In this paper, we explore the feasibility to obtain the speed related to a person walking, using a new and unexplored RGB-D camera (Intel RealSense™ D435). For this, we obtain measurements for two devices, the Intel RealSense™and Microsoft Kinect™v2, which has been validated in previous studies. Finally, we compare the results obtained using both devices. This is an important exploration due to the wide variety of applications for this device and the obtained results. The results obtained suggest that this small and inexpensive device can be used to measure some spatiotemporal variables, for different use cases, like eHealth and analysis for high-performance athletes.

Motor alterations produced by Parkinson's disease (PD) are commonly evaluated by the observation of a clinical expert. In order to provide an objective assessment, we developed a cloud-based measurement system that can be attached to arms, based on accelerometers, for measuring, storing and analyzing acceleration data from the upper limbs to estimate the arms swing asymmetry. This paper presents the design of the instrument and evaluates two methods to obtain the asymmetry of arms swing; the first using an accelerometer in both wrists of the participants; the second using a pair in both arms. The system was used to evaluate the gait in 40 individuals (20 PD patients and 20 controls without motor anomalies), matched by age. We have determined that at least two accelerometers are required to measure the asymmetry of individuals, allowing us to observe significant differences (p <; 0.01) between PD patients and controls, although both methods correctly measure the effective acceleration (RMS) in the movement of the arms.

Studies of Parkinson's Disease (PD) have generated particular interest in factors such as gait and posture patterns and fall risk. Human gait patterns involve a basic gait cycle that is composed of two phases: stance and swing. With gait analysis, we can derive values for spatiotemporal variables such as the walking speed, cadence, and stride length from these stance and swing phases. In this paper, we use a low-cost, quick-setup, and portable system to capture gait signals, and propose a novel method for automatically obtaining gait phases (swing and stance) using wavelets and a Kinect camera. We tested this method on six PD patients and six healthy subjects in a clinical context, finding that it could classify the gait phases with 93% accuracy, compared with clinical judgment. Such a procedure could allow clinicians to rapidly, easily, and non-invasively diagnose and assess PD patients via objective and automatic data analysis.

Wideband spectrum sensing plays a crucial role in a number of applications among which the cognitive radio (CR) is one of the most prominent. In this work we consider a scenario where the wide band of interest is comprised of multiple communication channels occupied by several independent transmissions. Due to the propagation conditions, some of the transmissions can cause potential interference by occupying the same channel at different locations. In order to alleviate the effect of such interference, we employ a network of distributed sensing nodes that sample the wideband signal at sub-Nyquist rate and share the acquired data with the fusion center. We show that using the structure of the correlations between the sub-Nyquist samples obtained at different sensors, we can detect the presence of potential in-channel interference. We present a concrete approach for estimation of the central frequencies of the channels in which it occurs and demonstrate its effectiveness in simulations.

The results of a simulation of signal propagation strength in indoor environment using a game engine ray-based tool and use of an open source 3D modeling tool for scenario building are presented in this paper, showing the flexibility of the XML description language for this kind of scenario. We show simulation results and compare them with an extensive set of measurements for an indoor scenario with multiple materials in the 5.4GHz band, obtaining a good match between the ray-based tool and measurements of received power. We found also that constitutive parameters have an important effect on the simulation results and made some small adjustments to improve results.

In this paper, we show results of channel delay spread estimation using a 3D ray launching tool based on Game Engines and GPU, comparing simulation results with channel measurements of a MIMO system taken in Ilmenau. We show that the accuracy of the simulation is strongly affected by the ray angular separation in the first and second diffraction, obtaining a good fit between measurements and simulation.

In this paper, we show the results of the comparison between two different sets of heuristic uniform theory of diffraction (UTD) coefficients and its influence on the results for delay spread and angle spread. We compared our simulation results with measurements in an outdoor environment, showing the influence of the UTD coefficients in the accuracy of the results. The proposed coefficients show a better behavior than a classical set of coefficients widely used in literature.

The game industry has suffered an impressive explosion of popularity, becoming the largest entertainment industry in the world. Games have become a sophisticated extension of the reality and an interesting way for complementing human mind utopias. Training software allows the trainee to immerse in quasi-real controlled situations that could be measured by trainers. In this work we discuss the duality existing between the training based on a serious game and a simple game, based on state of the art technologies. Then we show a training system for telecommunications technicians based on a combination between serious games and “traditional” e-learning platform. We show results for a trial made with a group of students from different disciplines (not only engineering) in order to evaluate learning outcomes using serious games versus other learning approaches. In this paper we discuss such results and make a descriptive statistical analysis of the results.

This paper presents an approach for solving the resource allocation problem in heterogeneous networks (HETnets). An optimization model is formulated; its main objective is to achieve the best Quality of Service (QoS) measured by the Carrier to Interference Noise Ratio (CINR). This model is a quadratically constrained optimization problem with continuous and boolean variables. It is solved by an approximation by a sequence of linear optimization problems and a judicious allocation of frequency blocks. It attempts to satisfy the CINR values required by users and demanded by modern standards in data transmission. Theoretically, the model can detect whenever the system cannot fulfill the CINR required, in which case, its solution offers the service provider an allocation of resources that yields a good index of performance. This is reported in numerical simulations that resemble real scenarios of HETnets. The approach configures, in a flexible way, the exploration of the search space, the strategy of frequency block allocation to users, and the solution considered as acceptable by the service provider.

This paper presents the results of an evaluation of a propagation model based on ray-tracing techniques using a game engine and Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) in outdoor scenarios, as a gap-filler for a Digital Video Broadcasting Handheld (DVB-H) service. This model involves complete identification of the parameters of wave propagation, multipath components between the transmitter and the receiver as attenuation, time delay of arrival (TDA), full polarimetric transmission matrix, direction of arrival DoA and the direction of departure DoD. In the paper, we present the results of the simulation and compare them with measurements, obtaining a satisfactory fit.

Different Vertical Handoff Algorithms (VHA) have been proposed in the literature recently. However, there is no consensus on how to evaluate performance of different VHA at the research community. Although some models have been proposed for evaluation of the VHA, this issue is a challenge because the VHA have evolved to become more sophisticated, thus the evaluation models must consider a variety of parameters. In this paper, we propose a new evaluation model for VHA that has been designed based on specific concepts taken from the multi-criteria evaluation and operational reliability. The proposed evaluation model allows analyzing VHA using measured values of some defined parameters, which can be obtained from simulating VHA on a network simulation tool. We present as a case study an evaluation of two VHA that shows the new model functionality and results.

This work presents results for a new method of ray tracing in urban environments using game engine and graphic processing unit (GPU). First advantage obtained with this method is the simplicity for 3D modeling from raster digital elevation model (DEM). Second advantage is the ability to precisely obtain ray parameters and the multiple paths interacting between transmitter and receiver in urban environment for high and low base station. A third advantage is the reduction in computing time by using the GPU capacity. In this paper, we show simulation results and compare them with measurements, obtaining a good fit.

Impulse radio ultra wide band (UWB) communications require robust receivers; typically Rake receivers are required to capture a large number of resolvable paths, (even hundred of paths), so large number of correlators are needed; otherwise, adaptive receivers use complex filters and channel estimation algorithms. Therefore, traditional Impulse radio receivers demand non-practical implementation structures. In this paper we propose a novel correlation-adaptive receiver structure with low complexity for indoor high speed ultra wide band systems. This novel structure combines correlation characteristics from Rake receivers with recursive filters from adaptive receivers. The receiver includes a low complexity recursive channel estimation filter capable of estimating hundreds of channel impulse responses, and a single filter-correlation filter used for coherent bit demodulation. Furthermore, we derive by simulations the bit error rate for high density multipath environments for several impulse radio modulations like TH-PPM, DS-BPSK and TH-BPSK and we compare the performance of the proposed structure with typical Rake receivers.

We present a method for Q-analysis in the initial planning process and dynamic adaptation for 3G/4G cellular systems that intends to balance the load in order to maximize the capacity and reduce the lost and dropped calls independent of the type of service. We support our proposal on dynamic simulations made with an our own developed tool for dynamic simulations of CDMA systems, and show the initial results that partially probe our proposed method.