Fuente de corriente para aplicaciones de bioimpedancia utilizando un dispositivo de señal mixta, PSoC 5LP

One of the main components for bioimpedance measurement are the current sources, which are designed mainly from discrete analog components. Currently, the decrease in the costs of digital systems and the high scale of integration allow us to propose embedded solutions, substantially reducing the electronic components used. This article presents the design of a bipolar sinusoidal current source for bioimpedance applications based on discrete time feedback systems, fully embedded in a mixed signal device PSoC 5LP CY8C5888AXI-LP096 from Cypress semiconductor mounted on a FreeSoC2 card from SparkFun. The proposed source regulates the peak level of the bipolar current delivered by an embedded discrete time controller, measuring the voltage present in a resistor of known value which is the only element external to the source and this series with the load impedance (Resistance Shunt), achieving working frequencies up to 120 kHz, with load resistors from 50 Ω to 3 kΩ and currents between 500 μA and 2 mA, maintaining a harmonic distortion close to 1% for most of the working range of the source.Uno de los principales componentes para medición de bioimpedancia son las fuentes de corriente, las cuales son diseñadas principalmente a partir de componentes analógicos discretos. En la actualidad la disminución en los costos de los sistemas digitales y la alta escala de integración permiten plantear soluciones embebidas disminuyendo sustancialmente los componentes electrónicos utilizados. Este articulo presenta el diseño de una fuente de corriente sinusoidal bipolar para aplicaciones de bioimpedancia basada en sistemas realimentados de tiempo discreto, totalmente embebida en un dispositivo de señal mixta PSoC 5LP CY8C5888AXI-LP096 de Cypress semiconductor montado sobre una tarjeta FreeSoC2 de la empresa SparkFun. La fuente propuesta regula el nivel pico de la corriente bipolar entregada mediante un controlador de tiempo discreto embebido, midiendo el voltaje presente en una resistencia de valor conocido la cual es el único elemento externo a la fuente y que esta serie con la impedancia de carga (Resistencia Shunt), lográndose frecuencias de trabajo de hasta 120 kHz, con resistencias de carga desde 50 Ω a 3 kΩ y corrientes entre 500 µA y 2 mA, manteniendo una distorsión armónica cercana al 1% para la mayoría del rango de trabajo de la fuente. 

Remote Cell Growth Sensing Using Self-Sustained Bio-Oscillations

A smart sensor system for cell culture real-time supervision is proposed, allowing for a significant reduction in human effort applied to this type of assay. The approach converts the cell culture under test into a suitable “biological” oscillator. The system enables the remote acquisition and management of the “biological” oscillation signals through a secure web interface. The indirectly observed biological properties are cell growth and cell number, which are straightforwardly related to the measured bio-oscillation signal parameters, i.e., frequency and amplitude. The sensor extracts the information without complex circuitry for acquisition and measurement, taking advantage of the microcontroller features. A discrete prototype for sensing and remote monitoring is presented along with the experimental results obtained from the performed measurements, achieving the expected performance and outcomes

Implantable intracardiac bioimpedance system

textAn implantable intracardiac bioimpedance system has been designed to measure the real and imaginary parts of impedance in a dynamic cardiac setting. The system is broken into two parts: an implantable wireless device and a desktop base station. This measurement is performed using both tetrapolar and tripolar electrode configurations where a 20 kHz current field is applied to the intracardiac blood pool and myocardium. Epochs of discrete voltage samples from the resulting electric field are analyzed using a digital signal processing algorithm to generate impedance measurements. Measurements are then wirelessly transmitted from the implantable device to a base station where advanced signal processing algorithms are applied and the data is plotted in real-time. The final system measures 485 impedance samples/sec, consumes 50 mA when active, and has a percent of measurement error less than 1% for the intracardiac bioimpedance range. The device has been extensively tested to ensure the quality of measurements required for future human use. Instrument design, calibration, verification, experimentation, and modeling are the primary topics of this thesis. Moving forward, the system will be used in studies where dynamic bioimpedance signals measured in the right and left ventricles of the heart will be used to derive stroke volume.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

Bioimpedance and bone fracture detection: A state of the art

Bioimpedance measurements are used increasingly in health applications because bioelectric parameters have been associated with anatomical and physiological properties, thus enabling to distinguish medical conditions. For bone fracture diagnostics, nevertheless, there is no established non-invasive method. Ex vivo studies and In vivo bioimpedance procedures, both invasive and non-invasive, on mammalians long bones are associated with promising results. In this work, out of a total of 568 papers, we reviewd 59 articles that mention long bone integrity by electric properties, be it Bioimpedance Analysis, Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy or Electrical Impedance Tomography. The papers are described in three sections, "Ex vivo measurements", "In vivo invasive measurements" and "In vivo non-invasive measurements". This review allows to establish the basics to planning the development of new technology to detect bone fracture via bioimpedance measurements.Fil: Dell'osa, Antonio Héctor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego. Instituto de Desarrollo Economico E Innovacion; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Tecnología. Departamento de Bioingeniería. Laboratorio de Medios e Interfases; ArgentinaFil: Felice, Carmelo Jose. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Tecnología. Departamento de Bioingeniería. Laboratorio de Medios e Interfases; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Tecnología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Simini, Patricio. Universidad de la Republica. Facultad de Ingeniería; Urugua

Bioimpedance Sensor

A bioimpdance senor to measure the impedance of a human body. Completed as part of the engineering Senior Design Projec

Towards Bio-impedance Based Labs: A Review

In this article, some of the main contributions to BI (Bio-Impedance) parameter-based systems for medical, biological and industrial fields, oriented to develop micro laboratory systems are summarized. These small systems are enabled by the development of new measurement techniques and systems (labs), based on the impedance as biomarker. The electrical properties of the life mater allow the straightforward, low cost and usually non-invasive measurement methods to define its status or value, with the possibility to know its time evolution. This work proposes a review of bio-impedance based methods being employed to develop new LoC (Lab-on-a-Chips) systems, and some open problems identified as main research challenges, such as, the accuracy limits of measurements techniques, the role of the microelectrode-biological impedance modeling in measurements and system portability specifications demanded for many applications.Spanish founded Project: TEC 2013-46242-C3-1-P: Integrated Microsystem for Cell Culture AssaysFEDE

A battery-less implantable glucose sensor based on electrical impedance spectroscopy

The ability to perform accurate continuous glucose monitoring without blood sampling has revolutionised the management of diabetes. Newer methods that can allow measurements during longer periods are necessary to substantially improve patients' quality of life. This paper presents an alternative method for glucose monitoring which is based on electrical impedance spectroscopy. A battery-less implantable bioimpedance spectroscope was designed, built, and used in an in vivo study on pigs. After a recovery period of 14 days post surgery, a total of 236 subcutaneous bioimpedance measurements obtained from intravenous glucose tolerance tests, with glucose concentration ranges between 77.4 and 523.8 mg/dL, were analyzed. The results show that glucose concentrations estimated by subcutaneous bioimpedance measurements correlate very well to the blood glucose reference values. The pigs were clinically healthy throughout the study, and the postmortem examinations revealed no signs of adverse effects related to the sensor. The implantation of the sensor requires minor surgery. The implant, being externally powered, could in principle last indefinitely. These encouraging results demonstrate the potential of the bioimpedance method to be used in future continuous glucose monitoring systems

Combined dielectrophoretic and impedance system for on-chip controlled bacteria concentration: Application to Escherichia coli

The present paper reports a bacteria autonomous controlled concentrator prototype with a user-friendly interface for bench-top applications. It is based on a micro-fluidic lab-on-a-chip and its associated custom instrumentation, which consists in a dielectrophoretic actuator, to pre-concentrate the sample, and an impedance analyser, to measure concentrated bacteria levels. The system is composed by a single micro-fluidic chamber with interdigitated electrodes and a instrumentation with custom electronics. The prototype is supported by a real-time platform connected to a remote computer, which automatically controls the system and displays impedance data used to monitor the status of bacteria accumulation on-chip. The system automates the whole concentrating operation. Performance has been studied for controlled volumes of Escherichia coli (E. coli) samples injected into the micro-fluidic chip at constant flow rate of 10 μL/min. A media conductivity correcting protocol has been developed, as the preliminary results showed distortion of the impedance analyser measurement produced by bacterial media conductivity variations through time. With the correcting protocol, the measured impedance values were related to the quantity of bacteria concentrated with a correlation of 0.988 and a coefficient of variation of 3.1%. Feasibility of E. coli on-chip automated concentration, using the miniaturized system, has been demonstrated. Furthermore, the impedance monitoring protocol had been adjusted and optimized, to handle changes in the electrical properties of the bacteria media over time