In recent years, Internet of Things technologies gained momentum in various application areas, including the Smart Home field. In this view, the smart objects available in the house can communicate with each other and with the outside world by adopting solutions already proposed for Internet of Things. In fact, among the challenges to face during the design and implementation of an Internet of Things–based Smart Home infrastructure, battery usage represents a key point for the realization of an efficient solution. In this context, the communication technology chosen plays a fundamental role, since transmission is generally the most energy demanding task, and Internet of Things communication technologies are designed to reduce as much as possible the power consumption. This article describes an Internet of Things–oriented architecture for the Smart Home, based on the long-range and low-power technology LoRa. Moreover, in order to enable the devices to communicate with each other and the outside world, the Message Queue Telemetry Transfer protocol is used as a domotic middleware. We show that LoRa, designed by having in mind the typical requirements of Internet of Things (i.e. low power consumption, sporadic transmission, and robustness to interference), is well-suited to also meet the need of more established home automation systems, specifically the low latency in message delivery. Interoperability among different devices may also be obtained through the Message Queue Telemetry Transfer midlleware.
Gambi, E., Montanini, L., Pigini, D., Ciattaglia, G., & Spinsante, S. (2018). A home automation architecture based on LoRa technology and Message Queue Telemetry Transfer protocol. International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks.
The concept of Internet of Things is being applied in several areas and involves a dramatically increasing number of market sectors. There is a large variety of commercial products, and the competition between different vendors often causes incompatibility among the available solutions. Due to the lack of a reference standard, in the highly fragmented arena of Ambient Assisted Living systems and Smart Home environments, the support to interoperability is recognized as a key requirement for the deployment of successful products. This paper provides a state-of-the-art review of IoT adoption in the field of Ambient Assisted Living systems and Smart Home environments, by describing the most widespread solutions and their main key points, with a specific focus on the features designed to support interoperability. This is currently a matter of interest at a European level, as demonstrated, for example, by the inclusion of interoperability among the requirements that project proposals have to fulfill to be eligible for funding through the AAL Joint Platform calls published in the last years.
E. Gambi, L. Montanini, L. Raffaeli, S. Spinsante and L. Lambrinos, "Interoperability in IoT infrastructures for enhanced living environments," 2016 IEEE International Black Sea Conference on Communications and Networking (BlackSeaCom), Varna, 2016, pp. 1-5.
The paradigmatic shift brought by the Internet of Things has already revolutionized many key sectors, like environmental monitoring, grid and energy management, manufacturing, and it can be seen as a promising solution to address challenging societal issues, like the ability to provide significant enhancement to quality of life for the elderly and, in general, people in need. As a consequence, Internet of Things emerges also as the possible next evolution for the Ambient Assisted Living domain. One major issue to address in this context is the identification of a suitable middleware able to leverage the potentialities offered by the Internet of Things and, at the same time, ensure the necessary support to services and functions related to healthcare and personal assistance. This paper provides an overview of middleware solutions designed for Internet of Things in health and wellness domains, and presents a case study related to assistive technology for the home monitoring of people with dementia. It is illustrated how a specific middleware designed for telemetry applications, the MQTT, can be effectively applied in assistive scenarios too, with different architectural options and communication technologies.
A. Del Campo, E. Gambi, L. Montanini, D. Perla, L. Raffaeli and S. Spinsante, "MQTT in AAL systems for home monitoring of people with dementia," 2016 IEEE 27th Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC), Valencia, 2016, pp. 1-6.
The adoption of the Internet of Things paradigm in Ambient Assisted Living platforms requires the investigation and analysis of issues related to data collection and processing. In fact, the peculiarities of Ambient Assisted Living services and applications pose specific requirements on the way data originated from sensors should be processed (locally or remotely), delivered (as raw data, or in aggregated fashion), and, of course, how they should be shared or protected. This paper analyses the issues related to data management starting from a review of the state of the art, in order to draw general trends or widespread approaches, that are then discussed and evaluated with respect to a practical implementation presented as a case study.
S. Spinsante, E. Gambi, L. Montanini and L. Raffaeli, "Data Management in Ambient Assisted Living Platforms Approaching IoT: A Case Study," 2015 IEEE Globecom Workshops (GC Wkshps), San Diego, CA, 2015, pp. 1-7.