Showing papers by "Marco Furini published in 2009"

Real-Time Traffic in Ad-Hoc Sensor Networks

Abstract: The usage of sensors is emerging in the nowadays scenario where safety related applications are more and more used. These applications have timing constraints that need to be met by the control system. Thus, guaranteeing timeliness properties is considered a key challenge for research on wireless sensor networks. Among the different components that need to address this problem, we focus on the communication sub-system and, in particular, on the MAC protocols that handles transmissions. To provide timeliness behavior, the employed MAC protocol has to provide a time-bounded service. The contribution of this paper is to investigate the performance of two wireless MAC protocols that can be employed in wireless sensor networks: IEEE 802.11e and WRT-Ring. The former is part of the well know IEEE 802.11 standard, whereas the latter has characteristics that well fit the requirements of wireless sensor networks. Results show that two protocols have similar performances for networks with limited devices and/or traffic, whereas when devices and/or traffic increases, WRT-Ring has to be preferred.

Augmenting social media accessibility

Abstract: The popularity of social media is affecting society as they are changing the way communication, collaboration, interaction, and information are produced and consumed. A part of the society (e.g., the one more technologically advanced) takes advantage of social media, whereas another part of society (e.g., old or people with different abilities) is left out from the so-called social media revolution. In this paper we propose an architecture that aims at augmenting social media accessibility. The proposed architecture, named SOMFA (SOcial Media For All), finds, gets, transforms, and enriches social media contents for a presentation over TV sets, so that people with technological, sociological, or physical limitations may enjoy social media and may participate to the social media revolution.

Secure, Portable, and Customizable Video Lectures for E-learning on the Move

Abstract: The production of video lectures for the mobile scenario is becoming popular, as the pervasiveness of mobile technologies is making learning independent of time and space. In such a scenario several challenges need to be addressed, and the contribution of this paper is MOLE, an architecture that produces secure, portable, and customizable video lectures for generic mobile devices. Video lectures are produced with a format that ensures play out compatibility in most mobile devices, and with a security mechanism that protects contents from un-authorized usage. Furthermore, a video lecture is organized in such a way that a learner can adapt the lesson development to his/her learning needs by locally interacting with the system, which means that people with different needs may use the same video lecture file. A prototype implementation of MOLE shows its feasibility. The production of secure, portable, and customizable video lectures may help expanding mobile learning as generic mobile devices may be used as learning tools.

Method for analyzing web space data

Abstract: A method for analyzing data from the web that determine the importance that a chosen subject has in society, e.g., subject matter relating a concert, a scientific discovery, a football match, a person, a corporation, a brand, or a car, and analyze such data that can represent the entire society better than the known techniques. The method according to the invention can avoid malicious alterations and is able to measure and detect the temporal relations among all the web resources that talk about a particular topic or subject matter.

Incentive Mechanisms for Mobile Music Distribution

Abstract: The mobile digital world is seen as an important business opportunity for two main reasons: the widespread usage of cellphones (more than two billions [30], most of them with sound features) and the pervasiveness of mobile technologies. As a result, music industry and telecoms are bringing the successful Internet-based music market strategy into the mobile scenario: record labels are setting up agreements with cellphone network providers (Sprint, Verizon, Vodafone, Orange just to name a few) to offer a download music service also in the mobile scenario. The strategy is to use wireless channels to distribute music contents in the attempt of replicating the success of the Internet-based download scenario.