Thesis Presentations Group 1

Title: Using Gestures to Interact with Home Automation Systems
Author: Villanueva, Marcel Lowell G.
Supervisor(s): Prof. Dr. Olaf Droegehorn
Hosting Institution: Hochschule Harz - University of Applied Sciences

Abstract: Homes and working spaces are considered significant contributors to the top percentage of energy consumption and carbon emissions worldwide (GeSI Report, 2017). Previous studies in the field of home- and building automation have demonstrated the sustainability gain brought by smart home solutions, in terms of energy-efficiency, economic savings, and enhanced living and working conditions. A major barrier, however, to the adoption of these solutions is the complexity and limited usability of user interfaces. In addition, various modes of interactions for the control and automation of residential environments are an emerging area of study within Human-Computer Interaction. As a response to these challenges, this study investigates the use of gestures as a natural way of controlling and interacting with home automation systems. Using available motion capture technologies, a gesture dictionary will be defined as a set of meaning actions for in-air free-form movements. A usability test will then be conducted to measure the resulting socio-technical aspects. Lastly, the study will present the analysis and effects of gestures control for a higher up-take of smart home solutions towards designing and maintaining buildings of the future that are both user-centric and resource efficient to reduce our overall carbon footprint.
Paper: Insert link to thesis paper.

Title: Available Bandwidth measruements' approach for high speed mobile networks “Blixt™”
Author: Jasim, Al-Hussein Hameed
Supervisor(s): Associate Professor Karl Andersson
Hosting Institution: Luleå University of Technology
Abstract: The significant increase in the number of mobile networks’ users and the emergence of IoT devices which use the same infrastructure of 4G/LTE networks, makes them in the process of becoming the world’s leading medium for data traffic. In order to meet this challenge, there is also an increase in the number of service providers, which creates a competition in the quality of services provided. It requires methods and tools to verify the Service Level Agreement (SLA) by comparing metrics of QoS, such as the available bandwidth and round-trip time. For this purpose, Blixt™ has been developed, which is a property of InfoVista Sweden AB. Blixt™ is an android application which measures the available bandwidth and the round-trip time for the latest generation of mobile networks and keeps the level of intrusiveness to absolute minimum. Blixt™ technique relies on a time-stamping protocol commonly known as Two-Way Active Measurement Protocol or TWAMP. This paper discussed how the probing parameters affecting the accuracy of measurements. We experimentally tested the performance of the approach and compared it to other tools and methods like MobiPerf and FTP test.
Paper: Insert link to thesis paper.

Title: Green Grid Metrics in Network Information System for Monitoring ICT Sustainability in Data Centers
Author: Villers, Geraldine
Supervisor(s): Eric Rondeau; Jean-Philippe Georges
Hosting Institution: Université de Lorraine
Abstract: To date, data center infrastructures are critical to manage the ever-increasing volume of data, consuming excessive amounts of energy in the process. This concern is the subject of several research and development projects, which have resulted in energy-aware and cost-effective solutions based on routing and load balancing algorithms, energy and cost models, virtualization, and techniques for hardware and software optimization. However, the monitoring, optimization and energy management processes are becoming more challenging because of the difficult cooperation between the electric and the IT networks. This generates an opportunity for Smart Grid technology to provide an interconnection between the two. With the help of “smart” sensors and meters, real-time grid information from the generation plant, transmission lines, energy sources distribution, and end user’s consumption can be provided as metrics into an intelligent system, in order to optimize the energy consumption of a data center facility. This paper proposes a framework that integrates the information coming from the Smart Grid metrics into an ICT system , in order to improve the overall sustainability of a data center infrastructure and evaluate the impact on a green or cost-effective scenario. Moreover, this approach could enable new techniques for analyzing, acting, and making decisions based on the metrics and information collected.
Paper: Insert link to thesis paper.