2020
Authors
Santos, LC; Aguiar, AS; Santos, FN; Valente, A; Petry, M;
Publication
ROBOTICS
Abstract
Robotics will significantly impact large sectors of the economy with relatively low productivity, such as Agri-Food production. Deploying agricultural robots on the farm is still a challenging task. When it comes to localising the robot, there is a need for a preliminary map, which is obtained from a first robot visit to the farm. Mapping is a semi-autonomous task that requires a human operator to drive the robot throughout the environment using a control pad. Visual and geometric features are used by Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) Algorithms to model and recognise places, and track the robot's motion. In agricultural fields, this represents a time-consuming operation. This work proposes a novel solution-called AgRoBPP-bridge-to autonomously extract Occupancy Grid and Topological maps from satellites images. These preliminary maps are used by the robot in its first visit, reducing the need of human intervention and making the path planning algorithms more efficient. AgRoBPP-bridge consists of two stages: vineyards row detection and topological map extraction. For vineyards row detection, we explored two approaches, one that is based on conventional machine learning technique, by considering Support Vector Machine with Local Binary Pattern-based features, and another one found in deep learning techniques (ResNET and DenseNET). From the vineyards row detection, we extracted an occupation grid map and, by considering advanced image processing techniques and Voronoi diagrams concept, we obtained a topological map. Our results demonstrated an overall accuracy higher than 85% for detecting vineyards and free paths for robot navigation. The Support Vector Machine (SVM)-based approach demonstrated the best performance in terms of precision and computational resources consumption. AgRoBPP-bridge shows to be a relevant contribution to simplify the deployment of robots in agriculture.
2020
Authors
Vahid Ghavidel, M; Javadi, MS; Santos, SF; Gough, M; Shafie khah, M; Catalao, JPS;
Publication
2020 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SMART ENERGY SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES (SEST)
Abstract
Nowadays demand response (DR) is known as one of the main parts of the power system especially in the smart grid infrastructure. Furthermore, to enhance the participation of the consumers in the DR programs, the Independent System Operators (ISOs) have introduced a new entity, i.e. Demand Response Aggregator (DRA). The main contribution of this paper is to investigate a novel framework to increase the profits of the DRA participating in the day-ahead electricity market, i.e. employment of an axillary generation system in the DRA entity. It is supposed that the DRA in this paper has an axillary generation system and it would lead to an increase in the profit of the DRA through avoiding the economic loss in the process of trading DR obtained by the active participation of prosumers in the electricity market. The fuel cell is introduced as the axillary generation unit to the DRA unit. In the framework proposed in this paper, the DR is acquired from end-users during peak periods and will be offered to the day-ahead electricity market. The power flow during the off-peak hours is in another direction, i.e. from the grid to the consumers. In this model, the information-gap decision theory (IGDT) is chosen as the risk measure. The uncertain parameter is the day-ahead electricity market price. The optimization problem's objective is to maximize the profit of the DRA. The behavior of the risk-seeker decision-maker is analyzed and investigated. The feasibility of the program is demonstrated by applying it to realistic data.
2020
Authors
Matos, P; Rocha, J; Goncalves, R; Santos, F; Marreiros, G; Mota, D; Fonseca, N; Martins, C;
Publication
XV MEDITERRANEAN CONFERENCE ON MEDICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING AND COMPUTING - MEDICON 2019
Abstract
Over the last decades web and mobile technologies are increasingly being used in sports, especially in soccer, but none of them seems to allow to prevent injuries. However, training systems for young athletes do not have, for the most part, learning abilities in order to adapt, evolve and find new training recommendations. It is in this context which the Smart Coach project is presented in this work, and whose main goal is to introduce our mobile training recommendation system allow to young athletes evolve. The training mobile recommendation system is also designed to identify potential injuries risk for each young athlete.
2020
Authors
Sallum, E; Pereira, N; Alves, M; Santos, M;
Publication
2020 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY (ICIT)
Abstract
Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) enable a growing number of Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications with large geographical coverage, low bit -rate, and long lifetime requirements. LoRa (Long Range) is a well-known LPWAN technology that uses a proprietary Chirp Spread Spectrum (CSS) physical layer, while the upper layers are defined by an open standard - LoRaWAN. In this paper, we propose a simple yet effective method to improve the Quality-of-Service (QoS) of LoRa networks by fine-tuning specific radio parameters. Through a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) problem formulation, we find optimal settings for the Spreading Factor (SF) and Carrier Frequency (CF) radio parameters, considering the network traffic specifications as a whole, to improve the Data Extraction Rate (DER) and to reduce the packet collision rate and the energy consumption in LoRa networks. The effectiveness of the optimization procedure is demonstrated by simulations, using LoRaSim for different network scales. In relation to the traditional LoRa radio parameter assignment policies, our solution leads to an average increase of 6% in DER, and a number of collisions 13 times smaller. In comparison to networks with dynamic radio parameter assignment policies, there is an increase of 5% and 2% of DER, and a number of collisions 11 and 2.5 times smaller than equal-distribution, and random distribution, respectively.
2020
Authors
Khan, Y; Ali, T; Fariz, M; Moreira, F; Branco, F; Martins, J; Goncalves, R;
Publication
EXPERT SYSTEMS
Abstract
An electronic business transaction among untrusted bodies without consulting a mutually trusted party has remained widely accepted problem. Blockchain resolves this problem by introducing peer-to-peer network with a consensus algorithm and trusted ledger. Blockchain originally introduced for cryptocurrency that came with proof-of-work consensus algorithm. Due to some performance issues, scientists brought concept of permissioned Blockchain. Hyperledger Fabric is a permissioned Blockchain targeting business-oriented problems for industry. It is designed for efficient transaction execution over Blockchain with pluggable consensus model; however, there is limitation of rapid application development. Hyperledger introduced a new layer called Hyperledger Composer on top of the Fabric layer, which provides an abstract layer to model the business application readily and quickly. Composer provides a smart contract to extend the functionality and flexibility of Fabric layer and provides a way of communication with other systems to meet business requirements. Hyperledger Composer uses role-based access control (RBAC) model to secure access to its valuable assets. However, RBAC is not enough because many business deals require continuous assets monitoring. Our proposed model, BlockU, covers all possible access control models required by a business. BlockU can monitor assets continuously during transactions and updates attributes accordingly. Moreover, we incorporate hooks in Hyperledger Composer to implement extended permission model that provides extensive permission management capability on an asset. Subsequently, our proposed enhanced access control model is implemented with a minimal change to existing Composer code base and is backward compatible with the current security mechanism.
2020
Authors
Gough, M; Ashraf, P; Santos, SF; Javadi, M; Lotfi, M; Osorio, GJ; Catalao, JPS;
Publication
2020 20TH IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT AND ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AND 2020 4TH IEEE INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL POWER SYSTEMS EUROPE (EEEIC/I&CPS EUROPE)
Abstract
The integration of new technologies at the residential level such as energy storage systems, electric vehicles, solar photovoltaic generation and mini wind turbines triggered the appearance of a new agent in the power systems called prosumers. This agent has the potential to provide new forms of flexibility and cost-effective solutions. However, associated with these new solutions there are also a number of problems that affect these solutions, particularly network constraints. This work presents an analysis not only on the benefits of utilizing the prosumer's flexibility but also to the problems associated with the operation and optimization of the network. A new model is presented that considers energy transactions between prosumers in the neighborhood and between them and the network using on a stochastic framework, in order to account for a set of uncertainties in the form of scenarios associated with the availability of various resources and technologies. The results show the economic benefit of energy transactions between prosumers resulting in more flexibility for the system while highlighting the effect of network restrictions and potential problems associated with them.
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