On an Internet Interface in an Embedded POS System for Internet of Things

Rare-Earth Doping Graphitic Carbon Nitride Endows Distinctive Multiple Emissions with Large Stokes Shifts

The RTOS (Real-Time Operating System) is a critical component in the SoC (System-on-a-Chip), which consumes the dominant part of total system energy. A RTOS system-level power optimization approach based on hardware-software partitioning (RTOS-Power partitioning) can significantly minimize the energy consumption of a SoC. This paper presents a new model for RTOS-Power partitioning, which helps in understanding the essence of the RTOS-Power partitioning techniques. A discrete Hopfield neural network approach for implementing the RTOS-Power partitioning is proposed, where a novel energy function, operating equation and coefficients of the neural network are redefined. Simulations are carried out with comparison to other optimization techniques. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve higher energy savings up to 60% at relatively low costs.KeywordsHopfield neural networkPower optimizationRTOSHardware-software partitioningSoC

This paper covers the design and implementation of a generic model, based upon Mobile Agents, to perform PVC configuration management functions in multi-vendor ATM networks. The paper introduces an alternative or complement to existing ATM configuration management solutions. In it, an autonomous mobile agent travels from switch to switch to perform its configuration duties. A prototype implementation written in the Java programming language was developed for the validation of the proposed solution and was tested using a simulation testbed also written in Java.KeywordsMobile AgentNetwork ManagementAsynchronous Transfer ModeObject Management GroupJava Virtual MachineThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Chapter 1 - Embedded Media Processing

Miniature robots have many advantages over their larger counterparts, such as low cost, low power, and easy to build a large scale team for complex tasks. Heterogeneous multi miniature robots could provide powerful situation awareness capability due to different locomotion capabilities and sensor information. However, it would be expensive and time consuming to develop specific embedded system for different type of robots. In this paper, we propose a generic modular embedded system architecture called SMARbot (Stevens modular autonomous robot), which consists of a set of hardware and software modules that can be configured to construct various types of robot systems. These modules include a high performance microprocessor, a reconfigurable hardware component, wireless communication, and diverse sensor and actuator interfaces. The design of all the modules in electrical subsystem, the selection criteria for module components, and the real-time operating system are described. Some preliminary experimental results are also presented.

This paper addresses the development and applications of the control system based on the real-time operating system (RTOS) RTX which constructs an open architecture control system with real-time performance, flexibility and low cost. In this paper, the RTX-based control system is considered from RTOS evaluation, system-level design, to experiments and applications. A novel software structure consisting of Windows, Labview or Matlab, and RTX is presented, which makes the trade-off between real-time tasks running and data processing or displaying. Finally, the control system is successfully applied in two direct-drive high speed and high precision motion platforms.

Real-time capabilities are required for a controller of a large format array to reduce a dead-time attributed by readout and data transfer. The real-time processing has been achieved by dedicated processors including DSP, CPLD, and FPGA devices. However, the dedicated processors have problems with memory resources, inflexibility, and high cost. Meanwhile, a recent PC has sufficient resources of CPUs and memories to control the infrared array and to process a large amount of frame data in real-time. In this study, we have developed an infrared array controller with a software real-time operating system (RTOS) instead of the dedicated processors. A Linux PC equipped with a RTAI extension and a dual-core CPU is used as a main computer, and one of the CPU cores is allocated to the real-time processing. A digital I/O board with DMA functions is used for an I/O interface. The signal-processing cores are integrated in the OS kernel as a real-time driver module, which is composed of two virtual devices of the clock processor and the frame processor tasks. The array controller with the RTOS realizes complicated operations easily, flexibly, and at a low cost.

The aim of this paper is to present the design of a rapid prototype drive system with small size, low cost and high effi-ciency. It depends basically on the personal computer (PC) processor without the need for any external processor (e.g. digital signal processor (DSP)) to get fast execution of control algorithms, and to support floating point operations. The PC-based rapid-prototyping system is dedicated for laboratory purposes and consists of an extension kit with all required interface boards to perform the simulation and implementation of electrical drive algorithms. Almost all designed boards are based on programmable-logic devices (PLD) to reduce cost and size.To operate the hardware of the proposed system, a free available open source real-time operating system (RTOS) kernel under Linux is used. A case study from electric drive area is selected and numerous experimental results are given in order to demonstrate the good functionality of the conceived system.

The authors have participated in an activity for town development named ‘Machi-POS’ which is a research project to develop a service by totally supporting management of independent small restaurants within a certain area. As a part effort of Machi-POS, this study firstly develops an inventory management system cooperating with POS system and web-based automatic menu order feature. The system will contribute to reduce the opportunity loss, and will make the improvement of service quality and sales possible at lower labour cost. The system also provides POS services cheaply and efficiently by using common devices. This study makes it available for two or more restaurants in restaurant district, and gives additional function to support safety and security of foods. The multiple-user capability enables restaurants to share inventory information to each other. Therefore, reducing disposal loss will be further promoted because overstock or shortage is adjustable between restaurants with Machi-POS.

Tuning composition on B sites of LaM0.5Mn0.5O3 (M = Cu, Co, Fe, Ni, Cr) perovskite catalysts in NOx efficient reduction

DRM, the new standard for digital radio broadcasting in AM band requires integrated devices for radio receivers at low cost and very low power consumption. A chipset is currently designed based upon an ARM9 multi-core architecture. This paper introduces the application itself, the HW architecture of the SoC and the SW architecture which includes physical layer, receiver management, the application layer and the global scheduler based on a real-time OS. Then, the paper presents the HW/SW partitioning and SW breakdown between the various processing cores. The methodology used in the project to develop, validate and integrate the SW covering various methods such as simulation, emulation and co-validation is described. Key points and critical issues are also addressed.One of the challenges is to integrate the whole receiver in the mono-chip with respect to the real-time constraints linked to the audio services.Key wordsHW/SW co-designARM corephysical layerAHB multi-layersnetwork-on-chip

Pastured poultry farming is a technique belonging to sustainable agriculture in which the natural rearing of birds is promoted on land covered by grass or other plant species that can provide them with nutrients. This rearing technique involves the daily movement of birds, inside structures such as mobile chicken coops and chicken tractors, from one area of ​​land to another with fresh vegetation. This study presents the early stage of development of a system for the remote management of hygrothermal comfort conditions that influence the healthy growth of birds raised in mobile coops. The system is made up of a wireless mesh network of sensor and actuator devices, communicated to an Internet cloud platform by gateway nodes using LoRa (Long Range) technology and remotely managed through an application for mobile devices. This study responds to the objective of generating a tool that allows poultry farmers to have greater knowledge and control of the environmental conditions to which their birds are exposed inside the physical infrastructure of rearing and that can influence poultry welfare and production efficiency.

This work presents a strategy to implement a distributed form of genetic algorithm (GA) on low power, low cost, and small-sized memory aiming for increased performance and reduction of energy consumption when compared to standalone GAs. This strategy focuses on making a distributed version of GA feasible to run as a low cost and a low power consumption embedded system utilizing devices such as 8-bit microcontrollers (µCs) and Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) for data transmission between those devices. Details about how the distributed GA was designed from a previous standalone implementation made by the authors and how the project is structured are presented. Furthermore, this work investigates the implementation limitations and shows results about its proper operation, most of them collected with the Hardware-In-Loop (HIL) technique, and resource consumption such as memory and processing time. Finally, some scenarios are analyzed to identify where this distributed version can be utilized and how it is compared to the single-node standalone implementation in terms of performance and energy consumption.

This paper discusses the feasibility of using a Linux device and wireless technologies, wireless local area network (WLAN) IEEE 802.11b and multi use radio service (MURS), for remote sensor data collection and transmission. The focus of such a system is for remote data collection on transportation bridges. Basic requirements are determined for the various modules involved in remote data acquisition, storage, transmission and management. Linux was found to be very capable of handling the computer requirements, while 802.11b was determined to be a potential transmission method for remotely collected data. An off the shelf solution is possible for users that need a low cost, and expandable, remote data acquisition system that has the ability to integrate into an enterprise effort.

Information storage and anti-counterfeiting are two very important applications of photochromic materials. Photochromic materials with both information storage and anti-counterfeiting should meet the requirements including fast coloration, good stability and reversibility, low storage cost, and practical application value. Herein, a novel viologen-based coordination polymer, Cd[(pbpy)0.5(HBTC)Cl]·2H2O (1) (pbpy = 1,1'-[1,4-phenylenebis-(methylene)]bis(4,4'-bipyridinium); HBTC2- = 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid), has been constructed. Compound 1 not only exhibits selective amine sensing properties, but also shows excellent photochromic properties, and the anti-counterfeiting of a two-dimensional code can be also realized through the color-changing behavior. Meanwhile, photochromic glass films of compound 1 were prepared, and compared to traditional optical information storage technology, these photochromic glass films have better water resistance and stability, improving their practical application stability. This work has further enriched the application of photochromic materials in the field of sensing, anti-counterfeiting and information storage.