Realization Of Smart Systems Research Articles

Connectors of smart design and smart systems

AbstractThough they can be traced back to different roots, both smart design and smart systems have to do with the recent developments of artificial intelligence. There are two major questions related to them: (i) What way are smart design and smart systems enabled by artificial narrow, general, or super intelligence? and (ii) How can smart design be used in the realization of smart systems? and How can smart systems contribute to smart designing? A difficulty is that there are no exact definitions for these novel concepts in the literature. The endeavor to analyze the current situation and to answer the above questions stimulated an exploratory research whose first findings are summarized in this paper. Its first part elaborates on a plausible interpretation of the concept of smartness and provides an overview of the characteristics of smart design as a creative problem solving methodology supported by artificial intelligence. The second part exposes the paradigmatic features and system engineering issues of smart systems, which are equipped with application-specific synthetic system knowledge and reasoning mechanisms. The third part presents and elaborates on a conceptual model of AI-based couplings of smart design and smart systems. The couplings may manifest in various concrete forms in real life that are referred to as “connectors” in this paper. The principal types of connectors are exemplified and discussed. It has been found that smart design tends to manifest as a methodology of blue-printing smart systems and that smart systems will be intellectualized the enablers of implementation of smart design. Understanding the affordances of and creating proper connectors between smart design and smart systems need further explorative research.

Making IoT Run

This article describes how today's manufacturing environments are characterized by an increasing demand for individual products and constantly more product variants. Concomitant, developments in the fields of IT, robotics and artificial intelligence allow the realization of smart systems, which means networked, self-learning, self-regulating and versatile production systems to control this complexity. These developments are referred to as industrial IoT that is acknowledged as “next big thing” in production. Firms face the challenge of lacking guidelines for implementing IoT solutions. Neither the technological prerequisites nor generally applicable procedures for realizing an appropriate technological maturity level of the system-to-be exist. Addressing this deficit, a framework is introduced which systematically implements IoT within manufacturing. The framework presents a guideline for the establishment of structural system understanding, the determination of the target system's technological maturity level from a customer's perspective and, building on this, design implications for smart manufacturing.

TiO2 nanocoatings for architectural heritage: Self-cleaning treatments on historical stone surfaces

The development and application of nano-engineered surface treatments on stones could become a useful tool for the realization of smart systems to better preserve and maintain architectural surfaces. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles can be used to realize transparent self-cleaning coatings applicable directly on preexisting surfaces, limiting cleaning actions and conservation processes, thus reducing their costs. The aim of this investigation is to evaluate the potential use of TiO2 on stone surfaces, especially in the field of architectural heritage. An aqueous colloidal dispersion based on titanium dioxide, obtained by sol–gel and hydrothermal processes, was applied by spray coating on travertine, a limestone largely used in buildings, both historical and modern. The maintenance in the original appearance of treated substrates was evaluated monitoring both colour and gloss changes produced by the treatments. Physical changes induced to stone by titanium dioxide were studied by wettability analyses. The efficiency of TiO2 photocatalysis was assessed by depolluting and soiling removal tests under ultraviolet light. The effects of deposited amount of titania on treated surfaces were also evaluated. Obtained results seem to allow the use of selected TiO2 treatments on the selected substrate, travertine, without altering in an evident and harmful way the original properties of limestone. Photoinduced effects (hydrophilicity, degradation of pollutants and decolourization of soiling) are very evident, and the combination of these properties may lead to an actual self-cleaning effect.