Browsing by Author "Matos, Paulo"
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- A prototype to enhance academic attendance using BLE beaconsPublication . Simas, Sily; Oliveira, Pedro Filipe; Matos, PauloThis project addresses the prototyping and application of an attendance control solution in an academic context, using Beacons. The introduction highlights the importance of effectively managing student attendance to ensure active participation in educational activities and provide insights into student engagement. BLE Beacons technology is compared to other RF signaling technologies, highlighting its advantages in terms of range, power consumption, cost, frequency, and data rate. BLE Beacon is chosen as the preferred technology due to its combination of adequate range, low power consumption, affordable cost, compatibility, security, and flexibility. The results section presents Estimote Beacons as devices used, highlighting their advanced features and techniques used, such as proximity and triangulation, to determine student presence. A visual summary of the project is presented in a flowchart that illustrates the operating processes of each stage. This solution promises to significantly improve the efficiency, safety, and quality of the academic environment, while simplifying the attendance recording process and providing valuable insights into student behavior.
- Actualização NB-IoT e BLE5Publication . Ascensão, João Filipe Fernandes; Matos, Paulo; Alves, Rui Alexandre CoelhoA Techwelf tem desenvolvido vários dispositivos em que a comunicação de e para internet (cloud, serviços ou aplicações móveis) é crítica ou pelo menos uma clara mais-valia comercial. A conectividade ponto-a-ponto, por BLE 4 ou NFC já é uma tecnologia dominada e comum no mercado. O mesmo acontece com comunicação Wifi ou mesmo GSM/LTE. Mas só no último ano chegaram ao mercado os primeiros chips, do tipo System On Chip, capazes de estabelecerem ligações de dados via LTE-M e NBIoT, permitindo comunicação com consumos energéticos muito baixos e, como tal, com elevada autonomia – característica fundamental para a geração IoT e para a grande maioria das soluções desenvolvidas pela Techwelf. Por outro lado, face às exigências do mercado IoT, mesmo as tecnologias mais convencionais têm vindo a sofrer optimizações. É o caso do BLE que na versão 5 não só é significativamente mais eficiente, como permite comunicações ponto-a-ponto de maior distância. É neste contexto que surge o trabalho dos autores, no sentido de efetuar esta transição tecnológica mantendo a Techwelf nas empresas de referência na utilização do que de mais recente existe em termos de soluções IoT e, assim, mais uma vez assegurar a vantagem competitiva face a concorrência. O trabalho tem seguido duas vertentes distintas. Uma destinada a evoluir a solução de rede de sensores existente, implementada com recurso a tecnologia ANT e BLE 4, e que se pretende agora actualizar para tecnologia BLE 5, designadamente BLE Mesh. A segunda vertente é focada na criaçã de uma alternativa à solução de gateway existente, que faz a ponte entre a rede de sensores e a rede WiFi. Esta solução, tecnicamente bastante complexa e desenvolvida com a cooperação de docentes do Dep de Informática e Comunicações do IPB, consegue assegurar a comunicação bidirecional através dos routers domésticos, de forma transparente para o utilizador final, isto é, sem requerer qualquer configuração do router por parte do utilizador. No entanto, a evolução tecnológica das soluções de NB-IoT e LTE-M permitem ligação direta sem passar pelo router, o que elimina vários problemas e torna tudo mais simples e flexível. Esta solução permite também a monitorização e controlo em tempo real dos dispositivos, a partir de aplicações e/ou serviços em cloud. A solução técnica utilizada nesta segunda vertente é o NB-IoT, dado que o único operador que já tem rede disponível (para efeitos de teste) é a Altice (MEO) que optou pela tecnologia NB-IoT, em detrimento da LTE-M, e que nos facultou os meios de acesso à rede (aproveitamos para agradecer publicamente o apoio da Altice Labs). Os testes efetuados permitem já conetividade bidirecional com o Develop Kit (DK) nRF91 da Nordic Semiconductor – o primeiro kit disponível no mercado com este tipo de tecnologia. Foram também já efetuados, com sucesso, testes de integração com chips da família nRF52 do mesmo fabricante. Chips estes que já suportam BLE 5. Tornou-se assim possível até ao momento a visualização de dados em cloud recolhidos pelo DK, e também a sua conexão e troca de dados via Bluetooth com outras “boards”. Estes resultados iniciais são extraordinários, visto que ficamos com uma enorme margem de manobra para a criação de uma rede “gigantesca”, monitorizada em cloud e com uma poupança de energia superior á existente atualmente.
- Actualização NB-IoT e BLE5Publication . Ascensão, João Filipe Fernandes; Matos, Paulo; Alves, Rui Alexandre CoelhoA Techwelf tem desenvolvido vários dispositivos em que a comunicação de e para internet (cloud, serviços ou aplicações móveis) é crítica . Neste último ano surgiram no mercado os primeiros chips, do tipo System On Chip, capazes de estabelecer ligações de dados via LTE-M/NB-IoT, com consumos energéticos muito reduzidos, que possibilitam uma elevada autonomia energética. Este baixo consumo permite que sejam alimentados com recurso a simples baterias/pilhas, o que os torna uma mais valia para as soluções desenvolvidas pela Techwelf, superando nesse aspeto tecnologias como BLE4, NFC, WiFi e LTE já muito comuns e dominadas no mercado.
- Adaptive environment system to manage comfort preferences and conflictsPublication . Oliveira, Pedro Filipe; Novais, Paulo; Matos, PauloManaging comfort preferences conflicts of the different users and locals on an Internet of Things (IoT) adaptive system is a actual problem. This paper, proposes a protocol and hierarchical rules to develop a multi-agent system to achieve an Adaptive Environment System that supports interaction between persons and physical spaces, where spaces smartly adapt to their preferences in a transparent way. And also a set of security customization’s to secure the actuators and users on space, that has been developed using a multi agent system architecture with different features to achieve a solution that supports the proposed objectives. Supported by a base architecture to achieve the full system implementation.
- Adaptive system to manage everyday user comfort preferencesPublication . Oliveira, Pedro Filipe; Novais, Paulo; Matos, PauloUrban mobility brings many challenges and opportunities, particularly regarding sustainability. It is natural that we want better living conditions, we are naturally given to consuming, even when there is no need, we increasingly want to travel, socialize, enjoy and it is not easy to accept that we will most likely have to change. It is no longer a distant future, but the present that we are living. Even in the face of successful solutions, receptivity is far from being massified and in most cases it imposes compromises in terms of comfort and quality of life, sometimes even imposing new habits and ways of being. In addition, not all of us have the same perception of the situation seriousness, or the same willingness to compromise. And this can happen for numerous reasons, namely physical or health limitations, financial limitations, different beliefs/motivations, or different ways of facing problems. It is even common that the staunchest defender of certain solutions, when faced with other equally plausible solutions, is completely insensitive or even opposed. In fact, the same individual may have different needs/preferences relatively to the place where he is or the activity he is performing, that is, preferences that vary with time and place. In a broader context of mobility, in which individuals in their daily lives move and visit different places, often with the presence of more people, the situation is even more complex, the variability of preferences increases, and it is necessary to combine preferences/needs of different individuals. Emerging technologies, within the Internet of Things (IoT) scope and smart spaces [1], allow us to aspire to capable solutions in line with the urban mobility and sustainability demands and, at the same time, to promote better conditions of comfort and well-being, without imposing sacrifices or changes in habits and considering the specificities of each individual, at different time and place. These solutions whose success depends in part on the autonomy of operation, not requiring any direct and conscious participation of people, for the ability to make the best decisions given the current context and future expectations, the context being defined by the characteristics of the environment. Including the dynamics, namely those resulting from the presence/involvement of people, but also for the transparency of action, not being evasive and, if possible, fulfilling its function without people realizing the existence of the technology/solution simply the most convenient happens. There are other factors that should not be neglected, such as those related to security and privacy. In this paper, the authors propose an architecture that considers these requirements so that, in a non-evasive way, it adapts the different spaces that the user frequents (house, work, leisure, others) to their personal preferences, such as temperature, humidity, sound, environment, etc. The architecture includes the different devices needed, to identify users, as well as the communication technologies to be used to transfer the preferences of each user to the system. The architecture includes a multi-agent system that allows managing conflicts of preferences through a user’s hierarchy and that considers safety values for each preference, to safeguard the different actuators (air conditioning, fan coils, multimedia, etc.) present in space. It was developed, focusing on the definition of each user's preferences in a smartphone application, which allows the user's preferences to be transferred to the space, without the need to perform any interaction, they can also be passed through smartwatches, fitness bracelets and similar devices, which currently have different communication technologies such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Near Field Communication (NFC) or Wifi-Direct. It also contains a local processing solution, currently supported by a Raspberry Pi, and will be present in each space where we want to adapt to different preferences. Each of these systems constantly receives each present user preferences. Based on the multi-agent system, it calculates the optimal preferences to be applied to each space at a given time. It is also responsible for sending these to the different actuators present in the space. The multi-agent system has different layers (simulation, data acquisition, user information, actuation). Briefly, there is an agent for each user present, containing their preferences, and there is an agent that represents the pace, containing eventual constraints, such as security values and others that may exist, namely in public spaces. Each of these agents aims to represent the interests of the involved parties. For example, the agent representing the space should be focused on an efficient use of equipment, minimizing energy costs, enhancing the durability of the equipment, minimizing maintenance costs. Taking advantage of the different hierarchies, an equation was devised that meets the different preferences to define the optimal solution, which will be sent to the different actuators.
- Adaptive system to manage user comfort preferences and conflicts at everyday environmentsPublication . Oliveira, Pedro Filipe; Novais, Paulo; Matos, PauloNowadays an actual problem on IoT adaptive systems is to manage user preferences and local actuators specifications. This paper uses a multi agent system to achieve a Adaptive Environment System, that supports interaction between persons and physical spaces, where spaces smartly adapt to their user preferences in a transparent way. This work has been developed using a multi agent system architecture with different features to achieve a solution that reach all the proposed objectives.
- An architecture for reliable transportation of delicate goodsPublication . Matos, Paulo; Rufino, José; Lopes, Rui PedroAdequate conditions are critical to avoiding damage or degradation of products during transportation, especially in the case of delicate goods like food products, live animals, precision machinery or art items, among others. The damages are not always readily identified: sometimes they are only detected several days or weeks after the merchandise has been delivered. Moreover, it may be hard to assess if the problems resulted from the transport conditions, and it may be even harder to prove it, making it difficult to determine and assign responsibilities. Also, transport is a global business, typically involving different companies and means (truck, train, plane, ship, …). Usually, customers hire the service to a single commercial entity, but the service is performed by several companies, like transporters, stockists and dispatchers. To know whether the transport requirements are fulfilled or not is thus essential to assessing responsibilities and encouraging compliance by all the players in the process. In this paper, the authors propose an architecture that allows certifying, in an exempt manner, the conditions under which the transport of sensitive goods are carried out. In case of compliance, it protects the entities of the transport chain and ensures the customer that the merchandise has not been subject to conditions that may have affected its integrity or quality. If problems are detected, it allows to identify the non‐compliant players and to assign responsibilities. The solution is based on ultra‐low‐power, low‐cost devices (equipped with several sensors, a real‐time clock, and Bluetooth Low Energy services), a mobile application and several cloud services (including a Coordinated Universal Time service)
- Aplicação de bluetooth low energy no controlo e monitorização de dispositivos de muito baixo consumoPublication . Oliveira, Pedro Filipe; Matos, PauloThis work was performed in an industrial context, a collaboration between the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança and Techwelf Ltd, a company developing control solutions for energy management. The collaboration aimed to solve a concrete problem of one of the devices that is under development at this company, aiming to strengthen the competitive advantages of the product. The challenge was to analyze the feasibility of using Bluetooth Low Energy as wireless communication solution enabling secure monitoring and control of the device from a smartphone. But ensuring maximum energy autonomy of the device, considered as critical factor, given that communication is the main cause of energy consumption. The work carried out resulted in a technical, fully functional solution, which uses the chip nRF51822 from Nordic and an Apple iPhone. The entire system has been optimized, including the Bluetooth Low Energy GATT services, in order to maximize the autonomy of the device while ensuring the reliability and security of communication. Many of the details of the work performed and the product concerned were purposely omitted as a result of the secrecy and confidentiality agreement signed by the proposer of the dissertation.
- Applying compiler technology to solve genericPublication . Matos, Paulo; Henriques, Pedro RangelCompilers are tools that transform a high level programming languages into assem- bly or binary code. The essential of the process is done by the interpretation and the code generation steps, but nowadays most compilers have also a strong component of code optimization, that explore as much as possible the potential of the computer architectures to which the compiler must generate the code. These optimizations are based on the information provided by several analysis processes. This paper present some of these code analysis and optimizations, and shows how they can be used to solve problems or improve the quality of solutions used at areas such as industrial engineer and planning.
- Aprendizagem baseada em soluções efetivasPublication . Matos, Paulo; Alves, Rui; Gonçalves, JoséOs autores apresentam a Aprendizagem Baseada em Soluções Efetivas que deriva da Aprendizagem Baseada em Projeto, mas aplicada a problemas reais com objetivo de contruir soluções efetivas. A enfase é colocada na efetividade no pressuposto que incentiva a um maior envolvimento e comprometimento por parte dos alunos, assegurando um contexto que se pretende mais aliciante e próximo do que será a realidade profissional dos alunos. A efetividade é aferida pelas funcionalidades consideradas essenciais à plena utilização e resolução do problema, mas também pela viabilidade da aplicação ser efetivamente utilizada, sem que seja necessário a continuidade do envolvimento dos alunos. As evidências empíricas apontam um claro aumento da aquisição de competências, do número de aprovados e das classificações. Permitiu também definir um posicionamento estratégico de cooperação com a comunidade envolvente, em que todas as partes beneficiam (formandos, docentes, instituição de ensino, entidades locais e regionais e empregadores).