Beacon-less geographic routing made practical: challenges, design guidelines, and protocols - [Topics in ad hoc and sensor networks]

Geographic routing has emerged as one of the most efficient and scalable routing solutions for wireless sensor networks. In traditional geographic routing protocols, each node exchanges periodic one-hop beacons to determine the position of its neighbors. Recent studies proved that these beacons can create severe problems in real deployments due to the highly dynamic and error-prone nature of wireless links. To avoid these problems, new variants of geographic routing protocols that do not require beacons are being proposed. In this article we review some of the latest proposals in the field of beacon-less geographic routing and introduce the main design challenges and alternatives. In addition, we perform an empirical study to assess the performance of beacon-based and beacon-less routing protocols using a real WSN deployment.     

Measuring building façades with a low-cost close-range photogrammetry system

The dimensions of façades and window openings are usually determined by direct measurements using tapes and plummets. These direct methods are time consuming and risky for operators, so indirect approaches are needed. In this paper, we analyse a planar-surface measuring system based on close-range photogrammetry to determine its accuracy and precision. This system is composed of a digital camera and a laser distance meter mounted on a support that allows the laser distance meter to be moved independently of the camera. The proposed system can determine the dimensions of objects. Also, this system provides an estimation of the precision of the calculations for the distances between points. By knowing the uncertainty of their measurements, users can accept or reject the measurement depending on the application tolerance.     

Improving a Cluster Based Directional Channel Model in Realistic Macro-Cell Environment

In this paper a realistic directional channel model that is an extension of the COST 273 channel model is presented. The model uses a cluster of scatterers and visibility region generation based strategy with increased realism, due to the introduction of terrain and clutter information. New approaches for path-loss prediction and line of sight modeling are considered, affecting the cluster path gain model implementation. The new model was implemented using terrain, clutter, street and user mobility information for the city of Lisbon, Portugal. Some of the model’s outputs are presented, mainly path loss and small/large-scale fading statistics.     

The dune size distribution and scaling relations of barchan dune fields

Barchan dunes emerge as a collective phenomena involving the generation of thousands of them in so called barchan dune fields. By measuring the size and position of dunes in Moroccan barchan dune fields, we find that these dunes tend to distribute uniformly in space and follow an unique size distribution function. We introduce an analytical mean-field approach to show that this empirical size distribution emerges from the interplay of dune collisions and sand flux balance, the two simplest mechanisms for size selection. The analytical model also predicts a scaling relation between the fundamental macroscopic properties characterizing a dune field, namely the inter-dune spacing and the first and second moments of the dune size distribution.     

Evaluation of thermodynamic properties using GAB model to describe the desorption process of cocoa beans

The desorption isotherms and thermodynamic properties of cocoa beans were obtained during the drying process of this product. The isotherms were determined by dynamic method for various temperature (25, 35, 45 and 55 °C) and relative humidity (RH) conditions (30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80%). Equilibrium moisture content data were correlated by the Guggenheim–Anderson–de Boer (GAB) model, which presented good fit to the data, according to statistical procedures. Equilibrium moisture content ranged from 5.90 to 16.67 d.b.; it increased with an increment in the RH and decreased with increased temperature at a constant RH. Enthalpy values for each model coefficient were encountered, ranging from ?90.05 to 545.96 kJ kg^?1. The integral isosteric heat of desorption and differential entropy increased with decreased equilibrium moisture content, a tendency also found for Gibbs free energy.     

Physical and mechanical characterization of phyllites and metagreywackes in central Portugal

This work defines the physical and mechanical characteristics of phyllites and metagreywackes belonging to a schist–greywacke complex in central Portugal. The index properties, point load strength, uniaxial compressive strength, slake durability and Schmidt rebound hardness were determined. In general, the metagreywackes gave a higher strength than phyllites with the same weathering degree. Possible correlations and estimation models were established and compared with the equations obtained by different researchers.     

Emission operational strategy for combined cooling,heating, and power systems

Integrated Energy Systems (IES), as technology that use thermal activated components to recover waste heat, are energy systems that offer key solution to global warming and energy security through high overall energy efficiency and better fuel use. Combined Cooling, Heating, and Power (CCHP) Systems are IES that use recovered thermal energy from the prime mover to produce heating and cooling for the building. The CCHP operational strategy is critical and it has to be considered in a well designed system since it defines the ultimate goal for the benefits expected from the system. One of the most common operational strategies is the cost-oriented strategy, which allows the system to operate at the lowest cost. A primary energy strategy (PES) optimizes energy consumption instead of cost. However, as a result of the worldwide concern about global warming, projects that target reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have gained a lot of interest. Therefore, for a CCHP system, an emission strategy (ES) would be an operational strategy oriented to minimize emission of pollutants. In this study, the use of an ES is proposed for CCHP systems targeted to reduce emission of pollutants. The primary energy consumption (PEC) reduction and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission reduction obtained using the proposed ES are compared with results obtained from the use of a PES. Results show that lower emission of CO₂ is achieved with the ES when compared with the PES, which prove the advantage of the ES for the design of CCHP systems targeted to emissions reduction.     

Structured literature image finder: Parsing text and figures in biomedical literature

The SLIF project combines text-mining and image processing to extract structured information from biomedical literature.SLIF extracts images and their captions from published papers. The captions are automatically parsed for relevant biological entities (protein and cell type names), while the images are classified according to their type (e.g., micrograph or gel). Fluorescence microscopy images are further processed and classified according to the depicted subcellular localization.The results of this process can be queried online using either a user-friendly web-interface or an XML-based web-service. As an alternative to the targeted query paradigm, SLIF also supports browsing the collection based on latent topic models which are derived from both the annotated text and the image data.The SLIF web application, as well as labeled datasets used for training system components, is publicly available at http://slif.cbi.cmu.edu.     

Time-varying discrete-time linear systems with bounded rates of variation: Stability analysis and control design

This paper investigates the problems of robust stability analysis and state feedback control design for discrete-time linear systems with time-varying parameters. It is assumed that the time-varying parameters lie inside a polytopic domain and have known bounds on their rate of variation. A convex model is proposed to represent the parameters and their variations as a polytope and linear matrix inequality relaxations that take into account the bounds on the rates of parameter variations are proposed. A feasible solution provides a parameter-dependent Lyapunov function with polynomial dependence on the parameters assuring the robust stability of this class of systems. Extensions to deal with robust control design as well as gain-scheduling by state feedback are also provided in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Numerical examples illustrate the results.