arXiv subjects

Jeroen Famaey

Publications and source records attributed to Jeroen Famaey.

48 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Gesture Recognition with mmWave Wi-Fi Access Points: Lessons Learned

In recent years, channel state information (CSI) at sub-6 GHz has been widely exploited for Wi-Fi sensing, particularly for activity and gesture recognition. In this work, we instead explore mmWave (60 GHz) Wi-Fi signals for gesture recognition/pose estimation. Our focus is on the mmWave Wi-Fi signals so that they can be used not only for high data rate communication but also for improved sensing e.g., for extended reality (XR) applications. For this reason, we extract spatial beam signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) from the periodic beam training employed by IEEE 802.11ad devices. We consider a set of 10 gestures/poses motivated by XR applications. We conduct experiments in two environments and with three people.As a comparison, we also collect CSI from IEEE 802.11ac devices. To extract features from the CSI and the beam SNR, we leverage a deep neural network (DNN). The DNN classifier achieves promising results on the beam SNR task with state-of-the-art 96.7% accuracy in a single environment, even with a limited dataset. We also investigate the robustness of the beam SNR against CSI across different environments. Our experiments reveal that features from the CSI generalize without additional re-training, while those from beam SNRs do not. Therefore, re-training is required in the latter case.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2023

Predictive Context-Awareness for Full-Immersive Multiuser Virtual Reality with Redirected Walking

The advancement of Virtual Reality (VR) technology is focused on improving its immersiveness, supporting multiuser Virtual Experiences (VEs), and enabling users to move freely within their VEs while remaining confined to specialized VR setups through Redirected Walking (RDW). To meet their extreme data-rate and latency requirements, future VR systems will require supporting wireless networking infrastructures operating in millimeter Wave (mmWave) frequencies that leverage highly directional communication in both transmission and reception through beamforming and beamsteering. We propose the use of predictive context-awareness to optimize transmitter and receiver-side beamforming and beamsteering. By predicting users' short-term lateral movements in multiuser VR setups with Redirected Walking (RDW), transmitter-side beamforming and beamsteering can be optimized through Line-of-Sight (LoS) "tracking" in the users' directions. At the same time, predictions of short-term orientational movements can be utilized for receiver-side beamforming for coverage flexibility enhancements. We target two open problems in predicting these two context information instances: i) predicting lateral movements in multiuser VR settings with RDW, and ii) generating synthetic head rotation datasets for training orientational movements predictors. Our experimental results demonstrate that Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks feature promising accuracy in predicting lateral movements, and context-awareness stemming from VEs further enhances this accuracy. Additionally, we show that a TimeGAN-based approach for orientational data generation can create synthetic samples that closely match experimentally obtained ones.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2022

Energy-Aware Packet Schedulers for Battery-Less LoRaWAN Nodes

The Internet of Things (IoT) enables a wide variety of applications where large sensor networks are deployed in remote areas without power grid access. Thus, the sensor nodes often run on batteries, whose replacement and disposal represent important economical and environmental costs. To realize more sustainable IoT solutions, it is therefore desirable to adopt battery-less energy-neutral devices that can harvest energy from renewable sources and store it in super-capacitors, whose environmental impact is much lower than that of batteries. To achieve the energetic self-sustainability of such nodes, however, communication and computational processes must be optimized to make the best use of the scarce and volatile energy available. In this work, we propose different energy-aware packet scheduling algorithms for battery-less LoRaWAN nodes, and compare them in various simulated scenarios, using actual energy-harvesting measurements taken from a testbed. We show that an energy-aware design can significantly increase the number of transmitted packets, also lowering the mean time between packet transmissions, though (as predictable) the gain strongly depends on the harvesting capabilities of the nodes.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2022

Short-Term Trajectory Prediction for Full-Immersive Multiuser Virtual Reality with Redirected Walking

Full-immersive multiuser Virtual Reality (VR) envisions supporting unconstrained mobility of the users in the virtual worlds, while at the same time constraining their physical movements inside VR setups through redirected walking. For enabling delivery of high data rate video content in real-time, the supporting wireless networks will leverage highly directional communication links that will "track" the users for maintaining the Line-of-Sight (LoS) connectivity. Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) and in particular Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks have historically presented themselves as a suitable candidate for near-term movement trajectory prediction for natural human mobility, and have also recently been shown as applicable in predicting VR users' mobility under the constraints of redirected walking. In this work, we extend these initial findings by showing that Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) networks, another candidate from the RNN family, generally outperform the traditionally utilized LSTMs. Second, we show that context from a virtual world can enhance the accuracy of the prediction if used as an additional input feature in comparison to the more traditional utilization of solely the historical physical movements of the VR users. Finally, we show that the prediction system trained on a static number of coexisting VR users be scaled to a multi-user system without significant accuracy degradation.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2022

Intelligent Reflective Surface vs. Mobile Relay-supported NLoS Avoidance in Indoor mmWave Networks

The 6th generation of wireless communication (6G) is envisioned to give rise to various technologies for improving the end-to-end communication performance, where the communication is envisioned to utilize wireless signals in the millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies and above. Among others, these technologies comprise Intelligent Reflective Surfaces (IRSs) and Mobile Relays (MRs), whose envisaged roles include mitigating the negative effects of Non-Line-of-Sight (NLoS) connectivity, in particular at mmWave and higher frequencies. The core idea behind these technologies is to use cooperative networking where the source sends a signal to a repeater, in this case the IRS or the MR, which is upon reception forwarded to the destination. When comparing the two technologies, it is important to realize that the IRSs are primarily envisioned to be static entities attached to various objects in the environment such as walls and furniture. In contrast, the MRs will feature a higher degree of freedom, as they will be able to position themselves seamlessly in the environment. Based on the above assumptions, we derive an approach for determining the optimal position of the IRS and MR in indoor environments, i.e., the one that maximizes the end-to-end link quality between the source and the destination. We follow by capturing the communication quality indicators for both IRS- and MR-supported NLoS avoidance in indoor mmWave communication in a number of scenarios. Our results show that, from the end-to-end link quality perspective, the MRs generally outperform the IRSs, suggesting their utilization potential for throughput-optimized NLoS avoidance scenarios.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2021

Small UAVs-supported Autonomous Generation of Fine-grained 3D Indoor Radio Environmental Maps

Radio Environmental Maps (REMs) are a powerful tool for enhancing the performance of various communication and networked agents. However, generating REMs is a laborious undertaking, especially in complex 3-Dimensional (3D) environments, such as indoors. To address this issue, we propose a system for autonomous generation of fine-grained REMs of indoor 3D spaces. In the system, multiple small indoor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are sequentially used for 3D sampling of signal quality indicators. The collected readings are streamlined to a Machine Learning (ML) system for its training and, once trained, the system is able to predict the signal quality at unknown 3D locations. The system enables automated and autonomous REM generation, and can be straightforwardly deployed in new environments. In addition, the system supports REM sampling without self-interference and is technology-agnostic, as long as the REM-sampling receivers features suitable sizes and weights to be carried by the UAVs. In the demonstration, we instantiate the system design using two UAVs and show its capability of visiting 72 waypoints and gathering thousands of Wi-Fi data samples. Our results also include an instantiation of the ML system for predicting the Received Signal Strength (RSS) of known Wi-Fi Access Points (APs) at locations not visited by the UAVs.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2021

Localization in Power-Constrained Terahertz-Operating Software-Defined Metamaterials

Software-Defined Metamaterials (SDMs) show a strong potential for advancing the engineered control of electromagnetic waves. As such, they are envisioned to enable a variety of exciting applications, among others in the domains of smart textiles, high-resolution structural monitoring, and sensing in challenging environments. Many of the applications envisage deformations of the SDM structures, such as their bending, stretching or rolling, which implies that the locations of metamaterial elements will be changing relative to one another. In this paper, we argue that if the metamaterial elements would be accurately localizable, this location information could potentially be utilized for enabling novel SDM applications, as well as for optimizing the control of the elements themselves. To enable their localization, we assume that these elements are controlled wirelessly through a Terahertz (THz)-operating nanonetwork. We consider the elements to be power-constrained, with their sole powering option being to harvest energy from different environmental sources. By means of simulation, we demonstrate sub-millimeter accuracy of the two-way Time of Flight (ToF)-based localization, as well as high availability of the service (i.e., consistently more than 80% of the time), which is a result of the low energy consumed in the localization process. Finally, we qualitatively characterize the latency of the proposed localization service, as well as outline several challenges and future research directions.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2021

Millimeter-Wave Beamforming with Continuous Coverage for Mobile Interactive Virtual Reality

Contemporary Virtual Reality (VR) setups commonly consist of a Head-Mounted Display (HMD) tethered to a content-generating server. "Cutting the wire" in such setups and going truly wireless will require a wireless network capable of delivering enormous amounts of video data at an extremely low latency. Higher frequencies, such as the millimeter-wave (mmWave) band, can support these requirements. Due to high attenuation and path loss in the mmWave frequencies, beamforming is essential. For VR setups, beamforming must adapt in real-time to the user's head rotations, but can rely on the HMD's built-in sensors providing accurate orientation estimates. In this work, we present coVRage, a beamforming solution tailored for VR HMDs. Based on past and current head orientations, the HMD predicts how the Angle of Arrival (AoA) from the access point will change in the near future, and covers this AoA trajectory with a dynamically shaped beam, synthesized using sub-arrays. We show that this solution can cover such trajectories with consistently high gain, unlike regular single-beam solutions.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2021

Toward Location-aware In-body Terahertz Nanonetworks with Energy Harvesting

Nanoscale wireless networks are expected to revolutionize a variety of domains, with significant advances conceivable in in-body healthcare. In healthcare, these nanonetworks will consist of energy-harvesting nanodevices passively flowing through the bloodstream, taking actions at certain locations, and communicating results to more powerful Body Area Network (BAN) nodes. Assuming such a setup and electromagnetic nanocommunication in the Terahertz (THz) frequencies, we propose a network architecture that can support fine-grained localization of the energy-harvesting in-body nanonodes, as well as their two-way communication with the outside world. The main novelties of our proposal lie in the introduction of location-aware and Wake-up Radio (WuR)-based wireless nanocommunication paradigms, as well as Software-Defined Metamaterials (SDMs), to THz-operating energy-harvesting in-body nanonetworks. We argue that, on a high level, the proposed architecture can handle (and actually benefits from) a large number of nanonodes, while simultaneously dealing with a short range of THz in-body propagation and highly constrained nanonodes.

cs.ET↗

arXiv2021

An ns-3 implementation of a battery-less node for energy-harvesting Internet of Things

In the Internet of Things (IoT), thousands of devices can be deployed to acquire data from the environment and provide service to several applications in different fields. In many cases, it is desirable that devices are self-sustainable in terms of energy. Therefore,the research community is exploring the possibility of employing battery-less devices, where the energy is derived solely from external and/or environmental sources, such as solar panels. In this work, we propose an ns-3 model of a (super) capacitor, which can be used as the storage of the harvested energy in a battery-less IoT device, and add the support for the intermittent behavior of devices, turning off/on according to their energy level. To exemplify the use of the model, we apply it to a LoRaWAN node, and compare the simulation outcomes with results in the literature obtained with mathematical analysis, confirming the accuracy of the implementation. Then, we show the importance of analyzing the interaction between energy availability and communication performance, paving the way for more accurate and realistic simulations in the field. The implemented code is made available as open source.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2021

Survey on Terahertz Nanocommunication and Networking: A Top-Down Perspective

Recent developments in nanotechnology herald nanometer-sized devices expected to bring light to a number of groundbreaking applications. Communication with and among nanodevices will be needed for unlocking the full potential of such applications. As the traditional communication approaches cannot be directly applied in nanocommunication, several alternative paradigms have emerged. Among them, electromagnetic nanocommunication in the terahertz (THz) frequency band is particularly promising, mainly due to the breakthrough of novel materials such as graphene. For this reason, numerous research efforts are nowadays targeting THz band nanocommunication and consequently nanonetworking. As it is expected that these trends will continue in the future, we see it beneficial to summarize the current status in these research domains. In this survey, we therefore aim to provide an overview of the current THz nanocommunication and nanonetworking research. Specifically, we discuss the applications envisioned to be supported by nanonetworks operating in the THz band, together with the requirements such applications pose on the underlying nanonetworks. Subsequently, we provide an overview of the current contributions on the different layers of the protocol stack, as well as the available channel models and experimentation tools. As the final contribution, we identify a number of open research challenges and outline several potential future research directions.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2021

Towards Ultra-Low-Latency mmWave Wi-Fi for Multi-User Interactive Virtual Reality

The need for cables with high-fidelity Virtual Reality (VR) headsets remains a stumbling block on the path towards interactive multi-user VR. Due to strict latency constraints, designing fully wireless headsets is challenging, with the few commercially available solutions being expensive. These solutions use proprietary millimeter wave (mmWave) communications technologies, as extremely high frequencies are needed to meet the throughput and latency requirements of VR applications. In this work, we investigate whether such a system could be built using specification-compliant IEEE 802.11ad hardware, which would significantly reduce the cost of wireless mmWave VR solutions. We present a theoretical framework to calculate attainable live VR video bitrates for different IEEE 802.11ad channel access methods, using 1 or more head-mounted displays connected to a single Access Point (AP). Using the ns-3 simulator, we validate our theoretical framework, and demonstrate that a properly configured IEEE 802.11ad AP can support at least 8 headsets receiving a 4K video stream for each eye, with transmission latency under 1 millisecond.

cs.NI↗