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- A more efficient technique to power home monitoring systems using controlled battery chargingPublication . Azevedo, Joaquim Amândio; Santos, Filipe EdgarHome energy monitoring has recently become a very important issue and a means to reduce energy consumption in the residential sector. Sensors and control systems are deployed at various locations in a house and an intelligent system is used to efficiently manage the consumed energy. Low power communication systems are used to provide low power consumption from a smart meter. Several of these systems are battery operated. Other systems use AC/DC adapters to supply power to sensors and communication systems. However, even using low-power technology, such as ZigBee, the power consumption of a router can be high because it must always be powered on. In this work, to evaluate power consumption, a system for monitoring energy usage and indoor air quality was developed. A technique is proposed to efficiently supply power to the components of the system. All sensor nodes are battery operated, and relays are used to control the battery charging process. In addition, an energy harvesting system based on solar energy was developed to power the proposed system.
- Adapted raised cosine window function for array factor control with dynamic range ratio limitationPublication . Santos, Filipe E. S.; Azevedo, Joaquim A. R.The use of window functions to improve the side lobe level of antenna arrays is hindered by high value of excitation currents dynamic range ratio. This paper proposes a fast and iterative window function generation strategy aimed at achieving improved side lobe level starting from a preset current dynamic range ratio. Based on this strategy a new window function is developed for standard set of conditions.
- Performance evaluation of directional antennas in ZigBee networks under NLOS propagation conditionsPublication . Azevedo, Joaquim Amândio; Santos, FilipeMany authors suggest directional antennas to enhance the transmission performance of ZigBee networks. For line-of-sight propagation, directional antennas can extend the transmission range or reduce the transmit power. Directional antennas may also reduce interference between networks operating in the same frequency channel. However, these antennas may not perform similarly under non-line-of-sight propagation conditions. This work presents a study with ZigBee modules comparing the performance of a directional antenna with an omnidirectional one. The measurements were conducted on a university campus for different propagation outdoor environ ments. A deconvolution technique was applied to estimate the received signal as a function of the azimuth angle. The results demonstrated that the received power followed the gain difference between antennas only for paths with low attenuation. Considering the same Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP), the system with directional antennas started to lose packets at the same distance as the omnidirectional antennas. The directional antenna did not allow the increase in the link range compared to the omnidirectional antenna. The power consumption was also measured for different transmit power levels of the ZigBee radio. The study showed that the control circuits of directional antennas typically consume more power than omnidirectional antennas operating at a higher transmit power level.
- A model to estimate the path loss in areas with foliage of treesPublication . Azevedo, Joaquim A.; Santos, Filipe E.This paper presents an empirical model to predict attenuation in forest environments considering parameters related to vegetation. Typically, environmental parameters are only included in theoretical models, but they are more difficult to apply. The developed model uses tree density, average tree canopy diameter and foliage density as input parameters. The foliage density is very difficult to determine since it depends on the characteristics of trees. A simple metric of this parameter was obtained by measuring the background light silhouetted by the canopy. The model was developed with measurements obtained in different forest environments for two frequencies within the UHF band (Ultra High Frequency). A procedure was also applied to extend the operating frequency range of the model.
- An empirical propagation model for forest environments at tree trunk levelPublication . Azevedo, Joaquim A. R.; Santos, Filipe E. S.The estimation of the received signal strength inside forest environments is very dependent on the vegetation density. However, most published empirical models only provide calculation of the path loss as a function of distance and frequency. The importance of these models is their simplicity. This paper presents a model that was developed from an extensive measurement campaign carried out for different vegetation densities and types of trees. Noting the typical decaying behaviour of signal propagation, the objective was to estimate the main parameters of the log-normal model that fits the measured data. Since in many applications both the transmitter and the receiver are inside the forest, the propagation path is mainly characterized by tree trunks. In this case, it was found that the signal attenuation is dependent on the vegetation density, defined by the product of the tree density and the average diameter of the trunks. In addition to the measurements used to develop the model, other experiments were conducted to test it. The study also included a comparison with other methods in order to evaluate the performance of the model.
- Sleeping ZigBee networks at the application layerPublication . Azevedo, Joaquim; Rodrigues, Maurício; Santos, Filipe; Aguiar, LuísZigBee/IEEE 802.15.4 is one of the most used standards for low-power applications. However, full function devices must be always active to route data in a mesh network. The objective of this work is to implement a sleeping technique at the application layer that enables sleep mode for all nodes of a ZigBee network. A time synchronisation mechanism to deal with the clock drift of the sensor nodes was developed. The technique also enables the recovery of lost messages. A large network is organised into smaller groups to reduce latency and packet collisions. The active interval of each node is dynamically adapted to the network operation to optimise the energy consumption. The proposed technique was applied to a real testbed and the increase in energy efficiency was evaluated. The results demonstrated energy savings of about 95% for networks containing up to 20 nodes per group and wake up periods longer than 2 min
- Impact of the antenna directivity on path loss for different propagation environmentsPublication . Azevedo, Joaquim Amândio; Santos, Filipe Edgar; Sousa, Tony Andres; Agrela, Jenny ManuelaLog-normal is a very common propagation model used to estimate the path loss introduced by a given environment. However, in most cases the parameters of the model are antenna specific. In this work, it is shown that the path loss exponent is highly dependent on the antenna pair used in the communication system. Large errors are introduced in the prediction of the path loss if the antennas are different from those used to obtain the parameters of the propagation model. An improved model is developed for the 2.4 GHz industrial, scientific and medical band to estimate the path loss exponent for different antenna directivities knowing the path loss exponent of a reference antenna. The model uses the antenna beamwidth and the antenna gain to obtain a parameter related to the path loss.
- Implementation of a hydric energy harvesting system for wireless sensor networksPublication . Santos, Filipe; Azevedo, Joaquim
- Monitorização de provas de educação físicaPublication . Santos, Filipe Edgar Sousa; Azevedo, Joaquim Amândio RodriguesO presente trabalho tem por objectivo desenvolver um sistema de monitorização de provas de educação física e do ambiente circundante. Neste projecto desenvolveu-se um protótipo para uma Rede de Sensores Sem Fios (RSSF) que realiza a monitorização, em tempo real, do esforço e desempenho da actividade física dos atletas e das características físicas do ambiente. Estudou-se o funcionamento das RSSF, baseadas no protocolo ZigBee, e foram desenvolvidos módulos de monitorização de atletas e ambiente que integram esta tecnologia como meio de comunicação. O módulo de monitorização de atletas é composto por acelerómetro, sensor de batimento cardíaco e GPS. Inclui um serviço de localização secundário a partir do received signal strenght indicator (RSSI) caso o serviço de GPS estiver indisponível. O módulo de monitorização ambiental é composto por vários sensores que monitorizam: humidade, temperatura, luminosidade, monóxido de carbono, dióxido de carbono e oxigénio. Cada módulo de monitorização ambiental foi munido com Bluetooth, por forma a que os atletas, sempre que no alcance da rede, possam com o próprio telemóvel consultar o valor actual dos parâmetros ambientais e a sua localização. Estes dados são medidos e transmitidos periodicamente, em tempo real, pela rede ZigBee para uma estação base acoplada a um computador. Os dados são armazenados e processados e os resultados são disponibilizados através de uma aplicação no computador local e de uma página na Internet. Neste trabalho verifica-se que a RSSF, que utiliza o protocolo ZigBee, é capaz de realizar comunicação entre atletas, sensores ambientais e computador com baixo consumo energético, optimizando a autonomia pretendida. Este sistema de RSSF integrado com a tecnologia sensorial actual, permite o desenvolvimento de módulos com um elevado nível de funcionalidades em dimensões relativamente reduzidas.