RT-DSP

A brief description of the projects that are currently under development by students and laboratory staff.

Algorithms and Protocols of Communication on RPL

Communication between devices in a network is a research area in continuous advancement, especially when it comes to connected embedded devices (the Internet of Things). The market for these devices is undergoing fast expansion, making optimizations in communication protocols a very relevant area for both the industry and academic communities. Among the characteristics that distinguish IoT devices from personal computers are the limited computing capability, strict energy usage constraints, smaller size and lower unit cost. In this scenario, it is essential to guarantee a high level of operational efficiency to allow the mass adoption of the technology and embedding in everyday objects. With the goal of advancing research in this field, the project has the objective of studying, utilizing, suggesting additions/changes and implementing wireless communication systems in the context of IoT networks, aiming specifically at residential smart energy meters. These meters can represent a huge progress in comparison to the traditional energy usage data gathering methods, allowing for a lower time interval between measurements and, consequently, better management of the power grid as a whole. The research has an emphasis on the software that is run in the smart meters, specifically inside the packet routing layer of the network stack, and consists of the development of optimizations and innovations in RPL, using IPv6 addressing and IEEE 802.15.4 physical and MAC layers. There are also activities of hardware implementation of said protocols for later large scale deployment and evaluation, as well as software network simulations in a virtual environment with obstacles modeled to represent a real city architecture. Related study areas include RPL with multiple routes or multiple parents, fuzzy logic, machine learning, Ant Colony Optimization and the Wi-SUN FAN technical profile.

Equalizers in quaternions for IoT

The problem of the degradation in the signals transmitted by the digital communication systems due to several factors and the importance of receiving the information as faithfully as possible, leads us to the need to improve and protect the sending data through different equalization techniques, this time testing its interoperability in quaternion numbers, to evaluate a greater simplicity in the procedure, and to have the abilitie to reverse the random effects and distortions generated in the channel, using the Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying Modulation which is more resistant to noise and thus obtaining an improvement in data emission in systems involving Internet of Things technology.

Neuro-Fuzzy OF in RPL

In This project we design a neuro-fuzzy objective function that combines a set of metrics in order to provide a configurable routing decision based on the fuzzy parameters. This objective function has the advantage to tune the fuzzy rules and consider the application requirements in order to select the best paths to the destination. The experiments are being performed using Contiki that is an open source operating system that runs on tiny low-power microcontrollers and makes it possible to develop applications that make efficient use of the hardware while providing standardized low-power wireless communication for a range of hardware platforms.

Open Middleware and Energy Management System for "Future Home"

The project focuses on the research and development of a HEMS (Home Energy Management System) system that allows interoperability between devices from different manufacturers through the adoption of standardized elements and the design of innovative middleware. The system will consist of a power use/generation control unit and smart outlets that will communicate through the WI-SUN Alliance HAN profile. Middleware is part of the architecture that provides an application connectivity layer, effectively between software elements in a transparent way to the hardware resources, without the need to customize programs. The project will allow consumers/consumers to have real-time control of energy use/generation through HEMS, as well as the addition of new devices in a transparent manner. Besides, an application to be used by the customer and cloud processing software will be designed and conceived.