FLINT: Flows for the Internet of Things

New protocols and technologies are continuously competing in the Internet of Things. This has resulted in a fragmented landscape that complicates the integration of different solutions. Standardization efforts try to avoid this problem, however within a certain ecosystem, multiple standards still require integration to enable trans-sector innovation. Moreover, existing devices require transformations to fit in an ecosystem. In this paper, we discuss several integration problems in the field of Low Power Wide Area Networks in the context of the Port of the Future and propose a new distributed platform architecture, called FLINT. FLINT is a framework to program flexible and configurable flows on a per device basis. A flow is constructed from fine-grained components, called adapters. Due to the modularity of an adapter, users can easily integrate existing software. We evaluated FLINT based on five levels of interoperability and show that FLINT can be used to interconnect non-interoperable systems and protocols on every level. We have also implemented FLINT in a container based environment and demonstrated that a basic configuration has a 99% forwarding rate of 17.500 513-byte packets per second, showing that the architecture can deliver good performance.

Highly Transparent and Tunable Antenna Window Using Saltwater for UHF Band Applications

This paper presents a highly optical transparent and tunable liquid antenna for applications on the UHF band. The antenna has high transparency (> 91%), which is achieved through its use of salty water as a conductive medium held within a clear and hollow acrylic rectangular prism, allowing its use as an optical window. To achieve frequency- and beam-tunable characteristics, two advanced configurations of the antenna using dual-port feeding are proposed. The antenna’s performance is simulated and then verified through experiments. Measurement results show that for a basic configuration using single-port feeding, the antenna has a −6 dB bandwidth ranging from 350 to 675 MHz and efficient radiation efficiency (> 60%) over the band. For advanced configurations, a tunable frequency and directional radiation pattern can be achieved with enhancing gain compared to the basic configuration. These results demonstrate the proposed antenna can be used as a bi-functional device, i.e., as atunable antenna and optical window.

Recent Advancement in Power-over-Fiber Technologies

Power-over-fiber is a power transmission technology using optical fibers that offers various features not available in conventional power lines, such as copper wires. The basic configuration of power-over-fiber comprises three key components: light sources, optical fibers, and photovoltaic power converters. This review article presents the features of power-over-fiber and its key components. Moreover, recent advancement in power-over-fiber technologies based on their latest results is introduced, focusing primarily on papers presented at the Optical Wireless and Fiber Transmission Conferences (OWPT) from 2019 to 2021.

Simultaneous Galvanic Generation of Fe2+ Catalyst and Spontaneous Energy Release in the Galvano-Fenton Technique: A Numerical Investigation of Phenol’s Oxidation and Energy Production and Saving

The present paper investigates the potential of the Galvano-Fenton process as an advanced technique in terms of the simultaneous oxidation of a model pollutant, phenol, and the energy release and saving as compared to conventional electrochemical techniques, namely, Fenton, Fenton-like, and Electro-Fenton. A numerical model describing the electrochemical, electrolytic, and phenol’s mineralization reactions is presented. Simulations are conducted to predict the kinetics of ferrous and ferric ions, radicals’ formation, and phenol degradation along with released power. Parametric analysis and comparisons are also performed between the basic configuration of the Galvano-Fenton process and its upgraded version integrating a pre-immersion stage of the electrodes in the electrolyte equivalent to 25% of the total experiment’s duration. The ratio of the initial concentration of H2O2 to the concentration of the released/added Fe2+ catalyst is varied from 10 to 30. The effect of phenol concentration is inspected over the range of 0.188 to 10 mg/L as well. Compared to conventional Fenton-based techniques, the Galvano-Fenton process demonstrated a higher performance by reaching 1.34% of degradation efficiency per released J. This is associated with the generation of hydroxyl radicals of 0.047 nM/released J with initial concentrations of hydrogen peroxide and phenol of 0.187 mM and 2 µM, respectively. Moreover, the integration of the pre-immersion stage allowed the overcoming the barrier of the null degradation rate at the initial instant.

Bullwhip Effect – Logistic Stability Examination in Serial and Arborescent Topologies with Demand Uncertainty and Delay

The paper analyzes the formation of the bullwhip effect in logistic systems as a significant threat to preserving stability in the face of non-negligible goods transport delay and uncertainty of demand and stock records. The popular order-up-to policy is selected as the method governing the goods flow. A dynamic model of entity interaction is constructed and examined, first, analytically, then in numerical tests for various scenarios of practical significance, e.g., a supply chain with external and local demand signals or real-world European goods distribution system. It has been found that the order-up-to policy does not trigger the bullwhip effect despite the delays in the goods delivery in the nominal operating conditions in supply chains. However, in networked environments, even the basic configuration triggers the bullwhip effect.

The Existing Technologies on Anti-Drone Systems

The paper presents the technologies currently available on the market in the field of anti-drone systems (C-RPAS -Counter Remotely Piloted Aircraft System). These include technologies with the help of radar, audio interception systems or via infrared and electro-optical devices, which are limited in remote sensing. The purpose of this paper was to highlight the multitude of factors that can influence the main mission of C-RPAS systems, the detection. Without detection the other features of a C-RPAS system could not be applied. I used specialized documents and studies, but also comparative analysis as research methods. The results of the study confirmed to me the hypothesis that anti-drone systems use in combination, one or more of the technologies (to detect, to recognize, to identify, to locate, to block, to capture or to destroy the drone). The first four (the detection, the recognition, the identification, the localization) are in the basic configuration for any C-RPAS system. In the future, there will be a challenge (for the producers of C-RPAS systems), the capture of the RPAS, especially the military ones. It is also important to prepare the operators / beneficiaries for such systems. They can influence the effectiveness of drone combat missions.

Development of patch stack antenna for CP-SAR sensor

In this paper, we obtain the basic configuration of the left-hand circular polarization (LHCP) array two patches stack triangular truncated microstrip antenna. This construction use the basic corporate feed microstrip-line with modified lossless T-junction power divider on radiating patch for circularly polarized-synthetic aperture radar (CP-SAR) sensor embedded on airspace with compact, small, and simple configuration. The design of Circular Polarization (CP) is realized by truncating the whole three tips and adjusting the parameters of antenna at the resonant frequency, f=5.2 GHz. The results of characteristic performance and S-parameter for the LHCP array two patches stack antenna at the resonant frequency show successively about 7.24 dBic of gain, 1.99 dB of axial ratio (Ar), and -11.43 dB of S-parameter. Moreover, the impedance bandwidth and the 3 dB-Ar bandwidth of this antenna are around 560 MHz (10.77%) and 50 MHz (0.96%), respectively.

High-Speed, Helical and Self-Coiled Dielectric Polymer Actuator

Novel actuator materials are necessary to advance the field of soft robotics. However, since current solutions are limited in terms of strain, strain rate, or robustness, a new actuator type was developed. In its basic configuration, this actuator consisted of four layers and self-coiled into a helix after pre-stretching. The actuator principle was a dielectric polymer actuator. Instead of an elastomer, a thin thermoplastic film, in this case polyethylene, was used as the dielectric and the typically low potential strain was amplified more than 40 times by the helical set-up. In a hot press, the thermoplastic film was joined together with layers of carbon black employed as electrodes and a highly elastic thermoplastic polyurethane film. Once the stack was laser cut into thin strips, they were then stretched over the polyethylene (PE) film’s limit of elasticity and released, thus forming a helix. The manufactured prototype showed a maximum strain of 2% while lifting six times its own weight at actuation frequencies of 3 Hz, which is equivalent to a strain rate of 12%/s. This shows the great potential of the newly developed actuator type. Nevertheless, materials, geometry as well as the manufacturing process are still subject to optimization.

EFFICIENCY OF USING HEAT PUMPS IN AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEMS

This article discusses the relevance of the use of heat pumps in air conditioning systems. The features of the use of passive and active air conditioning schemes with the use of heat pumps are considered. The object of the study is the SCR of an administrative building in the basic configuration and with the use of a heat pump. For a comparative assessment of the energy efficiency of the SCR, a preliminary study was carried out on the choice of the working agent of the heat pump. The paper shows the technical and economic importance of using these circuit solutions for SCR from the point of view of solving energy saving issues and ensuring the safe operation of the system as a whole.

Implementation method for Wireless Signal Transfer Using Wincc and Smart Server in SCADA system

The Utilization of SCADA with PLC system has gained wide interest by several researchers. Currently, in the field of workstation and factories, which require performing the remote access connection or in the situation that regular access cannot be performed. The aim of such accessing is to perform data transfer between different equipment and stations. As a result, this paper presents and demonstrate the methodologies for handling the wireless based signal transfer for SCADA based application. Such configuration would be carried out based on the use of Wincc software and by using and creating a smart server for handling the issue of connecting HMI screen with SCADA component. The steps for performing the basic configuration has been clarified in detail in this work.