This paper proposes an architecture for biometric electronic identification document (e-ID) system based on Blockchain for citizens identity verification in transactions corresponding to the notary, registration, tax declaration and payment, basic health services and registration of economic activities, among others. To validate the user authentication, a biometric e-ID system is used to avoid spoofing and related attacks. Also, to validate the document a digital certificate is used with the corresponding public and private key for each citizen by using a user’s PIN. The proposed transaction validation process was implemented on a Blockchain system in order to record and verify the transactions made by all citizens registered in the electoral census, which guarantees security, integrity, scalability, traceability, and no-ambiguity. Additionally, a Blockchain network architecture is presented in a distributed and decentralized way including all the nodes of the network, database and government entities such as national register and notary offices. The results of the application of a new consensus algorithm to our Blockchain network are also presented showing mining time, memory and CPU usage when the number of transactions scales up.

This chapter presents an approach for explosive-landmine detection on-board an autonomous aerial drone. The chapter describes the design, implementation and integration of a ground penetrating radar (GPR) using a software defined radio (SDR) platform into the aerial drone. The chapter?s goal is first to tackle in detail the development of a custom-designed lightweight GPR by approaching interplay between hardware and software radio on an SDR platform. The SDR-based GPR system results on a much lighter sensing device compared against the conventional GPR systems found in the literature and with the capability of re-configuration in real-time for different landmines and terrains, with the capability of detecting landmines under terrains with different dielectric characteristics. Secondly, the chapter introduce the integration of the SDR-based GPR into an autonomous drone by describing the mechanical integration, communication system, the graphical user interface (GUI) together with the landmine detection and geo-mapping. This chapter approach completely the hardware and software implementation topics of the on-board GPR system given first a comprehensive background of the software-defined radar technology and second presenting the main features of the Tx and Rx modules. Additional details are presented related with the mechanical and functional integration of the GPR into the UAV system.

Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) have emerged as an attractive Internet of Things (IoT) communication option. When deploying a communication network to support IoT applications, large coverage and low power consumption are critical requirements. Despite the fact that existing LPWAN technology solutions promote IoT requirements such as long communication range, energy efficiency, scalability, and low cost, network performance is a major concern. With so many LPWAN technologies available, there is a growing interest in evaluating them. Recent works have presented various comparison studies of LPWAN technologies, but the majority of them have approached the analysis from the standpoint of comparing technical specifications rather than presenting measurement results obtained from network deployment scenarios. We argue that by proposing a comparative evaluation from an experimental standpoint, the comparison discussion is deepened. This paper proposes an experimental comparative evaluation of LoRaWAN and SigFox, two emerging LPWAN technologies operating in sub-GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) frequency bands, based on coverage and energy-efficiency test performance. The experimental evaluation was proposed first by identifying coverage and energy-efficiency as the two most important design goals for LPWAN applications. Second, by proposing test performance to evaluate those goals, where extensive measurements were made in network deployments, and finally, by highlighting the main performance findings in both networks for comparison purposes. The results show that in a fair-weather test, LoRaWAN outperformed SigFox in terms of coverage, achieving a higher packet delivery rate (PDR $\gtrsim ~80$ %), and having higher radio strength signal (RSSI $\gtrsim $ -110 dBm). Sigfox, on the other hand, shows better energy efficiency with 20% more sent messages under the same test conditions.

Analyzing the conditions of use and selecting which technology is more efficient to apply is required when transmitting information through wireless networks.The Internet of Things (IoT) has gained traction in industry and academia as a paradigm in which information and communication technologies merge to deliver unique solutions by detecting, actuating, calculating, and sharing massive volumes of data via embedded systems. In this scenario, Low-Power Wide-Area Networks (LPWAN) appear to be an attractive solution for node connectivity. Typical IoT solutions demand flexible restrictions for wireless communication networks in terms of data rates and latency in exchange for having larger communication ranges and low energy consumption. Nonetheless, as the amount of data and data speeds demanded for particular applications increase, such as image transmissions, IoT network connectivity deteriorates. This paper proposes a communication architecture for image transmission across LPWAN networks utilizing LoRa modulation. The framework combines image processing techniques (classification, compressive sensing (CS), and reconstruction) with an investigation of LoRa modulation parameters using a Software-Defined Radio (SDR) environment. The results show that is possible to communicate an image of $128\times 128$ pixels with four packets and one frequency channel in 2.51 s.

Atmospheric Water Generators (AWG) are a promising technology solution to the water scarcity in the world. However, their main drawback is the high power consumption. This paper presents the experimental optimization process of a Portable Atmospheric Water Generator (PAWG) prototype based on a thermometric cooler. This process was developed by an exhaustive search of the experimental solution space, which was generated by parametric sweeps of two parameters (i.e., control voltages in the PAWG), which are related to the power consumption of the PAWG and the physical variables involved in the water condensation process (i.e., the airflow and the temperature on the water condenser element). As a result, we found the existence of two optimal operation points under a constant value of relative humidity; one of them maximizes the amount of water generated, and the other one maximizes the system performance (i.e., the ratio between the generated water and consumed power in mL/Wh). The resulting Figures of Merit (FoMs) of the PAWG prototype were 0.33 mL/h of generated water and 0.22 mL/Wh for the system performance.

This paper proposes new closed expressions of self-impedance using the Method of Moments with the Point Matching Procedure and piecewise constant and linear basis functions in different configurations, which allow saving computing time for the solution of wire antennas with complex geometries. The new expressions have complexity $O\left(1\right)$ with well-defined theoretical bound errors. They were compared with an adaptive numerical integration. We obtain an accuracy between 7 and 16 digits depending on the chosen basis function and segmentation used. Besides, the computing time involved in the calculation of the self-impedance terms was evaluated and compared with the time required by the adaptative quadrature integration solution of the same problem. Expressions have a run-time bounded between 50 and 200 times faster than an adaptive numerical integration assuming full computation of all constant of the expressions.