Project and Realization of a Wide-Range High-Frequency RFID Gate Allowing Omnidirectional Detection of Transponders

The paper describes the study and development of a 2-meter-wide HF RFID gate providing omnidirectional detection of transponders.Common commercial HF RFID gate structures provide a maximum reading range around 150 cm.Moreover, this value is in most cases guaranteed only for the maximum coupling direction, with lower values for the other 2 orientations. The proposed structure raises the value of the reading range up to 200 cm for every orientation of the transponder, with even better results (220 cm) when the transponder is in the position of maximum coupling. This result has been achieved through numerical simulations, focused on the study of the geometry of the antenna system and on the realization of the matching circuit and then confirmed with the physical implementation of the system

RFID Applications for Sanitary Environments

Healthcare represents one of the most significant sectors where the diffusion of RFID technology is growing day by day. Many different applications have already been studied and developed, with both active and passive devices working at all the available operative frequencies. Sanitary environments are nowadays extremely complex structures employing several thousands of people with very strict safety requirements: in emergency situations for example 5 minutes can make the difference for a patient between survive and die. RFID is especially indicated to be employed in these scenarios for two main reasons: first of all because it’s a particularly reliable technology, with good performances, few errors and fast interaction, and secondly because, due to the presence of many different technological systems, ad-hoc solutions can be designed on the specific requirements of the application to be realized. At present the most common RFID applications in healthcare can be divided into two main categories: the items tracking and the tracking and identification of people, patients and sanitary operators. The items tracking is performed in order to avoid the loss of expensive devices and to reduce wasting of time during assistance operations: systems studied and realized for this purpose cover all the range of RFID systems and provide different services according to their different performances. RFID systems for the identification of people probably represent the most interesting sector, due to the variety of different applications that can be studied and realized. The most common systems foresee the use of RFID for the tracking of sanitary operators or patients during their assistance operations. Along with this many other applications have been implemented, including systems operating the unambiguous matching between the patient and his treatments (for example the medicine or the blood sack) or between the mother and the child in the paediatrics departments. Finally the availability of a memory on the transponders fostered to the use of RFID technology also as a mean to promptly store and retrieve patient related information: for example electronic case history or electronic medical prescription applications have been studied and developed

A wireless sensor network framework for real-time monitoring of height and volume variations on sandy beaches and dunes

In this paper, the authors describe the realization and testing of a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) framework aiming at measuring, remotely and in real time, the level variations of the sand layer of sandy beaches or dunes. The proposed framework is based on an innovative low cost sensing structure, able to measure the level variations with a 5-cm degree of precision and to locally transfer the acquired data through the ZigBee protocol. The described sensor is integrated in a wider ZigBee wireless sensor network architecture composed of an array of sensors that, arranged according to a grid layout, can acquire the same data at different points, allowing the definition of a dynamic map of the area under study. The WSN is connected to a local Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) gateway that is in charge of data processing and transmission to a cloud infrastructure through a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) connection. Data are then stored in a MySQL database and made available any time and anywhere through the Internet. The proposed architecture has been tested in a laboratory, to analyze data acquisition, processing timing and power consumption and then in situ to prove the effectiveness of the system. The described infrastructure is expected to be integrated in a wider IoT architecture including different typologies of sensors, in order to create a multi-purpose tool for the study of coastal erosive processes

WeAIR: Wearable Swarm Sensors for Air Quality Monitoring to Foster Citizens’ Awareness of Climate Change

The present study proposes the implementation of an air quality measurement tool through the use of wearable devices, named WeAIR, consisting of wearable sensors for measuring NOx, CO2, CO, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure and PM10. In particular through the use of our novel sensor prototype, we performed a measurement collection campaign, acquiring an extensive set of geo-localized air quality data in the city of Siena (Italy). We further implemented and applied an AI neural network based model, capable of predicting the localization of an observation, having as input the air monitoring parameters and using the new spatio-temporal collected datasets. The promising performances obtained with the AI prediction approach enhanced the importance and possibilities of using such spatio-temporal air quality monitoring datasets, suggesting their crucial role both for raising citizen awareness on climate change and supporting policymakers’ decisions, as for instance the ones related to the positioning of new fixed monitoring stations

Autonomous IoT Monitoring Matching Spectral Artificial Light Manipulation for Horticulture

This paper aims at demonstrating the energy self-sufficiency of a LoRaWAN-based sensor node for monitoring environmental parameters exploiting energy harvesting directly coming from the artificial light used in indoor horticulture. A portable polycrystalline silicon module is used to charge a Li-Po battery, employed as the power reserve of a wireless sensor node able to accurately monitor, with a 1-h period, both the physical quantities most relevant for the application, i.e., humidity, temperature and pressure, and the chemical quantities, i.e., O(2) and CO(2) concentrations. To this aim, the node also hosts a power-hungry NDIR sensor. Two programmable light sources were used to emulate the actual lighting conditions of greenhouses, and to prove the effectiveness of the designed autonomous system: a LED-based custom designed solar simulator and a commercial LED light especially thought for plant cultivation purposes in greenhouses. Different lighting conditions used in indoor horticulture to enhance different plant growth phases, obtained as combinations of blue, red, far-red and white spectra, were tested by field tests of the sensor node. The energy self-sufficiency of the system was demonstrated by monitoring the charging/discharging trend of the Li-Po battery. Best results are obtained when white artificial light is mixed with the far-red component, closest to the polycrystalline silicon spectral response peak

Investigations on the grape leafhopper Erasmoneura vulnerata in north-eastern Italy

The leafhopper Erasmoneura vulnerata (Fitch) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) is native of Northern and Central America where it occurs on wild and cultivated grapes as well as on a number of secondary hosts. This species was recorded for the first time in Europe (Italy, Veneto region) in 2004. Since then it has spread over Northern Italy and Slovenia. Studies on the biology of E. vulnerata in America are limited and thus its phenology was investigated on Vitis labrusca L. and Vitis vinifera L. plants under field and semi-field conditions. These observations suggest that E. vulnerata can complete 2⁻3 generations per year. The development of E. vulnerata from first instar nymphs to adults was studied under controlled conditions (about 23 °C). Developmental times lasted from 16.1 days in July⁻August to 19.5 days in September, and this variability was probably due to grape cultivar and plant susceptibility. Data were consistent with the number of generations previously reported. Erasmoneura vulnerata was more abundant on vines close to overwintering sites than on those located 100⁻250 m from these sites and contiguous to commercial vineyards

A low power IoT sensor node architecture for waste management within smart cities context

This paper focuses on the realization of an Internet of Things (IoT) architecture to optimize waste management in the context of Smart Cities. In particular, a novel typology of sensor node based on the use of low cost and low power components is described. This node is provided with a single-chip microcontroller, a sensor able to measure the filling level of trash bins using ultrasounds and a data transmission module based on the LoRa LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) technology. Together with the node, a minimal network architecture was designed, based on a LoRa gateway, with the purpose of testing the IoT node performances. Especially, the paper analyzes in detail the node architecture, focusing on the energy saving technologies and policies, with the purpose of extending the batteries lifetime by reducing power consumption, through hardware and software optimization. Tests on sensor and radio module effectiveness are also presented

Molecular and spatial analyses reveal new insights on Bois noir epidemiology in Franciacorta vineyards

Bois noir (BN) grapevine disease is associated with ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma solani’ (CaPsol), a pathogen with a complex ecology including multiple insect vectors and plant hosts. A key point to improve the effectiveness of BN control strategies consists in determining the epidemiological role of ground‐cover weeds. The present study employed a multidisciplinary approach, based on the application of spatial (Spatial Analysis by Distance IndicEs) and molecular (stamp gene typing) analyses, to identify weeds with a potential role in BN epidemiology in Northern Italy. Generated data showed that, in addition to Convolvulus arvensis, one of the main CaPsol inoculum source, Chenopodium album, Polygonum aviculare, and Trifolium repens were found associated with BN epidemiology. CaPsol molecular typing highlighted that the strains prevalent in symptomatic grapevines were characterized by stamp sequence variants St19, St11 (nettle‐related), and St5 (bindweed‐related). The latter was prevalent also in Hyalesthes obsoletus and weeds, suggesting their main association with bindweed‐related epidemiology. On the other hand, nettle‐related CaPsol strains were occasionally found in H. obsoletus and weeds. Considering that H. obsoletus‐mediated transmission of CaPsol occurs mainly with young instars, further investigations will confirm if, in addition to bindweed and nettle, weeds associated with BN epidemiology in Franciacorta can represent larval developmental hosts, and, consequently, act as CaPsol reservoirs for transmission to grapevine. Moreover, other studies are needed to clarify the relationship between such weeds and CaPsol alternative vectors

LF RFID chequered loop antenna for pebbles on the beach detection

This paper focus on low frequency (125 kHz) RFID by magnetic coupling, more precisely using glasstag type of tags in the context of pebble detection on the beach. The challenge is to detect over a wide area very small size tags which are highly sensitive to the orientation of the magnetic field. To improve the detection ability of the reader loop antenna, the paper proposes to exploit the principle of complementary loops. Theoretical simulations with MATLAB show the potential increase by means of mutual inductance value along a displacement of the tag. A prototype of a chequered loop structure is presented and tested with a classical low power RFID reader to demonstrate the improvement without increasing the current in LF reader loops. The detection performances reach 12,8% for a 900 cm 2 surface of a prototype reader loop, whatever the orientation of the glasstag