develop an embedded iot system and it’s...
TRANSCRIPT
Develop an Embedded IoT System and It’sApplications
Ari AharariDept. of Computer and Information Sciences
SOJO UniversityKumamoto, Japan
Masayoshi InadaDept. of Production Engineering
FusionTech Inc.Kumamoto, Japan
Jair Minoru AbeDept. of Production Engineering
Universidade PaulistaSao Paulo - SP, Brazil
Kazumi NakamatsuDept. of Human Science and Environment
University of HyogoKobe, Japan
Abstract—The Internet of Things may be a hot topic in thesociety but it’s not a new concept especially in industry. In thispaper, we introduce the fundamental concepts of the Internetof Things (IoT) and critical points about how we can buildIoT devices. We will also explain about our newly designedIoT hub, “A-Sight” and its hardware design. In particular, wealso introduce projects concerning IoT, Vegetable Productionand Distribution System and Public Transportation MonitoringSystem.
Index Terms—internet of things, monitoring system, vegetableproduction and distribution system
I. INTRODUCTION
IoT shares a common agreement regarding its definition,as we could express it as the seamless integration of internet-based sensors and devices in a wide area network that interactswith a much more advanced Personal Area Network, allowingus to recognize in a much more detail manner the surround-ing environment and interchange information with it, in anautomatic manner. The future applications and research basedon IoT will aver a profound impact on the user side, sincemost of its application will be in areas like domotics, health,agriculture, intelligent services, etc.
Although IoT research is in its early stage in terms ofdevelopment, it represents a challenge from the ethical andtechnological point of view. Standardization is a major issue inIoT, different companies as well as independent organizations,have tried to solve this problem with no success so far, or withno general agreement about a single methodology [1-5].
Embedded systems are usually relatively small/mediumcomputing platforms that are self-sufficient. Such systemsconsist of all the software and hardware components which are“embedded” inside the system so that complete applicationscan be implemented and run without the aid of other externalcomponents or resources. Usually, embedded systems arefound in portable computing products such as PDAs, mobile,and smartphones as well as GPS receivers. Nevertheless, larger
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systems such as microwave ovens and vehicle electronicscontain embedded systems. Nevertheless, here embedded sys-tems are considered that can communicate with each otherby means of a wired or wireless communication protocol,such as Zigbee, IEEE.802.11 standard, or any of its deriva-tives. Therefore, special attention is paid here to embeddedInternet-of-Things (IoT) hardware, its design methodology,and implementation requirements. An embedded platform withsuch communication features can be thought of as a systemthat contains one or more general-purpose microprocessor ormicroprocessor core, a number of standard peripherals, alongwith a number of customized, special function co-processors,accelerators or special function engines on the same electronicboard or integrated inside the same system-on-chip (SoC).Already a number of IoT manufacturers include hardwareencryption and cryptography blocks in order to increase thesecurity capability of their devices. Normally, specific blockssuch as encryption/decryption and video processing enginescan be attached on the embedded system’s bus and offerhardware accelerated functionality to the IoT module. Anembedded and portable system that includes all of the abovehardware/software modules can be thought of as a complete,standalone IoT node.
Currently, such embedded systems are implemented usingadvanced field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or othertypes of programmable logic devices (PLDs). Alternatively,an embedded IoT node can be implemented with ASICCSoClogic plus a microcontroller core, but this is financially viableonly for large sale volumes. For smaller volumes, or at leastfor designing the prototype, FPGA logic is the best solution interms of price/functionality yield. Nowadays, FPGAs offer avery large integrated area, circuit performance, and low powercapability. FPGA implementations can be seamlessly andrapidly prototyped, and the FPGA can be easily reconfiguredwhen design updates or bug fixes are released.
II. ESPECIALLY DESIGNED IOT HARDWARE
We designed a special hardware to collect the variousinformation of the bus in the real-time through Machine toMachine (M2M) interface automatically. M2M interface is amicrocomputer with various I/O to transmit the measured datato cloud system through the 4G/LTE network. Some relatedtechnologies in order to provide the better solutions in thisfield are described in following.
A. Sensor Networks
The use of different specific-application designed sensorsin a network array connected to a high-speed network allowsinformation exchange among different business partners. Thissensor network is the core of multiple application layers thatwill be built over the information provided.
B. Cloud Computing
Many current applications, from storage to Software as aService (ASA) are using this common affordable platformin order to reduce their hardware expenses. The informationretrieved from the sensor networks could be processed orstored in the cloud for future purposes.
C. Control Area Network (CAN)
The data generated by the different agriculture machines,e.g. yield of pesticides, production, etc., can be stored in thecloud as well.
The structure of the M2M interface for proposed transporta-tion monitoring system is illustrated as shown in figure 1. Theinformation from connecting sensors are collected in mainboard and transfer through the specially designed 4G/LTEshield to the cloud database.
Fig. 1. System construction of proposed system.
We also designed and developed new IoT hardware espe-cially for bus monitoring system [figure 2].
The specification of specially designed M2M interface isshown in Table I. The analog or digital signals can betransformed by M2M interface. And these signals will betransformed into the cloud database by 4G/LTE network.
Fig. 2. Especially designed IoT hardware.
TABLE ISPECIFICATION OF SPECIALLY DESIGNED M2M INTERFACE
Item SpecificationMicrocontroller ATmega2560Operating Voltage 5VInput voltage 24VDigital I/O 54Analog I/O 16Flash Memory 256 KBNetwork 4G/LTESize 112mm × 145mm
III. APPLICATION I: VEGETABLE PRODUCTION ANDDISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
One of the biggest problems for farmers and for Japan, ingeneral, is the fast peace growing age society. Specifically,farmers are used to pass their knowledge from generations,but the current scenario is leaving farmers with few or nogenerations since their kids decide to migrate to the city inorder to find a working position in manufacturing companies.
This phenomenon is reducing at an alarming peace thenumber of young farmers putting in risk the continuity of thebusiness. Farmers have been facing different challenges relatedto their business due to different reasons. In order to solvepart of their problems and to create a new business platformthe project “Novel nutrition-based vegetable production anddistribution system” was created. The initiative of the projectwas to help farmers with their produce commercializationthrough the use of technology [7-10].
The creation of this innovative business model required theexecution of different steps shown in this section. Membersand their functions and interconnections are defined as a firststep. A project perspective is shown in figure 3.
1) Farmers: In addition to representing the main project’sbenefits users, farmers represent the most importantinformation provider. The information provided is vitalin order to make the project work.
2) End users: Although farmers are the ones that willbenefit from the project, end users will be the onestaking most of the total benefits. Since the project isbased on the use of the platform by end users.
3) Restaurants: The “Ready meal” represented here bythe restaurants uses the vegetables provided by localfarmers.
4) Knowledge-based database creators: Two (2)databases were created during the project development.
Nutritional requirement information: User’s nutritionalinformation, e.g.: user’s physical information, statusinformation, physical condition, nutritional requirement,etc.
Food information: Food/vegetable information, like:nutritional calories, traceability, seasonal information,etc.
5) Project Integrator: SOJO University represents theProject Integrator, meaning it will receive the differentinformation presented previously and generate twoadditional databases:
Platform information: User’s device details e.g.: mobile,tablet, Web, downloaded an application, etc.
Attribute information: Information used in theregistration procedure, e.g.: gender, age, familystructure, etc.
Recommendation generation algorithm: Arecommendation algorithm is designed in orderto correlate the different created databases previouslymentioned. Its objective is to generate a recommendationto relieve the user’s symptoms based on the informationprovided by the user.
Fig. 3. An overview of Vegetable Production and Distribution System.
Here in this project, we installed our IoT hardware to mon-itoring of environment information such as soil temperature,
moisture, and humidity, temperature, Illuminance. All theseinformation will be sent to the cloud server to help the farmerto monitor real-time moisture measure and field environment.Our proposed agriculture environment monitoring system [14]for supporting farmers is shown in figure 4.
Fig. 4. Agriculture Environment Monitoring System.
Because of the limited screen size on the Smartphoneedition of the user interface, priority was given to the user’sinformation input. A high visibility and easy to navigateinterface were designed with all navigation features like searchfrom symptoms list and nutrients. Extensive use of JavaScriptfrom the second navigation layer. For the PC version, it wasdesigned in order to allow making an easy icon selectionwith a reduced directory structure. For display purposes, e.g.:food, nutrients, symptomology, etc that contains large contentsa matching program was built in order to provide specificinformation to the user’s needs [15], [16].
IV. APPLICATION II: IOT PUBLIC TRANSPORTATIONMONITORING SYSTEM
The current applications for environmental monitoring inurban settings, in general, rely on a small number of measure-ments stations placed at fixed places. Although the accuracyof the measurement equipment in these units is high, theircost effectively excludes large-scale deployment to get mea-surements at finer granularity [10].
For this reason, a system using a hardware capable of actingas an intermediary between the operating system and the cloudbecomes more economical and faster to install, providingmany advantages in the additional collection of data.
Another advantage is to improve the passenger’s experienceby refining the current infrastructure in place, aiming atbetter scheduling and increasing bus ridership through betterplanning. By getting such data (e.g., waiting times, insidetemperature), the performance of the bus system can befurther analyzed and suggested changes to a route in orderto achieve a more efficient, comfortable and sustainable urbantransportation system [9].
It is believed that the use of travel planners to estimatepeople’s travel behavior can increase the accuracy of the travel
Fig. 5. User Interface Design.
behavior model in simulation systems. In terms of planning,we say that the use of online services has the potential toinfluence all aspects of sustainability on a number of aspects,such as collection of traveler data, collection of vehicle data,a collection of traffic data, a collection of air quality data andcollection of transfer point data [11].
The system proposed in this work uses IoT (Internet ofThings), making the interface of existing equipment andproviding new applications. Among the functions, such as themonitoring of the timetable of the bus by the passenger and thecompany providing the service, one can also monitor charac-teristics such as: internal temperature of the bus, possible routedeviations caused by unforeseen events, driver identificationof the bus and insert automatically the route by means of aRFID card. An overview of the proposed system is illustratedin figure 6.
We also develop a users interface for a passenger to searchbus location information. This interface allows to user searcheasily by inserting the bus stop information where they willride and destination bus stop. A sample of the user interfacefor the smartphone is shown in figure 7.
The proposed system is also able to provide futures servicesuch as, check the loading and unloading points, the numberof passengers, the concentration of people per hour, and sexand age range of passengers, and finding the most used busstops based on passengers selected routes information. Thisinformation also can be useful to public managers, in the caseof urban planning and improvement of the quality of life inthe city, as well as informing proven managers for commercial
Fig. 6. An overview of the IoT Public Transportation Monitoring System.
Fig. 7. User interface for the smartphone.
ventures and market research.In addition to the above-mentioned features, the cost of
deployment is considerably low due to the application of IoTtechnology compared to traditional systems in use.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, we explain about the development of an IoTsystem, which is simple to implement, and can easily connectto current hardware inside the bus, without the need of offeringan upgrade, and that can be economically interesting for thebus company.
We also proposed a new IoT based public transportationmonitoring system and offering new solutions, not only tomonitor the vehicle on its route but also to collect additionaldata, which will be used to improve transportation comfort, aswell as information for public and private managers for theirprojects.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Mr. Kazuhiro Taku for hisgreat support and advice during this work. We also wouldlike to thank FusionTech Inc. and Rios Inc. for their gratefulsupport and design and develop the conventional product ofBus monitoring system.
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