Damper-to-damper path loss characterization for intra-vehicular wireless sensor networks

Intra-Vehicular Wireless Sensor Networks (IVWSNs) is one of the major advances in electrical smart cars. It could extend the driving distance of E-cars by reducing the weight of bulky cables. It can also bring more sensing functions, turning the car into smart units for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). Until now, most works of IVWSNs channel characterization are focused on in-car wireless communication. This paper presents for the first time, to author's knowledge, the channel characterization of a non-line-of-sight damper-to-damper wireless communication at 2.4 GHz frequency band, including the signal reflection from ground. A method of 3D EM simulation is provided. Static and dynamic on-field car measurement is also performed on a commercial car with different road profiles. It shows that different road profiles equally impact path loss specification because of similar permittivity. From on-field measurements, it proves that 5.25 MHz frequency isolation leads to uncorrelated channels

Pulmonary vein isolation for the treatment of atrial fibrillation: past, present and future.

Atrial fibrillation is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia and is associated with impaired quality of life and an increased risk of stroke and mortality. Antiarrhythmic drugs, currently the first-line therapy for patients without permanent atrial fibrillation, fail to prevent recurrences in over 50% and are associated with significant adverse effects. In the majority of cases, atrial fibrillation arises from the repetitive firing of myocytes in muscle sleeves that extend from the left atrium into the pulmonary veins. Pulmonary vein isolation has emerged as an effective treatment in selected patients. In this paper, the past and present roles of pulmonary vein isolation are described and the future developments of this technique are explored