Cross-Layer Energy Analysis and Proposal of a MAC Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks Dedicated to Building Monitoring Systems

In a sustainable development context, the monitoring systems are essential to study the building energy performances. With the recent technology advances, these systems can be based on wireless sensor networks, where the energy efficiency is the main design challenge. To this end, most of the studies focus on low power Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols to reduce the overall energy consumption of a network. Nevertheless, the performances assessment of these protocols is generally not performed in a realistic way, and does not take into account the performances of the other layers of the OSI model. In this paper, we propose a cross-layer methodology to assess the real performances of a MAC protocol by taking into account the traffic volume, the synchronization losses and more particularly the physical layer performances through a Bit Error Rate (BER) criterion. The simulation results demonstrate clearly the physical layer impact on a sensor lifetime. Finally, the proposal of an energy efficient MAC protocol for a wireless sensor network dedicated to an application of building monitoring is proposed.

Plus Energy Buildings:A Numerical Case Study

The feasibility of Plus Energy Building for a sample relevant case is investigated.After a literature review aimed to identify key aspects of this type of buildings,a preliminary evaluation of the thermal performance of a building constructed using conventional material is presented together with a parametric analysis of the impact of typical influential parameters.Solar domestic hot water(SDHW)and photovoltaic systems(PV)are considered in the study.Numerical simulations indicate that for the examined sample case(Beirut in Lebanon)the total annual energy need of conventional building is 87.1 kWh/y.m^(2).About 49%of energy savings can be achieved by improving the building envelope and installing energy efficient technologies.Moreover,about 90%of energy savings in domestic hot water production can be achieved by installing a SDHW system composed of two solar collectors connected in series.Finally,the addition of a grid connected PV array system can significantly mitigate the energy needs of the building leading to an annual excess of energy.

Vapor intrusion in buildings: Development of semi-empirical models including lateral separation between the building and the pollution source

Future constructions in the context of the industrial wastelands reuse may be exposed to Vapor Intrusion(VI).VI can be evaluated by combining in-situ measures and analytical models to evaluate exposure risk in future indoor environments.However,the assumptions in the existing models may reduce their accuracy when they do not meet the characteristics of real situations.Wrong estimations of indoor concentration levels may lead to inappropriate solutions against VI.In this context,new semi-empirical models(SEM)are proposed in order to better specify pollution scenarios and thus increase the accuracy of VI estimations.This development is based on a parametric study(numerical CFD)and a dimensionless analysis combined to existing VI models that consider a continuous source distribution in the soil.These expressions allow to better take into account the source position in the soil(i.e.depth and lateral source/building separation),soil properties(air permeability,diffusion coefficient of the pollutant,…)and building features(building foundation,indoor pressure,air exchange rate,…)in the estimation of indoor concentration levels.The obtained results with the proposed SEM were compared with a numerical CFD model and available experimental data,showing good accuracy in the estimation of VI.Given the advantages of these new models,they can provide better precision in the health risk assessments associated with VI.Furthermore,these expressions can be easily integrated into building ventilation codes allowing to consider air exchange rate and indoor pressure variations over time.