Month: January 2021

Open-Source Smart Home Simulators

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Following, a blog post I have written in 2019 focusing on real smart home testbeds, a lot of readers have reached out asking me if I am aware of tools that can be used to simulate smart home data. I understand this request, because data collection in smart homes can be a tedious, time-consuming, and expensive process.  I identify three of the recent open-source tools that could be useful to simulate activity and human interactions within a smart home, below:

  • OpenSHS (Open Smart Home Simulator) [1]: This is a hybrid, open-source, cross-platform 3D smart home simulator, developed using Blender and Python, allowing for sophisticated dataset generation.
OpenSHS

Photo adopted from: https://github.com/openshs/openshs

  • Francillette et al. simulator [2]: The authors developed a smart environment simulator, using Java, SketchUp, and Unity engine, capable of generating data from simulated sensors such as RFID, ultrasound, pressure sensors, and contact sensors, amongst others.
  • Smart Environment Simulation (SESim) [3]: This is a simulation tool developed in Unity that supports smart home simulation and the generation of synthetic sensor datasets.

Also, in case you are a researcher and you would like a copy of the data I collected about the technical specifications of smart home products, feel free to get in touch.

[1] Alshammari, N.; Alshammari, T.; Sedky, M.; Champion, J.; Bauer, C. OpenSHS: Open Smart Home Simulator. Sensors 2017, 17, 1003. https://doi.org/10.3390/s17051003

[2]  Francillette, Y.; Boucher, E.; Bouzouane, A.; Gaboury, S. The Virtual Environment for Rapid Prototyping of the Intelligent Environment. Sensors 2017, 17, 2562. https://doi.org/10.3390/s17112562

[3] Brandon Ho, Dieter Vogts, and Janet Wesson. 2019. A Smart Home Simulation Tool to Support the Recognition of Activities of Daily Living. In: Proceedings of the South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists 2019. ACM, Article 23, 1–10. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3351108.3351132

Hosting Virtual Classes using Zoom and Discord

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On Monday, 18 January, I delivered my first lecture for 2021 in my cybersecurity course at Malmö University. This year, is my 5th year running this course, and I have about 120 students registered for the course. This is a good turnout, and I am happy that many students are keen to learn about cybersecurity. Unlike previous years, the full course, including all its deliverables are going to be held online.  So, anyone provided with the link to the lecture and an Internet connection can access the lecture live, potentially from anywhere without the need to commute to university.

When it comes to lectures, I am using Zoom as the main software program to share my slides and interact with students. One of the cool features of Zoom, which is similar to that of a traditional classroom, is its whiteboard. Effectively, Zoom allows the host to share a digital whiteboard that can be used in a similar way to a physical whiteboard but supporting more options. When using Zoom’s whiteboard, I commonly connect my tablet to the meeting and start sketching out using a digital pen. It can be quite challenging to draw a diagram using only a computer mouse. 

Sharing the Whiteboard on Zoom

Sharing the whiteboard on Zoom.

Another nice feature of Zoom, that I started using recently, particularly for managing a workshop, is called “breakout rooms.” This function allows the meeting host to split the participants into smaller groups so that participants can discuss separately in different rooms without disturbing others. I have seen the use of “breakout rooms” in many virtual conferences I have participated in recently. The partitioning into groups can be done automatically or manually, or otherwise, the host can allow participants to select and enter breakout sessions as they please. 

As a complement to “breakout rooms” in Zoom, I am also using Discord for supporting students, especially in their lab practicals. Discord is a VoIP, instant messaging, and digital distribution platform, particularly popular with gamers. In our case, we found Discord to be fast and reliable for handling voice and video simultaneously. Its straightforward participation system also makes it ideal for assisting students in their practicals. 

In case you want to learn more about my experience with digital teaching, please feel free to get in touch or leave a comment below.