At microwave frequencies, absorption by molecular resonance is a major factor affecting radio propagation. Irregularities in the radio propagation pattern, expressed in a form of the received signal ...strength indicator's (RSSI) variations, can indicate the possible presence of a human within the radio network. The proposed human presence detection method is based on the information entropy calculated over a set of principal components extracted from a sequence of RSSI samples incrementally, without estimating the covariance matrix. By applying the entropy algorithm, the information on human presence is quantified from the sequence of principal components. It is shown that through-the-wall human activities, which introduce disturbances in the RSSI footprint of the monitoring room, do not affect the detection accuracy of the method. Experimental results obtained for the 2.4 GHz indoor radio network assess the feasibility of the proposed approach.
In this article, the device-free human presence detection method based on radio signal strength variations is proposed. The method exploits the known fact that human body interferes with radio ...signals by causing fading and shadowing effects. Introduced irregularities in the radio propagation pattern indicate possible presence of a human. The proposed method is incorporated into the existing platform for intelligent residential energy management. As opposed to conventional solutions which utilize a complex set of sensors for human detection, the proposed approach achieves the same only by analyzing and quantifying radio signal strength variations incorporated in messages exchanged between 2.4 GHz radio transceivers. One of the key benefits of the proposed solution is the integration of the detection algorithm into the smart power outlets and smart light switches. Such an approach improves interactions in smart home systems, enables intelligent power consumption management and low installation cost.
This paper presents the framework for the creation of various domain-specific languages for verification of the functional requirements. When it comes to Requirement Engineering and the process of ...Validation and Verification of the requirements, there are plenty of tools for modeling, analyzing, and validating the requirements. It comes as a fullblown set of applications for validation of the requirements. But the set of the verification tools is either too complex or usable in a narrow domain. From the customers' point of view, there is a need for another independent requirement verification. This tool enables the creation of the custom verification in a way that allows users (either clients or developers) to verify requirements. It follows the IEEE guides, standards, and best practices to check all aspects of the software requirements that are neither implemented nor checked by the validation process: correctness, completeness, traceability, dependency, importance, and uniqueness. Tool implements design patterns specific to the verification process, thus enabling the faster implementation of the language. The concept can be used for development of the verification-specific language with any type of requirement representation, which will be shown by a few examples. Index Terms--computer languages, formal verification, formal languages, requirement engineering, programming environments.
The proliferation of devices with Android OS recently facilitated the integration of various consumer electronic devices running Android for novel applications. In this paper the architecture and a ...framework for the development of TV-centric games is presented. These games involve set-top boxes or TV receivers, mobile devices and the Internet towards the creation of an innovative gameplay. The paper discusses the benefits of TV-centric gaming concept, presents several developed game prototypes and gives the first results of user survey with regard to the usability of the concept.
In this paper we present an intelligent device-level residential energy monitoring and controlling platform based on interactive outlets and light dimmer-switches. The platform allows users to ...monitor, control and compare electricity consumption of appliances connected to the residential power network. In our prototype we are able to perform control via remote control, mobile phone, TV or web interface. Managing intelligence and awareness are achieved through the user-defined behavioral scripts executed on the Home Controller device. These scripts enable the system to automatically respond on any change in the energy consumption scheme, by notifying the user or executing a predefined operation. The system intelligently controls power consumption of all appliances connected to the smart network, contributing to energy savings in the household.
In this paper, a non-intrusive approach for measuring Audio/Video (AV) synchronization delay for wide range of multimedia devices is presented. The approach combines QR codes and sweep markers to ...enable cost-effective AV delay measurement in real-time. The concept relies on transmission of reference signal from source to the end-device and rendering on it. The output of the end-device is captured with any available camera. The audio/video delay is extracted from the captured content. The complexity of the measurement process allows execution in real-time on embedded platforms. It is also tolerant to occasional losses and degradations in the signal.
Abstract
Background
General practitioners - GPs are at risk of greater exposure to multiple stressors during emergencies. To help primary care crisis preparedness planning, we rapidly assessed GPs’ ...mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic using a cross-sectional design, and after examining the 9-item Mayo Clinic Well-being Index (MWBI) correlation with the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 Items (DASS21).
Methods
During the PRICOV-19 international study, January - June 2021, we distributed the MWBI questionnaire (forward-backwards translated) and a standardized Serbian version of DASS21 to all GPs licensed at the Serbian Medical Chamber for self-administration. Pearson's r tested the correlation of the MWBI with the DASS21 scores. Multivariate linear regression analysis identified factors of the GPs’ poorer mental well-being (if higher than the cutoff of 2).
Results
116 GPs, aged 24 - 68 years (median age = 42), participated in the study, of which 78.4% were females. A total of 101 respondents completed both questionnaires. The mean of the MWBI scores was 3,3 (SD 2.6) and ranged from -2 to 9, with a median of 3. Using a cutoff of MWBI ≥2, 71.3% of participants were considered at risk of distress. MWBI score correlated strongly, positively and significantly with the DASS21 total score (r = 0.791; p < 0,001), as well as with the DASS21 subscales (i.e. depression (r = 0.730; p < 0,001), anxiety (r = 0.660; p < 0,001), and stress (r = 0.759; p < 0,001)). A lower level of material status of respondents (B = - 0,882; p < 0,001) and lack of time to uptake clinical guidelines (B = - 0,600; p = 0,001) were independently and significantly related to higher MWBI scores.
Conclusions
The MWBI correlates with the DASS21 scores to an acceptable level. During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, two-thirds of Serbian GPs were at risk of distress, including those with lower material status and lack of time to uptake guidelines.
Key messages
• Assessing GP’s mental well-being should be included in emergency plans for primary care preparedness.
• Use of MWBI in crises helps validate and rapidly assess GPs’ mental well-being.
The paper presents a novel method for human detection that is applied to the automatic control of home appliances' power consumption. The method uses a wireless smart outlets network and changes of ...received signal strength indicator (RSSI) between stationary communication nodes (2.4 GHz smart outlets). The main idea is to monitor the changes of RSSI which violate the established radio communication field between nodes inside a room, due to a human's presence. When a person enters into the established radio communication field, he/she induces the change of RSSI which is periodically read during the message exchange between wireless nodes. Based on the detected changes with regard to the initial thresholds, the system detects human presence and responds with the automatic control of power consumption of all appliances connected to the power network. Such an approach increases users' awareness by contributing to the energy savings and low installation costs.
In a world of accessible information the pace of everyday living is quickening. This coupled with the increasing interest in personal healthcare and well-being issues has resulted in new solutions ...being arrived at. Existing consumer electronics and home automation solutions need to evolve to capture these developing customer needs. In the scope of this paper a scalable solution that provides a multisensory wake up experience for users inside the home is presented. The solution consists of both a software middleware and user interface application with the goal of scheduling and customizing wake up alarms that fit to the consumer preferences in sound, temperature and lighting stimuli. One of the goals is to provide an easy-to-use and intuitive consumer oriented platform that can be applied within an ecosystem of devices present in the average household. The key benefits of the solution also include the ease of installation within the user's home automation system and scalable operation that can engage various devices in the wake up scheme, such as lights, blinds, multimedia and HVAC systems.
The most recent requests for interoperability between the different devices within a home automation system have brought IP-based protocols to the attention in this area. However, a number of hurdles ...need to be overcome so that the IP connection to home devices could become enabled, the most important being the requests for a large address space and low power consumption. In this paper we present a solution of a home gateway device with the ability to interact with IPv6-enabled home devices over 6LoWPAN, with regard to the increased address space and low power consumption, respectively. Additionally, the gateway supports the traditional IPv4 interfacing over WiFi and Ethernet. UPnP over IPv6 is fully enabled so that all the devices can be easily found by UPnP discovery from any node in the network. Finally, the gateway populates the discovered devices to a cloud server, which in turn enables a variety of web applications for home control to interact to home devices by using asynchronous API calls.
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