Technology, a resident based SA HEI. A mixed methods data collection strategy was employed. The researcher used a field survey questionnaire as the primary research instrument to assess mobile technology and operational readiness. Focus group interviews were used as a secondary data gathering tool to triangulate and strengthen the results. The results were presented using descriptive and inferential statistics and were analyzed using the lens of activity theory. In terms of technology readiness, despite a high level of ownership and reasonable compliance with application requirements, data costs remain prohibitive. In assessing operational readiness, despite a positive attitude, the majority of the students require awareness, ongoing support and training. Several recommendations based on the findings are offered. For example, one of the findings showed that mobile connectivity affordability was low amongst students and it is recommended that the HEI work around exorbitant connectivity costs by combining m-learning technologies to form meaningful m-learning approaches at a minimum v cost. Another finding showed low awareness of m-learning at the HEI. A recommendation advanced to combat this finding is for the HEI to encourage and support dialogue among key stakeholders. This study concludes that any m-learning endeavour to implement m-learning at this HEI is bound to fail as only a small percentage of students are aware of m-learning and can afford data bundles to implement m-learning in its true sense. As an implication of this study to other HEI’s, the researcher suggests that regular mobile readiness surveys be conducted. / Science and Technology Education / M. A. (Information Systems)