Fotobijschriften:

EMVT-06101: Plaatsing van het intelligente distributiestation.

… -04: Testen van het intelligente distributiestation bij het Flex Power Grid Lab van KEMA.

… -05: De wijk Het Kasteel in Apeldoorn: Bijna letterlijk een eiland en het kan voor de energievoorziening functioneren als eilandbedrijf.

IOP Generic Communication MEANS (Management and Control of Energy-efficient Ad-hoc Networks and Services)

Our immediate surroundings include an increasing number of devices and sensors that want to communicate with each other, with us and with the Internet. At some point, the capacity of the existing wireless (home) networks will be insufficient to handle that information exchange. The IOP Generic Communication project ‘MEANS’ is developing a new network infrastructure for indoor use that will be scalable, intelligent and energy-efficient.

The term ‘hyperconnectivity’ was coined by Canadian researchers to describe the situation in which the number of Internet-connected devices and sensors exceeds by far the number of connected people. It is expected that by 2017 the amount of Internet-connected devices and sensors exceeds the number of people by a factor 1000. “Without large-scale innovation in our network architecture, all those little wirelessly communicating devices will constantly be getting in each other’s way,” says project manager Ton Koonen, Professor of Electro-optical Communication Systems at the Eindhoven University of Technology. “Our current wireless networks, based on WiFi, have insufficient capacity for that. One WiFi cell covers a large part of the building and has a limited number of radio channels. And that limited capacity has to be shared by many users. You can already notice the effect when you’re sharing a WiFi Internet connection with other people: it’s becoming much slower.” The solution: a new network architecture involving numerous flexible and smaller radio cells that are activated intelligently as needed.

Smart indoor network Switching over This network architecture, which the MEANS project will test by means of a proof-of-concept, consists of a central control station and one or more antenna stations per room that are interconnected via plastic fibre. “Fibre forms the backbone of the network. Since light can be transmitted through fibre in many different wavelengths, its capacity and the possibilities to route individual traffic streams are practically limitless,” Koonen says. “The reason we have chosen for plastic rather than glass fibre is that plastic fibre is much cheaper to install and to connect with. It’s also less vulnerable than glass.” The antenna stations are to ensure that devices such as laptops, mobile telephones and sensors will remain wirelessly connected with the Internet. “Those antennas must be steered quite intelligently from the control station,” Koonen explains. “Because if you’re walking from the attic to the living room, you’ll want to remain connected to the Internet. That means the system will need to be able to notice that you are moving and switch over to other antennas as you pass by them. But the system will also have to detect which kind of signal you need. Watching TV on a laptop requires a different kind of signal than watching a video clip on your smart phone. And the wireless traffic obviously also needs to be kept secure in order to prevent a breach of your banking transaction.”

Switching on and off, selectively As if all that were not challenging enough, the researchers also intend to make the entire system more energy-efficient than the existing wireless networks. “A network architecture with small antennas in every space already consumes much less energy than the current

single wireless antenna station that has to serve the entire house, penetrating walls and floors,” Koonen says. “In addition, we only want the antennas to be activated when they are actually necessary. In other words, they will need to be switched on and off selectively – intelligently – by the central control station. That will allow us to use as little radio power as possible, which also means that only a minimum of electromagnetic radiation will be generated. And as long as it remains unclear to what extent radio waves form a health risk, that’s also an important aspect.”

Nursing home The MEANS project is being carried out by two PhD students from the Eindhoven University of Technology and the Delft University of Technology. Their research builds on the results of two earlier IOP Generic Communication projects that laid the foundation for the technology for sending radio signals via fibre and for routing signals optically to antennas. The consortium also includes organisations such as TNO ICT and the SME companies Abitana Home Networks, Genexis, Pansa Consultancy and the Twente Institute for Wireless and Mobile Communication. At the end of the research period, in 2014, the design concepts will be validated during a field test with the partners on the basis of realistic applications in a nursing home for the elderly. As the validation is part of the project, the IOP Generic Communication will also be involved in the field test as a funding partner for this part of the research.

The aim of an IOP Program is to intensify the interaction betweencompanies in the Netherlands and the knowledge infrastructurewithin a specific discipline, by providing an extra impulse to research within a theme and by actively involving industry in the execution of this research. Combining the forces of companies and knowledge infrastructure leads to the formation of new networks and the reinforcement of existing ones.

The Generic Communication IOP focuses on the infrastructure for the provision of services for private applications. This involves, on the one hand, wired and wireless communication networks and on the other hand, the generic building blocks needed to realise the services that use these networks. The aim of this IOP is to stimulate research that will lead to generic solutions for ambient communica-tion; the leisure, information and control requirements of individuals within their private spaces.

Subject:Network architecture for indoors

Objective: To design, develop as a prototype and try out in a field test a reliable, scalable, flexible, intelligent and ultra-low-energy-consuming network that offers hyper-connectivity among a large number of wireless devices and sensors

Possible application: Indoors: both at home and in public spaces such as healthcare institutions

Research period: 2010-2014

Number of phd students: Two

Research institutes: Eindhoven University of Technology, Delft University of Technology, TNO ICT

Project manager: Prof. ir. Ton koonen, Eindhoven University of Technology, a.m.j.koonen@tue.nl, http://w3.Ele.Tue.nl

Industry involved: Abitana Home Networks (Belgium), Genexis, Pansa Consultancy, Twente Institute for Wireless and Mobile Communication

Published by:NL AgencyNL InnovationPO Box 931442509 AC The Hague, The NetherlandsT +31 (0) 88 602 54 96www.agentschapnl.nl

© NL Agency | march 2011Publication-nr. 3IGCO1105

NL Agency is an agency of the Dutch ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation responsible for the imple-mentation of sustainability, innovation and economic develop-ment programmes for various governmental bodies. NL Agency is a department of the Dutch ministry of Economic Affairs,Agriculture and Innovation that implements government policy for sustainability, innovation, and international business and cooperation. It is the contact point for businesses, educational institutions and government bodies for information and advice, financing, networking and regulatory matters.

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