8 research outputs found
Design and Characterization of Crossbar architecture Velostat-based Flexible Writing Pad
Pressure sensors are popular in a large variety of industries. For some
applications, it is critical for these sensors to come in a flexible form
factor. With the development of new synthetic polymers and novel fabrication
techniques, flexible pressure sensing arrays are more easily accessible and can
serve a variety of applications. As part of this dissertation, we demonstrate
one such application of the same by developing a low-cost flexible writing pad
and doing crosstalk analysis on sensors with similar working principles. We
present a low-cost, flexible writing pad that uses a 16x16 pressure sensing
matrix based on the piezoresistive thin film of velostat. The writing area is 5
cm x 5 cm with an effective pixel area of 0.06 mm^2. A read-out circuit is
designed to detect the change in resistance of the velostat pixel using a
voltage divider. A microprocessor raster scans through the sensor pixel matrix
to obtain a data frame of 256 numbers. This data is processed using techniques
like squaring and normalising (S\&N), Gaussian blurring, and adaptive
thresholding to generate a more readable output. The writing pad is able to
resolve characters larger than 2 cm in length. The flexible writing pad
produces legible output while flexed at a bending radius of up to 4 cm. Such
flexibility promises to enhance the usability and portability of the writing
pad significantly. We noticed that the raw data produced by the writing pad had
a lot of crosstalk which we were subsequently able to resolve using the
algorithms mentioned above. Such crosstalk has been reported in literature
multiple times and is common, especially for sensors of the crossbar
architecture.Crosstalk, in a sensor matrix, is the unwanted signal obtained at
a sensor pixel that is not directly related to the stimulus. This paper
presents a novel approach towards quantifying the crosstalk characteristics of
a sensor matrix
Smart Sensor Technologies for IoT
The recent development in wireless networks and devices has led to novel services that will utilize wireless communication on a new level. Much effort and resources have been dedicated to establishing new communication networks that will support machine-to-machine communication and the Internet of Things (IoT). In these systems, various smart and sensory devices are deployed and connected, enabling large amounts of data to be streamed. Smart services represent new trends in mobile services, i.e., a completely new spectrum of context-aware, personalized, and intelligent services and applications. A variety of existing services utilize information about the position of the user or mobile device. The position of mobile devices is often achieved using the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) chips that are integrated into all modern mobile devices (smartphones). However, GNSS is not always a reliable source of position estimates due to multipath propagation and signal blockage. Moreover, integrating GNSS chips into all devices might have a negative impact on the battery life of future IoT applications. Therefore, alternative solutions to position estimation should be investigated and implemented in IoT applications. This Special Issue, “Smart Sensor Technologies for IoT” aims to report on some of the recent research efforts on this increasingly important topic. The twelve accepted papers in this issue cover various aspects of Smart Sensor Technologies for IoT
Sensitive and Makeable Computational Materials for the Creation of Smart Everyday Objects
The vision of computational materials is to create smart everyday objects using the materi- als that have sensing and computational capabilities embedded into them. However, today’s development of computational materials is limited because its interfaces (i.e. sensors) are unable to support wide ranges of human interactions , and withstand the fabrication meth- ods of everyday objects (e.g. cutting and assembling). These barriers hinder citizens from creating smart every day objects using computational materials on a large scale.
To overcome the barriers, this dissertation presents the approaches to develop compu- tational materials to be 1) sensitive to a wide variety of user interactions, including explicit interactions (e.g. user inputs) and implicit interactions (e.g. user contexts), and 2) makeable against a wide range of fabrication operations, such cutting and assembling. I exemplify the approaches through five research projects on two common materials, textile and wood. For each project, I explore how a material interface can be made to sense user inputs or activities, and how it can be optimized to balance sensitivity and fabrication complexity. I discuss the sensing algorithms and machine learning model to interpret the sensor data as high-level abstraction and interaction. I show the practical applications of developed computational materials. I demonstrate the evaluation study to validate their performance and robustness.
In the end of this dissertation, I summarize the contributions of my thesis and discuss future directions for the vision of computational materials
Portfolio of Electroacoustic Compositions with Commentaries
This portfolio consists of electroacoustic compositions which were primarily realised
through the use of corporeally informed compositional practices. The manner in which a
composer interacts with the compositional tools and musical materials at their disposal
is a defining factor in the creation of musical works. Although the use of computers in
the practice of electroacoustic composition has extended the range of sonic possibilities
afforded to composers, it has also had a negative impact on the level of physical interaction
that composers have with these musical materials. This thesis is an investigation
into the use of mediation technologies with the aim of circumventing issues relating to
the physical performance of electroacoustic music.
This line of inquiry has led me to experiment with embedded computers, wearable
technologies, and a range of various sensors. The specific tools that were used in the
creation of the pieces within this portfolio are examined in detail within this thesis. I also
provide commentaries and analysis of the eleven electroacoustic works which comprise
this portfolio, describing the thought processes that led to their inception, the materials
used in their creation, and the tools and techniques that I employed throughout the
compositional process
Sensors for Foam Balance Pad
Diplomová práce se zabývá návrhem vlastního senzorického řešení pro detekci pohybů prováděných na pěnové balanční podložce AIREX® Elite. Součástí práce je teoretický popis balančních cvičebních pomůcek a jejich aplikace v oblasti fyzioterapie. Dále je zde uvedena rešerše současných technických řešení pro snímání pohybu na balanční pomůcce. Pro realizaci vlastního řešení byl vybrán princip kapacitního měření vzdálenosti s využitím vodivých textilií pro realizaci senzoru. Další část je věnována návrhu hardwarového řešení, je zde popsán návrh senzorické matice, velikost jednotlivých snímacích prvků a vzdálenost mezi nimi a sběrem dat pomocí mikrokontroléru STM32 a zpracováním těchto dat v prostředí LabVIEW. Součástí vlastní práce je návrh vlastního uživatelského rozhraní k vizualizaci pohybu na pěnové balanční podložce a testování vytvořeného řešení v reálných podmínkách při rehabilitaci v domácím prostředí.The thesis deals with the design of a custom sensor solution for the detection of movements performed on the AIREX® Elite foam balance pad. The thesis includes a theoretical description of balance exercise aids and their application in the field of physiotherapy. Furthermore, a survey of current technical solutions for motion sensing on balance aids is presented. For the implementation of the actual solution, the principle of capacitive distance measurement using conductive textiles was chosen for the sensor implementation. The next section is devoted to the design of the hardware solution, it describes the design of the sensor matrix, the size of the individual sensing elements and the distance between them and the data acquisition using the STM32 microcontroller and the processing of this data in the LabVIEW environment. The actual work includes the design of a custom user interface to visualize the motion on the foam balance pad and testing of the developed solution in real conditions during rehabilitation in a home environment.450 - Katedra kybernetiky a biomedicínského inženýrstvívýborn
ATHENA Research Book, Volume 2
ATHENA European University is an association of nine higher education institutions with the mission of promoting excellence in research and innovation by enabling international cooperation. The acronym ATHENA stands for Association of Advanced Technologies in Higher Education. Partner institutions are from France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal and Slovenia: University of Orléans, University of Siegen, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Niccolò Cusano University, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Polytechnic Institute of Porto and University of Maribor. In 2022, two institutions joined the alliance: the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University from Poland and the University of Vigo from Spain. Also in 2022, an institution from Austria joined the alliance as an associate member: Carinthia University of Applied Sciences. This research book presents a selection of the research activities of ATHENA University's partners. It contains an overview of the research activities of individual members, a selection of the most important bibliographic works of members, peer-reviewed student theses, a descriptive list of ATHENA lectures and reports from individual working sections of the ATHENA project. The ATHENA Research Book provides a platform that encourages collaborative and interdisciplinary research projects by advanced and early career researchers
2021- The Twenty-fifth Annual Symposium of Student Scholars
The full program book from the Twenty-fifth Annual Symposium of Student Scholars, held on April 29, 2021. Includes abstracts from the presentations and posters.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/sssprograms/1023/thumbnail.jp
Polymer Materials in Sensors, Actuators and Energy Conversion
Polymer-based materials applications in sensors, actuators, and energy conversion play a key role in recently developing areas of smart materials and electronic devices. These areas cover the synthesis, structures, and properties of polymers and composites, including energy-harvesting devices and energy-storage devices for electromechanical (electrical to mechanical energy conversion) and magneto-mechanical (magnetic to mechanical energy conversion), light-emitting devices, and electrically driving sensors. Therefore, the modulation of polymer-based materials and devices for controlling the detection, actuation, and energy with functionalized relative device can be achieved with the present reprint, comprising 12 chapters.This reprint is principally concerned with the topic of materials of materials, especially polymers. The contents not only involve essential information but also possess many novel academic applications in the fields. This Special Issue's title is "Polymer Materials in Sensors, Actuators and Energy Conversion" and covers the research field of polymers .Finally, I am very proud of my dear wife Winnie, son Vincent, and daughter Ruby. I thank them for supporting me in finishing the reprint. The reprint, involving 2 reviews and 10 regular papers, has been accomplished, and I am deeply thankful to all the authors for their assistance in producing a reprint with considerable number of chapters. I also hope that readers can achieve some useful understanding of polymer materials in sensors, actuators, and energy conversion, and that that they will be employed by scientists and researchers