Networks of the Future


Book Description

With the ubiquitous diffusion of the IoT, Cloud Computing, 5G and other evolved wireless technologies into our daily lives, the world will see the Internet of the future expand ever more quickly. Driving the progress of communications and connectivity are mobile and wireless technologies, including traditional WLANs technologies and low, ultra-power, short and long-range technologies. These technologies facilitate the communication among the growing number of connected devices, leading to the generation of huge volumes of data. Processing and analysis of such "big data" brings about many opportunities, as well as many challenges, such as those relating to efficient power consumptions, security, privacy, management, and quality of service. This book is about the technologies, opportunities and challenges that can drive and shape the networks of the future. Written by established international researchers and experts, Networks of the Future answers fundamental and pressing research challenges in the field, including architectural shifts, concepts, mitigation solutions and techniques, and key technologies in the areas of networking. The book starts with a discussion on Cognitive Radio (CR) technologies as promising solutions for improving spectrum utilization, and also highlights the advances in CR spectrum sensing techniques and resource management methods. The second part of the book presents the latest developments and research in the areas of 5G technologies and Software Defined Networks (SDN). Solutions to the most pressing challenges facing the adoption of 5G technologies are also covered, and the new paradigm known as Fog Computing is examined in the context of 5G networks. The focus next shifts to efficient solutions for future heterogeneous networks. It consists of a collection of chapters that discuss self-healing solutions, dealing with Network Virtualization, QoS in heterogeneous networks, and energy efficient techniques for Passive Optical Networks and Wireless Sensor Networks. Finally, the areas of IoT and Big Data are discussed, including the latest developments and future perspectives of Big Data and the IoT paradigms.




Intelligent Transportation Systems


Book Description

This book presents cutting-edge work on the most challenging research issues concerning intelligent transportation systems (ITS), introducing selected, highly relevant advanced research on scheduling and real-time communication for vehicular networks, as well as fault tolerance, test beds and simulations for ITS. The authors define new architectures that support cooperative sensing in ITS and offer guidance for the development of a reference end-to-end implementation. The presented results allow advanced traffic and travel management strategies to be formulated on the basis of reliable and real-time input data. The effectiveness of these new strategies, together with the proposed systems, is assessed in field trials and via simulations. The chapters in this book detail new research findings, algorithms, protocols, and the development of an implementation platform for ITS that merges and integrates heterogeneous data sources into a common system. In addition, they provide a set of advanced tools for the control, monitoring, simulation, and prediction of traffic that result in safer, more sustainable, and less congested roads. Work undertaken within the framework of the FP7 project ICSI (Intelligent Cooperative Sensing for Improved traffic efficiency) is also included in the research activities addressed.




Working Around Disruptions of Network Infrastructures


Book Description

As in disasters the availability of information and communication technology services can be severely disrupted, the author explores challenges and opportunities to work around such disruptions. He therefore empirically analyzes how people in disasters use remnants of technology to still communicate their needs. Based on this, he suggests quality attributes whose implementation can support the resilience in technology. To exemplify this he develops iteratively two mobile ad-hoc systems and explores their feasibility and implications for emergency response under close-to-real conditions. Compared to the state of the art both systems are independent from preexisting network infrastructure and run on off-the-shelf smartphones.




Microprocessor 5


Book Description

Since its commercialization in 1971, the microprocessor, a modern and integrated form of the central processing unit, has continuously broken records in terms of its integrated functions, computing power, low costs and energy saving status. Today, it is present in almost all electronic devices. Sound knowledge of its internal mechanisms and programming is essential for electronics and computer engineers to understand and master computer operations and advanced programming concepts. This book in five volumes focuses more particularly on the first two generations of microprocessors, those that handle 4- and 8- bit integers. Microprocessor 5 – the fifth and final volume of this series of books – first presents the hardware and software aspects of the development chain of a microprocessor-based digital system. Finally, to round up the series and offer a historical perspective, the architectures of the first microcomputers are detailed. A comprehensive approach is used, with examples drawn from current and past technologies that illustrate theoretical concepts, making them accessible.







ROBOT 2017: Third Iberian Robotics Conference


Book Description

These volumes of "Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing" highlight papers presented at the "Third Iberian Robotics Conference (ROBOT 2017)". Held from 22 to 24 November 2017 in Seville, Spain, the conference is a part of a series of conferences co-organized by SEIDROB (Spanish Society for Research and Development in Robotics) and SPR (Portuguese Society for Robotics). The conference is focused on Robotics scientific and technological activities in the Iberian Peninsula, although open to research and delegates from other countries. Thus, it has more than 500 authors from 21 countries. The volumes present scientific advances but also robotic industrial applications, looking to promote new collaborations between industry and academia.







Autonomous Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles


Book Description

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being increasingly used in different applications in both military and civilian domains. These applications include surveillance, reconnaissance, remote sensing, target acquisition, border patrol, infrastructure monitoring, aerial imaging, industrial inspection, and emergency medical aid. Vehicles that can be considered autonomous must be able to make decisions and react to events without direct intervention by humans. Although some UAVs are able to perform increasingly complex autonomous manoeuvres, most UAVs are not fully autonomous; instead, they are mostly operated remotely by humans. To make UAVs fully autonomous, many technological and algorithmic developments are still required. For instance, UAVs will need to improve their sensing of obstacles and subsequent avoidance. This becomes particularly important as autonomous UAVs start to operate in civilian airspaces that are occupied by other aircraft. The aim of this volume is to bring together the work of leading researchers and practitioners in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles with a common interest in their autonomy. The contributions that are part of this volume present key challenges associated with the autonomous control of unmanned aerial vehicles, and propose solution methodologies to address such challenges, analyse the proposed methodologies, and evaluate their performance.




Applications of Power Electronics


Book Description

Power electronics technology is still an emerging technology, and it has found its way into many applications, from renewable energy generation (i.e., wind power and solar power) to electrical vehicles (EVs), biomedical devices, and small appliances, such as laptop chargers. In the near future, electrical energy will be provided and handled by power electronics and consumed through power electronics; this not only will intensify the role of power electronics technology in power conversion processes, but also implies that power systems are undergoing a paradigm shift, from centralized distribution to distributed generation. Today, more than 1000 GW of renewable energy generation sources (photovoltaic (PV) and wind) have been installed, all of which are handled by power electronics technology. The main aim of this book is to highlight and address recent breakthroughs in the range of emerging applications in power electronics and in harmonic and electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues at device and system levels as discussed in ‎robust and reliable power electronics technologies, including fault prognosis and diagnosis technique stability of grid-connected converters and ‎smart control of power electronics in devices, microgrids, and at system levels.




Novel Applications of the UWB Technologies


Book Description

Ultra wideband (UWB) communication systems are characterized by high data rates, low cost, multipath immunity, and low power transmission. In 2002, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) legalized low power UWB emission between 3.1 GHz and 10.6 GHz for indoor communication devices stimulating rapid development of UWB technologies and applications. The proposed book Novel Applications of the UWB Technologies consists of 5 parts and 20 chapters concerning the general problems of UWB communication systems, and novel UWB applications in personal area networks (PANs), medicine, radars and localization systems. The book will be interesting for engineers and researchers occupied in the field of UWB technology.