Nodes Placement for reducing Energy Consumption in Multimedia Transmissions

International audiencePower consumption is an essential issue in wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSNs) due to the elevated processing capabilities requested by the video acquisition hardware installed on the generic sensor node. Hence, node placement scheme in WMSNs greatly impacts the overall network lifetime. In this context, the paper first proposes a suitable hardware architecture to implement a feasible WMS node based on off-the-shelf technology, then it evaluates the energy consumption obtained throughout a wise "energy-spaced" placement of the wireless nodes without affecting the video quality of multimedia traffic

Reliability for Emergency Applications in Internet of Things

International audienceThis paper addresses the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm, which is gaining substantial ground in modern wireless telecommunications. The IoT describes a vision where heterogeneous objects like computers, sensors, Radio-Frequency IDentification (RFID)tags or mobile phones are able to communicate and cooperate efficiently to achieve common goals thanks to a common IP addressing scheme. This paper focuses on the reliability of emergency applications under IoT technology. These applications' success is contingent upon the delivery of high-priority events from many scattered objects to one or more objects without packet loss. Thus, the network has to be selfadaptiveand resilient to errors by providing efficient mechanisms for information distribution especially in the multi-hop scenario. As future perspective, we propose a lightweight and energy efficientjoint mechanism, called AJIA (Adaptive Joint protocol based on Implicit ACK), for packet loss recovery and route quality evaluation in theIoT. In this protocol, we use the overhearing feature, characterizing the wireless channels, as an implicit ACK mechanism. In addition, the protocol allows for an adaptive selection of the routing path based on the link quality

Measurement of motor imagery brain activity for wearable neural interfaces

L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen

A fast ILP-based Heuristic for the robust design of Body Wireless Sensor Networks

We consider the problem of optimally designing a body wireless sensor network, while taking into account the uncertainty of data generation of biosensors. Since the related min-max robustness Integer Linear Programming (ILP) problem can be difficult to solve even for state-of-the-art commercial optimization solvers, we propose an original heuristic for its solution. The heuristic combines deterministic and probabilistic variable fixing strategies, guided by the information coming from strengthened linear relaxations of the ILP robust model, and includes a very large neighborhood search for reparation and improvement of generated solutions, formulated as an ILP problem solved exactly. Computational tests on realistic instances show that our heuristic finds solutions of much higher quality than a state-of-the-art solver and than an effective benchmark heuristic.Comment: This is the authors' final version of the paper published in G. Squillero and K. Sim (Eds.): EvoApplications 2017, Part I, LNCS 10199, pp. 1-17, 2017. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-55849-3\_16. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55849-3_1

Communicating Multi-UAV System for Cooperative SLAM-based Exploration

International audienceIn the context of multi-robot system and more generally for Technological System-of-Systems, this paper proposes a multi-UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) framework for SLAM-based cooperative exploration under limited communication bandwidth. The exploration strategy, based on RGB-D grid mapping and group leader decision making, uses a new utility function that takes into account each robot distance in the group from the unexplored set of targets, and allows to simultaneously explore the environment and to get a detailed grid map of specific areas in an optimized manner. Compared to state-of-the-art approaches, the main novelty is to exchange only the frontier points of the computed local grid map to reduce the shared data volume, and consequently the memory consumption. Moreover, communications constraints are taken into account within a SLAM-based multi-robot collective exploration. In that way, the proposed strategy is also designed to cope with communications drop-out or failures. The multi-UAV system is implemented into ROS and GAZEBO simulators on multiple computers provided with network facilities. Results show that the proposed cooperative exploration strategy minimizes the global exploration time by 25% for 2 UAVs and by 30% for 3 UAVs, while outperforming state-of-the-art exploration strategies based on both random and closest frontiers, and minimizing the average travelled distance by each UAV by 55% for 2 UAVs and by 62% for 3 UAVs. Furthermore, the system performance is also evaluated in a realistic test-bed comprising an infrastructure less network, which is used to support limited communications. The results of the test-bed show that the proposed exploration strategy uses 10 times less data than a strategy that makes the robots exchanging their whole local maps

Simulations of the Impact of Controlled Mobility for Routing Protocols

This paper addresses mobility control routing in wireless networks. Given a data flow request between a source-destination pair, the problem is to move nodes towards the best placement, such that the performance of the network is improved. Our purpose is to find the best nodes selection depending on the minimization of the maximum distance that nodes have to travel to reach their final position. We propose a routing protocol, the Routing Protocol based on Controlled Mobility (RPCM), where the chosen nodes' path minimizes the total travelled distance to reach desirable position. Specifically, controlled mobility is intended as a new design dimension network allowing to drive nodes to specific best position in order to achieve some common objectives. The main aim of this paper is to show by simulation the effectiveness of controlled mobility when it is used as a new design dimension in wireless networks. Extensive simulations are conducted to evaluate the proposed routing algorithm. Results show how our protocol outperforms a well-known routing protocol, the Ad hoc On Demand Distance Vector routing (AODV), in terms of throughput, average end-to-end data packet delay and energy spent to send a packet unit

Luzp4 defines a new mRNA export pathway in cancer cells

Cancer testis antigens (CTAs) represented a poorly characterized group of proteins whose expression is normally restricted to testis but are frequently up-regulated in cancer cells. Here we show that one CTA, Luzp4, is an mRNA export adaptor. It associates with the TREX mRNA export complex subunit Uap56 and harbours a Uap56 binding motif, conserved in other mRNA export adaptors. Luzp4 binds the principal mRNA export receptor Nxf1, enhances its RNA binding activity and complements Alyref knockdown in vivo. Whilst Luzp4 is up-regulated in a range of tumours, it appears preferentially expressed in melanoma cells where it is required for growth

Identification and characterization of Drosophila Snurportin reveals a role for the import receptor Moleskin/Importin-7 in snRNP biogenesis

Biogenesis of small nuclear ribonucloceoproteins (snRNPs) is biphasic. Small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) are exported to the cytoplasm for assembly into pre-snRNPs where they are hypermethylated, forming a trimethylguanosine (TMG) cap, and then transported back into the nucleus via the import adaptor, snurportin1 (SPN) and the import receptor importin-β. I have identified CG42303 as dSNUP, the Drosophila orthologue of human SPN (hSPN). Strikingly, the importin-β binding (IBB) domain, which is essential for SPN-mediated snRNP import in humans, is not conserved in dSNUP. Consistent with the lack of an IBB, dSNUP did not interact with the Drosophila importin-β orthologue, Ketel. Despite this fact, dSNUP localized to the nucleus, indicating that there is an alternative dSNUP import pathway or that dSNUP is imported indirectly through importin-β bound snRNPs. I excluded the latter possibility since, in contrast to human cells, snRNPs did not associate with importin-β in Drosophila cells. Previous results suggested that hSPN interacts indirectly with a known import receptor, importin-7. I tested the possibility that the Drosophila orthologue of importin-7, known as Moleskin (Msk), interacts with dSNUP and snRNPs. I discovered that Msk physically associates with both dSNUP and U snRNPs, while snRNP components failed to bind importin-β. Furthermore, Msk null mutant larvae had a significant in vivo reduction of the snRNP component survival motor neuron (SMN), and the snRNP specific nuclear Cajal body marker coilin. Additionally, Msk null mutants exhibited cytoplasmic accumulation of TMG cap signal in the Malpighian tubules, indicating that the import of TMG capped snRNAs is inhibited in the absence of Msk. The reduction of SMN protein was dramatic enough to be detected by western blotting, suggesting a vital role for Msk in the stability of SMN. Interestingly, Msk also localized to snRNP specific nuclear Cajal bodies. In sum, these data indicate that importin-β does not play a role in snRNP import in Drosophila and implicate a crucial function for Msk in fruit fly snRNP biogenesis. Future experiments will be needed to determine the precise function of importin-7/Moleskin in both fruit fly and human snRNP biogenesis.Doctor of Philosoph