WSN Hardware for Automotive Applications: Preliminary Results for the Case of Public Transportation

Microcontroller Unit-Based Wireless Sensor Network Nodes: A Review

In this paper, a detailed review of microcontroller unit (MCU)-based wireless sensor node platforms from recently published research articles is presented. Despite numerous research efforts in the fast-growing field of wireless sensor devices, energy consumption remains a challenge that limits the lifetime of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology utilizes WSNs for providing an efficient sensing and communication infrastructure. Thus, a comparison of the existing wireless sensor nodes is crucial. Of particular interest are the advances in the recent MCU-based wireless sensor node platforms, which have become diverse and fairly advanced in relation to the currently available commercial WSN platforms. The recent wireless sensor nodes are compared with commercially available motes. The commercially available motes are selected based on a number of criteria including popularity, published results, interesting characteristics and features. Of particular interest is to understand the trajectory of development of these devices and the technologies so as to inform the research and application directions. The comparison is mainly based on processing and memory specifications, communication capabilities, power supply and consumption, sensor support, potential applications, node programming and hardware security. This paper attempts to provide a clear picture of the progress being made towards the design of autonomous wireless sensor nodes to avoid redundancy in research by industry and academia. This paper is expected to assist developers of wireless sensor nodes to produce improved designs that outperform the existing motes. Besides, this paper will guide researchers and potential users to easily make the best choice of a mote that best suits their specific application scenarios. A discussion on the wireless sensor node platforms is provided, and challenges and future research directions are also outlined.

A Smart Information System for Passengers of Urban Transport Based on IoT

Several developed countries have implemented smart systems for public transport that provide mobility services for citizens. Most of these systems use special infrastructures to determine the location of citizens and public buses. However, the implementation of these systems does not take into account the poor infrastructure of developing countries. In Mexico, Urban Passenger Transport has insufficient transport units to meet the demand of passengers who move throughout the day, and these do not consider hardware infrastructure. Our solution is focused on inexpensive devices that are accessible to citizens, such as mobile phones. In this research work, a smart information system for passengers of urban transport is presented that allows passengers to know the expected arrival times and also to know the availability of seats on the bus that is heading towards their position. The solution was evaluated with real routes, and the results are promising for a pilot project to be put in practice.

A Survey on the Application of WirelessHART for Industrial Process Monitoring and Control

Industrialization has led to a huge demand for a network control system to monitor and control multi-loop processes with high effectiveness. Due to these advancements, new industrial wireless sensor network (IWSN) standards such as ZigBee, WirelessHART, ISA 100.11a wireless, and Wireless network for Industrial Automation-Process Automation (WIA-PA) have begun to emerge based on their wired conventional structure with additional developments. This advancement improved flexibility, scalability, needed fewer cables, reduced the network installation and commissioning time, increased productivity, and reduced maintenance costs compared to wired networks. On the other hand, using IWSNs for process control comes with the critical challenge of handling stochastic network delays, packet drop, and external noises which are capable of degrading the controller performance. Thus, this paper presents a detailed study focusing only on the adoption of WirelessHART in simulations and real-time applications for industrial process monitoring and control with its crucial challenges and design requirements.

Six-Gear Roadmap towards the Smart Factory

The fourth industrial revolution is the transformation of industrial manufacturing into smart manufacturing. The advancement of digital technologies that make the trend Industry 4.0 are considered as the transforming force that will enable this transformation. However, Industry 4.0 digital technologies need to be connected, integrated and used effectively to create value and to provide insightful information for data driven manufacturing. Smart manufacturing is a journey and requires a roadmap to guide manufacturing organizations for its adoption. The objective of this paper is to review different methodologies and strategies for smart manufacturing implementation to propose a simple and a holistic roadmap that will support the transition into smart factories and achieve resilience, flexibility and sustainability. A comprehensive review of academic and industrial literature was preformed based on multiple stage approach and chosen criteria to establish existing knowledge in the field and to evaluate latest trends and ideas of Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing technologies, techniques and applications in the manufacturing industry. These criteria are sub-grouped to fit within various stages of the proposed roadmap and attempts to bridge the gap between academia and industry and contributes to a new knowledge in the literature. This paper presents a conceptual approach based on six stages. In each stage, key enabling technologies and strategies are introduced, the common challenges, implementation tips and case studies of industrial applications are discussed to potentially assist in a successful adoption. The significance of the proposed roadmap serve as a strategic practical tool for rapid adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies for smart manufacturing and to bridge the gap between the advanced technologies and their application in manufacturing industry, especially for SMEs.

Smart Manufacturing Real-Time Analysis Based on Blockchain and Machine Learning Approaches

The growth of data production in the manufacturing industry causes the monitoring system to become an essential concept for decision-making and management. The recent powerful technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), which is sensor-based, can process suitable ways to monitor the manufacturing process. The proposed system in this research is the integration of IoT, Machine Learning (ML), and for monitoring the manufacturing system. The environmental data are collected from IoT sensors, including temperature, humidity, gyroscope, and accelerometer. The data types generated from sensors are unstructured, massive, and real-time. Various big data techniques are applied to further process of the data. The hybrid prediction model used in this system uses the Random Forest classification technique to remove the sensor data outliers and donate fault detection through the manufacturing system. The proposed system was evaluated for automotive manufacturing in South Korea. The technique applied in this system is used to secure and improve the data trust to avoid real data changes with fake data and system transactions. The results section provides the effectiveness of the proposed system compared to other approaches. Moreover, the hybrid prediction model provides an acceptable fault prediction than other inputs. The expected process from the proposed method is to enhance decision-making and reduce the faults through the manufacturing process.

An Expandable Modular Internet of Things (IoT)-Based Temperature Control Power Extender

Today, the world’s electricity consumption is growing rapidly, and therefore energy demands are also increasing. In the past few decades, various measures have been taken to improve equipment and system design to increase production and transmission efficiency and reduce power consumption. This article proposes a novel Internet of Things (IoT)-based temperature control power extender with two working modes of cooling and heating to solve power shortages. The power is turned on or off accurately and in a timely manner through a temperature-sensing element, thereby avoiding unnecessary power consumption to achieve the goal of energy-saving. This can directly power on or off the power extender through the Internet. It can also use a 2.4G Wi-Fi wireless transmission to transmit, for example, real-time temperature information, the switch status and the master–slave mode. Related data can be controlled, collected and uploaded to the cloud. Each proposed power extender’s temperature setting in a large-scale field can be set uniformly, and no staff is wasted to set the temperature separately. Taking a general industrial electric fan as an example, if it is changed to drive with this temperature control extension cable, and assuming that the industrial electric fan is activated for 900 s per hour, its power-saving rate is 74.75%.

A Wireless Sensors Network for Monitoring the Carasau Bread Manufacturing Process

This work copes with the design and implementation of a wireless sensors network architecture to automatically and continuously monitor, for the first time, the manufacturing process of Sardinian Carasau bread. The case of a traditional bakery company facing the challenge of the Food-Industry 4.0 competitiveness is investigated. The process was analyzed to identify the most relevant variables to be monitored during the product manufacturing. Then, a heterogeneous, multi-tier wireless sensors network was designed and realized to allow the real-time control and the data collection during the critical steps of dough production, sheeting, cutting and leavening. Commercial on-the-shelf and cost-effective integrated electronics were employed, making the proposed approach of interest for many practical cases. Finally, a user-friendly interface was provided to enhance the understanding, control and to favor the process monitoring. With the wireless senors network (WSN) we designed, it is possible to monitor environmental parameters (temperature, relative humidity, gas concentrations); cinematic quantities of the belts; and, through a dedicated image processing system, the morphological characteristics of the bread before the baking. The functioning of the WSN was demonstrated and a statistical analysis was performed on the variables monitored during different seasons.