Lorenzo Mucchi

• Ph.D.
• Professor (Associate) at University of Florence

The increasing demand for personalized healthcare, particularly among individuals requiring continuous health monitoring, has driven significant advancements in sensor technology. Wearable, non-continuous monitoring, and non-contact sensors are leading this innovation, providing novel methods for monitoring vital signs and physiological data in bot...

The current gold standard for the study of human movement is the marker-based motion capture system that offers high precision but constrained by costs and controlled environments. Markerless pose estimation systems emerge as ecological alternatives, allowing unobtrusive data acquisition in natural settings. This study compares the performance of t...

Visible Light Communication (VLC) is a cutting-edge transmission technique where data is sent by modulating light intensity. Manchester On–Off Keying (OOK) is among the most used modulation techniques in VLC and is normed by IEEE 802.15.7 standard for wireless networks. Various Manchester decoder schemes are documented in the literature, often leve...

The increasing demand for personalized healthcare, particularly among individuals requiring continuous health monitoring, has driven significant advancements in sensor technology. Wearable, non-continuous monitoring, and non-contact sensors are leading this innovation, providing novel methods for monitoring vital signs and physiological data in bot...

The world of wireless communication is on the cusp of a revolution [...]

This paper presents a co-designed solution aimed at improving community healthcare assistance management. To enhance patients’ self-awareness of their health status, encouraging active participation in care process, and to support nurses in delivering patient-centered care, we have developed an innovative platform with a highly customized app. This...

Extended Reality (XR) technologies—encompassing Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR)—merge elements of the physical world with virtual environments, revolutionizing various sectors, including healthcare. This paper explores the transformative potential of XR when combined with advanced digital tools to enhance therap...

This paper presents a co-designed solution aimed at improving community healthcare assistance management. To enhance patients’ self-awareness of their health status, encouraging active participation in care process, and to support nurses in delivering patient-centered care, we have developed an innovative platform with a highly customized app. This...

The current gold standard for the study of human movement is the marker-based motion capture system that offers high precision but constrained by costs and controlled environments. Markerless pose estimation systems emerge as ecological alternatives, allowing unobtrusive data acquisition in natural settings. This study compares the performance of t...

Future digital services should follow the user anywhere and be personalized/customized on his/her specific requests. Thus, future connectivity networks should face an unprecedented demand of digital services on mobility, together with a high variability of requirements and specializations. One of the most promising methods to provide such flexible...

Over the past few decades, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have revolutionized the fields of nursing and patient healthcare management. This scoping review and the accompanying case studies shed light on the extensive scope and impact of ICT in these critical healthcare domains. The scoping review explores the wide array of ICT too...

This paper presents a thorough investigation into the contrasting dynamics of full-duplex and half-duplex communication within the framework of visible light communication (VLC) networks compliant with the IEEE 802.15.7 standard. The main contributions of this research deal with Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) implementation, experimental data...

Noise Level Modulation (NLM) is a robust physical-layer security technique which uses the injection of random phase noise into the transmitted signal to provide confidentiality in optical networks. The legitimate receiver can seamlessly recover the information by utilizing a feedback loop, while eavesdropping attempts fail, irrespective of the atta...

The applied behavior analysis (ABA) model emphasizes observable and measurable behaviors by carrying out decision making using experimental data (behavioral observation assessment strategies). In this framework, information and communication technology (ICT) becomes highly suitable for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the methodology....

Densification of networks through heterogeneous cells deployment is considered a key technology to satisfy the huge traffic growth in future wireless systems. In addition to achieving the required communication capacity and efficiency, another significant challenge arises from the broadcast nature of wireless channels: vulnerability to wiretapping....

Visible Light Communication (VLC) technology is proposed as a promising solution that uses light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to transmit data and illumination in the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. VLC offers a large unlicensed bandwidth, high-speed wireless communication, and can also be used for localization purposes. VLC technology,...

Visible light communications (VLC) is a technology that enables the transmission of digital information with a light source. VLC is nowadays seen as a promising technology for indoor applications, helping WiFi to handle the spectrum crunch. Possible indoor applications range from Internet connection at home/office to multimedia content delivery in...

6G networks have the burden to provide not only higher performance compared to 5G, but also to enable new service domains as well as to open the door over a new paradigm of mobile communication. This paper presents an overview on the role and key challenges of signal processing (SP) in future 6G systems and networks from the conditioning of the sig...

Visible Light Communication (VLC) represents an emerging technology where a short-range data connection is obtained by modulating the energy radiated by Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) at frequencies from a few kHz up to hundreds of MHz. The bandwidth/distance performance of such links is a compromise related to the available Signal-to-Noise ratio (SN...

Visible Light Communication (VLC) employs the modulation of light energy to establish a data connection at a short range. The end-to-end data latency is a significant concern due to the ever-increasing constraints imposed by new applications and standards like 6G. To enhance data rate and communication distance, researchers are proposing more calcu...

In the current Information Age, it is usual to access our personal and professional information, such as bank account data or private documents, in a telematic manner. To ensure the privacy of this information, user authentication systems should be accurately developed. In this work, we focus on biometric authentication, as it depends on the user’s...

In this paper, we present very recent results regarding the latency characterization of a novel bidirectional visible light communication (VLC) system for vehicular applications, which could be relevant in intelligent transportation system (ITS) safety applications, such as the assisted and automated braking of cars and motorbikes in critical situa...

Security is a crucial feature of current (5G) and even more for future (6G) communication networks. While the innate nature of the wireless channel is an issue for guaranteeing security, its physical characteristics can be exploited for protecting confidential data. Physical-layer Security (PLS) mechanisms take advantage of unique features of the t...

Thanks to the specific characteristics of multimedia language, cartoons can transmit significant messages to viewers, both emotionally and rationally: this contribution reflects on the potential of cartoons to facilitate and support inclusive processes (also) regarding children with disabilities. In addition to examining functional strategies for p...

The paper investigates the application of blockchain technologies to cultural heritage organizations, with a focus on museums, and outlines the advantages and limits of such technologies applied to the loan of cultural objects. To this aim, the paper employs the qualitative methodology of case study and presents two cases concerning the development...

The wide variety of services and applications that shall be supported by future wireless systems will lead to a high amount of sensitive data exchanged via radio, thus introducing a significant challenge for security. Moreover, in new networking paradigms, such as the Internet of Things, traditional methods of security may be difficult to implement...

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) aim at integration of innovative technologies in next-generation vehicles in order to increase the safety and efficiency standards of vehicular traffic fluxes. Although many sensors are currently available in modern cars, mutual data exchange between vehicles in real-time will be crucial in future smart vehi...

The sixth generation (6G) of mobile network will be composed by different nodes, from macro-devices (satellite) to nano-devices (sensors inside the human body), providing a full connectivity fabric all around us. These heterogeneous nodes constitute an ultra dense network managing tons of information, often very sensitive. To trust the services pro...

In the last years a large variety of eHealth services and Apps for professional medical users have been developed for different scenarios. The increasing elderly population (+100% in 2050) makes urgent to implement tele-medicine paradigm in the healthcare structures. The need of monitoring large number of patients distributed over the territory, to...

In this paper, we propose an unobtrusive method and architecture for monitoring a person’s presence and collecting his/her health-related parameters simultaneously in a home environment. The system is based on using a single ultra-wideband (UWB) impulse radar as a sensing device. Using UWB radars, we aim to recognize a person and some preselected m...

Residual motion of upper limbs in individuals who experienced cervical spinal cord injury (CSCI) is vital to achieve functional independence. Several interventions were developed to restore shoulder range of motion (ROM) in CSCI patients. However, shoulder ROM assessment in clinical practice is commonly limited to use of a simple goniometer. Conven...

The last decades have been characterized by an exponential increase in digital services. The demand is foreseen to further increase in the next years, and mobile networks will have to mandatorily supply connections to enable digital services with very different requirements, from ultra high speed to ultra low latency. The deployment and the coexist...

Visible light communication (VLC) is nowadays envisaged as a promising technology to enable new classes of services in intelligent transportation systems ranging, e.g., from assisted driving to autonomous vehicles. The assessment of the performance of VLC for automotive applications requires as a basic step a model of the transmission pattern and p...

This paper presents a condensed review of the European smart body area network (BAN) standardization work and its already published standards. The work is carried out under the ETSI Technical Committee (TC) SmartBAN. The goal of ETSI TC SmartBAN is to define and develop new European BAN standards; fostering the successful market adoption of wireles...

This work presents a characterization of a low-cost, low-latency Visible Light Communication (VLC) prototype for infrastructure-to-vehicle (I2V) communication for future Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). The system consists of a regular traffic light as a transmitter (the red light is modulated with the information), and a photodetector as...

Reducing energy consumption is one of the most important task of the approaching Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm. Existing communication standards, such as 3G/4G, use complex protocols (active mode, sleep modes) in order to address the waste of energy. These protocols are forced to transmit when one frame is only partially filled with information...

One of the main revolutionary features of 5G networks is the ultra-low latency that will enable new services such as those for the future smart vehicles. The 5G technology will be able to support extreme-low latency thanks to new technologies and the wide flexible architecture that integrates new spectra and access technologies. In particular, visi...

This paper reports a detailed experimental characterization of non Line-of-Sight (LoS) optical performances of a Visible Light Communication (VLC) system using a real traffic light for ultra-low latency, infrastructure-to-vehicle (I2V) communications for intelligent transportation systems (ITS) protocols. Despite the implementation of long-sought I...

One of the main revolutionary features of 5G networks is the ultra-low latency that will enable new services such as those for the future smart vehicles. The 5G technology will be able to support extreme-low latency. Thanks to new technologies and the wide flexible architecture that integrates new spectra and access technologies. In particular, Vis...

Emerging healthcare radio technologies are designed to operate in the 2:4GHz industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band. Since both standardized (Bluetooth and Wi-Fi) and non-standardized (proprietary) devices use the same frequency band, the aggregate interference may significantly affect the performance of medical wireless systems. This paper...

The roles of trust, security and privacy are somewhat interconnected, but different facets of next generation networks. The challenges in creating a trustworthy 6G involve multidisciplinary spanning technology, regulation, techno-economics, politics and ethics. This white paper addresses their fundamental research challenges in three key areas: Tru...

The roles of trust, security and privacy are somewhat interconnected, but different facets of next generation networks. The challenges in creating a trustworthy 6G are multidisciplinary spanning technology, regulation, techno-economics, politics and ethics. This white paper addresses their fundamental research challenges in three key areas. Trust:...

This paper reports a detailed experimental characterization of optical performances of Visible Light Communication (VLC) system using a real traffic light for ultra-low latency, infrastructure-to-vehicle (I2V) communications for intelligent transportation systems (ITS) protocols. Despite the implementation of long sought ITS protocols poses the cru...

Molecular communication (MC) is a new communication paradigm where, opposite to radio or optical communication, the information flow is based on the molecules exchange and chemical interactions. Thanks to the high biological compatibility and nano-scale feasibility, MC is a promising communication technology for health applications, from disease de...

This paper reports and discusses the results of a measurement campaign of an ultra-wide band positioning (UWB) system for monitoring players in sports. In particular, the present work aims to investigate how the location of the tag worn on the player’s body affects the system performance in a five-a-side football scenario. Four static UWB receivers...

This work presents the performance evaluation of an ultra-wide band (UWB) positioning system for monitoring athletes in sports. Focusing on a five-a-side football scenario, the objective of this paper is to evaluate the performance of the proposed UWB positioning system by considering three different heights of the receiver antenna: 1 m, 1.6 m and...

Wearable devices and wireless communications, combined with personalized health management, are future trends that healthcare practices and procedures are heading toward. To facilitate this progress, new technologies and methods are required to provide reliable measurements, end-to-end communications, and data analysis mechanisms from the data sour...

This book constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Body Area Networks, BodyNets 2020, held in Tallinn, Estonia, in October 2020. The conference was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.The 15 papers presented were selected from 30 submissions and issue new technologies to provide trustable...

Family associations, educational and university institutions, political and health systems, companies and local agencies, and third sector organizations are involved in and committed to consolidate the historical and cultural path of children’s right to play, including children with disabilities. The objective of this paper is to explore the potent...

The fifth generation (5G) mobile network will provide features that are not possible with the current technology. 5G enables new services for the city of the future, such as real-time information to the vehicles. In this type of service, latency is one of the key element. 5G and VLC are both technologies that can provide ultra-low latency services....

Persons with dementia face several challenges in daily life and the consequences of the disease can be a threat to live a dignified life. Martha Nussbaum has developed the concept of dignified life for people with dementia and suggests the capability approach focusing on what people are able to do and to be in certain agreed-upon areas. Particularl...

This paper deals with the description of an effective solution for tele-monitoring and tele-assistance of diabetics patients which resorts to the use of the recently launched 5G cellular networks. The proposed solution allows the provision of a tele-monitoring service for chronic diabetic patients, which provides proactive remote interaction of the...

Visible Light Communications (VLC) represents a very promising technology for the implementation of revolutionary Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) protocols. In cooperative ITS, where the interconnection of vehicular units will enable for revolutionary protocols such as car platooning, queue avoidance, and for many critical automatic and/or...

The biocompatibility and nanoscale features of Molecular Communication (MC) make this paradigm, based on molecules and chemical reactions, an enabler for communication theory applications in the healthcare at its biological level (e.g., bimolecular disease detection/monitoring and intelligent drug delivery). However, the adoption of MC-based innova...

Network secrecy is vital for a variety of wireless applications and can be accomplished by exploiting network interference. Recently, interference engineering strategies (IESs) have been developed to harness network interference, depending on the wireless environment (node distribution, transmission policy, and channel conditions). Typically, the n...

The integration of Visible-Light Communications technology (VLC) in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) is a very promising platform for a cost-effective implementation of revolutionary ITS and cooperative ITS protocols. In this paper, we propose an infrastructure-to-vehicle-to-vehicle (I2V2V) VLC system for ITS, implementing it through a regu...

Visible light communication (VLC) is nowadays envisaged as a promising technology to enable new classes of services in intelligent transportation systems ranging e.g. from assisted driving to autonomous vehicles. The assessment of the performance of VLC for automotive applications requires as a basic step a model of the propagation of the VLC signa...

This book constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the 14th EAI International Conference on Body Area Networks, BodyNets 2019, held in Florence, Italy, in October 2019. The 27 papers presented were selected from 54 submissions and issue new technologies to provide trustable measuring and communications mechanisms from the data source...

The fifth generation (5G) of wireless communication systems is considered the key technology to enable a wide range of application scenarios and the effective spreading of the smart city concept. Vertical business use cases, specifically designed for the future 5G city, will have a strong economical and social impact. For this reason, ongoing 5G fi...

An innovative wireless sensor network (WSN) based on Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) technology for 3D accurate superficial monitoring of ground deformations, as landslides and subsidence, is proposed. The system has been designed and developed as part of an European Life+ project, called Wi-GIM (Wireless Sensor Network for Ground Instability Monitoring). Th...