Smart Sensors: Analyzing Efficiency of Smart Sensors in Public Domain

The paper gives the brief idea of smart sensors, structure and its application. Smart sensor as compare to other sensors can sensor anything with the special computing devices connected with each other in sensor network. These smart sensors first convert the digital signals to analog signals and then communicate the message to the device. Now a days smart sensors are used almost everywhere around us but very few people know its working and future applications. So here is a small review on smart sensors. This paper will help you gain knowledge and its applications in daily life

A wireless 802.11 condition monitoring sensor for electrical substation environments

The work reported in this thesis is concerned with the design, development and testing of a wireless 802.11 condition monitoring sensor for an electrical substation environments. The work includes a comprehensive literature review and the design and development of a novel continuous wireless data acquisition sensor. Laboratory and field tests were performed to evaluate the data acquisition performance of the developed wireless sensor. The sensor‟s wireless immunity to interference performance was also evaluated in laboratory and field tests. The literature survey reviews current condition monitoring practices in electrical substation environments with a focus on monitoring high voltage insulators and substation earth impedance. The data acquisition performance of the wireless sensor was tested in a laboratory using two artificially polluted insulators, in a fog chamber that applied clean fog. Analysis of the test results were found to be in good agreement with those recorded directly through a data acquisition card and transmitted via coaxial cable. The wireless impedance measurement of a 275kV transmission earth tower base field test was also performed and was found to be in agreement with previous published results from standard earth measurements. The sensor‟s wireless interference performance was evaluated at a field test site when no high voltage experiments were taking place. The sensors wireless interference performance was then tested in a laboratory environment before and during high voltage tests taking place. The results of these tests were compared to each other and to published results. These tests demonstrate the suitability of the sensor‟s design and its immunity to interference. The experimental work conducted using the developed wireless sensor has led to an understanding that continuous wireless data acquisition is possible in high voltage environments. However, novel condition monitoring systems that make use of such wireless sensors, have to take into account data losses and delays adequately. Furthermore, a solar power source was designed and constructed to be used for outdoor substation applications and the solar battery charging performance of the wireless sensor was tested in a solar laboratory.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Bidirectional Neural Interface Circuits with On-Chip Stimulation Artifact Reduction Schemes

Bidirectional neural interfaces are tools designed to “communicate” with the brain via recording and modulation of neuronal activity. The bidirectional interface systems have been adopted for many applications. Neuroscientists employ them to map neuronal circuits through precise stimulation and recording. Medical doctors deploy them as adaptable medical devices which control therapeutic stimulation parameters based on monitoring real-time neural activity. Brain-machine-interface (BMI) researchers use neural interfaces to bypass the nervous system and directly control neuroprosthetics or brain-computer-interface (BCI) spellers. In bidirectional interfaces, the implantable transducers as well as the corresponding electronic circuits and systems face several challenges. A high channel count, low power consumption, and reduced system size are desirable for potential chronic deployment and wider applicability. Moreover, a neural interface designed for robust closed-loop operation requires the mitigation of stimulation artifacts which corrupt the recorded signals. This dissertation introduces several techniques targeting low power consumption, small size, and reduction of stimulation artifacts. These techniques are implemented for extracellular electrophysiological recording and two stimulation modalities: direct current stimulation for closed-loop control of seizure detection/quench and optical stimulation for optogenetic studies. While the two modalities differ in their mechanisms, hardware implementation, and applications, they share many crucial system-level challenges. The first method aims at solving the critical issue of stimulation artifacts saturating the preamplifier in the recording front-end. To prevent saturation, a novel mixed-signal stimulation artifact cancellation circuit is devised to subtract the artifact before amplification and maintain the standard input range of a power-hungry preamplifier. Additional novel techniques have been also implemented to lower the noise and power consumption. A common average referencing (CAR) front-end circuit eliminates the cross-channel common mode noise by averaging and subtracting it in analog domain. A range-adapting SAR ADC saves additional power by eliminating unnecessary conversion cycles when the input signal is small. Measurements of an integrated circuit (IC) prototype demonstrate the attenuation of stimulation artifacts by up to 42 dB and cross-channel noise suppression by up to 39.8 dB. The power consumption per channel is maintained at 330 nW, while the area per channel is only 0.17 mm2. The second system implements a compact headstage for closed-loop optogenetic stimulation and electrophysiological recording. This design targets a miniaturized form factor, high channel count, and high-precision stimulation control suitable for rodent in-vivo optogenetic studies. Monolithically integrated optoelectrodes (which include 12 µLEDs for optical stimulation and 12 electrical recording sites) are combined with an off-the-shelf recording IC and a custom-designed high-precision LED driver. 32 recording and 12 stimulation channels can be individually accessed and controlled on a small headstage with dimensions of 2.16 x 2.38 x 0.35 cm and mass of 1.9 g. A third system prototype improves the optogenetic headstage prototype by furthering system integration and improving power efficiency facilitating wireless operation. The custom application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) combines recording and stimulation channels with a power management unit, allowing the system to be powered by an ultra-light Li-ion battery. Additionally, the µLED drivers include a high-resolution arbitrary waveform generation mode for shaping of µLED current pulses to preemptively reduce artifacts. A prototype IC occupies 7.66 mm2, consumes 3.04 mW under typical operating conditions, and the optical pulse shaping scheme can attenuate stimulation artifacts by up to 3x with a Gaussian-rise pulse rise time under 1 ms.PHDElectrical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147674/1/mendrela_1.pd

Integrated Electronics for Wireless Imaging Microsystems with CMUT Arrays

Integration of transducer arrays with interface electronics in the form of single-chip CMUT-on-CMOS has emerged into the field of medical ultrasound imaging and is transforming this field. It has already been used in several commercial products such as handheld full-body imagers and it is being implemented by commercial and academic groups for Intravascular Ultrasound and Intracardiac Echocardiography. However, large attenuation of ultrasonic waves transmitted through the skull has prevented ultrasound imaging of the brain. This research is a prime step toward implantable wireless microsystems that use ultrasound to image the brain by bypassing the skull. These microsystems offer autonomous scanning (beam steering and focusing) of the brain and transferring data out of the brain for further processing and image reconstruction. The objective of the presented research is to develop building blocks of an integrated electronics architecture for CMUT based wireless ultrasound imaging systems while providing a fundamental study on interfacing CMUT arrays with their associated integrated electronics in terms of electrical power transfer and acoustic reflection which would potentially lead to more efficient and high-performance systems. A fully wireless architecture for ultrasound imaging is demonstrated for the first time. An on-chip programmable transmit (TX) beamformer enables phased array focusing and steering of ultrasound waves in the transmit mode while its on-chip bandpass noise shaping digitizer followed by an ultra-wideband (UWB) uplink transmitter minimizes the effect of path loss on the transmitted image data out of the brain. A single-chip application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) is de- signed to realize the wireless architecture and interface with array elements, each of which includes a transceiver (TRX) front-end with a high-voltage (HV) pulser, a high-voltage T/R switch, and a low-noise amplifier (LNA). Novel design techniques are implemented in the system to enhance the performance of its building blocks. Apart from imaging capability, the implantable wireless microsystems can include a pressure sensing readout to measure intracranial pressure. To do so, a power-efficient readout for pressure sensing is presented. It uses pseudo-pseudo differential readout topology to cut down the static power consumption of the sensor for further power savings in wireless microsystems. In addition, the effect of matching and electrical termination on CMUT array elements is explored leading to new interface structures to improve bandwidth and sensitivity of CMUT arrays in different operation regions. Comprehensive analysis, modeling, and simulation methodologies are presented for further investigation.Ph.D

A wireless 802.11 condition monitoring sensor for electrical substation environments

The work reported in this thesis is concerned with the design, development and testing of a wireless 802.11 condition monitoring sensor for an electrical substation environments. The work includes a comprehensive literature review and the design and development of a novel continuous wireless data acquisition sensor. Laboratory and field tests were performed to evaluate the data acquisition performance of the developed wireless sensor. The sensor‟s wireless immunity to interference performance was also evaluated in laboratory and field tests. The literature survey reviews current condition monitoring practices in electrical substation environments with a focus on monitoring high voltage insulators and substation earth impedance. The data acquisition performance of the wireless sensor was tested in a laboratory using two artificially polluted insulators, in a fog chamber that applied clean fog. Analysis of the test results were found to be in good agreement with those recorded directly through a data acquisition card and transmitted via coaxial cable. The wireless impedance measurement of a 275kV transmission earth tower base field test was also performed and was found to be in agreement with previous published results from standard earth measurements. The sensor‟s wireless interference performance was evaluated at a field test site when no high voltage experiments were taking place. The sensors wireless interference performance was then tested in a laboratory environment before and during high voltage tests taking place. The results of these tests were compared to each other and to published results. These tests demonstrate the suitability of the sensor‟s design and its immunity to interference. The experimental work conducted using the developed wireless sensor has led to an understanding that continuous wireless data acquisition is possible in high voltage environments. However, novel condition monitoring systems that make use of such wireless sensors, have to take into account data losses and delays adequately. Furthermore, a solar power source was designed and constructed to be used for outdoor substation applications and the solar battery charging performance of the wireless sensor was tested in a solar laboratory

An implantable micro-system for neural prosthesis control and sensory feedback restoration in amputees

In this work, the prototype of an electronic bi-directional interface between the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) and a neuro-controlled hand prosthesis is presented. The system is composed of two Integrated Circuits (ICs): a standard CMOS device for neural recording and a High Voltage (HV) CMOS device for neural stimulation. The integrated circuits have been realized in two different 0.35μm CMOS processes available fromAustriaMicroSystem(AMS). The recoding IC incorporates 8 channels each including the analog front-end and the A/D conversion based on a sigma delta architecture. It has a total area of 16.8mm2 and exhibits an overall power consumption of 27.2mW. The neural stimulation IC is able to provide biphasic current pulses to stimulate 8 electrodes independently. A voltage booster generates a 17V voltage supply in order to guarantee the programmed stimulation current even in case of high impedances at the electrode-tissue interface in the order of tens of k­. The stimulation patterns, generated by a 5-bit current DAC, are programmable in terms of amplitude, frequency and pulse width. Due to the huge capacitors of the implemented voltage boosters, the stimulation IC has a wider area of 18.6mm2. In addition, a maximum power consumption of 29mW was measured. Successful in-vivo experiments with rats having a TIME electrode implanted in the sciatic nerve were carried out, showing the capability of recording neural signals in the tens of microvolts, with a global noise of 7μVrms , and to selectively elicit the tibial and plantarmuscles using different active sites of the electrode. In order to get a completely implantable interface, a biocompatible and biostable package was designed. It hosts the developed ICs with the minimal electronics required for their proper operation. The package consists of an alumina tube closed at both extremities by two ceramic caps hermetically sealed on it. Moreover, the two caps serve as substrate for the hermetic feedthroughs to enable the device powering and data exchange with the external digital controller implemented on a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) board. The package has an outer diameter of 7mm and a total length of 26mm. In addition, a humidity and temperature sensor was also included inside the package to allow future hermeticity and life-time estimation tests. Moreover, a wireless, wearable and non-invasive EEG recording system is proposed in order to improve the control over the artificial limb,by integrating the neural signals recorded from the PNS with those directly acquired from the brain. To first investigate the system requirements, a Component-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) device was designed. It includes a low-power 8- channel acquisition module and a Bluetooth (BT) transceiver to transmit the acquired data to a remote platform. It was designed with the aimof creating a cheap and user-friendly system that can be easily interfaced with the nowadays widely spread smartphones or tablets by means of a mobile-based application. The presented system, validated through in-vivo experiments, allows EEG signals recording at different sample rates and with a maximum bandwidth of 524Hz. It was realized on a 19cm2 custom PCB with a maximum power consumption of 270mW

Development of electronics for microultrasound capsule endoscopy

Development of intracorporeal devices has surged in the last decade due to advancements in the semiconductor industry, energy storage and low-power sensing systems. This work aims to present a thorough systematic overview and exploration of the microultrasound (µUS) capsule endoscopy (CE) field as the development of electronic components will be key to a successful applicable µUSCE device. The research focused on investigating and designing high-voltage (HV, < 36 V) generating and driving circuits as well as a low-noise amplifier (LNA) for battery-powered and volume-limited systems. In implantable applications, HV generation with maximum efficiency is required to improve the operational lifetime whilst reducing the cost of the device. A fully integrated hybrid (H) charge pump (CP) comprising a serial-parallel (SP) stage was designed and manufactured for > 20 V and 0 - 100 µA output capabilities. The results were compared to a Dickson (DKCP) occupying the same chip area; further improvements in the SPCP topology were explored and a new switching scheme for SPCPs was introduced. A second regulated CP version was excogitated and manufactured to use with an integrated µUS pulse generator. The CP was manufactured and tested at different output currents and capacitive loads; its operation with an US pulser was evaluated and a novel self-oscillating CP mechanism to eliminate the need of an auxiliary clock generator with a minimum area overhead was devised. A single-output universal US pulser was designed, manufactured and tested with 1.5 MHz, 3 MHz, and 28 MHz arrays to achieve a means of fully-integrated, low-power transducer driving. The circuit was evaluated for power consumption and pulse generation capabilities with different loads. Pulse-echo measurements were carried out and compared with those from a commercial US research system to characterise and understand the quality of the generated pulse. A second pulser version for a 28 MHz array was derived to allow control of individual elements. The work involved its optimisation methodology and design of a novel HV feedback-based level-shifter. A low-noise amplifier (LNA) was designed for a wide bandwidth µUS array with a centre frequency of 28 MHz. The LNA was based on an energy-efficient inverter architecture. The circuit encompassed a full power-down functionality and was investigated for a self-biased operation to achieve lower chip area. The explored concepts enable realisation of low power and high performance LNAs for µUS frequencies

A field portable ultrasound system for bovine tissue characterization

Efforts by beef producers and beef packers to reduce carcass losses and to move the industry to a value-based marketing system have renewed their interest in the development of new electronic grading techniques for assessing beef carcass composition. A custom ultrasonic data acquisition system has been developed for the purpose of investigating the feasibility of beef tissue characterization. The unit developed is a compact, hand-held, six channel battery-operated data logger capable of sampling A-mode ultrasound signals at a rate of 15 megasamples per second. A custom epoxy encapsulated ultrasound transducer array was developed to fit the inner curvature of the thoracic cavity on top of the intercostal muscle between the 12th and 13th rib. Data collected by the ultrasound unit is temporarily stored in a handheld data terminal/computer for retrieval and analysis on a personal computer at a later time. Ultrasound samples from 39 carcasses were analyzed for backscatter energy content. The ultrasound records were partitioned into two groups based on the contact characteristics between the probe and tissue. Preliminary fat estimation in the longissimus dorsi muscle have resulted in correlation coefficients on two partitioned data sets of 0.81 and 0.82. Preliminary marbling estimation in the longissimus dorsi muscle have resulted in correlation coefficients on two partitioned groups of 0.59 and 0.70