Abstract — Mobile robots have the potential to become the ideal tool to teach a broad range of engineering disciplines. Indeed, mobile robots are getting increasingly complex and accessible. They embed elements from diverse fields such as mechanics, digital electronics, automatic control, signal processing, embedded programming, and energy management. Moreover, they are attractive for students which increases their motivation to learn. However, the requirements of an effective education tool bring new constraints to robotics. This article presents the e-puck robot design, which specifically targets engineering education at university level. Thanks to its particular design, the e-puck can be used in a large spectrum of teaching activities, not strictly related to robotics. Through a systematic evaluation by the students, we show that the e-puck fits this purpose and is appreciated by 90 percent of a large sample of students. I.

We present the design, implementation, and evaluation of the Acoustic Embedded Networked Sensing Box (ENSBox), a platform for prototyping rapid-deployable distributed acoustic sensing systems, particularly distributed source localization. Each ENSBox integrates an ARM processor running Linux and supports key facilities required for source localization: a sensor array, wireless network services, time synchronization, and precise self-calibration of array position and orientation. The ENSBox’s integrated, high precision self-calibration facility sets it apart from other platforms. This self-calibration is precise enough to support acoustic source localization applications in complex, realistic environments: e.g., 5 cm average 2D position error and 1.5 degree average orientation error over a partially obstructed 80x50 m outdoor area. Further, our integration of array orientation into the position estimation algorithm is a novel extension of traditional multilateration techniques. We present the result of several different test deployments, measuring the performance of the system in urban settings, as well as forested, hilly environments with obstructing foliage and 20–30 m distances between neighboring nodes. Categories and Subject Descriptors C.3 [Computer Systems Organization]: Special-Purpose and Application-Based Systems—Signal processing

Abstract—The increasing usage of smart embedded devices in business blurs the line between the virtual and real worlds. This creates new opportunities to build applications that better integrate real-time state of the physical world, and hence, provides enterprise services that are highly dynamic, more diverse, and efficient. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) approaches traditionally used to couple functionality of heavyweight corporate IT systems, are becoming applicable to embedded real-world devices, i.e., objects of the physical world that feature embedded processing and communication. In such infrastructures, composed of large numbers of networked, resource-limited devices, the discovery of services and on-demand provisioning of missing functionality is a significant challenge. We propose a process and a suitable system architecture that enables developers and business process designers to dynamically query, select, and use running instances of real-world services (i.e., services running on physical devices) or even deploy new ones on-demand, all in the context of composite, real-world business applications.

Thanks to the stunning progress in the field of embedded devices, physical objects such as home appliances, industrial machines and wireless sensor and actuator networks can now embed powerful computers that can connect to the Internet from anywhere. The Chumby, Gumstix, Sun SPOTs, Ploggs, Nabaztag, Pokens, etc. are only a few examples of these versatile tiny computers. In the meanwhile, broadband and cheap Internet connectivity is very likely to become a commodity accessible from anywhere. According to the IP for Smart Objects (IPSO) Alliance, an increasing number of embedded devices will be supporting the IP protocol [8], so that many physical objects will soon possess direct connectivity to the Internet. This convergence of physical computing devices (Wireless Sensor Networks, mobile phones, embedded computers, etc.) and the Internet provides new design opportunities for interactive applications and tangible artifacts, as digital communication networks will soon not only contain static documents, but also real-time information about places and

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systems with shop-floor web service

Abstract Creating networks of “smart things ” found in the physical world (e.g., with RFID, wireless sensor and actuator networks, embedded devices) on a large scale has become the goal of a variety of recent research activities. Rather than exposing real-world data and functionality through vertical system designs, we propose to make them an integral part of the Web. As a result, smart things become easier to build upon. In such an architecture, popular Web technologies (e.g., HTML, JavaScript, Ajax, PHP, Ruby) can be used to build applications involving smart things, and users can leverage well-known Web mechanisms (e.g., browsing, searching, bookmarking, caching, linking) to interact with and share these devices. In this chapter, we describe the Web of Things (WoT) architecture and best practices based on the RESTful principles that have already contributed to the popular success, scalability, and evolvability of the Web. We discuss several prototypes using these principles, which connect environmental sensor nodes, energy monitoring systems, and RFID-tagged objects to the Web. We also show how Web-enabled smart things can be used in lightweight ad-hoc applications,

• Future urban areas will be highly crowded. • Embedded sensors are massively deployed around the world, especially in big cities. • New technologies allow the Internet to penetrate into the real world of physical objects. • The vision of the Internet of Things. • The forthcoming Web of Things. • Ubiquitous mobile Internet connectivity makes the Mobile Web an enticing practice. The Web of Things as a real-time platform, for supporting people to shape the city they live in, through their mobile phones! The Web of Things University of Cyprus • Connect embedded devices to the Web by reusing well-accepted and understood Web standards. • The REST architectural style defines how to use HTTP as an application protocol. • It models services as resources, which can only be • manipulated by the methods specified in the HTTP standard (e.g. GET, POST, PUT, DELETE). • Directly embedding Web servers on physical devices

Wireless Sensor Networks provide unprecedented possibilities for monitoring and interacting with the real-world. Unfortunately, the lack of open and simple standards for ad-hoc collaboration between heterogeneous embedded devices makes it difficult to build large-scale deployments; every particular application requires complex integration work, and therefore technical expertise, effort and time. Inspired by the success of Web 2.0 mashups, we propose a similar lightweight approach for interacting with networked devices. In particular, we describe a gateway architecture that enables to access sensor nodes through a RESTful interface. With this approach, interacting with a sensor node becomes as easy as typing a URI in a Web browser. By reusing the architectural principles of the modern Web, we show how one can built a loosely coupled infrastructure for the Web of Things that scales well and extends the current Web to the real world.

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have promising industrial applications, since they reduce the gap between traditional enterprise systems and the real world. However, every particular application requires complex integration work, and therefore technical expertise, effort and time which prevents users from creating small tactical, ad-hoc applications using sensor networks. Following the success of Web 2.0 “mashups”, we propose a similar lightweight approach for combining enterprise services (e.g. ERPs) with WSNs. Specifically, we discuss the traditional integration solutions, propose and implement an alternative architecture where sensor nodes are accessible according to the REST principles. With this approach, the nodes become part of a “Web of Things ” and interacting with them as well as composing their services with existing ones, becomes almost as easy as browsing the web.