Abstracts - Final (Proceedings included)

Index (Authors, Titles)

 

Dispert, Visser, Morgan
Advanced Power Line Communication for Multisensor, First Responder Applications

==> Paper

Fighting fire is a very difficult task, firefighters a regularly risking their lives doing their dangerous job. Intelligent support systems are urgently needed.

This paper describes a new approach, using a PLC (Powerline Communication) and RFID-based alert and location system.

Using Renesas Electronics state-of-the-art systems, environmental data – temperature, smoke intensity, firefighter location – is collected and send to a local computer system, using the emergency power line infrastrucuture installed in the buildings. The data is visualized using a dedicated Graphical User Interface (GUI), so that supervisers can continuously receive information about their teams’ situation.
The system presented in this paper was successfully tested in a building with very harsh and noisy power line infrastructure.

 

Friant, Luc
Embedded Interfacing

It is important that bachelor students get an overview of the most popular interfaces for embedded systems. This paper gives an overview of the most obvious interfaces for and in embedded systems.
In this paper the development and the implementation of Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C), Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) and 1-Wire are described in detail.

The Master Synchronous Serial port (MSSP module) of a microcontroller is a very useful interface, but at the same time one of the most complex circuits within the microcontroller. Used programming languages are discussed. We firstly configure the MSSP module in ANSI C on a microprocessor board developed on the K.H.Kempen University College labo electronics. Afterwards we use .NET Micro Framework, Visual C# Integrated Development Environment. NETMF products include many exclusive features, such as USB Host, USB Device, 1-Wire, CAN, PPP, WiFi, too many to list here.

Field-programmable gate array’s (FPGA’s) offers system designers the benefits of increased system integration, improved system robustness and reduced static power consumption. In addition FPGA’s includes hardened implementations of some of the most popular functions used in system control applications such as User Flash Memory (UFM), I2C, and SPI. The WISHBONE interface is a flexible, multipurpose general interface bus. With the increasing number of WISHBONE- capable open-source designs and intellectual property (IP), system design can be greatly simplified.
For example I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) Master – WISHBONE Compatible design is based on the OpenCores I2C master core and provides a bridge between the I2C and WISHBONE bus.

Recently introduced devices from Future Technology Devices International Ltd. (FTDI) provide a viable alternate solution to the USB interface on the basis of size, cost, features, and ease of use.

 

Gerken
Implementation And Prototyping Of A Sound Reception Devices Based On The Phase Delay Of A Microphone Array Using Modern FPGA Technology

In maritime shipping sound signals are necessary signals to avoid and minimize the collision risk. Bridges of modern vessels are soundproof due to high noise level generated by motors and other machines. Thus there are systems needed, which detect sound signals and give them out on the bridge as sounding and direction. These systems are called “sound reception devices” (SRD). Such systems can be estimate by amplitude or phase calculation. This speech is about developing a sound reception system, based on the phase delay of a microphone array. The digitalization of the sound signals and broadcasting to a computer for data analysis is realized by a FPGA development board. Algorithms to detect marine sound signals and to calculate the direction of these signals are implemented using Matlab scripts.

The developed System is able to detect marine sound signals and calculate their directions and offers the ability to develop a whole applicable sound reception device.

 

Hotchkiss, Joseph
Motion Measurement at Sea

==> Poster

Both casual sailors as well as professional racers would benefit from knowledge of their motions at sea. Accurate measurements would allow for sailors to analyze for mistakes in their techniques and learn to correct said mistakes.

The goal of this project is to design a hardware platform capable of measuring different motions found while sailing. Furthermore embedded software capable of gathering data from the hardware will need to be implemented. The embedded system should operate fast enough that the user be capable of analyzing the data in realtime from a PC. This data should give the ability to minimize wasted energy when sailing.

The project consisted of four main parts. The first section was selection of hardware. Suitable sensors had been selected previously, however the selection of a microcontroller capable of handling the data fast enough and complex filtering if needed was key. The selection was an ARM Cortex M3 because of the price and performance.

Second was the embedded hardware design and testing. The PCB had strict requirements to fit its enclosure. Therefore two trials were needed to design and debug the hardware. Finally an embedded software was designed and tested. Ensuring that the interfacing to the sensors as well as the PC software was possible and reliable.

In conclusion the design of an embedded system from infancy to beta testing is a complex task. Selecting the correct components and ensuring that the system fulfills its required specifications, while at the same time keeping the system simple enough to comply with a deadline is essential.

The hope was to design an inexpensive measurement system for the most casual of sailors, while achieving performance to intrigue professional racers to use this system. The beta testing is ongoing however feedback has been very positive.

 

Jetzek, Wegner, Bruggemann
High Level Synthesis – (R)evolution of Hardware Description Languages?

Digital Systems these days are often characterized by high complexity and extremely high integration. Due to the fact that nowadays hundreds of millions of transistors are integrated on a single chip, sufficient tools are needed in order to enable designers to make use of these chip capabilities and to have control over their design 0. While schematics have been used to design digital systems several years ago, hardware description languages like VHDL or Verilog are now used within the world’s electronic industry to develop sophisticated digital systems. Yet, another upcoming technology is High Level Synthesis [2]. This technology shall combine the possibilities of programming languages like C or C++ and digital system design by describing and designing hardware using a programming language and additional tools to create the hardware design automatically out of the corresponding source code.

The goal of this paper is to provide an introduction into High Level Synthesis and to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of this new technology.

 

Lackman, Mika
Viope cloud based service as a tool for teaching embedded and other programming skills

This presentation will be based on Viope C-embedded programming course, created by Oulu University / Prof. Jukka Riekki.
By presenting the course, how it is built with content and laboratory works, we also illustrate how this tool can provide new possibilities for teachers and students to get benefits out from the youngest and most developed technology in the field of artificial intelligence.

During the presentation we will also present Viope’s operational model and how we co-operate with wide network of universities and how we would like to expand the network with the event audience.

 

Menani, Smail
Design and implementation of a computing platform for smart meter applications

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the development of a smart meter computing platform. The main developed hardware units are the power meter measurement device and the communication interfaces.

The other developed units are the meter webservers, the databases, the human machine interface and the data gateways. Different communication protocols including Power Line Communication (PLC) were used to exchange data between the power meter and a data concentrator and between the power meter and home appliance.

The initial phase of the development process consists in measuring electrical values. Measured values are then sent to a central data-log system for further processing. The data-log can then send the processed data to the data collector. The data-log system can also receive data from the data collector.

Finally the power meter is integrated to a global intelligent power management system for the purpose of building an operational computing platform for smart meter applications.

 

Mirvan, Blohm, Dispert
Development of an ANT+ Wireless Sensor Network Based System for Lactate Monitoring in Saliva

==> Paper

In this paper, the implementation of a wireless sensor network (WSN) system is proposed and described in details. The system uses a micromachined sensor that enables continuous, real time and location independent measurements of lactate concentration in saliva.
The test system is based on the Texas Instruments MSP 430 low power microcontroller, the ANT+ wireless protocol is used to provide the wireless connectivity between the sensor node and the receiver. This protocol is introduced due to its characteristics of flexibility, reliability and particularly its low power consumption which is suitable for sensor application as in wireless body area networks. Therefore, current consumption and coverage area have been addressed to evaluate the protocol and system performance.

 

Moghadampour, Ghodrat
Cloud Computing

For years the huge amount of communication details between computers across Internet has been presented as a cloud. This cloud abstraction has now burst to include processors, data storage, software services and mobile applications. Cloud-based applications offer lower cost of entry, pay-for-use processors and data-storage models, greater scalability, improved performance, ease of redundancy and improved business community. Cloud computing allows offering a.o. software as a services (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS). Software as a Service (SaaS) offers solutions for real-world problems.

Platform as a Service ( PaaS) introduces cloud-based hardware and software platforms, which allow companies to move their applications to the cloud quickly and cost efficiently. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) introduces the concept of a cloud-based data center which reduces or eliminates a company’s need for a large in-house data center. This can reduce a company’s cost of IT operations significantly.

Identity as a Service (IDaaS) introduces cloud-based identity-management solutions that simplify user provisioning and resource access. IDaaS facilitates the user’s sign-on process across solutions distributed across the cloud.

Data Storage in the Cloud introduces integration of cloud-based data storage. Collaboration in the Cloud introduces cloud-based technologies that allow two or more users to work together to accomplish a task. Examples of such technologies are virtual meetings and shared documents that support simultaneous editing by multiple users.

Virtualization introduces hardware and software used to create the perception that one or more entities exist, when the may not actually be present. Examples of this technology are virtual servers, virtual desktops and virtual networks.

However, the new technology also poses serious security challenges and management concerns. In this paper we go through the main concepts of cloud computing and introduce advantages and challenges which it offers.

 

Mushik, Marcel
Weather Station Mesh Network

The weather station mesh network project was carried out in conjunction with Tsinghua University in Beijing China. It was aimed at providing users with wireless data via mesh networks in public areas, in this case being a localized weather forecast. It was also used to advance the development of integrating ZigBee wireless networks into SIM cards for mobile phone use. The data gathering for the project consisted of two weather sensor WXT520 units which were procured from Vaisala and placed upon two nearby rooftops. These were then linked with radio communication and programmed to give intermittent data transmissions. All transmissions were then taken to a database where a localized weather forecast could be made.

The project aimed at creating a ZigBee mesh network inside of the building where users could connect with their mobile phones. The weather forecast data could then be retransmitted throughout the building over a wireless network to any user’s mobile phone at any given time. Several means of communication were made, for both the weather station to database link and the database to user link, including ZigBee, WLAN embedded modules, and embedded radio modules. The project areas dictated to the group were accomplished, though the final implementation of the mesh network was not met during this project time.

 

National Instruments
LabVIEW Academy program for Universities

 

 

Palomäki, Heikki
Wireless Seed Drill Monitoring System

The seed drill problems can significant decrease the harvest. While driving the tractor, the driver cannot control all about 30 feeding pipes in the separate seed drill machine behind the tractor. The optimization of the feeding speed and the avoidance of the pipe jams are the solutions. In Seinäjoki we have researched the wireless monitoring system to realize the solution.

The seeder monitoring system consists of two separate wireless networks: The low level SURFbuttons and the control level UWASA nodes. The SURFbuttons in every pipe monitors the seed flow. They have two tasks: to sense seed flow and to send the results to sink SURFbutton. The sink button is a wired bridge to UWASA node, which transmits the measured data from the seeding machine to the driver’s panel in the tractor. The panel is based also on the UWASA node.

The seed flow monitoring is realized by LEDs and LDRs (light depending resistors) implemented in every pipe. The SURFbuttons are powered by batteries, so the limited power consumption defines the button features. In first phase the avoidance the jams is the first target. If the accuracy of sensing allows, the second target is to measure the number of seeds for feeding optimization. The UWASA nodes process the measured data and generate alarms of the pipe problems and guide the tractor driving speed.

 

Papadourakis, George
A Guardian Angel For The Extended Home Environment (GUARANTEE) project

The main purpose of this paper is to introduce the Decision Engine System of a European Project entitled “A Guardian Angel For The Extended Home Environment” (GUARANTEE) which is supported by the Information Technology for European Advancement (ITEA2).

It provides technical solutions for personal safety in the home environment, by introducing local and network-supported decision making for safety applications on the basis of sensor input with immediate response and feedback to the people concerned.

Behavior analysis and decision making are the key technologies in a well working supervised environment. The goal of the decision making system is to analize the behavior and export results with the minimum error that can describe the current situation and send a feedback. However to minimize the erronous results the behavior analysis should be done in different situations and environments ,as well as, a flexible decision engine system should be developed in a way that could change it’s own data processing depending the situation. This project will investigate the needs of different environments and services that provide more accurate personal safety. Further, the project had developed some demo software components to test and examine the reactions of such a system in different environments. The demonstrators comprise both an in-home and networked system for commercial or community services.

This presentation will be organized as followed: Initially, an introduction to GUARANTEE Project ,as well as an overview of demonstrators. Mainly a detailed description of the decision engine system as well as the main application program. Finally, possible new decision support techniques will be discussed.

 

Piironen, Antti
Embedded DSP Intensive Project 2012

In this paper the Embedded DSP Intensive Project (eDSP IP) held on August 2012 is described. The general idea was to bring together teachers from four European University to integrate their high expertise on different electronics and IT engineering fields, thus creating and delivering a series of multidisciplinary lectures. This intensive project was supported by the funds of the Erasmus Intensive Programme of the European Commission.

 

Sainio, Sami
Embedded Cellular Systems – practical approach to teaching

The idea to develop a course like “Embedded Cellular Systems” was that most of the courses taught in University level include a lot of theory taught by the teacher, and not that much of practical work that engineers need to do when they reach the industry. The course also answers to the demand of actually making something that will be clearly useful in real life, and not just solve a problem in sake of problem solving.

In most courses the theory part is usually at least 50% of the teaching, leaving the students with a lot of solutions how to solve the problems that will be encountered during the laboratories. I see this as a partial problem in university level applied sciences teaching.

Students will use modular hardware to create a system that will be controllable via cellphone calls and via text messages. The system will allow students to be able to control a servo and display information about who called or sent an SMS message to the system. Hardware is prepared for the students, but the way of controlling the devices is left to the students to decide.

 

Wetzel, Jetzek, Muller
Speed Optimised Sequence Alignment on a FPGA

In today’s medicine, DNA-Analysis is an important method to get information on the functional and health status of a human’s body and where a human body or its tissue may have the potential to create severe illness or even tumors. Precise analysis of human’s tissue is therefore an unavoidable step in the process of defeating many diseases. One part of the DNA Analysis is the Sequence Alignment, basically a comparison of two strings with the aim of showing the differences and similarities between two genetic sequences. This is used in various fields like homology research, auto immune disease research and protein shape estimation.

There are different algorithms which are able to perform this task. Because of the massive amount of data, many of them focus on reducing the calculation effort. As a consequence, they generate less qualitative results. But even when using these algorithms, the time needed by a CPU to align a whole genome is very long.

To accelerate the alignment, the well known Smith-Waterman-Algorithm has been used for two reasons: At First, this algorithm generates the best results. Secondly, it is the one which can be be best accomplished in a parallel fashion.

The presented solution implements the fine grained and parallelised Smith-Waterman-Algorithm, improved by the Recursive Variable Expansion by Nawaz, to deliver best results in shortest time. Simultaneously the need of computing resources has been optimized as far as possible. In contrast to many others, the presented implementation does the backtracking directly on the FPGA and because of this, it is able to provide the alignment route. This means, there is nearly no need for further calculations by the downstream CPU to get the alignment.

 

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