Sabah M. Ahmed

Abstract: Energy hole problem is a critical issue for data gathering in wireless sensor networks. Sensors near the static sink act as relays for far sensors and thus will deplete their energy very quickly, resulting energy holes in the sensor field. Exploiting the mobility of a sink has been widely accepted as an efficient way to alleviate this problem. However, determining an optimal moving trajectory for a mobile sink is a non-deterministic polynomial-time hard problem. Thus, this paper proposed a mobile sink-based adaptive immune energy-efficient clustering protocol (MSIEEP) to alleviate the energy holes. A MSIEEP uses the adaptive immune algorithm (AIA) to guide the mobile sink-based on minimizing the total dissipated energy in communication and overhead control packets. Moreover, AIA is used to find the optimum number of cluster heads (CHs) to improve the lifetime and stability period of the network. The performance of MSIEEP is compared with the previously published protocols; namely, low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy (LEACH), genetic algorithm-based LEACH, amend LEACH, rendezvous, and mobile sink improved energy-efficient PEGASIS-based routing protocol using MATLAB. Simulation results show that MSIEEP is more reliable and energy efficient as compared with other protocols. Furthermore, it improves the lifetime, the stability, and the instability periods over the previous protocols, because it always selects CHs from high-energy nodes. Moreover, the mobile sink increases the ability of the proposed protocol to deliver packets to the destination.

Abstract: Introducing mobility to Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) puts new challenges particularly in designing of routing protocols. Mobility can be applied to the sensor nodes and/or the sink node in the network. Many routing protocols have been developed to support the mobility of WSNs. These protocols are divided depending on the routing structure into hierarchical-based, flat-based, and location-based routing protocols. However, the hierarchical-based routing protocols outperform the other routing types in saving energy, scalability, and extending lifetime of Mobile WSNs (MWSNs). Selecting an appropriate hierarchical routing protocol for specific applications is an important and difficult task. Therefore, this paper focuses on reviewing some of the recently hierarchical-based routing protocols that are developed in the last five years for MWSNs. This survey divides the hierarchical-based routing protocols into two broad groups, namely, classical-based and optimized-based routing protocols. Also, we present a detailed classification of the reviewed protocols according to the routing approach, control manner, mobile element, mobility pattern, network architecture, clustering attributes, protocol operation, path establishment, communication paradigm, energy model, protocol objectives, and applications. Moreover, a comparison between the reviewed protocols is investigated in this survey depending on delay, network size, energy-efficiency, and scalability while mentioning the advantages and drawbacks of each protocol. Finally, we summarize and conclude the paper with future directions.

Abstract: This paper describes a new algorithm for electrocardiogram (ECG) compression. The main goal of the algorithm is to reduce the bit rate while keeping the reconstructed signal distortion at a clinically acceptable level. It is based on the compression of the linearly predicted residuals of the wavelet coefficients of the signal. In this algorithm, the input signal is divided into blocks and each block goes through a discrete wavelet transform; then the resulting wavelet coefficients are linearly predicted. In this way, a set of uncorrelated transform domain signals is obtained. These signals are compressed using various coding methods, including modified run-length and Huffman coding techniques. The error corresponding to the difference between the wavelet coefficients and the predicted coefficients is minimized in order to get the best predictor. The method is assessed through the use of percent root-mean square difference (PRD) and visual inspection measures. By this compression method, small PRD and high compression ratio with low implementation complexity are achieved. Finally, we have compared the performance of the ECG compression algorithm on data from the MIT-BIH database.

Abstract: A Centralized Immune-Voronoi deployment Algorithm (CIVA) is proposed.CIVA considers the binary and the probabilistic model for enhancing the coverage.CIVA adjusts the positions, the sensing ranges and the radios of MSNs in MWSN.CIVA provides a better trade-off between the coverage and the energy consumption.Simulation experiments were conducted in MATLAB correctly. Saving energy is a most important challenge in Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks (MWSNs) to extend the lifetime, and optimal coverage is the key to it. Therefore, this paper proposes a Centralized Immune-Voronoi deployment Algorithm (CIVA) to maximize the coverage based on both binary and probabilistic models. CIVA utilizes the multi-objective immune algorithm that uses the Voronoi diagram properties to provide a better trade-off between the coverage and the energy consumption. The CIVA algorithm consists from two phases to improve the lifetime and the coverage of MWSN. In the first phase, CIVA controls the positions and the sensing ranges of Mobile Sensor Nodes (MSNs) based on maximizing the coverage and minimizing the dissipated energy in mobility and sensing. While the second phase of CIVA adjusts the radio (sleep/active) of MSNs to minimize the number of active sensors based on minimizing the consumption energy in sensing and redundant coverage and preserving the coverage at high level. The performance of the CIVA is compared with the previous algorithms using Matlab simulation for different network configurations with and without obstacles. Simulation results show that the CIVA algorithm outperforms the previous algorithms in terms of the coverage and the dissipated energy for different networks configurations.

Abstract: Recently, remote healthcare systems have received increasing attention in the last decade, explaining why intelligent systems with physiology signal monitoring for e-health care are an emerging area of development. Therefore, this study adopts a system which includes continuous collection and evaluation of multiple vital signs, long-term healthcare, and a cellular connection to a medical center in emergency case and it transfers all acquired raw data by the internet in normal case. The proposed system can continuously acquire four different physiological signs, for example, ECG, SpO2, temperature, and blood pressure and further relayed them to an intelligent data analysis scheme to diagnose abnormal pulses for exploring potential chronic diseases. The proposed system also has a friendly web-based interface for medical staff to observe immediate pulse signals for remote treatment. Once abnormal event happened or the request to real-time display vital signs is confirmed, all physiological signs will be immediately transmitted to remote medical server through both cellular networks and internet. Also data can be transmitted to a family member's mobile phone or doctor's phone through GPRS. A prototype of such system has been successfully developed and implemented, which will offer high standard of healthcare with a major reduction in cost for our society.

Abstract: An overview of the self-organizing map algorithm, on which the papers in this issue are based, is presented in this article.

Abstract: The wavelet transform has emerged over recent years as a powerful time-frequency analysis and signal coding tool favoured for the interrogation of complex nonstationary signals. Its application to biosignal processing has been at the forefront of these developments where it has been found particularly useful in the study of these, often problematic, signals: none more so than the ECG. In this review, the emerging role of the wavelet transform in the interrogation of the ECG is discussed in detail, where both the continuous and the discrete transform are considered in turn.

Abstract: Increasing cost and demand of energy has led many organizations to find smart ways for monitoring, controlling and saving energy. A smart Energy Management System (EMS) can contribute towards cutting the costs while still meeting energy demand. The emerging technologies of Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data can be utilized to better manage energy consumption in residential, commercial, and industrial sectors. This paper presents an Energy Management System (EMS) for smart homes. In this system, each home device is interfaced with a data acquisition module that is an IoT object with a unique IP address resulting in a large mesh wireless network of devices. The data acquisition System on Chip (SoC) module collects energy consumption data from each device of each smart home and transmits the data to a centralized server for further processing and analysis. This information from all residential areas accumulates in the utility’s server as Big Data. The proposed EMS utilizes off-the-shelf Business Intelligence (BI) and Big Data analytics software packages to better manage energy consumption and to meet consumer demand. Since air conditioning contributes to 60% of electricity consumption in Arab Gulf countries, HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) Units have been taken as a case study to validate the proposed system. A prototype was built and tested in the lab to mimic small residential area HVAC systems1.

Abstract: Advancements in medical science and technology, medicine and public health coupled with increased consciousness about nutrition and environmental and personal hygiene have paved the way for the dramatic increase in life expectancy globally in the past several decades. However, increased life expectancy has given rise to an increasing aging population, thus jeopardizing the socio-economic structure of many countries in terms of costs associated with elderly healthcare and wellbeing. In order to cope with the growing need for elderly healthcare services, it is essential to develop affordable, unobtrusive and easy-to-use healthcare solutions. Smart homes, which incorporate environmental and wearable medical sensors, actuators, and modern communication and information technologies, can enable continuous and remote monitoring of elderly health and wellbeing at a low cost. Smart homes may allow the elderly to stay in their comfortable home environments instead of expensive and limited healthcare facilities. Healthcare personnel can also keep track of the overall health condition of the elderly in real-time and provide feedback and support from distant facilities. In this paper, we have presented a comprehensive review on the state-of-the-art research and development in smart home based remote healthcare technologies.