Integrating Sensor Nodes into a Middleware for Ambient Intelligence

The development of infrastructures enabling dynamic and automated composition of IT systems is a big challenge. This paper addresses a new idea of allowing component-based systems to reconfigure themselves. Therefore, the authors propose DAiSI - a Dynamic Adaptive System Infrastructure for dynamic integration of components as well as their reconfiguration during runtime. Thereby, one of the features of the infrastructure is that it is capable of binding components based on their availability. In this paper the authors concentrate on presenting how resource constrained sensor nodes can be integrated into a system using this infrastructure.

How can Telemedicine Benefit from Broadband Technologies?

The present chapter focuses on some aspects of the state of the art of telemedicine systems and their use over broadband. It starts with a brief summary of the most popular telecommunication technologies to give the reader an overview of today’s broadband technology and methods. Some important deployment data are included showing the global growth and use in many countries. Results of very significant pilot projects using videocommunication implemented in Italy and in Europe are taken into consideration, demonstrating the benefits of the patient’s psychological status in conjunction with health care assistance. The chapter proposition is to show a business model, based on an Italian reality exploiting the Marche region population development and healthcare statistics. The simulation example is the adaptation of telemedicine solution for early hospital discharge applied to a public healthcare structure, typically a hospital. The model takes into account the possible adaptation of an “early discharge solution” implemented with portable telemonitoring light videocommunication terminals, which, thanks to broadband availability, may be installed at the patient’s home for a predefined period (typically 7 to 10 days). The simulation aims to highlight and dimension cost reduction or, in a more appropriate view, give the percentage of resource that can be relocated to provide a better service and how a national healthcare service may take advantage of these scenarios.

Error Probability for Coherent Modulations in Rician Fading Channel

Simple closed-form solutions for the average error rate of several coherent modulation schemes including square M-QAM, DBPSK and QPSK operating over slow flat Rician fading channel are derived. Starting from a novel unified expression of conditional error probability the error rates are analysed using PDF based approach. The derived end expressions composed of infinite series summations of Gauss hypergeometric function are accurate, free from any numerical integration and general enough, as it encompasses as special situations, some cases of non-diversity and Rayleigh fading. Error probabilities are graphically displayed for the modulation schemes for different values of the Rician parameter K. In addition, to examine the dependence of error rate performance of M-QAM on the constellation size, numerical results are plotted for various values of M. The generality of the analytical results presented offers valuable insight into the performance evaluation over a fading channel in a unified manner.

Distributed Algorithms for Delay Bounded Minimum Energy Wireless Broadcasting

In this article, we investigate two different distributed algorithms for constructing a minimum power broadcast tree with a maximum depth ? which corresponds to the maximum tolerable end-to-end delay in the network. Distributed Tree Expansion (DTE) is based on an implementation of a distributed minimum spanning tree algorithm in which the tree grows at each iteration by adding a node that can cover the maximum number of currently uncovered nodes in the network with minimum incremental transmission power and without violating the delay constraint. In Distributed Link Substitution (DLS), given a feasible broadcast tree, the solution is improved by replacing expensive transmissions by transmissions at lower power levels while reserving the feasibility of the tree with respect to the delay bound. Although DTE increases the message complexity to O(n3) from O(n2?) in a network of size n, it provides up to 50% improvement in total expended power compared to DLS.

On the Impact of Network Dynamics on a Discovery Protocol for Ad-Hoc Networks

A very promising approach to discovering services and context information in ad-hoc networks is based on the use of Attenuated Bloom filters. In this paper we analyze the impact of changes in the connectivity of an ad-hoc network on this approach. We evaluate the performance of the discovery protocol while nodes appear, disappear, and move, through analytical and simulative analysis. The analytical results are shown to be accurate when node density is high. We show that an almost linear relation exists between the density of the network and the number of update messages to be exchanged. Further, in case of nodes moving, the number of messages exchanged does not increase with the speed of movement.

On Peer-to-Peer Location Management in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

Vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) have been gained importance for the inter-vehicle communication that supports local communication between vehicles without any expensive infrastructure and considerable configuration efforts. How to provide light-weight and scalable location management service which facilitates geographic routing in VANETs remains a fundamental issue. In this paper we will present a novel peer-to-peer location management protocol, called PLM, to provide location management service in VANETs. PLM makes use of high mobility in VANETs to disseminate vehicles’ historical location information over the network. A vehicle is able to predict current location of other vehicles with Kalman filtering technique. Our theoretical analysis shows that PLM is able to achieve high location information availability with a low protocol overhead and latency. The simulation results indicate that PLM can provide fairly accurate location information with quite low communication overhead in VANETs

Developing an Innovative Curriculum to Prepare Networking Professionals for the Global Marketplace

The need for business managers with strong information technology (IT) skills in general, and data communication and networking skills in particular, is now high and will be even greater in the years to come. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2007), occupations in the area of network systems and data communications analysis are projected to increase 55% by 2014. Given the trend in business to leverage information technology to decrease costs and increase efficiency in all functional areas, this demand is understandable. What is more difficult to understand is the lack of response to this demand by university IT departments as reflected in their curriculums (Hawk, 2005.) In this article we describe how one information and technology management department has attempted to meet the challenge of integrating networking skills in a coordinated fashion over a wide variety of courses to, at least in part, better prepare their students for the demands they are certain to face when they graduate.

Complexity Factors in Networked and Virtual Working Environments

Working environments are changing from the traditional model. An increasing amount of work takes place in networked and virtual environments which are not tied to one place and time. The work environment is defined “virtual,” when the employee uses information and communication technology (ICT) for collaboration (Vartiainen, 2006). The planning of working conditions becomes challenging task for managers and ICT tool developers, because there is a lack of understanding the consequences of emerging virtual work. The capacity of workers to percept and process information is burdened with the complexity and high demands of working life. Knowledge of the complexity factors of the overall work system is essential for an in depth understanding of human working capabilities and limitations (Kleiner, 2006). The complexity of work is usually considered as a factor related to the task. At the one end the task is creative and demanding and at the other end it is simple and routine-like. The expanded complexity concept also takes into account the working environment that can be different combinations of physical, virtual, social and cultural spaces. The purpose of this article is to present a framework to analyse the complexity factors in networked and virtual working environments. The approach developed in this article is intended to be generic in order to be applicable to various kinds of organisations and networks for the purpose of management. It is important that the working conditions of workers can be planned in advance to provide workers with appropriate ICT tools and data networks to enable efficient cooperation in networks in a way that the workload can be limited to a sustainable level. The described framework is assessed using the case of the Turku University of Applied Sciences (TUAS).

Management of a Virtual Construction Management Services Company

Networking is the organizational form of the information age. Network organizations signify a form of collaboration designed to facilitate economic exchange and to provide an environment for interaction between people (social exchange). Economic actors are likely to sacrifice some of their own preferences in the pursuit of collective goals (Fleisch & Österle, 2000; Franke, 2001). Network organizations are characterized by (1) a purpose and shared goals unifying members, (2) independent members benefiting from being part of a whole, (3) voluntary links between members, (4) multiple leaders providing greater resilience, and (5) many levels integrating organizations, units, and people. From an intra-organizational perspective, networks are the collections of individuals and sub-units within one and the same organizational boundaries. From an interorganizational perspective, networks are the collections of more or less independent individual economic actors such as, companies, institutions, and research organizations (Franke, 2001). Three network types involve (1) internal networks as the loose associations of autonomous groups and teams, (2) stable networks where focal firms engage in long-term relationships with external suppliers or partners, and (3) dynamic networks as the temporary alliances of independent firms with key skills usually organized around a leading or brokering firm based on the exploitation of market opportunities.

Telecommunication Customer Demand Management

In the highly competitive environment, the real-time and dynamic customer demand analysis technology is required by the enterprise information systems in order to respond to customer demand efficiently and automatically. Based on a customer value hierarchy model, this chapter proposes a customer demand analysis method and proposes ways to capture customer demand knowledge. Then, we present a novel product recommendation approach, which involves the customer value hierarchy model into traditional recommender systems. Through the above steps, the telecom operators can get their customer demand and respond to their demand automatically.