Smart Hub Research Articles

STL4IoT: a statechart template library for IoT system design

The engineering of IoT systems brings about various challenges due to the inherent complexities associated with such heterogeneous systems. In this paper, we propose a library of statechart templates, STL4IoT, for designing complex IoT systems. We have developed atomic statechart components modeling the heterogeneous aspects of IoT systems including sensors, actuators, physical entities, network, and controller. Base system units for smart systems have also been designed. A component for calculating power usage is available in the library. In addition, a smart hub template that controls interactions among multiple IoT systems and manages power consumption has also been proposed. The templates aim to facilitate the modeling and simulation of IoT systems. Our work is demonstrated with a smart home system consisting of a smart hub of lights, a smart microwave, a smart TV, and a smart fire alarm system. We have created a multi statechart with Itemis CREATE based on the proposed templates and components. A smart home simulator has been developed by generating controller code from the statechart and integrating it with a user interface.

Improving energy efficiency for suburban railways: A two-stage scheduling optimization in a rail-EV smart hub

As the scale of suburban rail and electric vehicles (EVs) continues to expand with the revolution of electrification of transportation, park and ride (P&R) facilities are increasingly recognized as critical energy coupling points between suburban rail traction transformers and EV charging stations. However, flexible coordination of the energy distribution among the bidirectional power flow of multiple trains and EVs’ charging demand becomes an urgent issue. In this paper, we establish a rail-EV Smart Energy Hub (SEH) framework integrating trains, ultra-capacitors (UC), and battery-based EVs. An emendable two-stage optimization model is proposed, enabling railways to provide R2X (railway-to-anything) services. The first stage determines the optimal train trajectory and adjusts timetables to minimize the energy consumption of multiple trains. In the second stage, the charging strategy of the EV is coordinated with the charging/discharging scheme of the UC, which takes the train power flow determined in the first stage as input. Meanwhile, the voltage unbalance caused by the railway is constrained to comply with the limits set by IEC/TR 61000-3-13. Case studies based on actual suburban railway lines in China demonstrate that the proposed scheduling optimization approach can significantly reduce the energy consumption of both railways and EVs.

A thematic analysis of the introduction of smart-hub technology to a rural Psychiatry of Old Age Service during Covid-19 lockdowns

IntroductionThe use of smart technology in supporting older adults is a growing field of research. However, there is little qualitative research on the experiences of patients utilizing this technology, particularly those attending psychiatry services.ObjectivesTo explore the experiences of staff and patients utilizing smart-hubs implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic to provide remote audio/visual communication and smart AI personal assistant technology for the management of patients in a rural Psychiatry of Old Age service.MethodsSmart hubs were installed in patient homes and in the Psychiatry of Old Age base during the Covid-19 pandemic when lockdown restrictions limited in-person service provision. Patients and staff utilized the smart hubs for its assistive technology and to engage with each other. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted of 10 staff and 15 patients at 6-12 months following the introduction of the smart hubs and thematic analysis was conducted to generate themes.ResultsThree themes were generated from the thematic analysis: 1) Openness to SMART hub technology, 2) Getting set-up and 3) Keeping SMART. The majority of participants did not have much experience using smart technology prior to the intervention. However, many participants reported that they would be comfortable using technology. The Covid-19 pandemic contributed to the rapid adoption of this intervention within the service with mixed views regarding the smart hub prior to implementation. The role of key individuals such as staff and family was highlighted in supporting older persons with setting-up the smart hub. Technical needs included the need for a strong internet connection and technical limitations were driven by privacy, cost and regional considerations. Many patients were able to utilize the smart hub independently to access interests, therapeutic activities and as a memory aid. The smart hub offered a novel way to connect to services and families and was also seen as a companion by some patients and staff to help address loneliness and isolation. The majority of participants found the use of smart hubs acceptable and were willing to utilize the smart hub in the future as an adjunct to face to face psychiatric interventions. However, suggestions for future use included the need for additional training as users felt that there was more they could do with the smart hub, continued support to manage any challenges and improved information leaflets to better engage users.ConclusionsSmart hub technology offers an alternate means of providing remote and inclusive psychiatric care to older patients unable to access services in person and at risk of deterioration without intervention in the community.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

The Role of Artificial Intelligence on Emerging Technologies & Society

Abstract: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the current emerging technologies. In the history of computing AI has been in the similar role earlier - almost every decade since the 1950s, when the programming language Lisp was invented and used to implement self modifying applications. The second time that AI was described as one of the frontier technologies was in the 1970s, when Expert Systems (ES)were developed Currently in the 2010s, AI is again on the frontier in the form of (self-)learning systems manifesting in robot applications, smart hubs, intelligent data analytic s, etc. Artificial intelligence (AI) is an important technology that supports daily social life and economic activities. It contributes greatly to the sustainable growth of Indian’s economy and solves various social problems. Artificial intelligence refers to the ability of a computer or a computer-enabled robotic system to process information and produce outcomes in a manner similar to the thought process of humans in learning, decision making and solving problems (Intelligence, 2017). By extension, the goal of AI systems is to develop systems capable of tacking complex problems in ways similar to human logic and reasoning.

Research on the Application of Digital Twin in Smart Cities

With the development of technology, digital twin has played a non-negligible positive impact on the development of smart cities. From the mutually influential nature of digital twin and smart city, this paper analyzes the progress of digital twin technology in smart city applications through theory and case studies. The author examines three key cases: city brain, IoT cloud platform, and smart hub, to explore the application of digital twin technology in smart cities. In addition, the paper presents the potential problems of digital twin in smart cities, such as insufficient infrastructure, insufficient systematic data integration and few application scenarios. In future research, the author suggests that digital twin technology holds promise for enabling innovative applications in areas such as environmental protection, security, energy, healthcare, and tourism within smart cities.

SoK: Privacy-enhancing Smart Home Hubs

Smart homes are IoT systems enabling the automation of household operation. The unrestricted collection and processing of data by smart home systems raises legitimate privacy concerns for their users. Over the past decade, there has been significant interest in privacy-enhancing technologies applied at the level of a local smart hub physically located in the home and acting as a gateway between sensors, applications, platform providers, and services in the cloud. The number and variety of projects and research proposals can, however, make their comparison a daunting and unnecessarily complex task. We systematize existing knowledge in this field through the analysis and categorization of 10 industrial and community-contributed systems and 37 research proposals from the literature of the past 11 years. Our results shed light on the diversity of system and trust models considered in the state-of-the-art and on the associated privacy-enhancing technologies. We further identify open research problems and promising approaches that would benefit the smart home hub model and the protection of smart home users’ privacy.

Development of an Intelligent Smart Hub Renewable Generation System (ISHRGS) for both Urban and Rural Centres in Offa, Kwara State

Intelligent smart grids combine the generation, storage and consumption of energy systems. The opportunities to generate renewable energy from wind, solar and hydropower are generally higher in rural areas than in cities. The future development of the energy system is based on the planning and management of the distribution grid according to the Smart Hub (SH) component. This study comprehensively reviews the accessibility to the generation of electricity and the accessibility of renewable generation systems in urban and rural centres in Offa. It also examines the potential of an intelligent smart hub renewable generation system (ISHRGS) resources in Offa, Kwara State, that harnesses continuous energy supply and sustainability. Therefore, the historical background of the energy distribution in Offa, which led to this approach, is briefly presented with a comprehensive schematic diagram. Using a typical hypothetical example, modelling different components of SH and using them together to optimize ISHRGS using a genetic algorithm is presented. However, the study compares ISHRGS to different rural development approaches based on the feature of high adaptability to meet the temporal needs efficiently, and the parts reflect the intelligent character of the smart hub concerning electricity demand in the region.

A probabilistic framework for the techno-economic assessment of smart energy hubs for electric vehicle charging

Smart energy hubs (Smart Hubs) equipped with Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) charging, photovoltaic (PV) energy generation, and hydrogen storage capabilities, are an emerging technology with potential to alleviate the impact of electric vehicles (EV) on the electricity grid. Their operation, however, is characterised by intermittent PV energy generation, as well as uncertainties in EV traffic and driver preference. These uncertainties, when combined with the need to maximise their financial return while guaranteeing driver satisfaction, yields a challenging decision-making problem. This paper presents a novel Monte-Carlo-based modelling and computational framework for simulating the operation of Smart Hubs — providing a means for a holistic assessment of their technical and financial viability. The framework utilises a compact and representative mathematical model, accounting for power losses, PV module degradation, variability in EV uptake, price inflation, driver preference, and diversity in charge points and EVs. It provides a comprehensive approach for dealing with uncertainties and dependencies in EV data while being built on an energy management algorithm that maximises revenue generation, ensures driver satisfaction, and preserves battery life. The energy management problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming problem constituting a business case that includes an adequate V2G reward model for drivers. To demonstrate its applicability, the framework was used to assess the financial viability of a fleet management site, for various caps on vehicle stay at the site. From the assessment, controlled charging was found to be more financially rewarding in all cases, yielding between 1.7% and 3.1% more revenue than uncontrolled charging. The self-consumption of the site was found to be nearly 100%, due mainly to local load shifting and dispatchable hydrogen generation. V2G injection was, however, negligible — suggesting its unattractiveness for sites that do not participate in the demand side response market. Overall, the numerical results obtained validate the applicability of the proposed framework as a decision-support tool in the sustainable design and operation of Smart Hubs for EV charging.

The influence of smart equipment Smart Hub over highway traffic in the Romanian border points

The pandemic event introduces some changes in the control procedures from Romanian highway network border points. The cargo flow is controlled on the output and input direction using a set of goods scales. This process generates a very long queue on Romanian Highway Network for cargo trucks with a negative impact for users and highway infrastructure. The use of data provided by road traffic information collection equipment, located on the highway and the implementation of smart equipment for their management and control of traffic management equipment can lead to the elimination of these negative aspects. To prove the need to implement this system a simulation model was developed, and a series of results were generated using real data collected from the highway for different operating scenarios.

Security and Privacy Issues of Home Globalization

Over the last few years, people have been reshaping their homes into smart hubs owing to a wide array of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, including interconnected lights, locks, sensors, cameras, actuators, wearables, and appliances accessible through the Internet that can be controlled locally via voice or remotely though mobile phones. As a consequence, modern smart homes are complex internetworks of laptops, mobile phones, game consoles, wearable equipment, and various consumer IoT nodes, which can be used for work, health, safety, and entertainment purposes. This transformation culminated in globalized homes that can be accessed from anywhere. Although the globalization process showcases many benefits, it also renders homes more insecure and less private places where individuals are exposed to an increasing variety of threats from the outside world.

Exploiting Biomedical Sensors for a Home Monitoring System for Paediatric Patients with Congenital Heart Disease

Congenital heart disease, the most frequent malformation at birth, is usually not fatal but leads to multiple hospitalisations and outpatient visits, with negative impact on the quality of life and psychological profile not only of children but also of their families. In this paper, we describe the entire architecture of a system for remotely monitoring paediatric/neonatal patients with congenital heart disease, with the final aim of improving quality of life of the whole family and reducing hospital admissions. The interesting vital parameters for the disease are ECG, heart rate, oxygen saturation, body temperature and body weight. They are collected at home using some biomedical sensors specifically selected and calibrated for the paediatric field. These data are then sent to the smart hub, which proceeds with the synchronisation to the remote e-Health care center. Here, the doctors can log and evaluate the patient’s parameters. Preliminary results underline the sensor suitability for children and infants and good usability and data management of the smart-hub technology (E@syCare). In the clinical trial, some patients from the U.O.C. Paediatric and Adult Congenital Cardiology- Monasterio Foundation are enrolled. They receive a home monitoring kit according to the group they belong to. The trial aims to evaluate the effects of the system on quality of life. Psychological data are collected through questionnaires filled in by parents/caregivers in self-administration via the gateway at the beginning and at the end of the study. Results highlight an overall improvement in well-being and sleep quality, with a consequent reduction in anxious and stressful situations during daily life thanks to telemonitoring. At the same time, users reported a good level of usability, ease of data transmission and management of the devices.

Internet of Things: A Secure Cloud-based MANET Mobility Model

Connected devices such as Smart Home Automation Gateway, Smart Air Conditioners, Smart Hubs, Smart Thermostat, Color Changing Smart Lights, Smart Mobile phones, Smart Watches and Smart Tablets, etc. are omnipresent in our everyday lives and are becoming a valuable tool with wireless networking features using different wireless protocols commonly used. Access points allow interactions between users within an Internet of Things ecosystem infrastructure. These smart devices are automatically connected, and a network is formed by themselves. However, there are many challenges throughout this established network of its own for secure communication. Security has been perceived as a popular barrier to adopting the cloud model of internet realism. The storage and resource management may be in the cloud environment is a distributed structure that places the world in a raised situation with many concerns over its weaknesses, security risks and difficulties. Different participation parties have broadened those issues depending on the viewpoint and goal of each party. The author primarily addresses the causes of challenges and difficulties related to security, reliability, privacy and availability of services from the Cloud point of view. Connectivity Security has been identified as one of cloud computing's most critical issues where resolving such an issue would result in constant growth in the use and popularity of cloud computation. The purpose of this study is to build a mobile ad hoc network mobility model framework using cloud computing to provide secure Internet of Things communication between smart devices. The major contribution relates a new methodology to ensure secure communication with the 5G network of smart devices using the internet. The approach uses a desired study's accurate and effective simulation and can be applied in an Internet of Things structure. This research would create a new connectivity architecture to address the problem of secure communication between smart devices in 5G networking.

WHEN BUSINESS AND BUSINESS SCHOOLS UNITE TO CREATE UNIQUENESS: STAKEHOLDER RELATIONSHIPS IN BUSINESS HUBS EMBEDDED IN HIGHER EDUCATION BUSINESS INSTITUTIONS

This research is conducted on a smart hub embedded in a business school, in a regional location, of a higher education institution. The two themes that emerged from this research are that the smart hub increased work satisfaction (theme 1) and also personal satisfaction (theme 2). The results show there are three distinctly unique factors that smart hub employees experienced by being in a business school, these included (1) external interactions with the institute’s personnel (staff and students), (2) mutual benefits of engagement with smart hub employees and finally (3) the natural environment and facilities provided by the institution. Using the two themes of work and personal satisfaction, as well as the 3 unique factors, the research identified the “Unique Mutual Alliance Factors” (UMAF)

Internet of Things: A Secure Cloud-based MANET Mobility Model

Connected devices such as Smart Home Automation Gateway, Smart Air Conditioners, Smart Hubs, Smart Thermostat, Color Changing Smart Lights, Smart Mobile phones, Smart Watches and Smart Tablets, etc. are omnipresent in our everyday lives and are becoming a valuable tool with wireless networking features using different wireless protocols commonly used. Access points allow interactions between users within an Internet of Things ecosystem infrastructure. These smart devices are automatically connected, and a network is formed by themselves. However, there are many challenges throughout this established network of its own for secure communication. Security has been perceived as a popular barrier to adopting the cloud model of internet realism. The storage and resource management may be in the cloud environment is a distributed structure that places the world in a raised situation with many concerns over its weaknesses, security risks and difficulties. Different participation parties have broadened those issues depending on the viewpoint and goal of each party. The author primarily addresses the causes of challenges and difficulties related to security, reliability, privacy and availability of services from the Cloud point of view. Connectivity Security has been identified as one of cloud computing's most critical issues where resolving such an issue would result in constant growth in the use and popularity of cloud computation. The purpose of this study is to build a mobile ad hoc network mobility model framework using cloud computing to provide secure Internet of Things communication between smart devices. The major contribution relates a new methodology to ensure secure communication with the 5G network of smart devices using the internet. The approach uses a desired study's accurate and effective simulation and can be applied in an Internet of Things structure. This research would create a new connectivity architecture to address the problem of secure communication between smart devices in 5G networking.

Implementation of Smart Home using Wi-Fi to IR through MQTT

As there is an advancement in wireless communication there is a wide development in embedding all the devices together and controlling them through a single device. Home automation is a smart system that has been becoming more popular in the present era, where all the devices related to the home are controlled remotely through a Smart Hub. The aim of the project is to develop a Smart Hub and to control multiple IR devices through a Smart Hub using Wi-Fi to IR through MQTT, because it is inconvenient to use multiple remotes for multiple IR devices. Smart Hub consists of peripherals ESP-WROOM-32D (Microcontroller), RT400, IR transmitter, IR receiver, LDR(Light Dependent Resistor) and LM35 as Temperature sensor. All the controlling of these integrated devices can be controlled through a smart phone or tablet. This technology uses ESP-WROOM-32D and web server using mobile phone or tablet having a specific application, one can control the smart system from anywhere or with in a home remotely. This paper describes about the automation of home for a specific electronic devices having IR Transceiver like Television, Air conditioner, Dish box, DVD player and many more. This paper also describes how MQTT protocol is used for the implementation of the present prototype using ESP-WROOM-32D. The other scenario is when we don’t have the IR Transceiver devices like light, fan etc and the devices which are manually operated through electrical switches also can be controlled through IR Transceiver, Arduino and Relays.

A Proposal of the Smart Hubs Scenarios of Smart Home Users in the Near Future Based on the Use Patterns

A Proposal of the Smart Hubs Scenarios of Smart Home Users in the Near Future Based on the Use Patterns

An Investigation into the Magnitude of Vibrations and Their Causes in a Multi-use Heritage Building Using Caption Data CDL Smart Hub

The Natural History Museum (NHM), London, is comprised of a range of buildings, the oldest and most imposing being the Alfred Waterhouse building which was completed in1881 and the most recent a co...

Modelling a Possibility Framework of a Smart Self Sustainable Hybrid Power Generation System for a Typical Residential Loading

Generation of electricity using fossil fuels could be regarded as the greatest invention of mankind. However, with the depletion of this resource and also due to the effect of burning fossil fuels on the environment, it is imperative to find an alternative to generating electricity for local consumption using non-fossil fuel methods. In the bid to key into the global idea of power generation decarburization and also smart distribution system through the internet of things (IOT), this paper presents an active redundancy possibility framework for generating constant electricity from the motor-generator (M-G) and the battery-inverter (B-I) systems. The specifications of each component can be obtained from design models presented in this paper. The functionality of the system is achieved through the smart home distribution hub (SHDH). Each unit are modeled and simulated to obtain the transfer functions. The result of the residential loading is presented. The simulation results show that the system is achievable and also stable under circumstances which are being monitored and controlled by the smart hub. The framework presented in this paper has proved to be a viable and smart alternative source of electric energy for residential loading.

Development of an industrial Internet of things suite for smart factory towards re-industrialization

Re-industrialization, which supports industrial upgrading and transformation, promotes smart production and high value-added manufacturing processes, and helps to create new momentum for the economic. Under the current situation, industrialists encounter several challenges to achieve re-industrialization. Firstly, the cost and technical thresholds for industrialists to leverage emerging technologies are high. Secondly, there are huge quantities and numerous types of Internet of things (IoT) devices in smart factories, warehouses and offices. The enormous extents of data exchange and communication, management, monitoring and control of IoT devices as well as the establishment and maintenance of a reliable cloud platform hinder industrialists to implement an integrated smart production management. Therefore, to achieve re-industrialization, an industrial Internet of things (IIoT) suite consisting of a micro-services-based IIoT cloud platform and IIoT-based smart hub is proposed, which helps to materialize re-industrialization and to conduct industrial upgrading and transformation to achieve smart production and high value-added manufacturing processes.

Demand side management scheme in smart grid with cloud computing approach using stochastic dynamic programming

Summary This paper proposes a cloud computing framework in smart grid environment by creating small integrated energy hub supporting real time computing for handling huge storage of data. A stochastic programming approach model is developed with cloud computing scheme for effective demand side management (DSM) in smart grid. Simulation results are obtained using GUI interface and Gurobi optimizer in Matlab in order to reduce the electricity demand by creating energy networks in a smart hub approach.