PHD THESIS: NETWORK DESING STRATEGIES FOR MULTISENSORY HUMAN-MACHINE INTERFACES OF NAVIGATION SYSTEMS FOR BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE
Posted on by Santiago Real

On July 13th, our colleague and lab member Santiago Real Valdés defended his PhD Thesis entitled “Network Design Strategies for Multisensory Human-Machine Interfaces of Navigation Systems for Blind and Visually Impaired People”. This work was carried out at B105 Electronic Systems Lab under the direction of Professor Alvaro Araujo.

The thesis defense took place at the ETSI Telecomunicación in Madrid. The work was evaluated positively earning the highest possible grade, along with the “cum laude” mention.

Overall, the research pursued design guidelines, tools, and methods for the development of networked navigation assistance systems for blind and visually impaired (BVI) individuals. Specifically, it resulted in the following contributions to the scientific community:

  • Study of the state-of-art at navigation assistance for BVI individuals. This was undertaken to re-evaluate the perspective of navigation systems for the blind and visually impaired (BVI) in a new technological-enabling context, attempting to integrate key elements of what is frequently a disaggregated multidisciplinary background.
  • Development of the Virtually Enhanced Senses (VES) System. VES is a wireless, mixed-reality platform developed to design, emulate, implement, and test complete navigation systems.
  • Development of novel Sensory Substitution Devices (SSD) and methodologies to assess navigation assistance in mixed reality environments. Novel and representative SSD were implemented building on previous solutions, design guidelines and recommendations. Thereafter, new methodologies and performance markers were developed to quantify the performance of the SSD under various network architectures and operation conditions.
  • Novel relations between Quality-of-Experience (QoE) and Quality-of-Service (QoS) in navigation assistance for BVI individuals were found.  Overall, a tradeoff was observed between the user’s spatial data acquisition and sensorimotor coupling degradation due to motion-to-photon delay.

Further information on the open-access VES system can be found at the following link. Also, the latest results were disseminated through the media:

PhD Thesis: Cross-layer Strategies for Improving the Quality of Service of Wireless Sensor Networks
Posted on by albarc

A couple weeks ago, our lab member Alba Rozas Cid defended her PhD thesis entitled “Cross-layer Strategies for Improving the Quality of Service of Wireless Sensor Networks”. This PhD work was carried out at B105 Electronic Systems Lab under the direction of Professor Alvaro Araujo.

The thesis defense took place at the ETSI Telecomunicación in Madrid, and three members of the examination panel were physically present. However, due to travel restrictions, the other two members attended the act online from France and the USA, respectively. The work was evaluated positively earning the highest possible grade, along with the “cum laude” and international mentions. Learn and see how fire barriers’ role in preserving the environment here and how you can protect yourself in advance.

The following are some links where parts of this PhD research are explained or published:

Here are some pictures of the defense act:

And, finally, this is the list of peer-reviewed journal and conference publications that were obtained during the course of this PhD:

International journal articles:

  • A. Rozas, A. Araujo, and J. M. Rabaey, “Analyzing the Performance of WBAN Links during Physical Activity Using Real Multi-Band Sensor Nodes,” Applied Sciences, vol. 11, no. 7, p. 2920, Mar. 2021, doi: 10.3390/app11072920.
  • A. Rozas and A. Araujo, “An Application-Aware Clustering Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks to Provide QoS Management,” Journal of Sensors, vol. 2019, pp. 1–11, Sep. 2019, doi: 10.1155/2019/8569326.
  • R. Utrilla, R. Rodriguez-Zurrunero, J. Martin, A. Rozas, and A. Araujo, “MIGOU: A Low-Power Experimental Platform with Programmable Logic Resources and Software-Defined Radio Capabilities,” Sensors, vol. 19, no. 22, Nov. 2019, doi: 10.3390/s19224983.
  • F. Tirado-Andrés, A. Rozas, and A. Araujo, “A Methodology for Choosing Time Synchronization Strategies for Wireless IoT Networks,” Sensors, vol. 19, no. 16, Aug. 2019, doi: 10.3390/s19163476.
  • R. Rodriguez-Zurrunero, R. Utrilla, A. Rozas, and A. Araujo, “Process Management in IoT Operating Systems: Cross-Influence between Processing and Communication Tasks in End-Devices,” Sensors, vol. 19, no. 4, Feb. 2019, doi: 10.3390/s19040805.
  • E. Romero, J. Blesa, A. Rozas, and A. Araujo, “Energy Efficiency Strategy in D2D Cognitive Networks Using Channel Selection Based on Game Theory and Collaboration,” International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, vol. 12, no. 8, Aug. 2016, doi: 10.1177/155014772834652.
  • J. Martin, A. Rozas, and A. Araujo, “A WSN-Based Intrusion Alarm System to Improve Safety in Road Work Zones,” Journal of Sensors, vol. 2016, pp. 1–8, Jun. 2016, doi: 10.1155/2016/7048141.
  • A. Molina-Pico, D. Cuesta-Frau, A. Araujo, J. Alejandre, and A. Rozas, “Forest Monitoring and Wildland Early Fire Detection by a Hierarchical Wireless Sensor Network,” Journal of Sensors, vol. 2016, pp. 1–8, Feb. 2016, doi: 10.1155/2016/8325845.
  • J. Blesa, E. Romero, A. Rozas, and A. Araujo, “PUE attack detection in CWSNs using anomaly detection techniques,” EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, vol. 2013, no. 1, p. 215, Aug. 2013, doi: 10.1186/1687-1499-2013-215.
  • J. Blesa, E. Romero, A. Rozas, A. Araujo, and O. Nieto-Taladriz, “PUE Attack Detection in CWSN Using Collaboration and Learning Behavior,” International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, vol. 9, no. 6, Jun. 2013, doi: 10.1155/2013/815959.

International conference proceedings:

  • A. Rozas, J. Blesa, E. Romero, and A. Araujo, “Controlling the degradation of Wireless Sensor Networks,” in 2015 International Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Conference (IWCMC), Aug. 2015, pp. 1217–1223, doi: 10.1109/IWCMC.2015.7289256.
  • R. Utrilla, A. Rozas, J. Blesa, and A. Araujo, “A Hybrid Approach to Enhance Cognitive Wireless Sensor Networks with Energy-Efficient Software-Defined Radio Capabilities,” in 2017 International Conference on Embedded Wireless Systems and Networks (EWSN), Feb. 2017, pp. 294–299. [Online]. Available: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/3108009.3108086.

PhD Thesis: Methodology for implementation of Synchronization Strategies for Wireless Sensor Networks
Posted on by frta

On July 16, 2020, our colleague Francisco Tirado-Andrés read and defended his PhD Thesis entitled “Methodology for implementation of Synchronization Strategies for Wireless Sensor Networks” under the direction of Dr. Alvaro Araujo Pinto.

This work was defended in an unusual way. Half of the tribunal was in person, but the other half of the tribunal was evaluating it via video conference. Even with this new form of presentation, the Thesis work was valued very positively by the entire tribunal, giving it the highest score: outstanding.
In addition, the entire tribunal issued a confidential and secret vote, which unanimously allowed the work to be awarded the mention of “cum laude”.

We leave you some links where you can find more information about this PhD:

List of publications:

  • F. Tirado-Andrés, A. Rozas, and A. Araujo, “A Methodology for Choosing Time Synchronization Strategies for Wireless IoT Networks,” Sensors, vol. 19, iss. 16, 2019
  • F. Tirado-Andrés and A. Araujo, “Performance of clock sources and their influence on time synchronization in wireless sensor networks,” International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, vol. 15, iss. 9, 2019.
  • J. H. García-Palacios, I. M. Díaz, J. C. Mosquera, J. M. Soria, and F. Tirado-Andres, “Learning dynamic analysis of structures using handy and affordable equipment. On the way of smart structures,” in IV International Conference on Structural Engineering. Education Without Borders, 2018, pp. 134-142.
  • R. Rodriguez-Zurrunero, F. Tirado-Andres, and A. Araujo, “YetiOS: an Adaptive Operating System for Wireless Sensor Networks,” in 2018 IEEE 43rd Conference on Local Computer Networks Workshops (LCN Workshops), 2018, pp. 16-22.
  • J. García-Palacios, J. M. Soria, I. M. Díaz, and F. Tirado-Andres, “Modal tracking with only a few of sensors: application to a residential building,” in 8th European Workshop On Structural Health Monitoring (EWSHM 2016), 2016.
  • J. García-Palacios, J. M. Soria, I. M. Díaz, and F. Tirado-Andres, “Ambient modal testing of a double-arch dam: the experimental campaign and model updating,” in 13th International Conference on Motion and Vibration Control (MoViC 2016), 2016.
  • J. García-Palacios, F. Tirado-Andres, J. M. Soria, I. M. Díaz, and A. Araujo, “Effects of time synchronization on operational modal analysis,” in 6th International Operational Modal Analysis Conference (IOMAC 2015), 2015.
  • A. Araujo, J. García-Palacios, J. Blesa, F. Tirado, E. Romero, A. Samartín, and O. Nieto-Taladriz, “Wireless Measurement System for Structural Health Monitoring With High Time-Synchronization Accuracy,” IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 61, iss. 3, pp. 801-810, 2012.
  • A. Araujo, F. Tirado-Andres, J. García-Palacios, and J. Blesa, “High precision structural health monitoring system using wireless sensor networks,” in 3rd International Symposium on Life-Cycle Civil Engineering (IALCCE 2012), 2012, p. 1093–1101.
  • J. García-Palacios, A. Samartín, R. Ortega, F. Tirado-Andres, A. Araujo, O. Nieto-Taladriz, J. Blesa, E. Romero, E. Reynders, G. D. Roeck, L. He, and F. Percivale, “Some advances in extensive bridge monitoring using low cost dynamic characterization,” in International Conference on Experimental Vibration Analysis for Civil Engineering Structures (EVACES 2011), 2011, pp. 417-424.