Open Access
Analysis and implementation of wireless communications systems and IoT with human body interference in inhomogeneous environments
(2021) Picallo Guembe, Imanol; Klaina, Hicham; Azpilicueta Fernández de las Heras, Leyre; López Iturri, Peio; Falcone Lanas, Francisco; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren
The Integration of wireless communication systems is one of the main drivers of the development of the future connected society. However, this will cause challenges due to the non-static channel effect and interference impact. For this reason, a research work is proposed that enables to obtain optimal node location in relation to radio planning tasks (coverage/capacity analysis, number of lost packets, devices’ consumption...), as well as to characterize the environments considering obstacles and human body being, in terms of the received power level in the complete simulation volume and at the time domain level. This will help derive wireless channel models taking into account real channel variations to deploy a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) and reduce the impact on wireless systems performance.
Open Access
Enabling customizable services for multimodal smart mobility with city-platforms
(IEEE, 2021) Al-Rahamneh, Anas; Astrain Escola, José Javier; Villadangos Alonso, Jesús; Klaina, Hicham; Picallo Guembe, Imanol; López Iturri, Peio; Falcone Lanas, Francisco; Estatistika, Informatika eta Matematika; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Estadística, Informática y Matemáticas; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Gobierno de Navarra / Nafarroako Gobernua
In the last decades, the cities' capacity for generating digital information has grown exponentially. In this context, the successful implementation of smart cities' concept depends on the current possibility of handling the significant volumes of sensed data. This is particularly notorious in the case of urban mobility. Researchers in the field of urban planning have shown a great interest in urban mobility problems, proposing different route recommendation services towards making it easier and safer to move around the city. This paper addresses the development of an urban data platform and how to obtain and integrate information from sensors and other data sources to provide aggregated and intelligent views of raw data to support urban mobility. With the aim of evaluating the efficiency of the developed platform, we present an intelligent urban mobility solution, where the context-awareness, user preferences, and environmental factors play a significant role in the process of route planning. Finally, our work provides an experiment to assess different long-range wireless communication technologies to enable its implementation within an urban environment.
Open Access
Design and experimental validation of an augmented reality system with wireless integration for context aware enhanced show experience in auditoriums
(IEEE, 2021) Picallo Guembe, Imanol; Vidal Balea, A.; Blanco Novoa, Óscar; López Iturri, Peio; Fraga Lamas, Paula; Azpilicueta Fernández de las Heras, Leyre; Falcone Lanas, Francisco; Fernández Caramés, Tiago M.; Klaina, Hicham; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación
The development of multiple cultural and social related activities, such as shows related with the performing arts, conferences or presentations rely on facilities such as auditoriums, theatres and conference sites, which are progressively including multiple technological features in order to enhance user experience. There are still however situations in which user experience is limited owing to lack of environment adaption, such as people with disabilities. In this sense, the adoption of Context Aware paradigms within auditoriums can provide adequate functionalities in order to comply with specific needs. This work is aimed at demonstrating the feasibility in enhancing user experience (e.g., improving the autonomy of disabled people) within auditorium and theatre environments, by means of an Augmented Reality (AR) device (HoloLens smart glasses) with wireless system integration. To carry out the demonstration, different elements to build AR applications are described and tested. First, an intensive measurement campaign was performed in a real auditorium in the city of Pamplona (Baluarte Congress Center) in order to evaluate the feasibility of using Wi-Fi enabled AR devices in a complex wireless propagation scenario. The results show that these environments exhibit high levels of interference, owing to the co-existence and non-coordinated operation of multiple wireless communication systems, such as on site and temporary Wi-Fi access points, wireless microphones or communications systems used by performers, staff and users. Deterministic wireless channel estimation based in volumetric 3D Ray Launching have been obtained for the complete scenario volume, in order to assess quality of service metrics. For illustration purposes, a user-friendly application to help hearing impaired people was developed and its main features were tested in the auditorium. Such an application provides users with a 3D virtual space to visualize useful multimedia content like subtitles or additional information about the show, as well as an integrated call button. © 2013 IEEE.
Open Access
Aggregator to electric vehicle LoRaWAN based communication analysis in vehicle-to-grid systems in smart cities
(IEEE, 2020) Klaina, Hicham; Picallo Guembe, Imanol; López Iturri, Peio; Astrain Escola, José Javier; Azpilicueta Fernández de las Heras, Leyre; Falcone Lanas, Francisco; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren; Estatistika, Informatika eta Matematika; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Estadística, Informática y Matemáticas
Recently, there has been growing attention to the power grid management due to the increasing concerns on global warming. With the advancement in electric vehicles (EV) industry and the evolution in batteries, EVs become an important contributor to the grid with capability of bidirectional power exchange with the grid. In this context, Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) systems enable multiple functionalities between EVs and the corresponding aggregator. Thus, reliable, long-range communication capabilities between aggregator and EVs is compulsory. In this paper, wireless channel analysis for aggregator and electrical vehicle communication using Long-Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) technology in V2G is presented, in order to test a low-cost solution with large coverage and reduced power consumption profile. Wireless channel and system-level measurements have been performed in a real urban scenario between EV's charging station in Pamplona (Spain) and a vehicle in motion using LoRaWAN 868 MHz devices. Wireless channel characterization is performed by implementing a full 3D urban scenario model, including elements such as buildings, vehicles, users and urban infrastructure such as lamp posts and benches. By means of in-house developed 3D Ray Launching algorithm with hybrid simulation capabilities, estimations of received power levels, signal to noise ratio and time domain parameters have been obtained, for the complete volume of the scenario under test in dense urban conditions. V2G end to end communication has been validated by implementing an intra-vehicle Controller Area Network-BUS (CAN BUS) data gathering system connected to the vehicle LoRaWAN transceiver and subsequently, to a cloud-based web service. The results show that the accurate deterministic based radio channel analysis enables to optimize the network design of LoRaWAN networks in a vehicular environment, considering inter-vehicular and infrastructure links, enabling scalable, low cost end to end data exchange for the deployment of ancillary V2G services.
Open Access
Implementation of radiating elements for radiofrequency front-ends by screen-printing techniques for Internet of Things applications
(MDPI, 2019) Picallo Guembe, Imanol; Klaina, Hicham; López Iturri, Peio; Sánchez, Aitor; Méndez Giménez, Leire; Falcone Lanas, Francisco; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Gobierno de Navarra / Nafarroako Gobernua, 0011-1365-2017-000103
The advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) has led to embedding wireless transceivers into a wide range of devices, in order to implement context-aware scenarios, in which a massive amount of transceivers is foreseen. In this framework, cost-effective electronic and Radio Frequency (RF) front-end integration is desirable, in order to enable straightforward inclusion of communication capabilities within objects and devices in general. In this work, flexible antenna prototypes, based on screen-printing techniques, with conductive inks on flexible low-cost plastic substrates is proposed. Different parameters such as substrate/ink characteristics are considered, as well as variations in fabrication process or substrate angular deflection in device performance. Simulation and measurement results are presented, as well as system validation results in a real test environment in wireless sensor network communications. The results show the feasibility of using screen-printing antenna elements on flexible low-cost substrates, which can be embedded in a wide array of IoT scenarios.
Open Access
Enabling anything to anything connectivity within urban environments towards cognitive frameworks
(IEEE, 2024-08-23) Picallo Guembe, Imanol; Klaina, Hicham; López Iturri, Peio; Azpilicueta Fernández de las Heras, Leyre; Celaya Echarri, Mikel; Astrain Escola, José Javier; Villadangos Alonso, Jesús; Falcone Lanas, Francisco; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoa eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritza; Estadística, Informática y Matemáticas; Estatistika, Informatika eta Matematika; Ciencias; Zientziak; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC
The evolution from Smart Cities towards Cognitive Cities is enabled, among others, by the use of flexible and adaptive communication systems, capable of providing high levels of interactivity among multiple systems and users. In this work, wireless connectivity in full volumetric scale is analyzed, in order to provide wireless links between any device/user within the scenario, spanning to different applications from vehicular connectivity at different levels or infrastructure related communications, among others.
Open Access
Development of a cognitive IoT-enabled Smart Campus
(IEEE, 2024-08-23) Picallo Guembe, Imanol; Klaina, Hicham; López Iturri, Peio; Azpilicueta Fernández de las Heras, Leyre; Celaya Echarri, Mikel; Astrain Escola, José Javier; Villadangos Alonso, Jesús; Falcone Lanas, Francisco; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoa eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritza; Estadística, Informática y Matemáticas; Estatistika, Informatika eta Matematika; Ciencias; Zientziak; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC
The evolution from Smart to Cognitive Cities takes advantage, among others, of advanced communication technologies in order to increase interactivity levels. In this work, an analysis of wireless connectivity within the framework of a Smart Campus pilot at the Public University of Navarra in Spain is presented. By means of in-house implemented hybrid deterministic code, multiple wireless connectivity conditions with different operating frequencies are presented. The use of these tools provides accurate coverage/capacity analysis of large, complex scenarios, aiding in the design of network devices as well as overall network topology in order to optimize overall performance.
Open Access
Design, assessment and deployment of an efficient golf game dynamics management system based on flexible wireless technologies
(MDPI, 2023) Picallo Guembe, Imanol; Aguirre Gallego, Erik; López Iturri, Peio; Guembe Zabaleta, Javier; Olariaga Jauregui, Eduardo; Klaina, Hicham; Marcotegui Iturmendi, José Antonio; Falcone Lanas, Francisco; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren
The practice of sports has been steadily evolving, taking advantage of different technological tools to improve different aspects such as individual/collective training, support in match development or enhancement of audience experience. In this work, an in-house implemented monitoring system for golf training and competition is developed, composed of a set of distributed end devices, gateways and routers, connected to a web-based platform for data analysis, extraction and visualization. Extensive wireless channel analysis has been performed, by means of deterministic 3D radio channel estimations and radio frequency measurements, to provide coverage/capacity estimations for the specific use case of golf courses. The monitoring system has been fully designed considering communication as well as energy constraints, including wireless power transfer (WPT) capabilities in order to provide flexible node deployment. System validation has been performed in a real golf course, validating end-to-end connectivity and information handling to improve overall user experience.
Open Access
An IoT framework for SDN based city mobility
(Springer, 2021) Al-Rahamneh, Anas; Astrain Escola, José Javier; Villadangos Alonso, Jesús; Klaina, Hicham; Picallo Guembe, Imanol; López Iturri, Peio; Falcone Lanas, Francisco; Estatistika, Informatika eta Matematika; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Estadística, Informática y Matemáticas; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación
The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming more widespread, with global application in a wide range of commercial sectors, utilizing a variety of technologies for customized use in specific environments. The combinationof applications and protocolsand the unique requirements of each environment present a significant challenge for IoT applications, necessitating communication and message exchange support. This paper presents a proposed SDN-based edge smart bypass/ multiprotocol switching for bicycle networks that supports functionalities of coordination of various wireless transmission protocols. A performance assessment will be presented, addressing a comparison between the different protocols (LoRaWAN vs. Sigfox) in terms radio coverage.
Open Access
A radio channel model for D2D communications blocked by single trees in forest environments
(MDPI, 2019) Picallo Guembe, Imanol; Klaina, Hicham; López Iturri, Peio; Aguirre Gallego, Erik; Celaya Echarri, Mikel; Azpilicueta Fernández de las Heras, Leyre; Eguizábal Garrido, Alejandro; Falcone Lanas, Francisco; Alejos, Ana V.; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación
In this paper we consider the D2D (Device-to-Device) communication taking place between Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) elements operating in vegetation environments in order to achieve the radio channel characterization at 2.4 GHz, focusing on the radio links blocked by oak and pine trees modelled from specimens found in a real recreation area located within forest environments. In order to fit and validate a radio channel model for this type of scenarios, both measurements and simulations by means of an in-house developed 3D Ray Launching algorithm have been performed, offering as outcomes the path loss and multipath information of the scenarios under study for forest immersed isolated trees and non-isolated trees. The specific forests, composed of thick in-leaf trees, are called Orgi Forest and Chandebrito, located respectively in Navarre and Galicia, Spain. A geometrical and dielectric model of the trees were created and introduced in the simulation software. We concluded that the scattering produced by the tree can be divided into two zones with different dominant propagation mechanisms: an obstructed line of sight (OLoS) zone far from the tree fitting a log-distance model, and a diffraction zone around the edge of the tree. 2D planes of delay spread value are also presented which similarly reflects the proposed two-zone model.