In this paper, we propose a new approach for energy saving in Elastic Optical Networks (EONs) under physical impairments based on MILP solving instances. First, we seek to maximize the attended traffic on the network whereas the blocking probability is maintained below a defined limit. Hence, the next step is to minimize the power consumption on the network. The proposed MILP-based algorithm models the RMLSA problem and considers transponders, optical cross-connects (OXCs), and optical amplifiers as the physical components with influence on network optimization. The results show that our approach offers, on average, a reduction of up to 7.7% of the power consumed on the four moderate networks analyzed. Full article

An agent is an autonomous computer system situated in an environment to fulfill a design objective. Multi-Agent Systems aim to solve problems in a flexible and robust way by assembling sets of agents interacting in cooperative or competitive ways for the sake of possibly common objectives. Multi-Agent Systems have been applied to several domains ranging from many industrial sectors, e-commerce, health and even entertainment. Agent-Based Modeling, a sort of Multi-Agent Systems, is a technique used to study complex systems in a wide range of domains. A natural or social system can be represented, modeled and explained through a simulation based on agents and interactions. Such a simulation can comprise a variety of agent architectures like reactive and cognitive agents. Despite cognitive agents being highly relevant to simulate social systems due their capability of modelling aspects of human behaviour ranging from individuals to crowds, they still have not been applied extensively. A challenging and socially relevant domain are the Disaster-Rescue simulations that can benefit from using cognitive agents to develop a realistic simulation. In this paper, a Multi-Agent System applied to the Disaster-Rescue domain involving cognitive agents based on the Belief–Desire–Intention architecture is presented. The system aims to bridge the gap in combining Agent-Based Modelling and Multi-Agent Systems approaches by integrating two major platforms in the field of Agent-Based Modeling and Belief-Desire Intention multi-agent systems, namely, NetLogo and Jason. Full article

Procedural Content Generation is the automatic process for generating game content in order to allow for a decrease in developer resources while adding to the replayability of a digital game. It has been found to be highly effective as a method when utilized in rougelike games, of which Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number shares a number of factors. Search based procedural content, in this case, a genetic algorithm, allows for the creation of levels which meet with a number of designer set requirements. The generator proposed provides for an automatic creation of game content for a commercially available game: the level design, object placement, and enemy placement. Full article

In this paper, the study and modelling of a lithium-ion battery cell is presented. To test the considered cell, a battery testing system was built using two programmable power units: an electronic load and a power supply. To communicate with them, a software/hardware interface was implemented within the National Instruments (NI) LabVIEW environment. This dedicated laboratory equipment can be used to apply charging/discharging cycles according to user defined load profiles. The battery modelling and the parameters identification procedure are described. The model was used to estimate the State Of Charge (SOC) under dynamic loading conditions. The most spread techniques used in the field of battery modelling and SOC estimation are implemented and compared. Full article

In this paper we introduce a new histogram computation method to be used within the histogram of oriented gradients (HOG) algorithm. The new method replaces the arctangent with the slope computation and the classical magnitude allocation based on interpolation with a simpler algorithm. The new method allows a more efficient implementation of HOG in general, and particularly in field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), by considerably reducing the area (thus increasing the level of parallelism), while maintaining very close classification accuracy compared to the original algorithm. Thus, the new method is attractive for many applications, including car detection and classification. Full article

In the Fifth Generation (5G) wireless standard, the Internet of Things (IoT) will interconnect billions of Machine Type Communications (MTC) devices. Fixed and mobile wearable devices and sensors are expected to contribute to the majority of IoT traffic. MTC device mobility has been considered with three speeds, namely zero (fixed) and medium and high speeds of 30 and 100 kmph. Different values for device mobility are used to simulate the impact of device mobility on MTC traffic. This work demonstrates the gain of using distributed antennas on MTC traffic in terms of spectral efficiency and fairness among MTC devices, which affects the number of devices that can be successfully connected. The mutual use of Distributed Base Stations (DBS) with Remote Radio Units (RRU) and the adoption of the millimetre wave band, particularly in the 26 GHz range, have been considered the key enabling technologies for addressing MTC traffic growth. An algorithm has been set to schedule this type of traffic and to show whether MTC devices completed their traffic upload or failed to reach the margin. The gains of the new architecture have been demonstrated in terms of spectral efficiency, data throughput and the fairness index. Full article