Advanced Localization Techniques on Smart Devices for Inclusive Location-based Services

Advanced Localization Techniques on Smart Devices for Inclusive Location-based Services
Engineering for the Information Society and Sustainable Development
Alfonso Bahillo Martínez (DeustoTech) & Dorothy Okello (Makerere University, Uganda)
DeustoTech (www.deustotech.eu) is an institute of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Deusto for applied research in new technologies. DeustoTech mission is to serve society and the business sector in its technological and digital transformation, promoting research, training and transfer activities in the field of Information and Communication Technologies, under the humanistic and sustainable development values that characterize the University of Deusto. The MSCA IF candidate will be incorporated in the Smart Mobility research group at DeustoTech. This research group is committed to respond to the current and future needs of society and industry in the field of mobility and transport by means of technology and data fusion applications. Nowadays, the group belongs to 3 European collaboration networks and participates in 5 European Projects, as well as it is currently developing several consortiums and partnerships for future international projects. Actually, 7 international students are hosted by the group, as well as more than 10 international fellowships have been carried out by members of this group.
We are looking for PhD research candidate with strong background in at least one of the next areas: ● Information Fusion through Bayesian Inference ● Pedestrian inertial navigation system ● Machine Learning techniques ● Human-Computer Interaction Researchers with experience in some of the above mentioned fields will be especially welcomed. Advanced command of English (C1 or equivalent) is desired. Knowledge of Spanish is not a requirement.
  • Information Sciences and Engineering (ENG)
  • Mathematics (MAT)
The EU has a strong commitment for improving the social and economic situation of people with disabilities. For this, the Commission has defined an Action Plan in the scope of “European Disability Strategy 2010-2020: A Renewed Commitment to a Barrier-Free Europe”, where the access and mobility of people with disabilities in urban areas, its facilities and transportation system are a key priority, understanding accessibility as a precondition for participation in society and the economy. In 2008, Uganda ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) signaling the priority with which the country attaches inclusiveness for all. Indeed a number of government agencies have clear mandates on addressing needs of persons with disabilities. The proposed research will focus on the simulation and implementation of advanced localization techniques using devices available in the mass market, such as smartphones or wearable devices, with the aim of developing location-based services that promote and foster the inclusion and accessibility of people with disabilities.

EXCELLENCE OF THE HOST RESEARCH UNIT

– T. Otim, A. Bahillo, L. E. Diez, P. Lopez, and F. Falcone, “FDTD and Empirical Exploration of Human Body and UWB Radiation Interaction on TOF Ranging,” IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, pp. 1–1, 2019. – L. E. Díez, A. Bahillo, J. Otegui, and T. Otim, “Suitability Analysis of Wrist-Worn Sensors for Implementing Pedestrian Dead Reckoning Systems,” IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 18, no. 12, pp. 5098–5114, May 2018. – Bahillo, A., Díez, L.E. and Arambarri, A., 2016. BLUE CARE: A COOPERATIVE LOCATION NETWORK FOR HANDICAPPED PERSONS. Procedia Engineering (2017) pp. 67-75 – A. Bahillo, T. Aguilera, F. J. Álvarez, and A. Perallos, “WAY: Seamless Positioning Using a Smart Device,” Wireless Pers Commun, vol. 94, no. 4, pp. 2949–2967, Jun. 2017. – O’Briain, D., Denieffe, D., Kavanagh, Y., and Okello, D. (2016) The move to a software defined future and the implication for Uganda, National Conference on Communications (NCC), Mbarara, Uganda, September 2016. – Okello, D., Wasswa, W., Mukasa, P., Ssebaale, D., and Kagarura, M. G. (2015) eInfrastructure: Next Generation Wireless Broadband Networks for Uganda 2020, IST-Africa’15, May 2015.
BLUE: Enabling Ubiquitous Location-Based services Funded by the Basque Department of Education, under Grant ref. PI_2016_0010. Duration: 24 months (Jan. 2017 – Dec. 2018) ESPHIA: Enabling Seamless Positioning for Helping Inhabitants Anywhere Funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, TIN2014-56042-JIN. Duration: 36 months (Oct. 2015 – Oct. 2018) LORIS: Localization Cooperative Systems for People and Objects in Diverse Environments. Funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, TIN2012-38080-C04-03. Duration: 36 months (Jan. 2013 – Dec. 2015) RRM: Radio Resource Management project with a focus on cognitive radio and dynamic spectrum allocation for building affordable wireless networks to address internet access for all. Funded by the Presidential Iniaitive Grant to the College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT) at Makerere University Duration: 48 months (2011/2012 – 2014/2015) ABM: Adaptive bandwidth management in cooperative wireless networks addressing affordable and equitable access to the internet. Funded by the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology Duration: 36 months (2008/2009 – 2010/2011)

INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION

The proposed research plan is encouraged to cover three research disciplines in a “bottom-up” proposal. This research proposal is the result of an interdisciplinary encounter among an anthropologist, a landscape architect and a telecom engineer that was made possible by the COST Action TUD1306, called CyberParks (http://cyberparks-project.eu). Therefore, the interdisciplinary of this research proposal is guaranteed though the co-direction of experts from those different knowledge areas which will be melted to be able to address the research proposal. The knowledge areas to be integrated are: – Dynamic information fusion methods for positioning. The main motivation behind this knowledge area is based on the current need for a dynamic positioning system which autonomously adapts to the availability of external signals depending on the environment – Behavior analysis and mapping. – Social Inclusion. One of the greatest challenges, regardless of the city’s size, organizational structure, socio-political capacity or development stage, is as of how to become fully inclusive to fit the needs of all their citizens, including those with disabilities and diverse impairments. Hence, this area provides an overview of existing city concepts, tackling them from inclusion perspective.
Yes, the thesis will be co-directed between DeustoTech and Makerere University, Uganda, who have shown willingness to co-finance the research project, as sought in the 6i-DIRS project. The contact person at Makerere U. is Dr. Dorothy Okello (dkokello@cedat.mak.ac.ug)
We plan the next mechanisms to successfully implement the interdisciplinarity: – Refine the plan proposal (objectives, scope and roadmap) agreed among the co-directors and the MSCA IF candidate for the three years period. – Skype meetings every two weeks to check the progress of the MSCA IF researcher and to establish the next steps to follow. – Face to face meetings every 24 weeks. – At least two short-term research stays every year, and one long-term research stay at the University of Makerere.

INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION

The research project is clearly aligned with the topics defined by the H2020 programme: – From a technical point of view, it is aligned with the work programme «Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies», both in the area of «Information and Communication Technologies» and in the area of «Space», as its objective is the design of location systems in intelligent devices including the use of the European Global Navigation Satellite System (Galileo, EGNOS). – From the application point of view, the objective of developing inclusive and accessible applications is clearly aligned with Societal Challenge 1, (Health, demographic change and wellbeing) and Societal Challenge 4, (Smart, Green and Integrated Transport). In fact, there are currently several project proposals under review in calls for the previous programmes.
As mentioned before, the thesis will be co-directed between DeustoTech (Spain) and Makerere University (Uganda). The research groups of both institutions involved in this proposal have been working together on a research project on LBS for inclusiveness last year.

INTERSECTORAL COLLABORATION

Through research training provided by the institutions from different countries, this research proposal will trigger cooperation between the University of Deusto (DeustoTech) and the University of Makerere (Innovation at ResilientAfrica Network). It will enhance skills development and knowledge-sharing, enhancing researchers’ employability and providing them with new career perspectives. Three main types of stakeholders who may be interested in the results of this research project have now been identified, existing contacts and collaborations in the past: – Associations of people with different types of disabilities, as they are the main end users of this research project. In the past, there has been collaboration or contact with associations such as “Discapacitados sin fronteras “(Disabled without frontiers) or ONCE (Spanish Blind Association). – Town councils and other public bodies interested in being able to offer better and more accessible services to citizens. In the past, there has been collaborations with public bodies in cities such as Bilbao or Zaragoza in Spain, or Kampala in Uganda. – Different agents in the health field, especially interested in the study of active aging or people with psychiatric problems. In this field, there exist active collaborations and contacts with several teams in the field of psychiatry of Sacyl (Public Health Service of Castilla y León, Spain).
Industrial doctorate is not envisaged since the programme requires the researcher to be hired by the University of Deusto. This research project is envisaged as an international thesis co-directed by two research and development institutions.

IMPACT

The choice of inclusiveness and accessibility as the target characteristics of the LBS to be developed in this research project will maximise the public benefit by supporting the development of applications that will address major societal challenges. In particular, the main stakeholders (public administration and associations of people with physical disabilities) will benefit from the results of this project in different ways: • Access to high technology developers specialized in seamless positioning and Location Based Services implementation. • Gaining knowledge on inclusion aspects in urban areas that will serve to the preparation of studies related to transport, mobility, urban planning and accessibility, etc. • New business models related to co-operation between public administration and its stakeholders (citizens, companies, associations). • Opportunity for closely collaborating cities and associations of people with physical disabilities, having the opportunity to boost the accessibility of urban areas to all the citizens. Opportunity to exchange experiences and best practices. In addition, user location-based information has transversal demand on numerous commercial applications. Revenues of context-aware smartphone apps will hit € 30.6 billion by 2019, up from € 11.7 billion in 2015, so there is also a great commercial opportunity, which can be reflected in the obtaining of patents or creation of spin-off companies

INNOVATION

The main innovative aspect of the research project is the focus of the development of LBS in the field of accessibility and inclusiveness. This implies focusing on a market and type of problems generally forgotten and also brings with it the need to work from multidisciplinary strategies, which always is challenging and stimulating. Another important aspect of the offer is the possibility of working on a project that covers a wide spectrum of the life cycle of a product, as the project will include from basic and applied research tasks (TRL 2 to 5) to developing and testing systems that can be used in an operational environment with real services (TRL 7).

INCLUSION

One of the University of Deusto’s key duties is to be fully aware of problems within the institution itself and the society we live in. For this reason, it should take specific steps to boost integration and real equality of opportunity for people with specific support needs. Timely specific action is required to enable them to enter higher education in equal conditions and ensure their full integration in the university community. DeustoTech, as one of its institutions, is included in this service of social action and inclusion. The main aims consist of achieving full normalization, equal opportunities and gradually adopting the steps needed to ensure that the University of Deusto is an inclusive educational institution. Furthermore, the University of Deusto provides them with guidance and support on the transition to the labor market jointly with special job centers and companies at large. In addition to this, Deusto is committed to social justice and inclusion. It recognises gender equality as a key driver for sustainable development, inclusive growth and academic opportunity for women. Moreover, to seek real inclusion for people with specific support needs, the project will ensure equal rights and opportunities with respect to access to the programme and the acquisition of skills expected to achieve the PhD.