Life expectancy in most countries has been increasing continually over the several few decades thanks to significant improvements in medicine, public health, as well as personal and environmental hygiene. However, increased life expectancy combined with falling birth rates are expected to engender a large aging demographic in the near future that would impose significant burdens on the socio-economic structure of these countries. Therefore, it is essential to develop cost-effective, easy-to-use systems for the sake of elderly healthcare and well-being. Remote health monitoring, based on non-invasive and wearable sensors, actuators and modern communication and information technologies offers an efficient and cost-effective solution that allows the elderly to continue to live in their comfortable home environment instead of expensive healthcare facilities. These systems will also allow healthcare personnel to monitor important physiological signs of their patients in real time, assess health conditions and provide feedback from distant facilities. In this paper, we have presented and compared several low-cost and non-invasive health and activity monitoring systems that were reported in recent years. A survey on textile-based sensors that can potentially be used in wearable systems is also presented. Finally, compatibility of several communication technologies as well as future perspectives and research challenges in remote monitoring systems will be discussed.

Wearable Sensors for Remote Health Monitoring.

In this paper, a handheld inertial pedestrian navigation system (IPNS) based on low-cost microelectromechanical system sensors is presented. Using the machine learning method of support vector machine, a multiple classifier is developed to recognize human step modes and device poses. The accuracy of the selected classifier is >85%. A novel step detection model is created based on the results of the classifier to eliminate the over-counting and under-counting errors. The accuracy of the presented step detector is >98%. Based on the improvements of the step modes recognition and step detection, the IPNS realized precise tracking using the pedestrian dead reckoning algorithm. The largest location error of the IPNS prototype is ~40 m in an urban area with a 2100-m-long distance.

A Handheld Inertial Pedestrian Navigation System With Accurate Step Modes and Device Poses Recognition

Purpose




The purpose of this paper is to expand current knowledge about the recent trend of wearable technology to assess both its potential in the work environment and the challenges concerning the utilisation of wearables in the workplace.




Design/methodology/approach




After establishing exclusion and inclusion criteria, an independent systematic search of the ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, ScienceDirect and Web of Science databases for relevant studies was performed. Out of a total of 359 articles, 34 met the selection criteria.




Findings




This review identifies 23 categories of wearable devices. Further categorisation of the devices based on their utilisation shows they can be used in the work environment for activities including monitoring, augmenting, assisting, delivering and tracking. The review reveals that wearable technology has the potential to increase work efficiency among employees, improve workers’ physical well-being and reduce work-related injuries. However, the review also reveals that technological, social, policy and economic challenges related to the use of wearable devices remain.




Research limitations/implications




Many studies have investigated the benefits of wearable devices for personal use, but information about the use of wearables in the work environment is limited. Further research is required in the fields of technology, social challenges, organisation strategies, policies and economics to enhance the adoption rate of wearable devices in work environments.




Originality/value




Previous studies indicate that occupational stress and injuries are detrimental to employees’ health; this paper analyses the use of wearable devices as an intervention method to monitor or prevent these problems. Introducing a categorisation framework during implementation may help identify which types of device categories are suitable and could be beneficial for specific utilisation purposes, facilitating the adoption of wearable devices in the workplace.

Tapping into the wearable device revolution in the work environment: a systematic review

The advancement and popularity of smartphones have made it an essential and all-purpose device. But lack of advancement in battery technology has held back its optimum potential. Therefore, considering its scarcity, optimal use and efficient management of energy are crucial in a smartphone. For that, a fair understanding of a smartphone’s energy consumption factors is necessary for both users and device manufacturers, along with other stakeholders in the smartphone ecosystem. It is important to assess how much of the device’s energy is consumed by which components and under what circumstances. This paper provides a generalized, but detailed analysis of the power consumption causes (internal and external) of a smartphone and also offers suggestive measures to minimize the consumption for each factor. The main contribution of this paper is four comprehensive literature reviews on: 1) smartphone’s power consumption assessment and estimation (including power consumption analysis and modelling); 2) power consumption management for smartphones (including energy-saving methods and techniques); 3) state-of-the-art of the research and commercial developments of smartphone batteries (including alternative power sources); and 4) mitigating the hazardous issues of smartphones’ batteries (with a details explanation of the issues). The research works are further subcategorized based on different research and solution approaches. A good number of recent empirical research works are considered for this comprehensive review, and each of them is succinctly analysed and discussed.

/pdf/power-consumption-analysis-measurement-management-and-issues-2oowtxtoal.pdf

Power Consumption Analysis, Measurement, Management, and Issues: A State-of-the-Art Review of Smartphone Battery and Energy Usage

Terrestrial communication networks mainly focus on users in urban areas but have poor coverage performance in harsh environments, such as mountains, deserts, and oceans. Satellites can be exploited to extend the coverage of terrestrial fifth-generation networks. However, satellites are restricted by their high latency and relatively low data rate. Consequently, the integration of terrestrial and satellite components has been widely studied to take advantage of both sides and enable the seamless broadband coverage. Due to the significant differences between satellite communications (SatComs) and terrestrial communications (TerComs) in terms of channel fading, transmission delay, mobility, and coverage performance, the establishment of an efficient hybrid satellite–terrestrial network (HSTN) still faces many challenges. In general, it is difficult to decompose an HSTN into a sum of separate satellite and terrestrial links due to the complicated coupling relationships therein. To uncover the complete picture of HSTNs, we regard the HSTN as a combination of basic cooperative models that contain the main traits of satellite–terrestrial integration but are much simpler and thus more tractable than the large-scale heterogeneous HSTNs. In particular, we present three basic cooperative models, i.e., model ${X}$ , model ${L}$ , and model ${V}$ , and provide a survey of the state-of-the-art technologies for each of them. We discuss future research directions toward establishing a cell-free, hierarchical, decoupled HSTN. We also outline open issues to envision an agile, smart, and secure HSTN for the sixth-generation ubiquitous Internet of Things.

/pdf/5g-embraces-satellites-for-6g-ubiquitous-iot-basic-models-4oyge76ps2.pdf

5G Embraces Satellites for 6G Ubiquitous IoT: Basic Models for Integrated Satellite Terrestrial Networks

Large industrial environments are inherently complex systems to be monitored and controlled, given the presence of vehicles, people and industrial plants. In a context dominated by strict regulations for workplace safety, systems for monitoring and preventing workplace risks can have a particular importance. This paper describes the work in progress on designing and implementing an RFID-based sensor network for workplace safety management. The proposed system is based on Body Area Networks and passive RFID tags and sensors. The goal of the proposed system is to offer a detailed, constantly updated overview of an industrial environment in terms of workplace safety.

RFID sensor network for workplace safety management

Coast erosion is a process that degrades a coastal profile and is mainly due to natural factors (e.g., related to climate change) and overcrowding (e.g., urbanization and massive tourism). While the first cause can be considered as a slow process, the growing presence of humans is leading to rapid aging of coasts. The Mediterranean Sea authorities are focusing on the necessity for a systematic and comprehensive approach to the management of littoral areas. In this context, Italy is searching for a promising solution to safeguard coasts but, at the same time, to manage in an intelligent and “green” way the big amount of tourists. Research communities all over the world indicated the Internet of Things (IoT) as a valid technology to develop solutions in order to try solving or mitigating the coastal erosion problem. IoT-based techniques allow to manage heterogeneous and massive data for real-time monitoring and decision making and can be used for coastal environment and crowd level monitoring. This article presents a monitoring system based on the Social IoT (SIoT), a new paradigm that defines a network where every node is an object capable of establishing the social relationships with other things in an autonomous way according to specific rules. Thanks to social relationships, all involved devices in the monitoring system (i.e., sensors, cameras, and smartphones) are able to collect and exchange information. The proposed system, developed and installed in Cagliari (Italy), is able to evaluate the occupational state of a beach considering environmental and crowding data collected by devices and feedback sent by users.

Coastal Monitoring System Based on Social Internet of Things Platform

Orientation Analysis through a Gyroscope Sensor for Indoor Navigation Systems

Large industrial environments and specifically cargo terminals are inherently very complex systems to be monitored and controlled, given the presence of vessels, vehicles, people and industrial or commercial plants. In this context, dominated by strict regulations for workplace safety, a centralized control system for monitoring, reporting and preventing workplace risks can have a particular importance. This work describes the concepts of a real-time control system for acquiring and processing information for the continuous monitoring of workplace safety conditions. In the proposed system, we make use of specialized wearable sensor networks and specific aggregation methods, CCTV cameras combined with pattern recognition algorithms and data networks. The goal of the control system is to offer a detailed, constantly updated overview of the port's situation in terms of workplace safety.

Control system for workplace safety in a cargo terminal

Last years have been characterized by an incredible growth in mobile computing capabilities and sensing technologies, which can leverage the deployment of many location-based applications, ranging from pedometers to navigation system. This work deals with an Inertial Navigation System (INS) able to support users in the navigation in an unknown indoor environment by continuously calculating their motions and their position. The proposed solution is based on integrated use of movement and position sensors. Unfortunately, applications that rely on the use of measures coming from orientation sensors, such accelerometers and digital compasses, are affected by external magnetic interferences thus resulting in inaccurate directional information. This paper focuses on this problem by investigating the use of the gyroscope as the primary determinant of orientation. Several tests have been carried out showing how the proposed method is able to correct the error introduced by the gyroscope both in static position and undergoing rotation, and thus, it is able to provide better orientation information than the compass. Keywords-pedestrian navigation; rotation sensors; gyroscope; digital compass; indoor navigation.

/pdf/orientation-analysis-through-a-gyroscope-sensor-for-indoor-2upmgjczzg.pdf

Mariella Sole

Papers

RFID sensor network for workplace safety management

Coastal Monitoring System Based on Social Internet of Things Platform

Orientation Analysis through a Gyroscope Sensor for Indoor Navigation Systems

Control system for workplace safety in a cargo terminal

Orientation Analysis through a Gyroscope Sensor for Indoor Navigation Systems