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9 pages, 4683 KiB

Open AccessArticle

All-Printed Human Activity Monitoring and Energy Harvesting Device for Internet of Thing Applications

by Shawkat Ali, Saleem Khan and Amine Bermak

Sensors 2019, 19(5), 1197; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19051197 - 8 Mar 2019

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3759

A self-powered device for human activity monitoring and energy harvesting for Internet of Things (IoT) devices is proposed. The self-powered device utilizes flexible Nano-generators (NGs), flexible diodes and off-the-shelf capacitors. During footsteps the NGs generate an AC voltage then it is converted into [...] Read more.

A self-powered device for human activity monitoring and energy harvesting for Internet of Things (IoT) devices is proposed. The self-powered device utilizes flexible Nano-generators (NGs), flexible diodes and off-the-shelf capacitors. During footsteps the NGs generate an AC voltage then it is converted into DC using rectifiers and the DC power is stored in a capacitor for powering the IoT devices. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and zinc stannate (ZnSnO₃) composite is utilized for the NG active layer, indium tin oxide (ITO) and aluminum (Al) are used as the bottom and top electrodes, respectively. Four diodes are fabricated on the bottom electrode of the NG and connected in bridge rectifier configuration. A generated voltage of 18 V_peak was achieved with a human footstep. The self-powered smart device also showed excellent robustness and stable energy scavenger from human footsteps. As an application we demonstrate human activity detection and energy harvesting for IoT devices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technology for Smart Home Automation and Entertainment Using IoT and Sensor Networks)

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23 pages, 4883 KiB

Open AccessArticle

On Secure Simple Pairing in Bluetooth Standard v5.0-Part I: Authenticated Link Key Security and Its Home Automation and Entertainment Applications

by Da-Zhi Sun and Li Sun

Sensors 2019, 19(5), 1158; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19051158 - 7 Mar 2019

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 5144

Abstract

Bluetooth is an important technical standard for short-range and low-power wireless communication. The home automation and entertainment (HAE) systems often make use of Bluetooth technology to link different Bluetooth devices and form Bluetooth networks. The security concerns of the HAE systems are raised [...] Read more.

Bluetooth is an important technical standard for short-range and low-power wireless communication. The home automation and entertainment (HAE) systems often make use of Bluetooth technology to link different Bluetooth devices and form Bluetooth networks. The security concerns of the HAE systems are raised due to massive deployment of the Bluetooth devices. The Bluetooth standard mainly depends on the secure simple pairing (SSP) solution to protect the Bluetooth devices. Hence, we investigate the SSP solution according to the Bluetooth standard v5.0. The contributions are threefold. (1) A formal security model is proposed to evaluate SSP’s association models and authenticated link key. (2) We formally analyze two SSP protocols and present the security requirements for basic cryptographic modules in these SSP protocols. (3) We discuss the typical SSP applications in the HAE systems. Our results are useful to not only evaluating and designing the SSP protocols but also enhancing the security of the HAE systems in which the Bluetooth access is available. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technology for Smart Home Automation and Entertainment Using IoT and Sensor Networks)

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13 pages, 5520 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Virtual Touch Sensor Using a Depth Camera

by Dong-seok Lee and Soon-kak Kwon

Sensors 2019, 19(4), 885; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19040885 - 20 Feb 2019

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 6124

Abstract

In this paper, a virtual touch sensor using a depth camera is proposed. Touch regions are detected by finding each region that consists of pixels within a certain distance from a touch surface. Touch points are detected by finding a pixel in each [...] Read more.

In this paper, a virtual touch sensor using a depth camera is proposed. Touch regions are detected by finding each region that consists of pixels within a certain distance from a touch surface. Touch points are detected by finding a pixel in each touch region whose neighboring pixels are closest to surfaces. A touch path error due to noise in the depth picture is corrected through a filter that introduces a weight parameter in order to respond quickly even with sudden changes. The virtual touch sensor is implemented by using the proposed methods for the touch point detection and the touch path correction. In the virtual touch sensor, a touch surface and pixels of a depth picture can be regarded as a virtual touch panel and virtual touch units, respectively. The virtual touch sensor can be applied to wide fields of touch interfaces. Results of simulations show the implementation of the touch-pen interface using the virtual touch sensor. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technology for Smart Home Automation and Entertainment Using IoT and Sensor Networks)

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16 pages, 1692 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Smart Contract-Based Review System for an IoT Data Marketplace

by Ji-Sun Park, Taek-Young Youn, Hye-Bin Kim, Kyung-Hyune Rhee and Sang-Uk Shin

Sensors 2018, 18(10), 3577; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18103577 - 22 Oct 2018

Cited by 81 | Viewed by 9777

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT)-based devices, especially those used for home automation, consist of their own sensors and generate many logs during a process. Enterprises producing IoT devices convert these log data into more useful data through secondary processing; thus, they require data from [...] Read more.

Internet of Things (IoT)-based devices, especially those used for home automation, consist of their own sensors and generate many logs during a process. Enterprises producing IoT devices convert these log data into more useful data through secondary processing; thus, they require data from the device users. Recently, a platform for data sharing has been developed because the demand for IoT data increases. Several IoT data marketplaces are based on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, and in this type of marketplace, it is difficult for an enterprise to trust a data owner or the data they want to trade. Therefore, in this study, we propose a review system that can confirm the reputation of a data owner or the data traded in the P2P data marketplace. The traditional server-client review systems have many drawbacks, such as security vulnerability or server administrator’s malicious behavior. However, the review system developed in this study is based on Ethereum smart contracts; thus, this system is running on the P2P network and is more flexible for the network problem. Moreover, the integrity and immutability of the registered reviews are assured because of the blockchain public ledger. In addition, a certain amount of gas is essential for all functions to be processed by Ethereum transactions. Accordingly, we tested and analyzed the performance of our proposed model in terms of gas required. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technology for Smart Home Automation and Entertainment Using IoT and Sensor Networks)

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14 pages, 3201 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Dynamic Group Authentication and Key Exchange Scheme Based on Threshold Secret Sharing for IoT Smart Metering Environments

by Dae-Hwi Lee and Im-Yeong Lee

Sensors 2018, 18(10), 3534; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18103534 - 19 Oct 2018

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4369

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) environment is constantly evolving. Many IoT services have emerged, improving living conditions. Smart homes were among the first developments, and smart buildings, smart factories, and smart cities are attracting increasing attention. Smart cities represent the ultimate convergence of [...] Read more.

The Internet of Things (IoT) environment is constantly evolving. Many IoT services have emerged, improving living conditions. Smart homes were among the first developments, and smart buildings, smart factories, and smart cities are attracting increasing attention. Smart cities represent the ultimate convergence of the IoT, the Cloud, big data, and mobile technology. Smart homes, buildings, and factories create smart cities. In addition, the IoT finds applications in traffic control, public safety, and medical services, permitting group-based communication. As the scale of service grows, the number of things (devices) constituting the service also increases. However, security vulnerabilities arise in group-based communication environments. A device may require authentication when entering a gateway; to secure environments with large numbers of devices (such as those featuring IoT smart metering), the gateways bear heavy loads. Therefore, efficient authentication of group leaders and devices is essential. Here, we develop a dynamic group authentication and key exchange scheme for group-based IoT smart metering environments which enables efficient communication among secure IoT services. Our group authentication scheme increases the computational efficiency of the group leader and the participating devices, based on a threshold secret sharing technique. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technology for Smart Home Automation and Entertainment Using IoT and Sensor Networks)

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27 pages, 808 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Let’s Talk about TEX—Understanding Consumer Preferences for Smart Interactive Textile Products Using a Conjoint Analysis Approach

by Julia Offermann-van Heek, Philipp Brauner and Martina Ziefle

Sensors 2018, 18(9), 3152; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18093152 - 18 Sep 2018

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4932

Abstract

Interactive textiles are reaching maturity. First technology augmented textiles in form of clothes and furnitures are becoming commercially available. In contrast to the close link between technological development and innovations, future users’ acceptance and usage of such interactive textiles has not been integrated [...] Read more.

Interactive textiles are reaching maturity. First technology augmented textiles in form of clothes and furnitures are becoming commercially available. In contrast to the close link between technological development and innovations, future users’ acceptance and usage of such interactive textiles has not been integrated sufficiently, yet. The current study investigates future users’ consumer behavior and acceptance of interactive textiles using a scenario-based conjoint analysis study, which was presented in an online questionnaire (

n = 324

). Two prototypical interactive textiles were focused on: a smart jacket and a smart armchair. To assess the textile products, the participants had to choose the preferred product alternative consisting each of the acceptance-relevant factors “connectivity”, “input modality”, “feature range”, “usability”, and “ease of cleaning”and their respective levels. The results revealed that the “ease of cleaning” is the most important decision criterion for both textile devices (even more important for the smart jacket), followed by “feature range”, “connectivity”, and “usability”. In contrast, the “input modality” is perceived as least important. The study also identified user profiles based on the projected consumer behavior (“adopters”, “rejecters”, and “undecided”) for both products. Besides the differences in product evaluation and projected consumer behavior, the user groups are significantly influenced by the individual affinity to textiles (both products) and gender (smart jacket). The findings are used to derive design and communication guidelines referring to interactive textiles in order to incorporate users’ needs, wishes, and requirements into future products. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technology for Smart Home Automation and Entertainment Using IoT and Sensor Networks)

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20 pages, 6369 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Real-Time Analysis of a Sensor’s Data for Automated Decision Making in an IoT-Based Smart Home

by Nida Saddaf Khan, Sayeed Ghani and Sajjad Haider

Sensors 2018, 18(6), 1711; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18061711 - 25 May 2018

Cited by 29 | Viewed by 7067

Abstract

IoT devices frequently generate large volumes of streaming data and in order to take advantage of this data, their temporal patterns must be learned and identified. Streaming data analysis has become popular after being successfully used in many applications including forecasting electricity load, [...] Read more.

IoT devices frequently generate large volumes of streaming data and in order to take advantage of this data, their temporal patterns must be learned and identified. Streaming data analysis has become popular after being successfully used in many applications including forecasting electricity load, stock market prices, weather conditions, etc. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have been successfully utilized in understanding the embedded interesting patterns/behaviors in the data and forecasting the future values based on it. One such pattern is modelled and learned in the present study to identify the occurrence of a specific pattern in a Water Management System (WMS). This prediction aids in making an automatic decision support system, to switch OFF a hydraulic suction pump at the appropriate time. Three types of ANN, namely Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO), Multi-Input Single-Output (MISO), and Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) have been compared, for multi-step-ahead forecasting, on a sensor’s streaming data. Experiments have shown that RNN has the best performance among three models and based on its prediction, a system can be implemented to make the best decision with 86% accuracy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technology for Smart Home Automation and Entertainment Using IoT and Sensor Networks)

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22 pages, 5272 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Artificial Intelligence-Based Semantic Internet of Things in a User-Centric Smart City

by Kun Guo, Yueming Lu, Hui Gao and Ruohan Cao

Sensors 2018, 18(5), 1341; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18051341 - 26 Apr 2018

Cited by 90 | Viewed by 14624

Abstract

Smart city (SC) technologies can provide appropriate services according to citizens’ demands. One of the key enablers in a SC is the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, which enables a massive number of devices to connect with each other. However, these devices usually [...] Read more.

Smart city (SC) technologies can provide appropriate services according to citizens’ demands. One of the key enablers in a SC is the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, which enables a massive number of devices to connect with each other. However, these devices usually come from different manufacturers with different product standards, which confront interactive control problems. Moreover, these devices will produce large amounts of data, and efficiently analyzing these data for intelligent services. In this paper, we propose a novel artificial intelligence-based semantic IoT (AI-SIoT) hybrid service architecture to integrate heterogeneous IoT devices to support intelligent services. In particular, the proposed architecture is empowered by semantic and AI technologies, which enable flexible connections among heterogeneous devices. The AI technology can support very implement efficient data analysis and make accurate decisions on service provisions in various kinds. Furthermore, we also present several practical use cases of the proposed AI-SIoT architecture and the opportunities and challenges to implement the proposed AI-SIoT for future SCs are also discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technology for Smart Home Automation and Entertainment Using IoT and Sensor Networks)

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