PSmart

Design and implementation of secure smart devices for the preservation of tangible cultural heritage

Considering the need to find economically feasible and technically safe solutions to meet the needs of the modern cultural organizations in the North Aegean regarding the preservation of our cultural heritage, the purpose of this project is to provide the equipment needed to build a research infrastructure in the Department of Cultural Technology and Communication to support the creation of a complete product line for the design, development and configuration of smart network devices and the respective secure management software, aiming to protect exhibits kept in cultural organizations from environmental threats. The development of the aforementioned infrastructure is based on an interdisciplinary approach and will support the design and development of integrated and technologically innovative and safe solutions in specific real-world problems that cultural organizations have regarding preserving their collections by protecting exhibits in a modern and technologically secure way. Specifically, a complete research infrastructure will be created, with the corresponding production line, which will implement the following three main actions: A. The design and development of smart devices, using 3D printing, in accordance with the requirements of the respective cultural organization regarding the technical characteristics, size, color, etc. The 3D printing is the fastest, most innovative way of making materials that the designer himself envisions to meet specific needs. For this action, the specific needs of each individual cultural organization will be considered and the shells of the smart devices that will accommodate the sensors depending on the measurements that will need to be taken according to the categories of exhibits will be designed and printed.

B. The design and assembling of a complete set of sensors according to the needs of the cultural organization and customizable on the devices that will be developed. The second action concerns the design and assembly of smart sensors of devices. For any device, except the 3D design and printing of the shells which will be carried out in the first phase, the corresponding figure will be designed, illustrating the development of each sensor at hardware and the connection with the other parts of the device (if any). Then, the assembly and completion of each device adapted to the needs of the cultural organization will be implemented. It should be noted that in each sensor the necessary checks will be carried out with special calibration instruments to verify the accuracy of the measurement of environmental parameters before installing the devices.

C. The design and development of secure software for the external remote monitoring of smart devices. An important dimension in the degree of innovation of the proposal is the design and the development of secure software for interconnecting devices as well as informing cultural curators organizations using devices which are already available (mobiles, tablets, etc.). The software will be connected to a database in which all sensor values will be stored, while curators can monitor values of each sensor remotely, and they will receive alerts according to the configurations they have set regarding the normal range of each sensor. Throughout the communication both between the sensors and the database as long as the database and the curators meet the basic security requirements will be satisfied, ie confidentiality, integrity and availability of information and related services.