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Background: Guidelines recommended remote monitoring (RM) in managing patients with Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices. In recent years, smart device (phone or tablet) monitoring-based RM (SM-RM) was introduced. This study aims to systematically review SM-RM versus bedside monitor RM (BM-RM) using radiofrequency in terms of compliance, connectivity, and episode transmission time. Methods: We conducted a systematic review, searching three international databases from inception until July 2023 for studies comparing SM-RM (intervention group) versus BM-RM (control group). Results: Two matched studies (21 978 patients) were retrieved (SM-RM arm: 9642 patients, BM-RM arm: 12 336 patients). There is significantly higher compliance among SM-RM patients compared with BM-RM patients in both pacemaker and defibrillator patients. Manyam et al. found that more SM-RM patients than BM-RM patients transmitted at least once (98.1% vs. 94.3%, p < .001), and Tarakji et al. showed that SM-RM patients have higher success rates of scheduled transmissions than traditional BM-RM methods (SM-RM: 94.6%, pacemaker manual: 56.3%, pacemaker wireless: 77.0%, defibrillator wireless: 87.1%). There were higher enrolment rates, completed scheduled and patient-initiated transmissions, shorter episode transmission time, and higher connectivity among SM-RM patients compared to BM-RM patients. Younger patients (aged <75) had more patient-initiated transmissions, and a higher proportion had ≥10 transmissions compared with older patients (aged ≥75) in both SM-RM and BM-RM groups. Conclusion: SM-RM is a step in the right direction, with good compliance, connectivity, and shorter episode transmission time, empowering patients to be in control of their health. Further research on cost-effectiveness and long-term clinical outcomes can be carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a low-cost smart system is designed and fabricated to monitor gas leakage in LPG-based cars. The implemented system consists of three gas sensors installed in the joints of the gas pipes, gas cylinders, and injectors for the purpose of gas leak monitoring. In addition, the LM 35 temperature sensor is situated over the gas cylinder to monitor its temperature. The implemented system can provide three types of alarm: the first type sends a text message to the car owner's phone and emits an audible alarm signal. The message reaches the service center also. The second type sends messages via Bluetooth to the user's phone or to the smart screen on the vehicle's dashboard, with an alert that the engine must be turned off (emergency case). The last warning sends an overheating alarm signal, utilizing a temperature sensor when the temperature of the gas cylinder exceeds 50°C to provide protection and prevent a possible explosion. In practice, it was found that gas sensors should be placed less than 5 cm from the monitored site, and the best performance at work was under 55°C. It was also found that the best performance of the GSM unit is under 55°C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of Origin–Destination matrix (OD) estimation depends on number of factors including the selection of appropriate upper-level function of bi-level formulation, constraints to the OD flows, and suitable solution algorithm. Addressing these aspects, the study first explored different upper-level formulations using two types of traffic information: traffic counts and sub-path flows. Second, it investigated the effects of OD constraints on the quality of solution. Third, it proposed modified genetic algorithm (MGA) to address the computational limitations of traditional genetic algorithm (GA). The study findings were as follows: a) Using symmetric mean absolute percentage error (SMAPE) to match traffic counts showed greater improvements in the OD quality; b) The estimates improved as more number of OD pairs were known to have a-priori knowledge about their flows with higher confidence levels; c) The MGA approach outperformed GA in terms of computational efficiency, and gradient descent (GD) in terms of solution quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We propose a novel parameter self-learning estimation approach for localization. • We present an optimal average self-learning solution for dynamic ship environments. • The developed filter can be used for the indoor-positioning in the ship environments. As COVID-19 is still spreading globally, the narrow ship space makes COVID-19 easier for the virus to infect ship passengers. Tracking close contacts remains an effective way to reduce the risk of virus transmission. Therefore, indoor positioning technology should be developed for ship environments. Today, almost all smart devices are equipped with Bluetooth. The Angle of Arrival (AoA) using Bluetooth 5.1 indoor positioning technology is well suited for ship environments. But the narrow ship space and steel walls make the multipath effect more pronounced in ship environments. This also means that more noises are included in the signal. In the Uniform Rectangular Array (URA) type receiving antenna array, elevation and azimuth angles are two important parameters for the AoA indoor positioning technology. Elevation and azimuth angles are unstable because of the influence of noise. In this paper, a Self-Learning Mean Optimization Filter (SLMOF) is proposed. The goal of SLMOF is to find the optimal elevation and azimuth angles as a way to improve the Bluetooth 5.1 AoA indoor positioning accuracy. The experimental results show that the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of SLMOF is 0.44 m, which improves the accuracy by 72% compared to Kalman Filter (KF). This method can be applied to find the optimal average in every dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research proposes a novel single-level approach to traffic counts-based OD estimation using observed turning proportions and partial OD flows. The key idea is to relax the need for explicit assignment-based bi-level models and exploit the observations from big traffic data. The observed turning proportions are used to estimate traffic counts; and the structural knowledge of partial OD flows is used to improve the quality of OD estimates. Numerical experiments considering different spatial coverage of partial OD from Bluetooth are conducted on two networks. The study findings indicated that the quality of estimates improve with higher percentage of partial OD information. The proposed approach is computationally faster and yielded slightly better results than the traditional bi-level. The methodology is not limited to data from Bluetooth but adaptive with other sources such as GPS, mobile phone, and travel surveys that can provide turning proportions and/or partial OD flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurately determining the number of people affected by emergencies is essential for deploying effective response measures during disasters. Traditional solutions like cellular and Wi-Fi networks are often rendered ineffective during such emergencies due to widespread infrastructure damage or non-functional connectivity, prompting the exploration of more resilient methods. This paper proposes a novel solution utilizing Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology and decentralized networks composed entirely of mobile and wearable devices to count individuals autonomously without reliance on external communication equipment or specialized personnel. This count leverages uncoordinated relayed communication among devices within these networks, enabling us to extend our counting capabilities well beyond the direct range of rescuers. A formally evaluated, experimentally validated, and privacy-preserving counting algorithm that demonstrates rapid convergence and high accuracy even in large-scale scenarios is employed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IoT has long since come to the pet industry resulting in a proliferation of data-intensive devices including tracking anything from activity, health, to location. The resulting ‘Internet of Pets’ is generating large volumes of animal data which, due to the close link between the digital profile of companion animals held as pets (e.g., cats and dogs) and their caregivers holds significant security and privacy implications. In this case study we explore the vulnerability of such pet wearables to side-channel attacks, describing our implementation of an electromagnetic attack on a now discontinued dog activity tracker. We show how we were able to successfully exfiltrate data from the device during the Base64 encoding process and discuss what implications this holds for the security of these devices, given the lack of protection that animal data is afforded under extant existing data protection policy and legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a design solution of a mobile robot dedicated to autonomous movement in hard-to-reach places. The 3D printing technology made it possible to make a mechanical structure adapted to the actuators and electronic elements with which the robot was equipped. To control the mobile robot, a Raspberry Pi 2 microcomputer and an Atmega328P microcontroller were used, which allows the robot to be controlled via WiFi or a game controller for PlayStation3 using Bluetooth communication. In addition to remote control, the rover has an implemented algorithm of autonomous operation with simultaneous image transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CR enabled radio environment provides the seamless operating framework to cope with the requirements of next generation wireless systems like higher data rates, massive machine time communication and interference free coexistence scenarios of wireless technologies. Traffic characterization studies assist to optimize coexistence framework by providing necessary information about the usage patterns of wireless services in observed radio bands. Prior knowledge about the observed sparse wireless local area network (WLAN) data traffic is a key for opportunistic radio resource allocation and utilization in the given coexistence scenarios of WLAN either with cellular systems (including 5G-NR/4G Long Term Evolution (LTE)) or with low power wireless systems (including Bluetooth and ZigBee). Parametric methodology is adapted to model the sparse WLAN data traffic observed in 2.4 GHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band as spectral and temporal activity. The multivariate Gaussian mixture model (MGMM) is proposed in both scenarios where either dependency is considered between the observed WLAN data traffic or assuming that the observed traffic is independent and identically distributed (i.i.d). It is to be validated that in order to have an efficient characterization of sparse WLAN data traffic, the dependency (correlation) between neighbored frequency subbands must be considered. By considering the dependency either between neighbored frequency subbands or neighbored time domain signals actually help to characterize the sparse WLAN data traffic in more realistic way which could not be possible by assuming them i.i.d. Such statistics to characterize sparse data traffic really help as user activity for efficient allocation and utilization of radio resources in CR enabled coexistence scenarios of wireless technologies where WLAN acitivity is considered nominal either as secondary user or classify it grey spectrum as primary user. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a pervasive web in which each object or machine has a unique identity and is be able to use the Internet to link with other machine or send data; also known as the industrial Intemet(Laudon, 2019). IoT makes it easier for people to communicate, collaborate with each other, and access educational resources, creating a multitude of opportunities for consumers, educators, and business owners to transform their lives. The following report defines the Internet of Things, provides several examples of how IoT technology is currently used, and explains the potential applications of IoT in an educational setting. The Internet-enabled devices used with the Internet of Things are useful in preschools, elementary and secondary schools, and colleges and universities, as they increase efficiency, facilitate better interactions between students and educators, and give educators more time to deliver instructional content. The report concludes with an overview of the barriers that make it difficult to implement IoT technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Travel time information assists road users in making informed travel decisions such as mode choice, route choice and/or time of travel. This study explores the use of GPS data from buses and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth data from a sample of vehicles, for accurate estimation of the travel time of all vehicles on the roadway. A 5.5 km road stretch in Chennai city was selected as study stretch and data were collected for a week's period. The present study develops models using linear regression and artificial neural network (ANN) techniquesFto estimate stream travel time using bus travel time obtained from GPS. ANN performed better compared to the linear regression for all sizes of segments. Most of the Indian cities have an integrated network of buses traveling on most of the road segments with on-board tracking devices, making this a useful development for real-time travel time estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In March 2020, before COVID-19 laid claim to the United States, Vice President Mike Pence briefed the press about the coronavirus outbreak, which at the time was a threat to passengers aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship moored off the coast of California. At the time, cases had spiked in Iran, Italy, and Spain, but the disease was still an abstraction to most Americans. When asked about a potential outbreak in Washington, D.C., Pence called on Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, and a member of the U.S. Task Force, to address the question. Fauci replied that any individual who tested positive for the disease would undergo contact tracing, which he deemed “the public health weapon” for catching outbreaks before they start. Not long after, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic, and the virus began spreading across the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons provide new opportunities to explore positioning. Beacon positioning determination using current approaches is supported by pre-calculated formulas, for generic beacons, whereas the position can be accurately estimated with a low error up to a small distance; or based on fingerprinting the signal for the given space. In both cases, the accuracy variate depending on hardware specifications and other conditions such as beacon brand, wrap material, temperature, wind, location, surrounding interference, battery strength, among others. This paper introduces a method for beacon-based positioning, based on signal strength measurements at key distances for each beacon. This method allows for different beacon types, brands, and conditions. Depending on each situation (i.e., hardware and location) it is possible to adapt the distance measuring curve to minimize errors and support higher distances, while at the same time keeping good precision. Moreover, this paper also presents a comparison with traditional positioning method, using formulas for distance estimation, and then position triangulation. Performed tests took place at the library of the campus of the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu. Experimental results show that the proposed position technique has 13.2% better precision than triangulation, for distances up to 10 meters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complex way radio waves propagate indoors, leads to the derivation of location using fingerprinting techniques. In this cases, location is computed relying on WiFi signals strength mapping. Recent Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) provides new opportunities to explore positioning. Indoor location identification plays a fundamental role as a business and personal level. At a business level, indoor location pinpointing where GPS signal is nonexistent is used to advise users and send push notifications (e.g., stores publicity, guide persons with special needs, or even for emergency evacuation). In this work is studied how BLE beacons radio signals can be used for indoor location scenarios, as well as their precision. The proposed study is performed inside the campus of Viseu Polytechnic Institute, using hundreds of students, each with his smart-phone, as proof of concept. Experimental results show that BLE allows having less than 1.5 meters error approximately 90% of the times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

with the increase in vehicle production and world population and increased demand for two-wheeler in developing countries, it has become imperative to provide new features in vehicles considering the need of the technologies and humankind. This new system of two-wheelers navigation about the usage of smartphone with two-wheeler and helping it for all the basic needs of navigation and detecting all the objects like apparels, Food Items, Mobile Shop, etc. There is a lot of demand of two wheelers by the varied crowd like students, salesmen, senior citizens, and other medium class people and all of them have a common problem of finding routes/ways and traffic details they are going to face on their coming way. Since they do not have sufficient knowledge of ways and routes, this can cause wastage of time. On another hand if they don't have details of upcoming traffic then they could face tough weather conditions like heat waves, rain, and chilling winters while standing on traffic signals. This new system not only will help riders on navigation but can also help them to monitor their day-to-day ride in order to control fuel budget and two-wheeler's performance and this is working for video-based data input as well. It is ideal for senior citizens as they can overcome situation of getting lost while riding on two-wheelers, moreover, this system can be a milestone for small commercial vehicles like mini trucks, taxi with old equipment and can even be helpful for large commercial vehicles like trucks by locating mobile near to near steering wheel. Although modern vehicles of this class are coming with advanced technologies but a dedicated navigation technology of this type is not present as vehicle cost will be more due to this. The idea is to find the smartest solution with the help of a smartphone with minor hardware and software changes so that we can have an advanced onboard navigation system in existing vehicles of this class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes historical and existing technologies for monitoring visitors in museum exhibitions. A proposal for a new solution is also included. These technologies mainly include wireless radio technologies (Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Bluetooth, UWB, RFID), while our idea of monitoring is based on the use of heat maps from camera images, i.e. processing of data from multiple camera sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we investigate the performance of a proximity detection system for visitors in an indoor museum exploiting data collected from the crowd. More specifically, we propose a CrowdSensing-based technique for proximity detection. Users' smartphones can collect and upload RSS (Received Signal Strength) values of nearby Bluetooth tags to a backend server, together with some context-information. In turn, the collected data are elaborated with the goal of calibrating two proximity detection algorithms: a range-based and a learning-based algorithm. We embed the algorithms with R-app, a visiting museum application tested in the Monumental Cemetery's museum located in Piazza dei Miracoli, Pisa (IT). We detail in this work an experimental campaign to measure the performance improvements of the CrowdSensing approach with respect to state-of-the-art algorithms widely adopted in the field of proximity detection. Experimental results show a clear improvement of the performance when data from the crowd are exploited with the proposed architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous portable monitoring system for cardiac activity is very important to keep a patient under control. This work addresses the design and realization of a Bluetooth based portable system incorporating a piezoelectric sensor sheet. When the sensor is attached to a human chest, the cardiac mechanical activity will induce a local strain in the sensor incorporated piezoelectric materials. This strain is converted to an electrical output voltage which is then collected and transmitted through the Bluetooth-based system. Piezoelectric theory and signal processing methods have been used to extract the heart rate, pulse pressure, and its corresponding period of several cycles. These parameters have been validated using conventional methods. The realized system is 50 g with a length of 5 cm, width of 3 cm and a thickness of 2 cm with biasing voltage of 3 V. Its ease of use, compactness, lightweightness, and low energy consumption will make it ideal to be utilized in a wide range of applications. In addition, this work addresses development of an efficient algorithm to detect abnormalities in cardiac activities using correlation techniques. The proposed algorithm for detecting abnormalities reduces the processing time hugely and the processing power considerably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study assesses the impact of a telemedicine-based home management program (THMP) on patient adherence, hospital readmissions, and quality of life (QOL) after liver transplantation (LT). Summary of Background Data: Telemedicine interventions represent an opportunity to personalize care and can lead to improved adherence and patient satisfaction. However, there is limited data on impact of these interventions on outcomes after LT. Therefore, we conducted the first randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a THMP compared to standard of care (SOC) after LT. Methods: One hundred six consecutive LT recipients were randomized (1:1) to 1 of 2 posttransplant care strategies: SOC or THMP. The THMP included an electronic tablet and bluetooth devices to support daily text messages, education videos, and video FaceTime capability; data was cyber-delivered into our electronic medical record daily. Endpoints were THMP participation, 90-day hospital readmission rate, and QOL. Results: One hundred patients completed the study with 50 enrolled in each arm. Participation and adherence with telemedicine was 86% for basic health sessions (vital sign recording), but only 45% for using messaging or FaceTime. The THMP group had a lower 90-day readmission rate compared to SOC (28% vs 58%; P = 0.004). The THMP cohort also showed improved QOL in regards to physical function (P = 0.02) and general health (P = 0.05) at 90 days. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first RCT demonstrating the impact of THMP after LT. The magnitude of effect on LT outcomes, hospital readmissions, and QOL suggests that the adoption of telemedicine has great potential for other major operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Computer Science & Technology (JCS&T) is the property of Journal of Computer Science & Technology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The complex way radio waves propagate indoors, leads to the derivation of location using fingerprinting techniques. In this cases, location is computed relying on WiFi signals strength mapping. Recent Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) provides new opportunities to explore positioning. Indoor location identification plays a fundamental role as a business and personal level. At a business level, indoor location pinpointing where GPS signal is nonexistent is used to advise users and send push notifications (e.g., stores publicity, guide persons with special needs, or even for emergency evacuation). In this work is studied how BLE beacons radio signals can be used for indoor location scenarios, as well as their precision. The proposed study is performed inside the campus of Viseu Polytechnic Institute, using hundreds of students, each with his smart-phone, as proof of concept. Experimental results show that BLE allows having less than 1.5 meters error approximately 90% of the times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons provide new opportunities to explore positioning. Beacon positioning determination using current approaches is supported by pre-calculated formulas, for generic beacons, whereas the position can be accurately estimated with a low error up to a small distance; or based on fingerprinting the signal for the given space. In both cases, the accuracy variate depending on hardware specifications and other conditions such as beacon brand, wrap material, temperature, wind, location, surrounding interference, battery strength, among others. This paper introduces a method for beacon-based positioning, based on signal strength measurements at key distances for each beacon. This method allows for different beacon types, brands, and conditions. Depending on each situation (i.e., hardware and location) it is possible to adapt the distance measuring curve to minimize errors and support higher distances, while at the same time keeping good precision. Moreover, this paper also presents a comparison with traditional positioning method, using formulas for distance estimation, and then position triangulation. Performed tests took place at the library of the campus of the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu. Experimental results show that the proposed position technique has 13.2% better precision than triangulation, for distances up to 10 meters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Securing the access in networks is a first-order concern that only gains importance with the advent of Internet of Things (IoT). In this paper, a security system is presented for password-free access over the secured link. It makes the connection faster than manual authentication and facilitates Machine-to-Machine (M2M) secure interactions, as required for IoT. The authentication procedure includes the exchange of certificate and challenge/response pairs, which are stored and computed in an external security coprocessor. The system enforces the authentication protocol, includes error detection, and handles multiple devices according to their Operating Systems (OS) through their connections/disconnections. It also performs encryption, if necessary. It is applicable on application level for devices, including IoT based devices, sensors, Android, and iOS-based smartphones. The devices that have the correct certificate and can solve the challenge can connect to the network linked with the security system. The system security is hardened because the sensitive authentication elements such as keys, certificates, and challenge responses are invisible to users and are exchanged only using strong hashing algorithms that are irreversible. The proposed hardware security system can augment any supporting network, converting the entire insecure network into a secured one, as well as retrofit existing insecure Bluetooth devices for secure access. The system incurs low overhead in time and energy by performing security operations in an ASIC coprocessor, and can be shared to secure access to multiple devices, which reduces both energy and cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bluetooth has basically complete requirement for short collection wireless transportations consuming unrestricted manufacturing, technical, medicinal (ISM) 2.4GHz wireless group. Bluetooth works on seventy-nine frequencies in 2.4GHz group by 1MHz transporter arrangement. Individually scheme completes occurrence skipping with 1600 hops/s in Pseudo Random method. Bluetooth relates Frequency Hopping Systems (FHSS) used for intervention modification Frequency Hopping Code Division Multiple Access (FH-CDMA for departure of systems). Additional feature is described in this paper around Bluetooth's radio layer. An actual significant term in setting of Bluetooth has Piconet. A Piconet has gathering of Bluetooth strategies which were corresponding to similar skipping arrangement. Bluetooth connections are implemented by different techniques. These techniques are using to wireless networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bluetooth Inter-piconet communication necessitates deployment of relay nodes. However, network performance is affected with the increased count of relays due to high control overhead. Moreover, the mobility and power failure of a relay node may partition the network, which affects scatternet performance. This research aims to maintain scatternet connectivity without employing redundant relays. This paper presents a Scatternet Formation and Maintenance (SFM) scheme that strives to sustain scatternet connectivity. To minimize control and flooding overhead, SFM removes redundant relays without disconnecting the scatternet. Moreover, backup relays are employed to avoid network partitioning. To avoid a link disconnection, Bluetooth devices in SFM continuously keep track of movement and residual energy. A moving node notifies its master before disconnecting any communication link to make an alternative arrangement for a backup. A backup relay is activated to maintain existing communication links. In addition, backup relay activation improves the performance of synchronous connection oriented and asynchronous connection less links. The proposed technique also reduces control messaging overhead for relay optimization from O(n 2 ) to O(n). Simulation results validate effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed scheme for inter-piconet communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduce a ground radiation antenna that uses controlled endless metal rim modes. In the proposed technique, the metal rim mode is tuned and excited as a one‐wavelength radiator by a small ground radiation antenna. The proposed antenna occupies a clearance of 1 mm × 4 mm in a 30 mm × 20 mm ground plane. A metal rim with dimensions of 34 mm × 24 mm surrounds the ground plane, and the metal rim is separated from the ground plane by a gap of 2 mm. In addition, a lumped capacitor is inserted between the metal rim and the ground plane to control the characteristic mode of the metal rim such that the resonance of the metal rim is tuned to be equal to the operating frequency. By performing simulations and measurements, we compare the performance of the proposed antenna with that of a reference antenna that does not have an inserted capacitor between the metal rim and the ground plane. The results show that a significant improvement of the radiation performance is obtained by employing the proposed technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Travel-time information is an integral part of Advanced Traveler Information Systems and Advanced Traffic Management Systems. Real-time estimation of stream travel time will be helpful in making trip decisions such as route choice and departure time. The present study proposes a method to predict stream travel time using particle filtering approach which considers the predicted stream travel time as the sum of the median of historical travel times, random variations in travel time over time, and a model evolution error. The present model hypothesizes the median of historical travel times obtained from the collected data as a priori estimate and hence predicting the actual travel time will be equivalent to forecasting the variations in travel time according to the current measurements. In order to capture the random variations in travel time, a dynamic mathematical modeling approach with particle filtering technique is used. The results obtained from the implementation of the above method are compared with the measured travel time data and the prediction accuracy, quantified using the Mean Absolute Percentage Error and Mean Absolute Error was observed to be satisfactory. Performance of this method was compared to a basic speed-based approach, where travel time is obtained by time-distance relationship using space-mean speed, and the proposed method showed better performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve people's quality of life, a remote healthcare service with Internet of things (IoTs) is developed in this paper. The proposed system includes microcomputer, physiological sensors and corresponding signal preprocessing circuit, and wireless transmitting module etc. Sensors are used to detect the various vital signals. The collected data is transmitted to mobile device using Bluetooth. The doctors get patient's physiological parameters through the GPRS which connects the mobile device and medical center. As a result, doctor can give diagnostic message to the patient without face to face. The detecting device is designed as a watch form which is wrist-worn enclosure, unobtrusive and low power consumption. An android mobile app is also designed to transmit data as well as display the collected data. The experiment validates the performance of the proposed system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of the Internet of Things (IoT) is to create an integrated ecosystem for devices to communicate over the Internet. To achieve this goal, efficient inter-operation is needed among Device to Device (D2D) communication technologies that make up the ecosystem. Currently, these technologies operate in vertical silos with different protocols. We explore the challenges associated with the integration and interoperability of these D2D technologies by focusing on network layer functions such as addressing, routing, mobility, security and resource optimization. We identify the limitations of the current TCP/IP architecture for D2D communication in the IoT environment. We also discuss some of the limitations of the 6LoWPAN architecture and describe how it has been adopted for D2D communication. Finally, we present solutions to address the limitations we have identified for the network layer functions as applicable to D2D communication in the IoT environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Security is an important issue in Smart Home Environments. Most especially in situations where smart homes can store and release sensitive data to third parties, which makes data collected within smart environments vulnerable to severe security and privacy abuses. Therefore, identification of these security issues is crucial to taking the appropriate steps towards mitigating them and enhancing the security of the collected data within these homes. This paper focuses its attention on the analysis of the possible security issues in smart home environments, identification of different attacks and vulnerabilities with possible recommendations, and countermeasures to mitigate these threats. Moreover, we applied threat modelling process to our Smart Environment for Assisted Living (SEAL) system identifying the assets and threats to the system and examining how our system can be designed in a more secure way that will guarantee a maximum protection of data transmitted across the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes a motion capture system based on the Kinect sensor and an original hand motion reading device – Bluetooth Gloves. It is used for operator's hand tracking including finger bending. A gyroscope assisted by an accelerometer measures the slope angles in relation to the axis of the sensor system while rotary potentiometers define the finger bending angles. The resulting trajectory data is translated into AR-600E robot movements. Data transmission is performed by means of Bluetooth interface. Software that reads telemetry from the Kinect Sensor and Bluetooth Gloves is developed using C++ and LabVIEW programming languages. Graphic User Interface and System architecture are given below. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes MousePath, a novel lightweight communication system between PC web pages and smartphones. MousePath works in two modalities, MousePath-OPT and MousePath-BL. MousePath-OPT works by putting the optical mouse on top of the smartphone's screen, then its transmission starts and instantly finishes without association and pairing fraction. It encodes data into the movement of the smartphone's display content and leverages the optical mouse of the computer to sense the movement for decoding the data. MousePath-BL works by emulating the smartphone as a Bluetooth wireless mouse. Then the smartphone can directly transmit information to the web page via generating mouse events. We prototype and evaluate the system with commercial computers and smartphones. A key benefit of MousePath is that it seamlessly bridges smartphones to co-located PC web applications. MousePath-OPT is more secure and convenient to use while MousePath-BL achieves higher throughput. Two representative web applications, i.e. , sensor sharing and message sharing, are developed to demonstrate MousePath's potential in enhancing PC web applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are great needs for a low cost and low power consumption portable spirometer for the home care of respiratory diseases. A mobile monitoring system utilizing Bluetooth with low power and cost hardware equipment is proposed. A proof of concept prototype has been developed and implemented to enable transmission of a flow or volume of gas during inspiratory and expiratory process signal of a patient, which can be expanded to include other vital signs. Communication between a mobile smartphone and the spirometer is implemented using the popular personal area network standard specification Bluetooth. The flow measurement is done with commercial Platinum hot wire anemometer manufactured with MEMS technology. Owing to its smallness, it has the advantage of introducing no modification of the spatial wind distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Research in Telemedicine / La Recherche Européenne en Télémédecine is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Bluetooth technology offers great opportunities for a variety of applications and has good market prospects. However, numerous publications and test results give rise to some questions about the pairing process and security of confidential information transmitted via Bluetooth. Therefore, to ensure an acceptable level of protection we propose a novel countermeasure that will help to avert Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) attacks. This paper focuses its attention on MITM attacks in Bluetooth pairing and suggests a countermeasure that will contribute to preventing the MITM attacks by proposing new precautionary steps, which will be integrated into the Just Works (JW) association model of Bluetooth Secure Simple Pairing (SSP). The proposed model will start by asking both devices about I/O capabilities, then exchanging a key between the devices based on the answer of each device, in which there will be a computational process following the exchange process between the devices, which are trying to pair. Finally, we will provide a thorough demonstration of the new method and its results. Then we will illuminate the proposed steps and delineate the various stages of it, which are integrated into JW model. This would optimistically deliver a roadmap to formulate a substantially effective countermeasure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current pairing procedure between Bluetooth devices has gone under heavy scrutiny in the past few years. One of the main reasons for that is the SSP's (Secure Simple Pairing's) proven vulnerability to MITM (Man-In-The-Middle) attacks. Many attempts at solving the problem have been researched and presented, but none of them have so far been able to satisfy all the existing deficiencies at once. In this paper, we will present a novel solution for correcting the actual root cause of the security problems. In fact, the structure of the pairing itself has been changed in our solution by separating the process from the previously established measures of pairing that are currently used in the SSP. Through changing the communication means from a device based source that might be exposed to external infiltrations to a virtual channel based exchange, many of the risk elements that make MITM attacks feasible are thus mitigated. This paper will start with a short survey of related work that constituted the basis of this research. A detailed presentation of the experiment and its results will follow and clarify the suggested process for this new Bluetooth pairing method. Finally, we will sketch some future research work ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bluetooth security has been a growing concern among users and manufacturers of a wide variety of mobile devices and gadgets. This is because these devices have come to require this wireless connectivity method to communicate various types of data between themselves. Because of this rise in popularity, threats to the privacy and security of Bluetooth communications have emerged. This paper focuses on Man-In-The- Middle (MITM) attacks, a persistent and dangerous form of intrusion that can affect almost all wireless technologies including Bluetooth. We describe the vulnerabilities that allow this type of attack to happen within the Secure Simple Pairing (SSP) mode, which has originally been designed to thwart MITM attacks. Moreover, we present the proposed solutions to these vulnerabilities. We then claim that these existing solutions cannot be used for a variety of practical reasons. These reasons will be presented in details and the most common ones will be matched with the previously mentioned solutions in order to find one predominating factor among the solutions and among their non-application reasons. The last part of this paper will describe two novel MITM attack scenarios on an improved version of SSP called ESSP, which should further demonstrate the need to completely shift directions in the thwarting of Bluetooth intrusions, something that should provide a starting point for further research that takes on this technological challenge. Furthermore, we devise two novel countermeasures for ESSP. Finally, we present some new future research work ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives The present study sought to assess (1) phone use habits and awareness of listening aids in adult cochlear implant bearers, and (2) objective and subjective benefit of listening aids for cell-phone communication. Material and methods A questionnaire was sent to 17 cochlear (Cochlear ® ) implanted adults to assess phone use and awareness of available listening aids. Speech perception without lip-reading was assessed in silence and in noise using Fournier dissyllabic word lists recorded on an iPhone 5C ® , with and without listening aids. Subjective benefit was assessed according to listening aid system. Results Sixty-five percent of adult cochlear implant bearers regularly used a phone with all kinds of correspondent. Eighty-eight percent phoned only in quiet conditions; 53% did not answer unknown callers; 71% never used listening aids. Speech discrimination scores for disyllabic words recorded on the phone were respectively 69%, 63%, 45% and 16% in quiet and 50, 60 and 70 dB SPL noise. Speech perception in quiet and noise was improved by listening aids; the Roger system was the most beneficial, followed by the FM system, then the inductive system. Conclusion Listening aids are effective, but little known by adult cochlear implant bearers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart bag is an application-specific design that can be useful for almost everyone in the society. Smart means intelligent, the bag will be intelligent enough to carry out various features for everyday use. Microcontroller ATmega16, the brain of the proposed system will control all the distinguishable features. Solar panel attached on the front part of the bag will charge not only the electronic appliances like mobile phones, laptop, etc. but will also power the entire system. RF-ID Technology will be used to solve the problem of forgetfulness to pack the required items. The object to be placed inside the bag will have these RF-ID tags attached to them. These tags will then be read by the RF-ID reader. Another feature tackles the problem arising in the threatening situations. Emergency button present on the bag which when pressed will solve this problem in any emergency situation. When the button will be pressed, a buzzer will get activated and the location of the victim will be sent via SMS to three contacts and to the police control room as well. Another feature is an anti-theft feature which will track the mobile in case of any theft. Bluetooth Module will be used for tracking purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes our approach for using wireless sensors on mobile phones for delivering new data to mobile subscribers. We propose a new practical approach for social context-aware data retrieval based on mobile phones as a sensor concept. This approach uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules located on mobile phones as sensors for getting proximity information that can open (discover) access to any user generated content or content published in the social networks. A special mobile service (context-aware browser client for Android) can present that information to mobile subscribers. The potential use-cases for the proposed approach include all projects associated with hyper-local news data. For example, news services in Smart City projects, proximity marketing, indoor data delivery, etc.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the availability of secure electronic data transfers, most medical information is still stored on paper, and it is usually shared by mail, fax or the patients themselves. Today's technologies aim to the challenge of sharing healthcare information, since exchanging inaccurate data leads to inefficiency and errors. Currently, there exist numerous techniques for exchanging data, which however require continuous internet connection, thus lacking generic applicability in healthcare, in the cases where no internet connection is available. In this paper, a new Device-to-Device (D2D) protocol is proposed, specifying a series of Bluetooth messages regarding the healthcare information that is being exchanged in short-range distances, between a healthcare-practitioner and a citizen. This information refers to structured and unstructured data, which can be directly exchanged through a globally used communication protocol, extending it for the permission of exchanging HL7 FHIR Bluetooth structured messages. Moreover, for high volume data, the D2D protocol can support lossless compression and decompression, improving its overall efficiency. The protocol is firstly evaluated through exchanging sample data in a real-world scenario, whereas an overall comparison of exchanging multiple sized data either using lossless compression or not is being provided. According to the evaluation results, the D2D protocol specification was strictly followed, successfully providing the ability to exchange healthcare-related data, with Bluetooth being considered the most suitable technology for current needs. For small-sized data, the D2D protocol performs better without the provided lossless compression mechanism, whereas in the case of large-sized data lossless compression is considered as the only option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advent of mobile devices and the convergence of wireless technologies and the Internet, both the content and the quality of research in this field are subject to regular change. A variety of state-of-the-art computing devices that are compatible with each other have been produced. These devices have the ability to interact with people. This is also known as pervasive computing. Particularly, as smartphones have recently become one of the most popular devices worldwide, various convenient applications are being released. Smartphones available today not only provide the ordinary internal processes such as dialing or receiving phone calls, sending text messages, and doing mobile banking, but also increasingly control various other devices that are part of our daily lives. In effect, this means that through smartphone applications, we can remotely control a variety of external devices such as televisions, projectors for presentations, computers, and even cars. The research in this paper is based on the evolving technological possibilities of using smartphone applications to control external devices. This paper presents the design and implementation of a remote lock system using wireless communication on a smartphone. In this context, remote lock system refers to a lock system that can be controlled remotely by a dedicated Android application. Every smartphone is equipped with Bluetooth which makes this technology possible. The application proposed in this paper uses the existing Bluetooth function on Android smartphones to open and manage locks. The users’ lock information can be stored and managed in real time in the database via a server that is built and managed by a server manager. Even if users forget the password of the lock, our proposed lock system can guide them to retrieve it easily, and a user manual is included to help users navigate the system. This system also provides a variety of management functions such as adding, deleting, modifying, and purchasing the user’s own locks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, Bluetooth as a technology has transformed the wireless communication space rapidly across voluminous assortment of devices. Several categories of users with varied proficiency levels in handling the device configuration are emerging. This paper aims to give a detailed user behavior impact on the security of Bluetooth enabled devices. First, the categorization of users is considered based on proficiency in handling Bluetooth configuration. Also, the availability of Bluetooth in these devices across the category of users was premeditated. Based on the user behavior impact data analysis, possible attacks when different user category interacts are also documented. For this study, smart phones with Bluetooth connectivity were used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes our approach for using wireless sensors on mobile phones for delivering new data to mobile subscribers. We propose a new practical approach for social context-aware data retrieval based on mobile phones as a sensor concept. This approach uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules located on mobile phones as sensors for getting proximity information that can open (discover) access to any user generated content or content published in the social networks. A special mobile service (context-aware browser client for Android) can present that information to mobile subscribers. The potential use-cases for the proposed approach include all projects associated with hyper-local news data. For example, news services in Smart City projects, proximity marketing, indoor data delivery, etc.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study designs a programmable logic controller (PLC) and wireless touch control technique for use in mechatronics learning. Its purpose is to provide a laboratory platform for students of engineering and technology to expenment with the design of wireless touch control technique. The principles of instructional systems design were implemented in the development of the learning module. This innovative two-position oscillating learning system elucidates the principles, function and application of mechatronics and wireless touch control technique. Thirty-eight students and eight domain experts answered an anonymous questionnaire. The domain experts were university professors and/or researchers with an average of more than five years of experience in mechatronics. An encouraging preliminary assessment of the proposed system demonstrated the accuracy of the embedded knowledge as well as the effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Visible Light Communication (VLC) by means of white Light Emitting Diode (LED) is an alternate and most promising technology for existing Radio Frequency (RF) communication. We proposed one of the important applications of VLC to prevent the theft of the vehicle. Every year approximately 36,000 vehicles worth Rs.115 crores are stolen in India. In critical road condition, only 15,000 are traced and many spare parts of vehicle are found missing. Even the existing technologies have some disadvantages related to the problem stated. In our paper, we dealt with the data communication through LED. One of the optical wireless communication having short range is called as VLC whose visible light spectrum starts from 380 nm and ends at 780 nm and it has an incomparable data rate of 10GB/s whereas the speed is 1MB/s on Bluetooth and for Infra Red (IR) the speed is 4MB/s. We try to achieve the communication through VLC between 1) car - car to prevent the accident and 2) car - tollgate and received signal from tollgate is transmitted to Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) network using microcontroller to prevent the theft of vehicle. To enhance the security of VLC, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm is used and the result is illustrated with the help of LabVIEW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this era of modernization, lots of systems have been introduced by which the human effort has been limited to a certain level. In this Paper a data acquisition system has been proposed for factories and industries or environment monitoring, which will measure the certain parameters like temperature, humidity, the level of gases present in atmosphere, motion of any person near the restricted areas at a time and transmit these parameters to the control room wirelessly as well as to the concerned person of the area by the latest smartphone/tablets. Through the smartphone, the person can give command to the control room in case of any parameter crosses a certain level. The data is collected from sensor nodes to the control room node using ZigBee network and then retransmit the desired data to smart phones, tabs and PCs using Bluetooth network. Sensor node contains analog output sensors like temperature, gas and Digital output sensors like sound and metal. The LCD is used to display the sensor parameters. The RF modem is used to transmit the values to the control room node using star and mesh network topologies. The control room node contains ZigBee transceiver module to receive the information and Bluetooth modem to make available the desired data to the smart phones, tabs and PCs. The ZigBee and Bluetooth network are working at 9600 baud rate and 2.4 GHz frequency in ISM band. The ZigBee nodes are capable to transmit the information upto 100meteres and for long distance communication, multi-hopping is used. Bluetooth modem is capable to transmit the information upto 30 feet distance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bluetooth ranks among the most widespread technologies in current mobile devices. One of the most promising application fields of Bluetooth is that of the so-called opportunistic networks. In order to assess the validity of Bluetooth for those scenarios we perform systematic experimental tests changing the Bluetooth discovery mode, the number of devices participating in the network (up to 20) and their roles. This discovery stage is crucial for the identification of devices in the range of the network. Our results allow to conclude that in asymmetric cases (where nodes work exclusively as masters or slaves) Bluetooth working in interlaced mode can be clearly used even in the less favorable situations. On the contrary, in opportunistic networks where the nodes must change their role from passive (being found) to active (find other nodes), the higher the size of the network the higher the times needed to remain in each inquiry, so the parameters of the devices need to be set according to the application in mind. These results help to introduce alternative strategies to overcome the lack of knowledge about the entry of devices into the network range and the number of them to be discovered. Finally, we compare the effect of performing the experiments inside a Faraday cage or in a contaminated environment and that the standard network simulator (ns-2) does not capture the complexity of the experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]