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Lihui Wang · Xi Vincent Wang

Cloud-Based
Cyber-Physical
Systems in
Manufacturing
Cloud-Based Cyber-Physical Systems
in Manufacturing
Lihui Wang Xi Vincent Wang
•

Cloud-Based Cyber-Physical
Systems in Manufacturing

123
Lihui Wang Xi Vincent Wang
Department of Production Engineering Department of Production Engineering
KTH Royal Institute of Technology KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Stockholm Stockholm
Sweden Sweden

ISBN 978-3-319-67692-0 ISBN 978-3-319-67693-7 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67693-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017957672

© Springer International Publishing AG 2018

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
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Preface

New technologies in manufacturing are tightly connected to innovation. They have

thus been the key factors that support and influence a nation’s economy since the
eighteenth century, from stream engines to Industry 4.0. As the primary driving
force behind economic growth and sustainable development, manufacturing serves
as the foundation of and contribute to other industries, with products ranging from
heavy-duty machinery to hi-tech home electronics. In the past centuries, they have
contributed significantly to modern civilisation and created the momentum that still
drives today’s economy and society. Despite many achievements, we are still facing
challenges due to growing complexity and uncertainty in manufacturing, such as
adaptability to uncertainty, resource and energy conservation, ageing workforce,
and secure information sharing. Researchers and engineers across organisations
often find themselves in situations that demand advanced new technologies when
dealing with new challenges in daily activities related to manufacturing, which
cannot be addressed by existing approaches.
Targeting the challenges in solving daily problems, over the past a few years,
researchers have focused their efforts on innovative approaches to improving the
adaptability to complex situations on shop floors and energy efficiency along the
life cycle of products. New technologies and innovations include cyber-physical
system (CPS), cloud manufacturing (CM), Internet of Things (IoT), big data ana-
lytics, which are related to embedded systems and system of systems. These new
technologies are now driving industry towards yet another revolution and are
referred to the German initiative Industry 4.0. While these efforts have resulted in a
large volume of publications recently and impacted both present and future prac-
tices in factories and beyond, there still exists a gap in the literature for a focused
collection of knowledge dedicated to cloud-based CPS in manufacturing. To bridge
this gap and present the state of the art to a much broader readership, from academic
researchers to practicing engineers, is the primary motivation behind this book.
The first three chapters form Part 1 of this book on the literature surveys and
trends. Chapter 1 begins with a clear definition of cloud computing (CC) versus
cloud manufacturing (CM). CC and CM represent the latest advancement and
applications of the cloud technologies in computing and manufacturing,

v
vi Preface

respectively. The aim of Chap. 1 is to provide a comprehensive introduction to both

CC and CM and to present their status and advancement. The discussions on CC
and CM are extended in Chap. 2 to cover the latest advancement of CPS and IoT,
especially in manufacturing systems. To comprehensively understand CPS and IoT,
a brief introduction to both of them is given, and the key enabling technologies
related to CPS and IoT are outlined. Key features, characteristics, and advance-
ments are explained, and a few applications are reported to highlight the latest
advancement in CPS and IoT. Chapter 3 then provides an overview of cybersecurity
measures being considered to ensure the protection of data being sent to physical
machines in a cybernetic system. While common to other cybernetic systems,
security issues in CM are focused in this chapter for brevity.
Part 2 of this book focuses on cloud-based monitoring, planning, and control in
CPS and is constituted from four chapters. Targeting distributed manufacturing, the
scope of Chap. 4 is to present an Internet- and web-based service-oriented system
for machine availability monitoring and process planning. Particularly, this chapter
introduces a tiered system architecture and introduces IEC 61499 function blocks
for prototype implementation. It enables real-time monitoring of machine avail-
ability and execution status during metal-cutting operations, both locally or
remotely. The closed-loop information flow makes process planning and moni-
toring two feasible services for the distributed manufacturing. Based on the
machine availability and the execution status, Chap. 5 introduces Cloud-DPP for
collaborative and adaptive process planning in cloud environment. Cloud-DPP
supports parts machining with a combination of milling and turning features and
offers process planning services for multi-tasking machining centres with special
functionalities to minimise the total number of set ups. In Chap. 6, the Cloud-DPP
is linked to physical machines by function blocks to form a CPS. Within the CPS,
function blocks run at control level with embedded machining information such as
machining sequence and machining parameters to facilitate adaptive machining. To
utilise the machines properly, right maintenance strategies are required. Chapter 7
reviews the historical development of prognosis theories and techniques and pro-
jects their future growth in maintenance enabled by the cloud infrastructure.
Techniques for cloud computing are highlighted, as well as their influence on
cloud-enabled prognosis for manufacturing.
Sustainable robotic assembly in CPS settings is covered in Chaps. 8 through 11
and organised into Part 3 of this book. Chapter 8 explains how to minimise a
robot’s energy consumption during assembly. Given a trajectory and based on the
inverse kinematics and dynamics of the robot, a set of attainable configurations for
the robot can be determined, perused by calculating the suitable forces and torques
on the joints and links of the robot. The energy consumption is then calculated for
each configuration and based on the assigned trajectory. The ones with the lowest
energy consumption are chosen for robot motion control. This approach becomes
instrumental and can be wrapped as a cloud service for energy-efficient robotic
assembly. Another robotic application is for human–robot collaborative assembly.
Chapter 9 addresses safety issues in human–robot collaboration. This chapter first
Preface vii

reviews the traditional safety systems and then presents the latest accomplishments
in active collision avoidance through immersive human–robot collaboration by
using two depth cameras installed carefully in a robotic assembly cell. A remote
robotic assembly system is then introduced in the second half of the chapter as one
cloud robotic application. In Chap. 10, recent cloud robotics approaches are
reviewed. Function block-based integration mechanisms are introduced to integrate
various types of manufacturing facilities including robots. By combining cloud with
robots in form of cloud robotics, it contributes to a ubiquitous and integrated
cloud-based CPS system in robotic assembly. Chapter 11 further explores the
potential of establishing context awareness between a human worker and an
industrial robot for physical human–robot collaborative assembly. The context
awareness between the human worker and the industrial robot is established by
applying gesture recognition, human motion recognition, and augmented reality
(AR)-based worker instruction technologies. Such a system works in a
cyber-physical environment, and its results are demonstrated through case studies.
In Part 4 of this book, the aspect of CPS systems design and lifecycle analysis is
shared by Chaps. 12–15. Chapter 12 presents the architecture design of cloud CPS in
manufacturing. Manufacturing resources and capabilities are discussed in terms of
cloud services. A service-oriented, interoperable CM system is introduced. Service
methodologies are developed to support two types of cloud users, customer user
versus enterprise user, along with standardised data models describing cloud service
and relevant features. Two case studies are revealed to evaluate the system. System
design is extended in Chap. 13 to cover lifecycle analysis and management of
products. In this chapter, CM is extended to the recovery and recycling of waste
electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Cloud services are used in the recovery
and recycling processes for WEEE tracking and management. These services
include all the stakeholders from the beginning to the end of life of the electrical and
electronic equipment. A product tracking mechanism is also introduced with the help
of the quick response (QR) code method. Chapter 14 focuses on big data analytics.
In order to minimise machining errors in advance, a big data analytics-based fault
prediction approach is presented for shop-floor job scheduling, where machining
jobs, machining resources, and machining processes are represented by data attri-
butes. Based on the available data on the shop floor, the potential fault/error patterns,
referring to machining errors, machine faults, maintenance states, etc., are mined to
discover unsuitable scheduling arrangements before machining as well as the pre-
diction of upcoming errors during machining. Chapter 15 presents a summary of the
current status and the latest advancement of CM, CPS, IoT, and big data in manu-
facturing. Cloud-based CPS shows great promise in factories of the future in the
areas of future trends as identified at the end of this chapter. It also offers an outlook
of research challenges and directions in the subject areas.
All together, the fifteen chapters provide an overview of some recent R&D
achievements of cloud-based CPS applied to manufacturing, especially machining
and assembly. We believe that this research field will continue to be active for years
to come.
viii Preface

Finally, the authors would like to express their appreciations to Springer for
supporting this book project and would especially like to thank Anthony Doyle,
Senior Editor for Engineering, and Amudha Vijayarangan, Project Coordinator, for
their patience, constructive assistance, and earnest cooperation, both with the
publishing venture in general and with the editorial details. We hope that readers
find this book informative and useful.

Stockholm, Sweden Lihui Wang

September 2017 Xi Vincent Wang
Acknowledgements

It took a long time for the authors to prepare the book materials. Several people
contributed to this book directly or indirectly during the process. The authors would
like to take this opportunity to express their sincere appreciations to Dr. Abdullah
Alhusin Alkhdur, Dr. Wei Ji, Dr. Yongkui Liu, Mr. Mohammad Givehchi, Mr.
Hongyi Liu, and Mr. Sichao Liu for their fine contributions to this book. Their
commitment, enthusiasm, and assistance are what made this book possible.
The authors are also grateful to Profs. Robert Gao, Mauro Onori, Ihab Ragai, and
Martin Törngren for their cooperative work and technical expertise, the results of
which added a great value to this book to complete the coverage of new knowledge.
Finally, the authors are deeply thankful to their families with ultimate respect
and gratitude for their continuous support during the process of this book prepa-
ration in evenings and weekends. Without their understanding and encouragement,
this book would never be materialised.

ix
Contents

Part I Literature Survey and Trends

1 Latest Advancement in Cloud Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1 Introduction to Cloud Computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.1 Historical Evolution and Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.2 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.3 Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.1.4 Cloud Platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.1.5 Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.1.6 Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.2 Cloud Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.2.1 Historical Evolution and Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.2.2 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.2.3 Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
1.2.4 Research Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1.2.5 Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.2.6 Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.3 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2 Latest Advancement in CPS and IoT Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.2 Key Enabling Technologies in CPS and IoT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.2.1 Wireless Sensor Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.2.2 Could Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.2.3 Big Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.2.4 Industry 4.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.2.5 RFID Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.3 Key Features and Characteristics of CPS and IoT . . . . . . . . . . . 40

xi
xii Contents

2.4 Applications of CPS and IoT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

2.4.1 Service Oriented Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.4.2 Could Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.4.3 Cyber-Physical Production Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
2.4.4 IoT-Enabled Manufacturing System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
2.4.5 CPS in Cloud Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
2.5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3 Challenges in Cybersecurity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.2 Internet of Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.3 Remote Equipment Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.4 Security Concerns and Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.4.1 Security Concerns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.4.2 Security Methods and Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.4.3 Cyber-Physical Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.5 Future Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Part II Cloud-Based Monitoring, Planning and Control in CPS

4 Machine Availability Monitoring and Process Planning . . . . . . . . . 83
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.2 Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.3 Concept of Distributed Process Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.4 Architecture Design of a Web-Based DPP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.5 Functional Analysis of Web-DPP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
4.5.1 Supervisory Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.5.2 Execution Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.5.3 Operation Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.6 Web-DPP Prototype Implementing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.7 A Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.8 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
5 Cloud-Enabled Distributed Process Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5.2 Multi-tasking Machines and Mill-Turn Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.3 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.3.1 Machine Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.3.2 Machine Mode Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.3.3 Setup Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Contents xiii

5.3.4 Setup Planning and Setup Merging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

5.3.5 New FBs and FB Network Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
5.4 Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
5.5 Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
5.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
6 Adaptive Machining Using Function Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
6.2 Function Block Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6.2.1 Function Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6.2.2 Function Block Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6.2.3 Execution of Function Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
6.2.4 Internal Behaviour of Function Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
6.3 Enriched Machining Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
6.3.1 Machining Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
6.3.2 Enriched Machining Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
6.3.3 Generic Machining Process Sequencing . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
6.4 Adaptive Machining Feature Sequencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
6.4.1 Reachability-Based Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
6.4.2 Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
6.5 Adaptive Setup Merging and Dispatching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
6.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
7 Condition Monitoring for Predictive Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
7.2 Fundamentals of Prognosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
7.3 Prognostic Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
7.3.1 Physics-Based Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
7.3.2 AI-Based Data-Driven Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
7.3.3 Statistical Data-Driven Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
7.3.4 Model-Based Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
7.3.5 Comparison of Prognostic Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
7.4 Prognosis-as-a-Service in Cloud Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
7.4.1 Benefits of Cloud-Enabled Prognosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
7.4.2 Supporting Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
7.4.3 Implementing Prognosis in the Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
7.4.4 Prognosis Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
7.5 Challenges and Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
7.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
xiv Contents

Part III Sustainable Robotic Assembly in CPS Settings

8 Resource Efficiency Calculation as a Cloud Service . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
8.2 Related Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
8.3 System Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
8.4 Methodology and Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
8.4.1 Denavit-Hartenberg (D-H) Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
8.4.2 Forward Kinematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
8.4.3 Inverse Kinematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
8.4.4 Inverse Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
8.4.5 Energy Consumption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
8.4.6 Energy Optimisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
8.5 Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
8.5.1 Energy Map of Robot Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
8.5.2 Energy Measurement in Predefined Paths . . . . . . . . . . . 203
8.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
9 Safety in Human-Robot Collaborative Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
9.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
9.2 Human Robot Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
9.3 Depth Sensor-Driven Active Collision Avoidance . . . . . . . . . . . 217
9.3.1 Kinect Sensors Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
9.3.2 Depth Image Capturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
9.3.3 Depth Image Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
9.3.4 Minimum Distance Calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
9.3.5 Active Collision Avoidance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
9.3.6 Velocity Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
9.4 System Verification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
9.5 A Remote Assembly Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
9.5.1 System Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
9.5.2 System Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
9.5.3 Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
9.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
10 Cloud Robotics Towards a CPS Assembly System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
10.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
10.2 Cloud Robotics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
10.2.1 Cloud Robotics at System Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
10.2.2 Cloud Robotics at Application Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
10.3 ICMS: an Example of Cloud Robotics System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
10.3.1 Integration Mechanisms in ICMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
10.3.2 Cloud Robotic Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Contents xv

10.4 Implementation and Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

10.4.1 Cloud-Based Manufacturing Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
10.4.2 Human-Robot Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
10.4.3 Minimisation of Robot Energy Consumption . . . . . . . . 255
10.5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
11 Context-Aware Human-Robot Collaborative Assembly . . . . . . . . . . 261
11.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
11.2 Gesture Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
11.2.1 Gesture Recognition for Human-Robot
Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
11.2.2 Sensor Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
11.2.3 Gesture Identification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
11.2.4 Gesture Tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
11.2.5 Gesture Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
11.2.6 Future Trends of Gesture Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
11.3 Human Motion Prediction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
11.3.1 Assembly Tasks Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
11.3.2 HMM Human Motion Prediction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
11.3.3 Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
11.3.4 Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
11.4 AR-Based Worker Support System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
11.4.1 System Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
11.4.2 AR Assembly Information Registrar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
11.4.3 Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
11.5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Part IV CPS Systems Design and Lifecycle Analysis

12 Architecture Design of Cloud CPS in Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . 297
12.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
12.1.1 State-of-the-Art Cloud Manufacturing Approaches . . . . 298
12.1.2 Supporting Technologies for Cloud Manufacturing . . . . 299
12.1.3 Recap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
12.2 Cloud Manufacturing Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
12.2.1 Manufacturing Capability and Manufacturing
Resource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
12.2.2 Cloud Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
12.3 Interoperability and Other Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
12.3.1 Standardised File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
12.3.2 STEP/STEP-NC to Bridge the Gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
12.3.3 Approaches to Achieving Product Information
Sharing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
xvi Contents

12.4 Standardisation for Cloud Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

12.5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
13 Product Tracking and WEEE Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
13.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
13.2 System Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
13.2.1 System Requirements and Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
13.2.2 WR2Cloud: System Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
13.3 Product Tracking Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
13.3.1 WR2Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
13.3.2 ‘Cloud + QR’-based Tracking Methodology . . . . . . . . 335
13.4 Implementations and Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
13.4.1 Case Study 1: Cloud WEEE Management
at Product Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
13.4.2 Case Study 2: Cloud-based WEEE Management
at National/International Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
13.5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
14 Big Data Analytics for Scheduling and Machining . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
14.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
14.1.1 Algorithms Used in Big Data Analytics . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
14.1.2 Tools Used in Big Data Analytics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
14.2 Background Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
14.2.1 Related Works on Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
14.2.2 Related Works on Machining Optimisation . . . . . . . . . 350
14.2.3 Big Data Analytics Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
14.3 Big Data Analytics for Shop-Floor Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
14.3.1 Big Data Analytics Based Fault Prediction
in Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
14.3.2 System Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
14.3.3 A Simplified Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
14.4 Big Data Analytics Based Optimisation for Machining . . . . . . . 361
14.4.1 Analysis of Machining Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
14.4.2 Enriched Distributed Process Planning (DPP) . . . . . . . . 362
14.4.3 Solution Strategy of Enriched DPP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
14.4.4 A Simplified Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
14.5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
15 Outlook of Cloud, CPS and IoT in Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
15.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
15.2 Drivers, Barriers and Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
15.3 Characteristics and Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Contents xvii

15.3.1 Systems of Systems (SoS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

15.3.2 Internet of Things (IoT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
15.3.3 Cloud Manufacturing (CM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
15.3.4 Big Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
15.3.5 Industry 4.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
15.3.6 Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
15.3.7 Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
15.4 Representative Examples of CPS in Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . 388
15.4.1 Example 1: Service-Oriented Architecture . . . . . . . . . . 388
15.4.2 Example 2: Cloud Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
15.4.3 Example 3: Adaptive Manufacturing Systems . . . . . . . 391
15.4.4 Example 4: Model-Driven Manufacturing Systems . . . . 393
15.5 Future Research Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
15.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
 Part I
Literature Survey and Trends
Chapter 1
Latest Advancement in Cloud
Technologies

1.1 Introduction to Cloud Computing

During the past decade, a new computing paradigm—cloud computing has emerged
as a result of the availability of high-performance networks, low-cost computers
and storage devices as well as the widespread adoption of hardware virtualisation,
Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), and autonomic and utility computing. Cloud
computing is a model of service delivery and access where dynamically scalable
and virtualised resources are provided as a service with high reliability, scalability
and availability over the Internet. Cloud computing introduces a new operating and
business model that allows customers to pay only for resources they actually use
instead of making heavy upfront investments. It creates a brand new opportunity for
enterprises with the advantages of higher performance, lower cost, high scalability,
availability and accessibility, and reduced business risks and maintenance expenses.
Cloud computing relies on sharing of resources to achieve coherence and economy
of scale.
The objective of this section is to give a brief but comprehensive introduction to
cloud computing. Specifically, Sect. 1.1.1 presents the historical evolution and
background of cloud computing. Section 1.1.2 gives a comprehensive introduction
to the concept of cloud computing, including its definition, operation pattern, ar-
chitecture, service delivery models, deployment models, characteristics, and
architectural requirements with respect to cloud providers, enterprises that use the
cloud as a platform, and end users. Section 1.1.3 devotes to the core and related
technologies of cloud computing. Section 1.1.4 introduces a number of typical
cloud computing infrastructure and platforms. Some tools for implementing cloud
computing are presented in Sect. 1.1.5. Finally, in Sect. 1.1.6, challenges of cloud
computing to be addressed in the future are discussed.

© Springer International Publishing AG 2018 3

L. Wang and X. V. Wang, Cloud-Based Cyber-Physical Systems in Manufacturing,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67693-7_1
4 1 Latest Advancement in Cloud Technologies

1.1.1 Historical Evolution and Background

The idea of cloud computing is not completely new. In fact, as early as in the 1960s,
John McCarthy already envisioned that computing facilities could be provided to
the general public as a utility. In 1969, Leonard Kleinrock [1], one of the chief
scientists of the original Advanced Research Projects Agency Network
(ARPANET) project, also anticipated that computing services could be obtained on
demand as conveniently as obtaining other utility services such as water, electricity,
gas, and telephony available in today’s society in the 21st century [2].
The advent of the Internet provides an important basis for achieving that vision.
Over the past decades, with the emergence of the Internet, many new computing
paradigms such as grid computing, peer-to-peer (P2P) computing, service computing,
market-oriented computing, and utility computing have been proposed and adopted to
edge closer towards achieving the vision of cloud computing. Grid computing [3, 4]
made it possible to share, select and aggregate a wide variety of geographically
distributed resources such as supercomputers, storage systems, data sources and
dedicated devices from different organisations for solving large-scale problems in
science, engineering and commerce. The idea of P2P computing [5] is to allows peer
nodes (i.e. computers) to share content directly with each other in a decentralised
environment. Services computing [6] establishes a linkage between business pro-
cesses and Information Technology (IT) services to enable seamless automation of
business processes by making use of IT services such as SOA and Web Services.
Market-oriented computing [7] views computing resources in economic terms such
that users can utilise computing resources needed by paying resource providers.
The latest paradigm is cloud computing, in which computing resources are
transformed into services that are commoditised and delivered in a similar manner
that traditional utilities such as water, electricity, gas and telephony are delivered. In
such a model, users can access services based on their requirements without
needing to know where the services are hosted or how they are delivered. In fact,
cloud computing emerges as a result of the evolution and convergence of several
computing trends such as Internet delivery, “pay-as-you-go/use” utility computing,
elasticity, virtualisation, distributed computing, storage, content outsourcing, Web
2.0 and grid computing. Cloud computing possesses several salient features that
differentiate it from traditional service computing, including multi-tenancy, shared
resource pooling, geo-distribution and ubiquitous network access, service oriented,
dynamic resource provisioning, self-organising, and utility-based pricing. Table 1.1
describes how cloud entered into the market [8].

1.1.2 Concept

Many definitions of cloud computing have been reported [9]. In particular, the
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) [10] defined cloud
1.1 Introduction to Cloud Computing 5

Table 1.1 Cloud retrospective, adopted from [8]

Year Description
2000–2005 Dot.com bubble burst led to introduction of cloud
2006 Amazon entered the cloud market
2007–2008 The market disagreed on the understanding of cloud
2008 Cloud market expanded as more vendors joined
2008–2009 IT attention shifted to emerging private cloud
2009–2010 The open source cloud movement took hold (e.g. Openstack)
2009–2011, Cloud computing found its way, became popular, and every organisation
2012 started implementing cloud platform. In 2011, a new deployment model
called hybrid cloud was born
2012–2013, The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2013–14 Business Characteristics
2014 Survey (BCS) showed that one in five businesses had been using some form
of paid cloud computing service. The overall results showed that between
2012–13 and 2013–14, businesses using information technology increased.
When examining the areas where businesses used IT to a high extent, 60%
used it for accounting, and 55% used it for invoicing business processes
(http://www.zdnet, ABS article, online, 24 September 2015)
2014–2015 Many IT companies moved towards adopting cloud technology because of its
effectiveness and fast growth

manufacturing as “a model for enabling ubiquitous, on-demand access to a shared

pool of configurable computing resources (e.g. computer networks, servers, stor-
age, applications and services), which can be rapidly provisioned and released
with minimal management effort or service provider interaction”.
The typical operation model of cloud computing is as follows. Large companies
such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft build and manage their cloud infrastructure
and platforms and lease resources to enterprises using a usage-based pricing model.
In the ecosystem of cloud computing, there may also be service providers who
provide services to end users by renting resources from cloud infrastructure
providers.
Five essential characteristics of cloud computing have been identified by the
NIST [10]:
• On-demand self-service. A consumer can unilaterally provision computing
capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed automatically
without requiring human interaction with each service provider.
• Broad network access. Capabilities are available over the network and
accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin
or thick client platforms (e.g. mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and workstations).
• Resource pooling. The provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve
multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and
virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer
demands. There is a sense of location independence in that the customer gen-
erally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of the provided
6 1 Latest Advancement in Cloud Technologies

resources but may be able to specify location at a higher level of abstraction

(e.g. country, state, or data center). Examples of resources include storage,
processing, memory and network bandwidth.
• Rapid elasticity. Capabilities can be elastically provisioned and released, in
some cases automatically, to scale rapidly outward and inward commensurate
with demand. To the consumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often
appear to be unlimited and can be appropriated in any quantity at any time.
• Measured service. Cloud systems automatically control and optimise resource
use by leveraging a metering capability at some level of abstraction appropriate
to the type of service (e.g. storage, processing, bandwidth, and active user
accounts). Resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported, providing
transparency for both providers and consumers of the service utilised.
Cloud computing requires an architecture as a guidance for its implementation.
Generally speaking, the architecture of a cloud computing system can be divided
into four layers: hardware/datacentre layer, infrastructure layer, platform layer, and
application layer, as shown in Fig. 1.1. Each layer is loosely coupled with the
adjacent layers. This loose coupling between different layers allows each layer to
evolve separately. This layered and modularised architecture makes cloud com-
puting able to support a wide range of application requirements while reducing
management and maintenance overhead [11].
• Hardware layer. This layer is responsible for managing the physical resources
of the cloud, including physical servers, routers, switches, power and cooling
systems. In practice, the hardware layer is typically implemented in data centres.
A data centre usually contains thousands of servers that are organised in racks
and interconnected through switches, routers or other fabrics. Typical issues at

Resources Managed at Each layer Examples

Business ApplicaƟon,
Google Apps,
Web Services, MulƟmedia
SoŌware as a Facebook, YouTube,
Service (SaaS) ApplicaƟon Ssleforce.com

SoŌware Framework (Java/Python/.Net)

MicrosoŌ Azure,
Storage (DB/File)
Plaƞorm as a Google AppEngine,
Service (PaaS) Plaƞorm Amazon SimpleDB/S3

ComputaƟon (VM) Storage (block) Amazon EC2,

GoGrid
Infrastructure Flexiscale
Infrastructure as
a Service (IaaS)
CPU, Memory, Disk, Bandwidth Data Centers
Hardware

Fig. 1.1 Cloud computing architecture, adopted from [11]

1.1 Introduction to Cloud Computing 7

hardware layer include hardware configuration, fault tolerance, traffic manage-

ment, power and cooling resource management.
• Infrastructure layer. This layer, also known as the virtualisation layer, creates
a pool of storage and computing resources by partitioning the physical resources
using the virtualisation technology. The infrastructure layer is an essential
component of cloud computing, since many key features, such as dynamic
resource assignment, are only made possible through virtualisation.
• Platform layer. Built on top of the infrastructure layer, the platform layer
consists of operating systems and application frameworks. The purpose of the
platform layer is to minimise the burden of deploying applications directly into
virtual machine containers. For example, Google App Engine operates at the
platform layer to provide Application Programming Interface (API) support for
implementing storage, database and business logic of typical web applications.
• Application layer. The application layer consists of actual cloud applications.
Different from traditional applications, cloud applications can leverage the
automatic-scaling feature to achieve better performance, availability and lower
operating costs.
In cloud computing, everything is treated as a service (i.e. XaaS), e.g. SaaS,
PaaS, and IaaS. These services are usually delivered through industry standard
interfaces such as Web services, SOA or REpresentational State Transfer (REST)
services.
• SaaS. In this service model, software applications that run on a cloud infras-
tructure are delivered to consumers over the Internet. As a result, this model is
sometimes referred to as Application as a Service (AaaS). Users can access SaaS
applications and services from any location using various client devices through
either a thin client interface, such as a web browser (e.g. web-based email), or a
program interface based on subscription whenever there is an Internet access.
For SaaS, consumers do not manage or control the underlying cloud infras-
tructure, including network, storage, servers, operating systems, or even indi-
vidual application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited
user-specific application configuration settings. Typical examples of SaaS are
the Salesforce Customer Relationships Management system, NetSuite, Google
Office Productivity application, Microsoft Office 365, Facebook, YouTube, and
Twitter.
• PaaS. PaaS is a collection of runtime environments such as software and
development tools hosted on the provider’s infrastructures. It acts as the
background that provides runtime environment, software deployment frame-
work and component to facilitate the direct deployment of application level
assets or web applications. Users access these tools over the Internet by means
of APIs, Web portals or gateway software. Application developers, imple-
menters, testers, and administrators can go for developing, testing and deploying
their software in this platform. Users does not manage or control the underlying
cloud infrastructure, including network, storage, servers, or operating systems,
8 1 Latest Advancement in Cloud Technologies

but has control over the deployed applications and possibly configuration set-
tings for the application-hosting environment. Commonly found PaaS includes
Facebook F8, Salesforge App Exchange, Google App Engine, Amazon EC2,
and Microsoft Azure.
• IaaS. IaaS provides consumers with processing, storage, networks, and other
fundamental computing resources where consumers are able to deploy and run
arbitrary software such as operating systems and applications. Hence, IaaS is
sometimes called Hardware as a Service (HaaS). Virtualisation is the backbone
behind this model where resources such as network, storage, virtualised servers,
routers and so are consumed by users through virtual desktop, provided by cloud
service providers (CSPs). Users are charged based on usage of CPU, storage
space, value added services (e.g. monitoring, auto-scaling etc.), network band-
width, and network infrastructure. The consumer does not manage or control the
underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage,
and deployed application, and possibly limited control of selected networking
components (e.g. host firewalls). On-demand, self-sustaining or self-healing,
multi-tenant, customer segregation are the key requirements of IaaS. Examples
of IaaS include Mosso/Rackspace, VMWare, and storage services provided by
Amazon S3, Amazon EC2, and GoGrid.
Figure 1.2 illustrates the different service levels of cloud services in cloud
computing for different service models [12, 13]. It should be noted that IaaS, PaaS,
and SaaS are usually suitable for IT professionals, developers, and business end
users, respectively.
• Hybrid cloud. The cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more distinct
cloud infrastructures (private and public) that remain unique entities, but are
bound together by standard or proprietary technology that enables data and
application portability (e.g. cloud bursting for load balancing between clouds).
A hybrid cloud allows one to extend either the capacity or the capability of a

Typical compuƟng Infrastructure Plaƞorm SoŌware

applicaƟons (as a Service) (as a Service) (as a Service)
You manage

ApplicaƟons ApplicaƟons ApplicaƟons ApplicaƟons

Data Data Data Data

You manage

RunƟme RunƟme RunƟme RunƟme

Managed by vendoe

Middleware Middleware Middleware Middleware

You manage

Managed by vendoe

O/S O/S O/S O/S

VirtualizaƟon VirtualizaƟon
Managed by vendoe

VirtualizaƟon VirtualizaƟon

Servers Servers Servers Servers

Storage Storage Storage Storage

Networking Networking Networking Networking

Fig. 1.2 Different service levels of cloud services in cloud computing

1.1 Introduction to Cloud Computing 9

cloud service, by aggregation, integration or customisation with another cloud

services. Examples are Cybercon.com (US Microsoft Hybrid Cloud), Bluemix.
net (IBM Cloud App Development), etc.
Overall, there are several stakeholders involved in a cloud computing system,
including cloud providers, enterprises that use the cloud as a platform, and
end-users. There are specific architectural requirements with respect to the partic-
ipants mentioned above [14, 15]. From the service provider’s perspective, highly
efficient service architecture is needed to provide virtualised and dynamic services.
SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS are three effective service delivery models that can satisfy the
architectural requirement of cloud computing. There are also some other essential
requirements, including:
• Service-centric issues. To fulfil the requirements of enterprise’s IT manage-
ment, cloud architecture needs to take a unified service-centric approach. This
approach requires services to be autonomic, self-describing, etc. Autonomic
means that cloud systems/applications should be able to adapt dynamically to
changes with less human assistance, and self-describing means that clients will
be notified exactly about how services should be called and what type of data
services will return.
• QoS. QoS provides the guarantee of performance and availability as well as
other aspects of service quality such as security, reliability and dependability
etc. QoS requirements are associated with service providers and end-users.
SLAs are an effective means for assuring QoS between service providers and
end-users. QoS may entail systematic monitoring of resources, storage, network,
virtual machine, service migration and fault tolerance. From the perspective of a
cloud service provider, QoS should emphasise performance of virtualisation and
monitoring tools.
• Interoperability. Interoperability is an essential requirement for both service
providers and enterprises. It refers to the fact that applications should be able to
be ported between clouds or use multiple cloud infrastructures before business
applications are delivered from the cloud. In order to achieve interoperability, an
agreed-upon framework/ontology, open data format or open protocols/APIs that
enable easy migration and integration of applications and data between different
cloud service providers as well as facilities for the secure information exchange
across platforms should be created.
• Fault-tolerance. Fault-tolerance refers to the ability of a system to continue to
operate in the event of the failure of some of its components. Fault-tolerance
requires the falling components to be isolated, and the availability of reversion
mode, etc. Application-specific, self-healing, and self-diagnosis mechanisms
are, for example, enabling tools for cloud providers to detect failure. Cloud
providers need proper tools and mechanism such as application-specific
self-healing and self-diagnosis mechanism to detect failure in cloud systems/
applications. Inductive systems such as classification or clustering can also be
helpful for detection of failure and identification of possible causes.
10 1 Latest Advancement in Cloud Technologies

• Load balancing. A load balancer is a key requirement for cloud computing in

order to build dynamic and stable cloud architecture. Load balancing, which
represents the mechanism of self-regulating workloads properly within the
cloud’s entities (one or more servers, hard drives, network, and IT resources),
can be provided by software or hardware. Load balancing is often used to
implement failover in that the service components are monitored continually and
when one becomes non-responsive, the load balancer stops sending traffic,
de-provisions it and provisions a new service component.
• Virtualisation management. Virtualisation refers to abstraction of logical
resources from their underlying physical characteristics in order to improve
agility, enhance flexibility and reduce cost. There are many different types of
virtualisation in cloud computing, including server virtualisation, client/desktop/
application virtualisation, storage virtualisation, network virtualisation, and
service/application infrastructure virtualisation, etc. Handling a number of vir-
tualisation machines on the top of operating systems and evaluating, testing
servers and deployment to the targets are some of the important concerns of
virtualisation. Virtualisation is indispensable for a dynamic cloud infrastructure
as it brings important advantages in sharing of cloud facilities, management of
complex systems as well as isolation of data/application. Quality of virtualisa-
tion determines the robustness of a cloud infrastructure.
For enterprises that use cloud computing, the critical requirements are that they
should always know what services they are paying for, as well as be clear about
issues like service levels, privacy matters, compliances, data ownership, and data
mobility. This section describes some of the cloud deployment requirements for
enterprises.
• Cloud deployment for enterprises. As far as enterprise users are concerned, an
important requirement is how cloud is deployed because this can impact the way
they access services. As mentioned above, there are four types of cloud de-
ployment models, public, private, community and hybrid. Different types of
deployment models suit different situations. Public cloud enables sharing the
services and infrastructure provided by an offsite, third-party service provider in
a multi-tenant environment; private cloud aims to achieve sharing services and
infrastructure, which are provided either by an organisation or a specific service
provider in a single-tenant environment. Community cloud provides a means for
sharing resources among several organisations that have shared interests and
concerns. Hybrid cloud consists of multiple internal (private) or external
(public) clouds. Enterprises need to have a strategy that leverages all four
options mentioned above.
• Security. Security is the focal concern of enterprises. When corporate infor-
mation, including data of customers, consumers and employees, business
know-how and intellectual properties is stored and managed by external entities
on remote servers in the cloud, how to safeguard them in the shared environ-
ment will become a primary issue. Different service models provide different
1.1 Introduction to Cloud Computing 11

security levels in the cloud environment: IaaS is the foundation of all cloud
services, with PaaS built upon it and SaaS in turn built upon PaaS. Just as
capabilities are inherited, so are the information security issues and risks.
• Business Process Management (BPM). Typically, a business process man-
agement system concerns providing a business structure, security and consistent
rules across business processes, users, organisations and territories. Cloud-based
BPM (e.g. combining SaaS with a BPM application) enhances flexibility,
deployability and affordability for complex enterprise applications. With
cloud-based solution, the classical concept of BPM is enhanced as cloud
delivers a business operating platform for enterprises such as combining SaaS
and BPM applications (e.g. customer relationship management, workforce
performance management, enterprise resource planning, e-commerce portals
etc.) which helps achieve flexibility, deployability and affordability of complex
enterprise applications. When an enterprise adopts cloud-based services or
business processes, the return of investment of overall business measurement is
important.
Users’ requirements are the third key factor that need to be addressed for the
adoption of any cloud system. For users, the trust issues are a major concern for the
adoption of cloud services. In order to win users’ trust, cloud should be trustworthy,
stable, and secure. Stability and security can play a vital role to increase the trust
between user and service providers. Furthermore, cloud-based applications should
also be able to support personalisation, localisation and internationalisation to create
a user-friendly environment. This section describes users’ requirements from the
perspectives of consumption-based billing and metering, user centric privacy, ser-
vice level agreements and user experience.
• User consumption-based billing and metering. Users’ billing and metering
with respect to consumption of cloud services in a cloud system should be
similar to the consumption measurement and allocation of water, gas or elec-
tricity on a consumption unit basis as users have a strong need for transparency
of consumption and billings. Cost management is important for making plan-
ning and controlling decisions. Cost breakdown analysis, tracing the utilised
activity, adaptive cost management, transparency of consumption and billings
are also important considerations.
• User-centric privacy. User-centric privacy mainly concerns the storage of
users’ personal/enterprise sensitive data such as intellectual property at
mega-data centres located around the world. There is strong resistance and
reluctance for an enterprise to store any sensitive data in the cloud. Cloud
providers need to make every effort to win the trust of their users. Currently,
there are various technologies that can enhance data integrity, confidentiality,
and security in the clouds, e.g. data compressing and encrypting at the storage
level, virtual LANs and network middle-boxes (e.g. firewalls and packet filters).
• SLAs. SLAs are mutual contract between providers and users, representing the
ability to deliver services in line with predefined agreements. Currently, many
12 1 Latest Advancement in Cloud Technologies

cloud providers offer SLAs but these SLAs are rather weak on user compen-
sations on outages. There are some important architectural issues concerning
SLAs to be addressed including measurement of service delivery, method of
monitoring performance, and amendment of SLA over time.
• User Experience (UX). UX represents the overall feeling of users in using
cloud-based application/systems. The notion of UX can provide important
insights into the needs and behaviours of end-users so as to maximise the
usability, desirability and productivity of application/systems. Cloud-based
application/systems should be easy to use, capable of providing faster and
reliable services, easily scalable, and customisable to meet the goal of locali-
sation and standardisation. Human-Computer Interaction, ergonomics and
usability engineering are some of the key technologies that can be used for
designing UX-based cloud applications.

1.1.3 Technologies

Cloud computing evolves from the evolution and adoption of existing technologies
and paradigms. One of the most important technologies for cloud computing is
virtualisation. Other technologies are concerned with the architecture of data cen-
tres, distributed file system, as well as distributed application framework. Cloud
computing is also often compared to other technologies such as grid computing,
utility computing, and autonomous computing, each of which shares something in
common with cloud computing [11].
• Virtualisation. Virtualisation is a technology that abstracts details of physical
hardware and provides virtualised resources for high-level applications.
Virtualisation is able to separate a physical computing device into one or more
virtual devices, each of which can be used and managed to perform computing
tasks independently. With operating system-level virtualisation essentially cre-
ating a scalable system of multiple independent computing devices, idle com-
puting resources can be allocated and used more efficiently. Virtualisation
constitutes the foundation of cloud computing, as it provides the ability to pool
computing resources from clusters of servers and dynamically assigning or
reassigning virtual resources to applications on demand. Virtualisation provides
the agility needed to speed up IT business operations and reducing costs by
increasing infrastructure utilisation.
• Architectural design of data centres. A data centre is home to thousands of
devices like servers, switches and routers. Proper planning of this network
architecture is critical as it has a major impact on application performance and
throughput in such a distributed environment. Scalability and resiliency are
features that also need to be considered carefully. A common practice is
adopting the layered approach for the design of network architecture of a data
centre. Basically, the design of network architecture should be able to meet
1.1 Introduction to Cloud Computing 13

objectives such as high capacity, free VM migration, resiliency, scalability, and

backward compatibility.
• Distributed file system over clouds. There are two major file systems for cloud
computing: Google File System (GFS) and Hadoop Distributed File System
(HDFS). The former is a proprietary distributed file system designed especially
for providing efficient, reliable access to data using large clusters of commodity
servers by Google. Compared with traditional file systems, GFS is designed and
optimised to provide extremely high data throughput, low latency and survive
individual server failures. Inspired by GFS, the open source HDFS stores large
files across multiple machines, achieving high reliability by replicating the data
across multiple servers. Similar to GFS, data is stored on multiple geographi-
cally distributed nodes. The file system is built from a cluster of data nodes, each
of which serves blocks of data over the network using a block protocol specific
to HDFS. Data is also provided over HTTP, allowing access to all content from
a web browser or other types of clients. Data nodes can talk to each other to
rebalance data distribution, to move copies, and to keep the replication of data
high.
• Distributed application framework over clouds. MapReduce is a software
framework introduced by Google to support distributed computing on large
datasets on clusters of computers. MapReduce consists of one Master, to which
client applications submit MapReduce jobs. The Master pushes work to avail-
able task nodes in the data centre, striving to keep the tasks as close to the data
as possible. The open source Hadoop MapReduce project is inspired by
Google’s work. Today, many organisations are using Hadoop MapReduce to
run large data-intensive computations.
• Grid computing. Grid computing is a distributed and parallel computing model.
A grid computing system is a cluster of networked, loosely coupled computers
acting together to perform large tasks. The development of grid computing was
originally driven by computation-intensive scientific applications. Cloud com-
puting is similar to grid computing in that it also employs distributed resources.
However, cloud computing leverages virtualisation technologies at multiple
levels (hardware and application platform) which enable it to achieve resource
sharing and dynamic resource provisioning. Cloud computing can be considered
the business-oriented evolution of grid computing.
• Utility computing. Utility computing represents a model of providing resources
on demand and charging customers by a pay-per-use model. Cloud computing
can be perceived as a realisation of utility computing. With on-demand resource
provisioning and utility-based pricing, cloud computing service providers can
maximise resource utilisation and minimise their operating costs.
• Autonomic computing. Originally coined by IBM in 2001, autonomic com-
puting aims at building computing systems capable of self-management, i.e.
reacting to internal and external events without human intervention. The goal of
autonomic computing is to overcome the management complexity of today’s
computer systems. Cloud computing exhibits some autonomic features such as
14 1 Latest Advancement in Cloud Technologies

automatic resource provisioning. However, its objective is to lower resource

costs instead of reducing system complexity.

1.1.4 Cloud Platforms

A number of industrial organisations have developed their cloud computing

infrastructure, among which the dominant ones include Amazon Elastic Compute
Cloud (Amazon EC2), Google App Engine, and Microsoft Azure [2]. Table 1.2
describes the features of these cloud platforms from the perspectives of SLA,
reliability, auto-scaling, virtualisation, privacy, storage, and security.
• Amazon EC2. Amazon EC2 is a web service that provides secure, resizable
compute capacity in the cloud. It creates a virtual computing environment for
users to launch and manage server instances in data centres using APIs or
available tools and utilities. Users can either create a new Amazon Machine
Image (AMI) containing the applications, libraries, data and associated con-
figuration settings, or select from a library of globally available AMIs. Users
then need to upload the created or selected AMIs to Amazon Simple Storage
Service (S3) before they can perform some activities such as starting, stopping,

Table 1.2 Comparison of the representative cloud platforms, adapted from [2]
Property System
Amazon EC2 Google App Microsoft
Engine Azure
Focus Infrastructure Platform Platform
Service type Compute, storage (Amazon Web application Web and
S3) non-web
Virtualisation OS level running on a Xen Application OS level
hypervisor container through fabric
controller
Dynamic None None None
negotiation of QoS
parameters
User access Amazon EC2 command-line Web-based Microsoft
interface tools administration Windows Azure
console portal
Web APIs Yes Yes Yes
Value-added Yes No Yes
service providers
Programming Customisable Linux-based Python Microsoft .NET
framework Amazon Machine Image
(AMI)
Exploring the Variety of Random
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their fire-locks flashing in the sunshine, and attended by their band.
These terminated the procession. But an interesting feature of the
show still remained, when the led horses of the palace guests, each
held by a groom, came prancing through the wide gateway, as if
vain of their glittering housings and embroidered reins; the groups
which had been scattered over the square were all in motion; the
crimson-covered arabas began to move from their station; the
sherbet-venders vaunted their merchandize, with voluble eagerness,
to the passers-by—the Turks resigned their chibouks to their pipe-
bearers, and rose from their carpets, which were instantly rolled up,
and carried away by their domestics—the Bulgarians inflated their
bag-pipes, and obstructed the path of the foot-passengers, with
their heavy and awkward dance, which must have been modelled
upon that of the bear—and, ere I had wearied of contemplating the
scene, nine-tenths of the crowd that had so lately thronged the wide
space beneath me had passed away.
The sunshine was lying warm and bright on the dome of Sultan
Bajazet’s mosque, with its portals of indented gothic; and its spiral
minarets, with their galleries of rich tracery-work; dominated in their
turn by the Tower of the Seraskier, which shoots up tall and white
from an angle of the palace court, like the giant guardian of the
locality; and whose summit (to which we afterwards ascended)
commands a series of the most magnificent views that the world can
produce.
On one side, the City of Constantinople is spread out beneath you
like a map; and you look down upon its thousand domes, and its five
thousand minarets—upon its khans, and its charshees, its palaces
and its prisons. Move a few paces forward, only to the next window,
and the Sea of Marmora, with its peopled coasts, its rocky islets, and
its glittering waves, carries your thoughts homeward to the “golden
west.” From one point you look on Mount Olympus, with its crown of
snow; from another, on the sunny Bosphorus, laden with life, and
laughing in the day-beam. Turn to the left, and the Golden Horn,
from whence the riches of the world are poured forth over the East,
lies at your feet. On—on—ere your eyes ache with gazing, and your
mind with wonder, and repose your vision on the dark and arid rocks
which enclose “The Valley of the Sweet Waters,” the most fairy-like
glen that ever was hemmed in by a belt of mountains. And when
you at length descend the three hundred and thirty steps of the
dizzy Tower of the Seraskier, inscribe upon your tablets the faint
record of an hour, during which, if you have sensibility or
imagination, a love of the beautiful, or an appreciation of the
sublime, you must have lived through an age of feeling and of fancy;
with the busy, breathing city at your feet—the sweet, still valley
beside you—and the wide sea, the unfathomable, the mysterious
sea, bounding your vision.
What a pigmy is man amid such a scene as this!
I must not omit to mention that the Seraskier’s Tower, called, by the
Turks, Yanguen Kiosk, or Fire Tower, is the watch-house of the fire-
guard. Six individuals are constantly on the look-out during the day
and night, who relieve each other every hour; and, during the night-
watch, the guard constantly makes his round in a pair of spring
pattens, which, being made of wood, and soled with iron, keep up a
continual noise that prevents his giving way to drowsiness, and thus
neglecting his duty.
There were seven equally eligible candidates for the hand of the
Princess Mihirmàh; and consequently more than seven times seven
intrigues set on foot, when it was finally announced that the Sultan,
her father, had resolved on bestowing her in marriage on some
fortunate noble of his Empire. The Sublime Porte was all in
commotion—the seven Eligibles all in agitation—every palace and
harem on the qui vive—bribes flew about, on yellow wings, like the
bright butterflies that herald spring—and the Sultan himself, weary
of conflicting counsels and opposing interests, wavering and
undecided; while many persons agreed in believing that the Imperial
choice would ultimately fall on the handsome and wealthy Mustapha
Pasha of Adrianople; and the rather as it was rumoured that the
Princess had seen and admired him.
But Sultan Mahmoud, after a youth of terror and a manhood of
blood, had become too good a tactician to risk offending many by
ennobling one; and he consequently adopted an expedient which
had assuredly never been contemplated by those about his person.
He caused the names of the seven candidates to be inscribed on as
many separate shreds of parchment; and on the following Friday,
when he visited the mosque, he cast them all in a mass beneath his
prayer-carpet, where they remained during the service; at whose
close, he put up a prayer to Allah and the Prophet to aid him in the
hour of trial, by enabling him to withdraw the name of the individual
whose alliance would prove the most beneficial, alike to his Empire,
and to his daughter. Whether the prayer was heard and answered, I
know not; but the Sublime fingers closed over the parchment which
was inscribed with the cypher of Saïd Pasha of the Dardanelles.
Saïd Pasha is a handsome man of three or four and thirty, with an
expression of benevolence and amiability strikingly in his favour. He
commenced his career at Court as Page to the Sultan, where he lost
the favour of his master by refusing to obey a command which
would have rendered him for a time the companion of grooms and
serving-men; an instance of self-respect and self-appreciation so
rare in Turkey, that it excited quite as much astonishment as
indignation. Dismissed from the Court in disgrace, the young
adventurer became a member of the sect of the Mevlavies, or
Turning Dervishes; but, after the expiration of a year, he was
recalled by the Sultan, and received a post in the army.
Subsequently to this period, his rise to the Pashalik was rapid, as is
generally the case in the East; and, on the last page of existence
which he has turned, the characters may indeed be said to have
been traced in gold.
After this hasty sketch of his history, it is scarcely necessary for me
to add that Saïd Pasha left the Dardanelles a poor man; nor to
remind my readers that a titled Lackland was no meet match for a
Sultan’s daughter. The evil cried aloud for remedy, and the cure
came as speedily as its necessity had arisen.
The Seraskier had adopted Halil Pasha as his son, on the occasion of
his marriage with the Princess Salihè, two years ago; and had been
to him a most munificent father; in the present difficulty he again
stepped forward, and the portionless Saïd Pasha beheld himself at
once a rich man.
Upon the Seraskier it then devolved, in his double capacity of High
Minister and Parent, to introduce the fortunate bridegroom to his
Imperial father-in-law; and the recollection of all that the wily old
courtier had done for the object of his first adoption, produced very
different feelings in the breasts of the two individuals, more
immediately interested in the financial arrangements of the
marriage.
“I present to your Sublime Highness,” said the minister, “the son-in-
law whom Allah has destined to the high honour of becoming the
husband of your Imperial daughter—Saïd Pasha, my adopted son—
and I do so with the greater delight that I know him to be as brave
in the field, as he is wise in the cabinet—as mild in temper, as he is
courageous in spirit—learned, gentle, submissive, and enthusiastic,
in his attachment to your Sublime Highness (May your end be
glorious!) He has every virtue under heaven, and but one defect.”
“And what may that be?” inquired the Sultan, arching his dark
eyebrows in astonishment. “It must be weighty indeed if it can
counteract the effect of so bright a list of qualities.”
“Alas! your Sublime Highness—” replied the Seraskier, “Saïd Pasha is
poor!”
The point was pathetic enough; and the politic minister, who would
gladly have secured the honour of being the adopted father of the
Sultan’s second son-in-law, without paying quite so high a price for it
as he had done on the marriage of his first, flattered himself that a
recollection of the enormous outlay which he had made on that
occasion would exonerate him from a similar expence on the
present. But the Sultan had doubtlessly learnt that the diamond can
be cut only with its own dust; and he acted upon that principle, as
he blandly answered, if not in the words, at least in the feeling, of
our immortal bard:—
 ’Tis true, ’tis pity, and pity ’tis, ’tis true;

“But, while he has the wealthy and munificent Seraskier of the

Sublime Empire for his adopted father, he must remain unconscious
of the fact.”
The Minister did all that have remained for him to do—he tried to
look flattered and gratified—he even returned thanks for the
gracious words which taught him to understand all that was
expected of him: and he left the Presence to withdraw, from his
strong box, ducats to the amount of two millions of piastres, which
were bought up by the Frank Merchants at Galata.
But the best part of the jest was yet to come. On the marriage of
one of the Imperial Family, every Pasha of the Empire is expected to
present an offering proportioned to his means; and, as these
generally consist of jewels, the Chamberlain acquaints each
individual, on learning the amount of his purposed present, with the
most acceptable shape in which he can make it; and by these means
prevents the chance of a too frequent repetition of the same gift.
When the Princess Salihè became the wife of Halil Pasha, the
amount of her diamonds thus obtained was very considerable; and,
as she is a person of too morose and selfish a character to take
pleasure in showing herself to the people as the sisters of the Sultan
are in the habit of doing; and, moreover, too haughty to seek to
dazzle even in the harem, his Sublime Highness, who is an admirable
tactician, bethought himself of a most brilliant plan for making a
little money in a quiet way out of these anti-engaging qualities.
He accordingly paid a visit to his daughter; and after she had
enjoyed the high honour of kissing his foot, and he had graciously
signified to her his Imperial permission that she should seat herself
upon the cushions piled on the floor near him; he condescendingly
explained to her the utter uselessness of jewels which she never
wore, and suggested the expediency of her disposing of them, and
adding the interest of the sum that they would produce to her
present income.
The Princess listened in respectful silence; and then ventured to
doubt whether a purchaser could be found for the diamonds of a
Sultan’s daughter. This difficulty was, however, instantly overcome,
by an offer, on the part of his Sublime Highness, to become himself
that purchaser. And the consent of the Princess having been
obtained, and the price to be paid decided on, the principal
remained in the Imperial Treasury, whence the interest was to be
drawn; and the jewels, thus, in point of fact, obtained for a per
centage on their value, were carried off in triumph by the court
jewellers, to be reset for the younger Princess!
Nor was this all—for, when the Pashas declared the amount of their
offerings, the money was paid on the instant, and these very
diamonds given in exchange, fashioned into such forms as best
suited the taste and convenience of their new owner.
Thus were things situated when the baffled Seraskier withdrew from
the Imperial Presence, to drag his beloved ducats from their snug
resting-place in his strong box, and to scatter them among the
money-changing Franks. Many of the Pashas had not yet come
forward with their gifts, and he had still breathing time for a shrewd
stroke. It is the fashion at the Sublime Court for each noble to
announce the amount of the present which he purposes to make;
and the declaration generally exceeds the actual value of the
offering by fifty or a thousand piastres. The Seraskier accordingly
collected these declarations, and having so done, he addressed a
courtly circular to the tardy (in this case too tardy!) Pashas,
informing them that his Sublime Highness Mahmoud “The Powerful,”
the Light of the World, and Brother of the Sun, had so overwhelmed
his intended son-in-law, Mohammed Saïd Pasha, with the brightness
of his munificence, that he had rained diamonds upon him, and
overstrown his path with precious stones; and, such being the case,
he, the Seraskier, acting as his adopted father and counsellor, had
suggested to him the expediency of proposing to those Pashas who
had not yet honoured him with their gifts, to make them in the
current coin of the Empire, rather than in diamonds which could not,
under the circumstances, avail him any thing.
The suggestion was a command; the wily Seraskier held the list of
names and offerings; and each Pasha was under the necessity of
coming forward, and paying to the treasurer of the Seraskier the
actual sum in money which he had specified!
Nothing sharpens the wits of a Turk like self-interest.
The procession, from which I have digressed, passed through the
street called Divan-Yoli, terminating at the mosque of St. Sophia,
near the Imperial Palace. When it arrived at Ortakapou, or The
Middle Door, the whole of the officers alighted, and formed an
avenue to the entrance of the harem, whence the marriage gifts
were conveyed into the Seraï, where the Seraskier, acting for the
bridegroom, craved and obtained an interview with the Kislar-Agha,
who was proxy for the Princess. This hideous negro has the thickest
lips, the flattest nose, the smallest eyes, and the most unwieldy
person of all the eunuchs of the empire. Imagination cannot paint
his ugliness! And before this revolting caricature of humanity, the
haughty Minister, in whose hands are life and death, bent his
stubborn knee in supplication. Scarcely had he crossed the threshold
of the magnificent apartment in which the Kislar-Agha awaited him,
ere he prostrated himself to the earth, as he besought the
monstrous representative of youth and beauty to have mercy upon
the slave who kissed the dust before the Light of the Creation, the
Glory of the Moon,3 the Empress of his thoughts—upon which the
unwieldy negro averted his face, cast down his eyes, and assumed
the prude; but, after a vast deal of coquetting, the lover-like
vehemence of the gray-headed Seraskier met with its reward—a
sable hand was extended towards him, which he embraced with
transport—the presents were condescendingly accepted; the
sweetmeats by the Kislar-Agha himself: and the more costly
offerings by the principal eunuchs of the palace, in the names of
their Imperial Mistresses, to whom they were immediately conveyed.
And thus terminated the first act of the sublime comedy!
 CHAPTER XV.
Fine Scenery—The Coast of Asia—Turkish Cemeteries—The Imperial Seraï—The
Golden Horn—Mount Olympus—The Arabajhe—The Araba—The Persian Kiosk
—The Barrack of Scutari—The Mosque of Selim III.—The Slipper of the
Sultana Validè—The Imperial Guard—Military Material—The Macaroni
Manufactory—Sublime Targets—A Major of the Imperial Guard—Triumph of
Utilitarianism—The Rise of the Vines—The Holy Tomb—Encampments of the
Plague-smitten—The Setting Sun—Return to Europe—The Square of
Topphannè.

I have seldom seen a lovelier day than that on which we first passed
over to Scutari; the sunshine was bright upon the Bosphorus, the
tops of the tall cypresses were golden in the light, and their feathery
branches heaved slightly beneath the breeze; the sky was blue
about the spiral minarets: and the painted houses gleamed out like
gigantic flowers as the day-beam touched them; the ripple sparkled
like diamond-dust, and our arrowy caïque seemed to breathe as it
undulated upon the surface.
It was a glorious scene! And we were soon upon the bosom of the
blue waters, darting along, with the wild birds above our heads, out
into the Sea of Marmora. Europe was beside and behind us—Europe,
with its palaces, its politics, and its power—and the shadowy shore
of Asia, with its cypress-crowned heights, and its dusky mountains,
seemed to woo our approach. How I regretted that the passage was
so brief—a few strokes of the oar, a few pulsations of the heart, after
we had shot past the “Maiden’s Tower,” and we were landed beside
the ruined mosque, in the valley beyond the Persian Kiosk of the
Sultan, which crowns the crest of the highest hill.
The land curved gracefully downward at this point to form a fair
green glen, where a group of plane trees and acacias threw their
long branches over the remains of the crumbling temple. Here and
there a solitary cypress shot up its dark head like a death-lance into
the clear horizon, contrasting its funereal and gloomy pomp with the
laughing clusters of the pink-blossoming almond-trees, which were
scattering their petals over the grave-stones that rose on the side of
the grassy bank amid the wild flowers, as if to link the present with
the past.
It is a beautiful custom, that of burying the dead upon the very path
of the living! It destroys so much of the gloom which imagination is
prone to drape about the grave—it creates so much more of a
common interest. The Turk smokes his chibouk with his back resting
against a turban-crested grave-stone; the Greek spreads his meal
upon a tomb; the Armenian shelters himself from the sunshine
beneath the boughs that overshadow the burial-places of his people;
the women sit in groups, and talk of their homes and of their little
ones among the ashes of their ancestors; and the children gather
the wild flowers that grow amid the graves, as gaily as though death
had never entered there.
The caïque soon darted into the little bay, and we trod the shore of
Asia. Immediately in front of us, on the European coast, stretched
the long castellated wall of the ancient city of Constantine, with its
Seven Towers, and its palace-girdled Point. Nothing could be more
beautiful! The numerous buildings of the imperial Seraï were
overtopped by shadowy plane-trees, leafy beeches, lofty cypresses,
feathery acacias, and other magnificent forest trees; from amid
whose foliage the gleaming domes and gilded spires of the palace
peeped out like glimpses of fairy-land. On the extreme point of the
shore stands that portion of the Seraglio which was formerly
appropriated to the ladies of the Imperial Harem, but which is now
untenanted, save by half a dozen old and withered women, the
surviving wives of the unfortunate Sultan Selim. The sun had
touched it, and was reflected back in brightness from its gilded
doors and glittering lattices. It looked like a cluster of kiosks
gracefully flung together in the hour of sport.
Beyond that point lay the Golden Horn; and, along the summit of the
hill which shuts it in on the opposite shore, stretched the cypress-
grove and houses of Pera. But ere long we turned away from these
accustomed objects to glance upwards to the crest of Mount
Olympus, far, far away in the distance, forming a mighty background
to the Sea of Marmora. We saw it at a happy moment, for the
sunbeams had turned its snows to jewels, which were flashing with
a brightness that almost forbade our gaze; when suddenly a light
cloud passed over its stately brow, and, deadening for an instant the
glitter that it had borrowed from the day-beam, sobered down its
tints into more subdued beauty, and made it look as though it were
girdled by a rainbow.
As we reluctantly quitted this fair scene, and walked towards the
valley, we saw the araba that we had appointed to await us there,
standing beneath the shade of the tall trees; and as the arabajhe
observed our approach, he rose from his seat beneath a stately elm,
laid aside his chibouk, and prepared to assist us into the carriage.
But I lingered yet another moment to contemplate his costume—his
voluminous turban, which it must have required ells of muslin to
produce; and his gaily-tasselled and embroidered jacket, falling back
to disclose the shawl that bound his waist. I scarcely knew which to
admire the most;—his black and bushy beard, and the thick
mustachioes that adorned his upper lip; or the elaborately-wrought
Albanian leggings and yellow slippers which completed his costume.
No one but a native of the luxurious East could ever have invented
an araba; with its comfortable cushions, and its gaily painted roof,
and gilded pillars. The prettiest are those of brown and gold, with
rose-coloured draperies, through which the breeze flutters to your
cheek as blandly as though it loved the tint that reminded it of the
roses of the past season amid which it had wandered.
As we clomb the hill, we passed beside the Imperial kiosk, a delicate
little edifice with walls of pale green, and snow-white jalousies; and
then, descending a slight acclivity, we found ourselves opposite the
magnificent barrack, which forms so fine a feature from the sea.
There is probably no country in the world where the barracks are so
elegantly built as in Turkey; they have all the appearance of palaces;
and that of Scutari being appropriated to the Imperial Guard is the
handsomest in the neighbourhood of the capital; being a
quadrangle, flanked with square towers, built in three sections,
gradually diminishing in size, and crowned by a slight spire.
Immediately opposite to the principal gate of the barrack stands the
magnificent mosque of Selim III.; but Scutari, among the numerous
temples whose slender minarets are relieved by the dark back
ground of her funereal cypresses, possesses one of which I must not
forget to make mention. Small in size, and not particularly elegant in
its appearance, the mosque of the Sultana Validè must not be
passed over in silence, built as it was from the proceeds of one of
her diamond-sprinkled slippers!
I have mentioned that this barrack is occupied by the Imperial
Guard: and I never shall forget their appearance, as groups of them
passed us on the road. Dirty, slouching, and awkward, many among
them without either shirts or stockings, they certainly looked as
unlike Household Troops as can well be imagined; and might have
traversed three quarters of Europe without being mistaken for
soldiers at all, either by their gait or their garb. When on duty, and
not examined too closely, they make a fair figure as a body, but on
ordinary occasions they are as unmilitary in their appearance and
bearing as the rest of the Turkish army; and the majority of them
are such mere boys that they induce a feeling of pity rather than
fear. On one occasion, when I paid a visit to the Sultan’s sister, while
waiting to be admitted, I amused myself by looking attentively at the
palace-guard, who had all collected outside the guard-house to see
the Franks; including the two sentinels on duty, they amounted to
ten individuals; and certainly eight of the number were not more
than fourteen years of age; nor do I believe that any of them had
washed their faces, or brushed their garments for a week previously.
A Pasha, while speaking with me one day of the Turkish army,
assured me that it was composed of “excellent materials.”—It may
be so; I cannot, nor do I desire, to confute his opinion; but it is
certain that, like other raw materials, it will require a great deal of
working before it can be rendered serviceable; and that, at present,
there are few things more laughable than to see a Turkish regiment
at drill or exercise; there is an independence of feeling and action
about each individual which is quite impayable.
But the surprise created by the appearance of the Imperial Guard
was not to be the only cause for astonishment excited by this gallant
corps; for we were yet indulging a hearty laugh at their expense
when we were startled by the recommendation of the arabajhe that
we should visit the Macaroni Manufactory of Achmet Pasha. At first
we thought that our dragoman had played us false, for we could find
no possible connection in our own minds between the Generalissimo
of the Armies of the Sublime Porte, and a Macaroni Manufactory. The
invitation had, however, been correctly interpreted, and we
immediately diverged from the road to see this highly-connected
establishment.
On rising a little hill, we entered the widest street that I had yet
seen in the East, partly overshadowed by the stately trees which
encircled an ancient mosque, and terminated by the principal
entrance to the garrison.
I may as well mention here that the main portal of every Turkish
barrack is decorated with a target, richly framed, and perforated
with one or more balls, shot by the Sublime hand of the Sultan, who
is an excellent marksman; and thus seeks to excite by his example a
feeling of emulation among his soldiery.
The araba drew up before a neat-looking white building with a green
balcony, and, ere we could alight, the door was opened to us; when
one of the gentlemen of the party instantly recognized an
acquaintance, to whom he hastened to present us; and I in turn
made my bow to a Major of the Imperial Guard, with a diamond
decoration on his breast, his sleeves tucked up to the shoulders, and
his arms buried to the elbows in flour.
The Turks are utilitarians indeed!
The scene was a singular one; the large hall in which we stood was
entirely over-canopied with ropes of macaroni, and surrounded by
presses and rollers.—A major was deciding on the merits of the flour
—a lieutenant was superintending the working of the machine—a
couple of sergeants were suspending the paste to dry—and a fatigue
party were turning the wheels.
Hear this, ye Grenadiers and Coldstream! ye exquisites of Bond
Street and the Ring! There was no ennui here—all was grinding, and
sifting, and rolling, and drying, and selling—yes, selling—The
Imperial Guard of his Sublime Highness have no occasion to kill
time; they rather seek customers. The whitest and finest of the
paste supplies the kitchen of the Sultan: the darkest and coarsest
finds its way to that of the soldiers; but “more remains behind;” and
if you are inclined to feast on Imperial macaroni, you have but to
draw out your purse, and pay it in piastres!
What a well-imagined antidote to the weariness of a garrison life—
What a triumph for utilitarianism!
I shall say nothing of the forest-like cemetery; I have spoken of it
elsewhere. The dark cypresses were flinging their long shadows
across the road; and the hill which we slowly ascended on quitting
the manufactory was called “The Rise of the Vines.” The name is
appropriate; for the houses that fringe it on the left hand overlook a
wide extent of orchard and vineyard, interspersed with kiosks, and
groups of flowering acacias. The view was bounded by the sea, and
the tall mountains above Broussa: and flowers were blossoming by
the wayside, and wild-birds were singing among the boughs. No
wonder that the nature-loving Turks are attached to Scutari.
A small building to the left of the road attracted my attention, and I
alighted to examine it. It proved to be the tomb of a Saint; and I
distinguished, through the closely-latticed casement, a wooden
sarcophagus surmounted by a green turban, and surrounded by the
prayer-carpets of the priests. The wire-work of the window was
knotted all over with rags; shreds of cotton, woollen, and silk—
morsels of ribbon and tape—and fragments of every description.
They had been fastened there by sick and suffering persons, who
had firmly believed that their trouble, whether mental or physical,
would remain attached to the rag, and that they should themselves
“return each to his home clean.”
We avoided the town, for the Plague was there; that omnipresent
but invisible enemy which stretches its clammy hand over the East,
and sweeps down its prey, unchecked by the groans of the
bereaved, or the pangs of the smitten—the deadly Plague, which
spares neither sex, nor age, nor condition, but makes one universal
harvest of mankind.
Nothing ever thrilled me more than when I once came suddenly,
during my wanderings, upon an encampment of the Plague-smitten.
The huts are generally erected on a hill-side, and the tents pitched
among them; and you see the families of the infected basking in the
sunshine within their prescribed limits, and gazing eagerly at the
chance passenger, whom his ignorance of their vicinity may conduct
past their temporary dwellings; the children rolling half-naked upon
the grass; and the sallow and careworn parents hanging out the
garments of the patients on the trees of the neighbourhood. Such
was precisely the case with that into which I had unconsciously
intruded; and whence I was very hastily dislodged by the shouts of
the guard, stationed to enforce the quarantaine of the mountain
colony; and the alarmed exclamations of my companions.
It is difficult to look upon such a scene, and upon such a sky, and to
believe in the existence of this frightful scourge! It is the canker at
the core of the forest-tree—the serpent in the garden of Eden.
The sun was setting ere we prepared to traverse the Golden Horn, in
order to reach the European side before the firing of the evening
gun; the shadows were lying long upon the water: a yellow gleam
was settling on the domes and houses of Stamboul, and a thick
vapour lowered over the sky. The twilight of the East is fleeting as a
thought—and the outline of the city ere long loomed out from amid
the gathering darkness, like a spectre of the past. One line of light
still glimmered across the waves like a thread of gold, linking the
shores of Europe and of Asia; but, even as I pointed it out, it faded;
softening down to a faint yellow, like the lip of a primrose—and in
another instant, it was gone; while, as it disappeared, the hoarse
cannon pealed over the ripple, and told that another day was spent.
Our rowers had calculated to a nicety, for, as the sound died away,
the caïque touched the crazy wooden pier of Topphannè, and we
were once more in Europe!
There is not a locality throughout the whole of the capital more
strictly or more richly oriental in its aspect than the small square of
Topphannè. In the midst stands the celebrated Kilidge Ali Pasha
Djiamini, or Fountain of the Mosque of Ali Pasha, a French renegade,
who built the temple which bears his name. Constantinople boasts
no other fountain of equal beauty. Its rich and elegant arabesques
are beyond all praise; and, when the sun is shining on them, almost
look like jewels. It has, however, suffered materially from the
reforming mania of the Sultan, who, in his rage for improvement,
has replaced its wavy and deeply-projecting roof with a little terrace
railing, out of all keeping, alike with its architecture and its
ornaments; and who was with difficulty persuaded not to destroy it
altogether.
On one side of the fountain is the mosque to which it belongs, and
on the other the kiosk of Halil Pasha, with its magnificent portal and
glittering casements. But to be seen to perfection, the square of
Topphannè must be visited during the autumn, when the rich fruits
of Asia are scattered over its whole extent; piles of perfumed
melons, pyramids of yellow grapes, heaps of scarlet pomegranates—
the golden orange, the amber-coloured lemon, the ruddy apple, the
tufted quince, all are poured forth before you. Nor are the vendors
less various or less glowing than their merchandize, as they sit
doubled-up upon their mats, clad in all the colours of the rainbow,
with their chibouks between their lips; rather waiting than looking
for customers—a bright sky above them, and the blended languages
of many lands swelling upon the wind.
Had I landed at Topphannè on my arrival in Turkey, I should have
fancied myself a spectator of one of the scenes described by the
tale-telling Schererazade.
 CHAPTER XVI.
Turkish Superstitions—Auguries—The Court Astrologer—The Evil Eye—Danger of
Blue Eyes—Imperial Firman—The Babaluk—The Ceremony—Sable Pythonesses
—Witchcraft.

The Turks are strangely superstitious; they cling resolutely to the

absurd and wild fancies which have been banished from Europe for
centuries; and that too with a blindness of faith, and a tenacity of
purpose, quite in keeping with their firm and somewhat dogged
natures.
Many of their superstitions they inherit from the Romans; they
extract auguries of good and evil from the entrails of fresh-
slaughtered animals—they draw inferences from the flight of birds—
they have auspicious and inauspicious hours, which are gravely
determined by the Astrologers; and no Osmanli ever undertakes a
journey, builds a house, marries a wife, or commences any business
of importance, without satisfying himself on this important point.
Should evil or disappointment overtake him, despite the precaution
he has used, he never blames either his own mismanagement or
another’s treachery; neither does he sink beneath the trial: he tells
you that it is his kismet—his fate—and he calmly submits to what he
considers to have been inevitable; and should misfortunes
accumulate about him, instead of attributing them to worldly causes,
he ascribes them to felech—his constellation—without searching
further.
When he is troubled with unpleasant dreams, haunted by
melancholy fancies, or suffering from bodily disease, he tears away a
fragment of his dress, and fastens the rag to the iron-work of a
window belonging to the tomb of a saint, in order to deposit the evil
along with it. When he is sick, he procures from the Priest an
earthen bowl, inscribed throughout its interior with passages from
the Koran; and, filling it with water, sets it aside until the whole of
the writing becomes effaced, when he swallows the liquid, and thus
administers to himself a dose of Holy Writ! The Court Astrologer
publishes every year a species of supernatural almanack, in which he
specifies the lucky and unlucky days of the different moons; foretells
wars, deaths, and marriages; and imparts a vast quantity of
multifarious information, which must be both valuable and curious, if
it is to be estimated by the price paid for it, as the salary of the Seer
is a most liberal one.
Another singular superstition common throughout Turkey is the
belief that should a dog chance to pass between two persons who
are conversing, one or the other will fall sick unless the animal be
propitiated with food; and the first care of a Musselmaun to whom
this ill-luck has occurred, is to look about him for the means of
averting its effect.
But the predominant weakness of the East is the dread of the Evil
Eye. Should you praise the beauty of a Turkish child to its mother,
without prefacing your admiration with “Mashallah!” or, In the name
of God—which is considered sufficient to counteract the power of all
malignant spirits; and, should the child become ill or meet with an
accident, it is at once decided that you have smitten it with the Evil
Eye. The Greeks, when by accident they allude to their own good
health or good fortune, immediately spit upon their breasts to avert
the malign influence; and to such a pitch do they carry their faith in
the efficacy of this inelegant exorcism, that on a recent occasion,
when an acquaintance of my own was introduced to a beautiful
Greek girl, and betrayed into an eulogium on her loveliness, he was
earnestly entreated by her mother to perform the same ceremony in
the very face which he had just been eulogizing, in order to annul
the evil effects of his admiration; and so pressing were her instances
that he was compelled to affect obedience to her wishes, ere she
could be re-assured of the safety of her daughter!
The Turk decorates the roof of his house, the prow of his caïque, the
cap of his child, the neck of his horse, and the cage of his bird, with
charms against the Evil Eye; one of the most powerful of these
antidotes being garlic: and it must be conceded that, here at least,
the workers of woe have shown their taste. Every hovel has its head
of garlic suspended by a string; and bouquets of flowers formed of
spices, amid which this noxious root is nestled, are sent as presents
to the mother of a new-born infant, as a safeguard both to herself
and her little one.
A blue eye is super-eminently suspicious, for they have an idea that
such is the legitimate colour of the evil orb; and you seldom see a
horse, or a draught ox, or even a donkey, which has not about its
neck a string of blue beads, to preserve it from the dark deeds of
witchcraft. I was considerably amused on one occasion, when, being
about to meet the carriage of a friend, the horse that drew it, either
from idleness or caprice, suddenly stood still, and the arabajhe
exclaimed with vehemence to his mistress, “You see, madam, you
see that the horse is struck—the new Hanoum has blue eyes!”
turning his own on me as he spoke, with a most unloving
expression. I am perfectly convinced that, had the animal met with
any misfortune, or been guilty of any misdemeanour during the
remainder of the day, the whole blame would have inevitably been
visited on my unlucky eyes, which had counteracted the effect of a
row of glass beads, and a crescent of bone!
To protect the reigning Sultan from the power of the Evil Eye during
his state progresses through the streets of the capital, a peculiar
head-dress was invented for the Imperial body-pages, whose
ornamented plumes were of such large dimensions as, collectively,
to form a screen about his sacred person. Even Sultan Mahmoud,
who is superior to many of the popular prejudices, has just caused a
Firman to be published, prohibiting the women from looking
earnestly at him as he passes them, on pain of—what think you,
reader?—of subjecting their husbands or brothers to the bastinado!
The Turkish laws are too gallant to condemn females to suffer this
punishment in their own persons, and Mahmoud is consequently to
be protected from the possibly fatal effects of the ladies’ eyes by
their fears for their male relations.
Another singular custom is that of pouring water where any one has
fallen, to prevent a recurrence of the accident on the same spot,
which is religiously observed by the lower orders; as well as flinging
stones at the body of a decapitated criminal, in order to secure the
dreams of the spectator from an intrusion of the ghastly object.
No Turk of the lower ranks of society ever passes a shred of paper
which may chance to lie upon his path; he always gathers it up with
the greatest care; as the popular belief leads him to place implicit
faith in an ancient superstition that all paper thus obtained will be
collected after death, and scattered over the burning soil through
which he is to pass to paradise; and that consequently the more he
is enabled to secure, the less suffering he will have to endure
hereafter.
A most extraordinary fact came to my knowledge a short time before
I left the East, relatively to the female Arabs of the harem. They
have a species of society, or institution—I scarcely know how to term
it—in which they are initiated from their girlhood, that they call
“Babaluk,” whose principle of mystery is kept as secret as that of
freemasonry; while the occasional display of its influence is wild and
startling enough to remind the spectator of the Priestesses of Delphi.
Far from affecting any concealment of their participation in the
pretended powers of the society, you cannot, when a guest in the
harem, please an initiated Arab more surely than by inquiring if she
be a Babaluk; and the Turkish ladies frequently amuse themselves
and their visitors by exhibiting their black slaves while under the
influence of their self-excited phrenzy. When a sable Pythoness is
informed of the wish of her mistress, she collects such of her
companions as are Babaluks, for there are sometimes several in the
same harem, and a brazier of burning charcoal is placed in the
centre of the saloon in which the ceremony is to take place. Round
this brazier the Arabs squat down, and commence a low, wild chant,
which they take up at intervals from the lips of each other; and then
break into a chorus, that ultimately dies away in a wail, succeeded
by a long silence, during whose continuance they rock their bodies
backwards and forwards, and never raise their eyes from the earth.
From the moment in which the chant commences, an attendant is
constantly employed in feeding the fire with aloes, incense, musk,
and every species of intoxicating perfume.
After a time, they fall on the floor in a state of utter insensibility, and
great exertion is frequently necessary to arouse them from their
trance; but, when once they are awakened, they become furious—
they rend themselves, and each other—they tear their hair and their
clothing—they howl like wild beasts, and they cry earnestly for food,
while they reject all that is offered except brandy and raw meat,
both of which they destroy in great quantities. Having satisfied their
hunger, they renew the warfare that they had discontinued to
indulge it, and finally roll on the floor with bloodshot eyeballs, and
foaming at the mouth.
A second trance ultimately seizes them, from which they are left to
recover alone; fresh perfumes being flung into the brazier to
expedite their restoration, which generally takes place in ten or
fifteen minutes; and then it is that the spell of prophecy is on them.
They rise slowly and majestically from the floor—they wave their
hands solemnly over the aromatic flame—they have become
suddenly subdued and gentle; and, after having made the circuit of
the brazier several times in silence, they gaze coldly round the circle,
until, fixing upon some particular individual, they commence
shadowing forth her fate, past, present, and to come; and I have
heard it seriously asserted that they have thus divulged the most
secret events of by-gone years, as well as prophecying those which
subsequently took place.
It is scarcely wonderful—even disgusting as a great portion of the
ceremonial undoubtedly is—that many of the Turkish ladies
occasionally relieve the tedium of the harem by the exhibition of the
Babaluk; that vague yearning to pry into futurity so inherent in our
nature, coupled with the uncertainty on whom the spell of the sybil
may be cast, causes an excitement which forms an agreeable
contrast from their customary ennui. No second fate is ever foretold
at the same orgies. When the first Babaluk begins to speak, the
others sink down into a sitting posture, occasionally enforcing her
assertions by repeating the last words of any remarkable sentence in
a long, low wail; and, when she ceases and takes her place among
them, they are for the third time overtaken by a trance: the brazier
is then removed, the spectators leave the room, the door is carefully
closed, and the Babaluks are left to awaken at their leisure. When
they finally come forth, they resume their customary avocations,
without making the slightest allusion to the extraordinary scene in
which they have been actors; nor do they like the subject to be
mentioned to them until several days have elapsed.
 CHAPTER XVII.
Imperial Invitation—Disagreeable Adventure—Executed Criminal—Efficacy of
Wayside Executions—Tardy Conversions—Mistaken Humanity—Summary Mode
of Execution—The Palace of Asmè Sultane—Entrance of the Harem—Costume
of the Slaves—Nazip Hanoum—Ceremonious Reception—The Adopted
Daughter—Costume of the Ladies of the Seraï—Beauty of the Slaves—
Extraordinary Arrangement—Rejected Addresses—The Imperial Lover—
Sacredness of Adoption in Turkey—Romantic Correspondence—Ladies of the
Household—The Mother of the Slaves—Peroussè Hanoum—Crowded Audience
—The Imperial Odalique—Music of the Harem—The New Pet—The Kislar-Agha
—The “Light of the Harem”—The Poetical Sultan—Indisposition of the Sultana
—The Palace Gardens—The Imperial Apartments—The Dancing Girl—Reluctant
Departure—Ballad by Peroussè Hanoum.

Having received an invitation to wait upon Asmè Sultane, the elder

sister of the Sultan, at her summer palace, I started from Pera early
one morning accompanied by a friend, to obey the Imperial
summons.
The weather was beautiful; the great Cemetery was crowded with
loungers, and the road leading to “The Sweet Waters” thronged with
horsemen. The spring flowers were bursting, and the young leaves
trembling in the fresh breeze; and, as we passed on, amid sunshine
and salutations, I forgot the purpose of my errand in the enjoyment
of the glad scene around me.
But, unhappily for the continuance of these joyous feelings, the
authorities had just secured a band of Sclavonian housebreakers,
and, having bestowed upon them a very summary species of civil
drum-head court-martial, had hung a dozen of them the previous
day in the outskirts of the city. Of this uncomfortable fact we were
entirely ignorant; and the shock may consequently be conceived
when, on descending a steep pitch into the narrow street of
Ortakeuÿ, the arabadjhe suddenly exclaimed—“A man hanged! A
man hanged! Hide your eyes, ladies.” But it was too late. As the
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