Collaborative positioning for swarms:A brief survey of vision,LiDAR and wireless sensors based methods

As positioning sensors,edge computation power,and communication technologies continue to develop,a moving agent can now sense its surroundings and communicate with other agents.By receiving spatial information from both its environment and other agents,an agent can use various methods and sensor types to localize itself.With its high flexibility and robustness,collaborative positioning has become a widely used method in both military and civilian applications.This paper introduces the basic fundamental concepts and applications of collaborative positioning,and reviews recent progress in the field based on camera,LiDAR(Light Detection and Ranging),wireless sensor,and their integration.The paper compares the current methods with respect to their sensor type,summarizes their main paradigms,and analyzes their evaluation experiments.Finally,the paper discusses the main challenges and open issues that require further research.

Rao Algorithms-Based Structure Optimization for Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks

The structural optimization of wireless sensor networks is a critical issue because it impacts energy consumption and hence the network’s lifetime.Many studies have been conducted for homogeneous networks,but few have been performed for heterogeneouswireless sensor networks.This paper utilizes Rao algorithms to optimize the structure of heterogeneous wireless sensor networks according to node locations and their initial energies.The proposed algorithms lack algorithm-specific parameters and metaphorical connotations.The proposed algorithms examine the search space based on the relations of the population with the best,worst,and randomly assigned solutions.The proposed algorithms can be evaluated using any routing protocol,however,we have chosen the well-known routing protocols in the literature:Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy(LEACH),Power-Efficient Gathering in Sensor Information Systems(PEAGSIS),Partitioned-based Energy-efficient LEACH(PE-LEACH),and the Power-Efficient Gathering in Sensor Information Systems Neural Network(PEAGSIS-NN)recent routing protocol.We compare our optimized method with the Jaya,the Particle Swarm Optimization-based Energy Efficient Clustering(PSO-EEC)protocol,and the hybrid Harmony Search Algorithm and PSO(HSA-PSO)algorithms.The efficiencies of our proposed algorithms are evaluated by conducting experiments in terms of the network lifetime(first dead node,half dead nodes,and last dead node),energy consumption,packets to cluster head,and packets to the base station.The experimental results were compared with those obtained using the Jaya optimization algorithm.The proposed algorithms exhibited the best performance.The proposed approach successfully prolongs the network lifetime by 71% for the PEAGSIS protocol,51% for the LEACH protocol,10% for the PE-LEACH protocol,and 73% for the PEGSIS-NN protocol;Moreover,it enhances other criteria such as energy conservation,fitness convergence,packets to cluster head,and packets to the base station.

Improved Flexible Triboelectric Nanogenerator Based on Tile-Nanostructure for Wireless Human Health Monitor

Triboelectric nanogenerators(TENGs)have emerged as promising candidates for integrating with flexible electronics as self-powered systems owing to their intrinsic flexibility,biocompatibility,and miniaturization.In this study,an improved flexible TENG with a tile-nanostructured MXene/polymethyl methacrylate(PMMA)composite electrode(MP-TENG)is proposed for use in wireless human health monitor.The multifunctional tile-nanostructured MXene/PMMA film,which is self-assembled through vacuum filtration,exhibits good conductivity,excellent charge capacity,and high flexibility.Thus,the MXene/PMMA composite electrode can simultaneously function as a charge-generating,charge-trapping,and charge-collecting layer.Furthermore,the charge-trapping capacity of a tile nanostructure can be optimized on the basis of the PMMA concentration.At a mass fraction of 4%PMMA,the MP-TENG achieves the optimal output performance,with an output voltage of 37.8 V,an output current of 1.8μA,and transferred charge of 14.1 nC.The output power is enhanced over twofold compared with the pure MXene-based TENG.Moreover,the MP-TENG has sufficient power capacity and durability to power small electronic devices.Finally,a wireless human motion monitor based on the MP-TENG is utilized to detect physiological signals in various kinematic motions.Consequently,the proposed performance-enhanced MP-TENG proves a considerable potential for use in health monitoring,telemedicine,and self-powered systems.

Ultraconformable Integrated Wireless Charging Micro-Supercapacitor Skin

Conformable and wire-less charging energy storage devices play important roles in enabling the fast development of wearable,non-contact soft electronics.However,current wire-less charging power sources are still restricted by limited flexural angles and fragile connection of components,resulting in the failure expression of performance and constraining their fur-ther applications in health monitoring wearables and moveable artificial limbs.Herein,we present an ultracompatible skin-like integrated wireless charging micro-supercapacitor,which building blocks(including electrolyte,electrode and substrate)are all evaporated by liquid precursor.Owing to the infiltration and permeation of the liquid,each part of the integrated device attached firmly with each other,forming a compact and all-in-one configuration.In addition,benefitting from the controllable volume of electrode solution precursor,the electrode thickness is easily regulated varying from 11.7 to 112.5μm.This prepared thin IWC-MSC skin can fit well with curving human body,and could be wireless charged to store electricity into high capacitive micro-supercapacitors(11.39 F cm-3)of the integrated device.We believe this work will shed light on the construction of skin-attachable electronics and irregular sensing microrobots.

Highly Flexible Graphene-Film-Based Rectenna for Wireless Energy Harvesting

Herein,we report the design,fabrication,and performance of two wireless energy harvesting devices based on highly flexible graphene macroscopic films(FGMFs).We first demonstrate that benefiting from the high conductivity of up to 1×10^(6)S m^(-1)and good resistive stability of FGMFs even under extensive bending,the FGMFs-based rectifying circuit(GRC)exhibits good flexibility and RF-to-DC efficiency of 53%at 2.1 GHz.Moreover,we further expand the application of FGMFs to a flexible wideband monopole rectenna and a 2.45 GHz wearable rectenna for harvesting wireless energy.The wideband rectenna at various bending conditions produces a maximum conversion efficiency of 52%,46%,and 44%at the 5th Generation(5G)2.1 GHz,Industrial Long-Term Evolution(LTE)2.3 GHz,and Scientific Medical(ISM)2.45 GHz,respectively.A 2.45 GHz GRC is optimized and integrated with an AMC-backed wearable antenna.The proposed 2.45 GHz wearable rectenna shows a maximum conversion efficiency of 55.7%.All the results indicate that the highly flexible graphene-film-based rectennas have great potential as a wireless power supplier for smart Internet of Things(loT)applications.

UAV-assisted data collection for wireless sensor networks with dynamic working modes

Wireless Sensor Network(WSN)is a cornerstone of Internet of Things(IoT)and has rich application scenarios.In this work,we consider a heterogeneous WSN whose sensor nodes have a diversity in their Residual Energy(RE).In this work,to protect the sensor nodes with low RE,we investigate dynamic working modes for sensor nodes which are determined by their RE and an introduced energy threshold.Besides,we employ an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)to collect the stored data from the heterogeneous WSN.We aim to jointly optimize the cluster head selection,energy threshold and sensor nodes’working mode to minimize the weighted sum of energy con-sumption from the WSN and UAV,subject to the data collection rate constraint.To this end,we propose an efficient search method to search for an optimal energy threshold,and develop a penalty-based successive convex approximation algorithm to select the cluster heads.Then we present a low-complexity iterative approach to solve the joint optimization problem and discuss the implementation procedure.Numerical results justify that our proposed approach is able to reduce the energy consumption of the sensor nodes with low RE significantly and also saves energy for the whole WSN.

Highlights in recent wireless power IC research

Wireless power transfer(WPT)has been a popular topic in power integrated circuit(IC)designs in the past decade.As slogan"cutting the last wire"presented in ISSCC’15[1],WPT is poised to take over many wired power deliveries applica-tions today,just like what happened to wireless communica-tion nowadays.Over the years,WPT has become more mature and more wirelessly charged or powered products have become available on the market.This mini review intends to summarize recent breakthroughs in WPT inte-grated circuits(IC)research.

Intelligent Reflecting Surface Assisted Transmission Optimization Strategies in Wireless Networks

Wireless Power Transfer(WPT)technology can provide real-time power for many terminal devices in Internet of Things(IoT)through millimeterWave(mmWave)to support applications with large capacity and low latency.Although the intelligent reflecting surface(IRS)can be adopted to create effective virtual links to address the mmWave blockage problem,the conventional solutions only adopt IRS in the downlink from the Base Station(BS)to the users to enhance the received signal strength.In practice,the reflection of IRS is also applicable to the uplink to improve the spectral efficiency.It is a challenging to jointly optimize IRS beamforming and system resource allocation for wireless energy acquisition and information transmission.In this paper,we first design a Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy(LEACH)clustering protocol for clustering and data collection.Then,the problem of maximizing the minimum system spectral efficiency is constructed by jointly optimizing the transmit power of sensor devices,the uplink and downlink transmission times,the active beamforming at the BS,and the IRS dynamic beamforming.To solve this non-convex optimization problem,we propose an alternating optimization(AO)-based joint solution algorithm.Simulation results show that the use of IRS dynamic beamforming can significantly improve the spectral efficiency of the system,and ensure the reliability of equipment communication and the sustainability of energy supply under NLOS link.

Jamming Assisted Covert Wireless Communication in Multi-Channel Systems

This paper investigates the jammerassisted multi-channel covert wireless communication(CWC)by exploiting the randomness of sub-channel selection to confuse the warden.In particular,we propose two sub-channel selection transmission schemes,named random sub-channel selection(RSS)scheme and maximum sub-channel selection(MSS)scheme,to enhance communication covertness.For each proposed scheme,we first derive closed-form expressions of the transmission outage probability(TOP),the average effective rate,and the minimum average detection error probability(DEP).Then,the average effective covert rate(ECR)is maximized by jointly optimizing the transmit power at the transmitter and the number of sub-channels.Numerical results show that there is an optimal value of the number of sub-channels that maximizes the average ECR.We also find that to achieve the maximum average ECR,a larger number of subchannels are needed facing a stricter covertness constraint.

A Fuzzy Trust Management Mechanism with Dynamic Behavior Monitoring for Wireless Sensor Networks

Traditional wireless sensor networks(WSNs)are typically deployed in remote and hostile environments for information collection.The wireless communication methods adopted by sensor nodes may make the network highly vulnerable to various attacks.Traditional encryption and authentication mechanisms cannot prevent attacks launched by internal malicious nodes.The trust-based security mechanism is usually adopted to solve this problem in WSNs.However,the behavioral evidence used for trust estimation presents some uncertainties due to the open wireless medium and the inexpensive sensor nodes.Moreover,how to efficiently collect behavioral evidences are rarely discussed.To address these issues,in this paper,we present a trust management mechanism based on fuzzy logic and a cloud model.First,a type-II fuzzy logic system is used to preprocess the behavioral evidences and alleviate uncertainty.Then,the cloud model is introduced to estimate the trust values for sensor nodes.Finally,a dynamic behavior monitoring protocol is proposed to provide a balance between energy conservation and safety assurance.Simulation results demonstrate that our trust management mechanism can effectively protect the network from internal malicious attacks while enhancing the energy efficiency of behavior monitoring.

Mechanism analysis of regulating Turing instability and Hopf bifurcation of malware propagation in mobile wireless sensor networks

A dynamical model is constructed to depict the spatial-temporal evolution of malware in mobile wireless sensor networks(MWSNs). Based on such a model, we design a hybrid control scheme combining parameter perturbation and state feedback to effectively manipulate the spatiotemporal dynamics of malware propagation. The hybrid control can not only suppress the Turing instability caused by diffusion factor but can also adjust the occurrence of Hopf bifurcation induced by time delay. Numerical simulation results show that the hybrid control strategy can efficiently manipulate the transmission dynamics to achieve our expected desired properties, thus reducing the harm of malware propagation to MWSNs.

Enhancing Wireless Sensor Network Efficiency through Al-Biruni Earth Radius Optimization

The networks of wireless sensors provide the ground for a range of applications,including environmental moni-toring and industrial operations.Ensuring the networks can overcome obstacles like power and communication reliability and sensor coverage is the crux of network optimization.Network infrastructure planning should be focused on increasing performance,and it should be affected by the detailed data about node distribution.This work recommends the creation of each sensor’s specs and radius of influence based on a particular geographical location,which will contribute to better network planning and design.By using the ARIMA model for time series forecasting and the Al-Biruni Earth Radius algorithm for optimization,our approach bridges the gap between successive terrains while seeking the equilibrium between exploration and exploitation.Through implementing adaptive protocols according to varying environments and sensor constraints,our study aspires to improve overall network operation.We compare the Al-Biruni Earth Radius algorithm along with Gray Wolf Optimization,Particle Swarm Optimization,Genetic Algorithms,and Whale Optimization about performance on real-world problems.Being the most efficient in the optimization process,Biruni displays the lowest error rate at 0.00032.The two other statistical techniques,like ANOVA,are also useful in discovering the factors influencing the nature of sensor data and network-specific problems.Due to the multi-faceted support the comprehensive approach promotes,there is a chance to understand the dynamics that affect the optimization outcomes better so decisions about network design can be made.Through delivering better performance and reliability for various in-situ applications,this research leads to a fusion of time series forecasters and a customized optimizer algorithm.

Advances in Wireless,Batteryless,Implantable Electronics for Real‑Time,Continuous Physiological Monitoring

This review summarizes recent progress in developing wireless,batteryless,fully implantable biomedical devices for real-time continuous physiological signal monitoring,focusing on advancing human health care.Design considerations,such as biological constraints,energy sourcing,and wireless communication,are discussed in achieving the desired performance of the devices and enhanced interface with human tissues.In addition,we review the recent achievements in materials used for developing implantable systems,emphasizing their importance in achieving multi-functionalities,biocompatibility,and hemocompatibility.The wireless,batteryless devices offer minimally invasive device insertion to the body,enabling portable health monitoring and advanced disease diagnosis.Lastly,we summarize the most recent practical applications of advanced implantable devices for human health care,highlighting their potential for immediate commercialization and clinical uses.

Energy harvesting and speed sensing with a hybrid rotary generator for self-powered wireless monitoring

Real-time onboard health monitoring systems are critical for the railway industry to maintain high service quality and operational safety.However,the issue with power supplies for monitoring sensors persists,especially for freight trains that lack onboard power.Here,we propose a hybrid piezoelectric-triboelectric rotary generator(HPT-RG)for energy harvesting and vehicle speed sensing.The HPT-RG incorporates a rotational self-adaptive technique that softens the equivalent stiffness,enabling the piezoelectric non-resonant beam to surpass resonance limitations in a low-frequency region.The experiments demonstrate the feasibility of using the HPT-RG as an energy harvesting module to collect the rotational energy of the freight rail transport and power the wireless temperature sensors.To allow multiple monitoring in confined spaces on trains,a triboelectric sensing module is added to the HPT-RG to sense the operation speed and mileage of vehicles.Furthermore,the generator exhibits favorable mechanical durability under more than 600 h of official testing on the train bogie axle.The proposed HPT-RG is essential for creating a truly self-powered,maintenance-free,and zero-carbon onboard wireless monitoring system on freight railways.

Comparison study on measurement of rail weld joint between inertial reference method and multi-point chord reference method

Purpose – Straightness measurement of rail weld joint is of essential importance to railway maintenance. Dueto the lack of efficient measurement equipment, there has been limited in-depth research on rail weld joint with a5-m wavelength range, leaving a significant knowledge gap in this field.Design/methodology/approach – In this study, the authors used the well-established inertial referencemethod (IR-method), and the state-of-the-art multi-point chord reference method (MCR-method). Two methodshave been applied in different types of rail straightness measurement trollies, respectively. These instrumentswere tested in a high-speed rail section within a certain region of China. The test results were ultimatelyvalidated through using traditional straightedge and feeler gauge methods as reference data to evaluate the railweld joint straightness within the 5-m wavelength range.Findings – The research reveals that IR-method and MCR-method produce reasonably similar measurementresults for wavelengths below 1 m. However, MCR-method outperforms IR-method in terms of accuracy forwavelengths exceeding 3 m. Furthermore, it was observed that IR-method, while operating at a slower speed,carries the risk of derailing and is incapable of detecting rail weld joints and low joints within the track.Originality/value – The research compare two methods’ measurement effects in a longer wavelength rangeand demonstrate the superiority of MCR-method.

A Practical Approach for Missing Wireless Sensor Networks Data Recovery

In wireless sensor networks(WSNs),the performance of related applications is highly dependent on the quality of data collected.Unfortunately,missing data is almost inevitable in the process of data acquisition and transmission.Existing methods often rely on prior information such as low-rank characteristics or spatiotemporal correlation when recovering missing WSNs data.However,in realistic application scenarios,it is very difficult to obtain these prior information from incomplete data sets.Therefore,we aim to recover the missing WSNs data effectively while getting rid of the perplexity of prior information.By designing the corresponding measurement matrix that can capture the position of missing data and sparse representation matrix,a compressive sensing(CS)based missing data recovery model is established.Then,we design a comparison standard to select the best sparse representation basis and introduce average cross-correlation to examine the rationality of the established model.Furthermore,an improved fast matching pursuit algorithm is proposed to solve the model.Simulation results show that the proposed method can effectively recover the missing WSNs data.

Stackelberg Game for Wireless Powered and Backscattering Enabled Sensor Networks

This paper investigates a wireless powered and backscattering enabled sensor network based on the non-linear energy harvesting model, where the power beacon(PB) delivers energy signals to wireless sensors to enable their passive backscattering and active transmission to the access point(AP). We propose an efficient time scheduling scheme for network performance enhancement, based on which each sensor can always harvest energy from the PB over the entire block except its time slots allocated for passive and active information delivery. Considering the PB and wireless sensors are from two selfish service providers, we use the Stackelberg game to model the energy interaction among them. To address the non-convexity of the leader-level problem, we propose to decompose the original problem into two subproblems and solve them iteratively in an alternating manner. Specifically, the successive convex approximation, semi-definite relaxation(SDR) and variable substitution techniques are applied to find a nearoptimal solution. To evaluate the performance loss caused by the interaction between two providers, we further investigate the social welfare maximization problem. Numerical results demonstrate that compared to the benchmark schemes, the proposed scheme can achieve up to 35.4% and 38.7% utility gain for the leader and the follower, respectively.

Wireless Positioning:Technologies,Applications,Challenges,and Future Development Trends

The development of the fifth-generation(5G)mobile communication systems has entered the commercialization stage.5G has a high data rate,low latency,and high reliability that can meet the basic demands of most industries and daily life,such as the Internet of Things(IoT),intelligent transportation systems,positioning,and navigation.The continuous progress and development of society have aroused wide concern.Positioning accuracy is the core demand for the applications,especially in complex environments such as airports,warehouses,supermarkets,and basements.However,many factors also affect the accuracy of positioning in those environments,for example,multipath effects,non-line-of-sight,and clock synchronization errors.This paper provides a comprehensive review of the existing works about positioning for the future wireless network and discusses its key techniques and algorithms,as well as the current development and future directions.We first outline the current traditional positioning technologies and algorithms,which are discussed and analyzed with the relevant literature.In addition,we also discuss application scenarios for wireless localization.By comparing different positioning systems,the challenges and future development directions of existing wireless positioning systems are prospected.

A blockchain-empowered authentication scheme for worm detection in wireless sensor network

Wireless Sensor Network(WSN)is a distributed sensor network composed a large number of nodes with low cost,low performance and self-management.The special structure of WSN brings both convenience and vulnerability.For example,a malicious participant can launch attacks by capturing a physical device.Therefore,node authentication that can resist malicious attacks is very important to network security.Recently,blockchain technology has shown the potential to enhance the security of the Internet of Things(IoT).In this paper,we propose a Blockchain-empowered Authentication Scheme(BAS)for WSN.In our scheme,all nodes are managed by utilizing the identity information stored on the blockchain.Besides,the simulation experiment about worm detection is executed on BAS,and the security is evaluated from detection and infection rate.The experiment results indicate that the proposed scheme can effectively inhibit the spread and infection of worms in the network.

Wireless Power Supply Based on MNG-MNZ Metamaterial for Cardiac Pacemakers

To solve the low power transfer efficiency and magnetic field leakage problems of cardiac pacemaker wireless powering, we proposed a wireless power supply system suitable for implanted cardiac pacemaker based on mu-negative(MNG) and mu-nearzero(MNZ) metamaterials. First, a hybrid metamaterial consisted of central MNG unit for magnetic field concentration and surrounding MNZ units for magnetic leakage shielding was established by theoretical calculation. Afterwards, the magnetic field distribution of wireless power supply system with MNG-MNZ metamaterial slab was acquired via finite element simulation and verified to be better than the distribution with conventional MNG slab deployed. Finally, an experimental platform of wireless power supply system was established with which power transfer experiment and system temperature rise experiment were conducted.Simulation and experimental results showed that the power transfer efficiency was improved from 44.44%,19.42%, 8.63% and 6.19% to 55.77%, 62.39%, 20.81%and 14.52% at 9.6 mm, 20 mm, 30 mm and 50 mm,respectively. The maximum SAR acquired by SAR simulation under human body environment was-7.14 dbm and maximum reduction of the magnetic field strength around the receiving coil was 2.82 A/m. The maximum temperature rise during 30min charging test was 3.85℃,and the safety requirements of human bodies were met.