Victor Cionca (University of Limerick, Supervisor – Dr Tom Newe) Characterisation Tool for Security Protocol Selection for Wireless Sensor Networks.
Stefan Möller (University of Limerick, Supervisor - Dr Tom Newe) Design a GUI based Tool to assist in the selection of Security Mechanisms for the many commercially available Wireless protocols.
Ronan McDonnell (Trinity College Dublin, Supervisor – Prof Jane Grimson)Investigation of virtual communities' technologies as a mechanism to stimulate social interaction among older people (Currently on Intel internship working on Building Bridges)
Claire Dormer (National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Supervisor - Dr Tom Ward)Augmentation of Stroke Rehabilitation through the Application of Neural Prostheses and Wearable Sensors.
Brian McCarthy (University College Cork – Supervisor – Brendan O'Flynn)Wearable Diagnostic Systems for Assisted Living
Niall Twomey (University College Cork – Supervisor – Dr Liam Marnane)Biomedical Signal Processing for Wearable Alarms
Sven Zacharias (University of Limerick, Supervisor – Dr Tom Newe)Multimedia Home Monitoring System for use with Wireless Sensors Networks
Marie Tierney (University of Limerick, Supervisor – Dr Norelee Kennedy)An investigation into Physical Activity, Cardiovascular health and the effect of an Exercise Intervention in a Rheumatoid Arthritis population.
The following students where supported under the IRCSET Enterprise Partnership prior to the establishment of the TRIL Scholarship program:
Damian Kelly (NUI Maynooth, Supervisor: Dr Sean McLoone) Minimal Infrastructure Location Tracking for Context Sensitive Medication Prompting
Joseph McKnight (Trinity College Dublin, Supervisor: Dr Gavin Doherty)Application Concept Based Requirements Elicitation for Healthcare
Lorcan Walsh (NUI Maynooth, Supervisor: Dr Sean McLoone) Deployable Non-Intrusive Actigraphic Sleep Monitoring
Michael Healy (University of Limerick, Supervisor – Dr Tom Newe) Effectively Securing Wireless Sensor Networks
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Stefan Möller, University of Limerick
Stefan was born in Greifswald, Germany in 1982. He received a diploma [Dipl.-Ing. (FH)] in Electronics from Hochschule Wismar in December 2007. From March to June 2007 he worked as part of a student exchange program at the Muraguchi Laboratory in the Tokyo University of Science (TUS) in Tokyo, Japan. During this time his research focused on non linear AD conversion for CMOS sensors. His current PhD research work, under the supervision of Dr. Tom Newe, and supported by a TRIL scholarship is the design and development of a characterisation tool to assist in the selection of security mechanisms for available wireless protocols. The focus of Stefan's work is to design, develop and deploy a software tool that will enable wireless network deployment engineers to easily select a suitable wireless platform for their application based on their network needs and application security requirements.
During his internship with the Health Research & Innovation Group at Intel Stefan developed an interface for CONTINUA compliant devices for BioMOBIUS™ which enables the user to retrieve data from CONTINUA devices such as pulse oximeters, blood pressure cuffs etc. His internship allowed Stefan improved his technical English, presentation skills and C++ programming skills.
Victor Cionca, University of Limerick
Victor Cionca was born in Romania in 1984. He received a diploma in Computer Science from the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca in 2007. His PhD research work is , supervised by Dr. Tom Newe and Dr. Vasile Dadarlat(Cluj) supported by a TRIL scholarship is on the design of a configuration tool for wireless sensor network security. Back in Romania, Victor also did more than one year of research on operating systems and distributed systems. His research interests include communication and security protocols for wireless sensor networks, sensor network applications and operating systems.
Victor is developing a framework for wireless sensor networks that allows seamless integration of security in any kind of sensor network applications. The framework permits an end-user to determine the most efficient set of algorithms and protocols that can provide required security level for the user's application. Once the security services are determined, they are installed on the application code.
Victor's internship with Intel's Health Research & Innovation Group mostly focused on developing SHIMMER firmware, especially analysing, optimizing and testing a Fat filesystem and SD card storage. He was also involved in other TRIL Centre projects such as Alertness: Training for Focused Living and Base.
Ronan McDonnell, Trinity College Dublin
A native of Dublin Ronan received his degree in Computer Science from Trinity College in 2003. He was an intern in the Health Research & Innovation Group at Intel between June 2008 and March 2009, where he primarily worked on the TRIL Centre's Social Connection Strand's 'Building Bridges' Project.
Ronan's research is focused on older people in care, specifically nursing homes, and whether technology can be used as a way of reducing social isolation and increasing social engagement among this group.
"I really enjoyed my time as a TRIL scholar. Working as an intern with Intel's Digital Health Group was of great benefit to me, as I took part in a research project from it's early stages right through to publication – this helped enormously with my own research. Having regular contact with industry experts in my field also meant I could discuss ideas and findings with them -something that was invaluable considering this was my first research project"
In September 2010 Ronan attended the AAL (Ambient Assisted Living) Forum which took place in Odense Denmark. He was one of only approximately 30 researchers from all over the world selected to take part in the Young Researchers section, both postgraduate and postdoctoral. Ronan won first prize in the Young Researchers section for his poster and presentation on his PhD research entitled 'Designing Communications Technology for Older People in Care Settings'.
Lorcan Walsh, National University of Ireland, Maynooth
In October 2007 Lorcan enrolled for a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at NUI Maynooth entitled 'Non-contact Actigraphy Based Sleep Monitoring'. During this time, Lorcan also completed a placement in the Division of Sleep Medicine in Harvard Medical School / Brigham and Women's'. He joined the project entitled 'Sleep/Wake Actigraphy and Light Exposure During Spaceflight'. In May 2010 he joined the Health Research & Innovation Group at Intel Ireland as a Biomedical Engineer Intern developing in-home monitoring systems for the elderly.
Sleeping problems are a commonly reported complaint in elders, only behind pain and memory decline. Recent research has shown that sleep disturbances may be indicative of poor health and functional deficits. This project proposes an unobtrusive sleep monitoring technology in the form of an under mattress bed sensor (UMBS). This technology has been deployed validated in experimental conditions, as well as in 2 pilot studies, one in the community and one in a clinical setting.
"Throughout my PhD I have been offered support and guidance by the Health Research & Innovation Group at Intel Ireland.through monthly progress updates. This collaboration strengthened the quality of research providing a platform to engage with their experienced researchers and share their technical knowledge. The Health Research & Innovation Group was consistently friendly and generous with their knowledge and their experience. As a result, my research experience has been more enjoyable, productive and worthwhile."
Damian Kelly, National University of Ireland, Maynooth
Damian obtained a first-class honours degree in Electronic Engineering at NUI Maynooth in 2006. He then embarked upon a PhD at NUIM which was supported by Health Research & Innovation Group at Intel. During his time with TRIL, Damian's PhD research focused on the estimation of location of an older person within his/her home using minimal quantities of deployed hardware. By utilising the Bluetooth signals emanating from an older person's phone or other wireless interaction device, the ability to monitor their movements over long periods of time was demonstrated. The ability to remotely supervise an older person in their own home without intrusive equipment is envisioned to contribute to a more comfortable life for the older population in the near future.
Damian's PhD was undertaken in close collaboration with TRIL and Health Research & Innovation Group at Intel Ireland. "During my time working with TRIL/Intel I gained a great deal of invaluable experience of working with technologies focused on caring for, and interacting with, older people. My contact with the highly motivated and enthusiastic TRIL participants has strongly shaped my work to date and has greatly contributed to an enjoyable few years in a compelling area of research".
Michael Healy, University of Limerick
Michael Healy was born in Cork, Ireland in 1982. He received his B.Eng degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Limerick in 2005. Michael is currently working towards a PhD in the University of Limerick, under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Newe and Professor Elfed Lewis, in the area of security for wireless sensor networks, focusing on key management.
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) pose unique challenges with regards to unit power consumption, memory availability and processing power. As a result the security protocols used for sensor data protection must be efficient, resource friendly and fast. Asymmetric (a.k.a public key) cryptography is, in almost all situations, not suitable for use in WSNs due to processing and memory requirements and using the alternative, symmetric cryptography, introduces many challenges in managing (pre-deploying, discovering, revoking, updating) cryptographic keys. This project is concerned with designing, implementing and testing a new, efficient, easy to use key management solution for wireless sensor networks that address the limitations of the currently available schemes.
"During my PhD studies I had the chance to complete a seven month internship with Intel's Health Research & Innovation Group. I found this opportunity to be hugely beneficial. Firstly the people I worked with were great; very helpful, friendly and I learned so much from all of them. Secondly, the experience of working for one of the biggest and most successful companies in the field was invaluable. Furthermore I got to experience firsthand the differences between research in a highly successful company versus academia, and to experience an academic/industrial research partnership from the industry perspective. And last but not least, the experience and, as importantly, the contacts I made during my time at Intel led directly to my current job, a benefit that cannot be underestimated in the current economic climate."
Sven Zacharias, University of Limerick
Sven was born in Wismar (Germany ) in 1984. He received a BEng Degree in Multimedia Engineering from Hochschule Wismar (Germany) in 2009. Since 2009 he is doing research for his PhD under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Newe at University of Limerick (Ireland).
Sven is researching in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) for finding a Home Monitoring System. New WSNs provide sensing of multimedia data, like images and sounds and enable new applications and better detection results of events. These so called Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks are enabled by the convergence of communication and computation with signal processing and several branches of control theory and embedded computing. This cross-disciplinary research will enable distributed systems of heterogeneous embedded devices that sense, interact, and control the physical environment and by this support elderly people in their homes.
"As I am in my first year of research my experiences are still limited. My research at UL has been an exciting and enriching experience so far. I am also looking forward for my internship in Intel's Health Research & Innovation Group".
Claire Dormer, National University of Ireland, Maynooth
Claire Dormer grew up in Dublin, Ireland. She was always fascinated by how things were made, and had a keen interest in robotics. She pursued a bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering at NUI Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland, graduating in 2007 with honours. Claire was a finalist in both the Engineers Ireland Student Innovation Awards 2007 and the Hewlett Packard Invent Award 2008 for her final year project work on a rehabilitation glove for stroke patients. Claire is currently pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Engineering with a focus on stroke rehabilitation.
Claire greatly enjoyed her time with the Health Research & Innovation Group at Intel Ireland. She worked closely with many TRIL Centre members for nine months on a number of projects. her main involvement was helping to develop a software platform for a Falls project.
Marie Tierney, University of Limerick
Marie graduated from the University of Limerick with a BSc in Physiotherapy (1st Class Honours) in August 2009. She rejoined the Physiotherapy Department in November 2009 to begin postgraduate studies under the supervision of Dr. Norelee Kennedy (Dept of Physiotherapy, University of Limerick) and Dr. Alexander Fraser (Consultant Rheumatologist, Mid Western Regional Hospital, Limerick).
Project title: Measurement of physical activity and the effect of physical activity on cardiovascular health in a Rheumatoid Arthritis population.
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is the most common type of inflammatory arthritis affecting approximately 1% of the population. People with RA have a shortened lifespan with cardiovascular disease the leading cause of death. There is mounting evidence that cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality in RA occurs in excess of what is expected in people without RA (Solomon et al. 2004, Steen et al. 2009, del Rincón et al. 2007). The reasons and exact processes leading to the increased cardiovascular mortality rate in this population are not completely understood. It is likely that numerous factors are at play and include: traditional cardiovascular risk factors (including reduced physical activity), the effects of anti-rheumatic drug treatment and non-traditional cardiovascular risk factors (including the inflammatory process).
"My experience to date whilst being supported by the TRIL scholarship programme has been great. I have been afforded the opportunity to use cutting edge technology to explore a unique aspect of the health of those with Rheumatoid Arthritis. I have also been afforded the opportunity to develop links with other researchers using SHIMMER, which has assisted in the development of my project".