Towards Continuous Nano-Plastic Monitoring in Water by High Frequency Impedance Measurement with Nano-Electrode Arrays

We explore the potentiality of high frequency impedance measurements with CMOS nano-electrode arrays for nano-plastic pollutant particles monitoring in water. This technology offers benefits as nano-scale resolution, high parallelization, scalability, label-free single particle detection, and automatic measurements without operator intervention. Simple models are proposed for size and concentration estimation. The former integrates measurements of adjacent electrodes and shows uncertainty comparable to the nominal one with mean prediction error lower than 45 % down to 50 nm radius. The latter accounts for noise in the definition of the sensing volume. We report a worst-case concentration error lower than a factor 1.7 under stationary and continuous flow, which demonstrates the potential of this technology for automated measurements

A method for estimating object detection probability, lateral resolution, and errors in 3D-LiDARs

3D-LiDARs are nowadays used for many applications, the success of which certainly depends on the processing of the LiDAR output—the point cloud, PC,—but it also inexorably depends on the quality of the PC data. In this study, we propose an experimental method aimed at allowing estimating the errors and deformations that will statistically affect the LiDAR output — the PC. Taking advantage of the fact that LiDARs sample the surrounding space by observing it along divergent lines, hereinafter referred to as rays, this study proposes a simple method based on the experimental determination of the ray detection probability — the probability that a single ray detects the hit object, or a fraction of it, by adding a point in the point cloud. All other probabilities of interest are derived from such a probability. The proposed method also allows highlighting unexpected errors such as cross-talk. As will be shown by the examples given, due to cross-talk, small objects may be deformed and enlarged on a significantly greater number of points in the PC. Likewise, objects angularly separated by an angle greater than the angular resolution declared by the manufacturer may unexpectedly result in a continuum of points. Such errors may compromise the ability to perform very important tasks such as detection, classification, and tracking of dynamic and static objects, as well as the partition of the scene into drivable and non-drivable regions and the path planning around generic obstacles in 3D space

IP Strategy in the Open Innovation Era: The Case Of Collaborative NPD

The most recent literature as well as the practice of companies are bringing into evidence that ensuring appropriability is very difficult, in the context of open innovation. The purpose of this paper is to study this problem, and, in particular, it is analyzed the role of organizational and managerial mechanisms in reinforcing the effectiveness of other IPPMs in collaborative NPD. The paper is based upon literature analysis and a multiple case study, involving three companies, and sheds some light on the specific organizational and managerial interventions that can be introduced within companies in order to improve the effectiveness of the IP strategy in collaborative NPD

Comparison of VLP-16 and MRS-1000 LiDAR systems with absolute interferometer

Nowadays, LiDARs hold a relevant place in providing the environmental sensing required by most ADAS. Promoted by such increasing demand, many new manufacturers are emerging and, new LiDARs are continuously made available on the market. If, on the one hand, the availability of LiDARs with increasing performance and reducing cost has brought significant benefits also promoting the spread of such measuring systems in other areas such as industrial controls and agriculture, on the other, it has made it more difficult to extricate in the immense set of LiDARs present on the market today. In response to this growing need for standards and methods capable of comparing the various LiDARs, many international standards and scientific publications are being produced on the subject. In this paper, we continue our work on LiDARs characterization, focusing our attention on comparing the performances of two of the must popular systems - namely, the MRS 1000 by Sick and the VLP 16 by Velodyne. Starting from the analysis of the warm-up time and stability, such a comparison focused on analyzing the axial error of both systems. Such errors have been estimated by exploiting a custom rail system and an absolute interferometer. The obtained results revealed warm-up times of a few tens of minutes and maximum absolute axial errors of a few centimeters in the range [1.5,21] m

A simple method for the preliminary analysis and benchmarking of automotive LiDARs in fog

The vast multitude of LiDAR systems currently available on the market makes the need for methods to compare their performances increasingly high. In this study, we focus our attention on the development of a method for the analysis of the effects induced by the fog, one of the main challenges for Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADASs) and autonomous driving. Large experimental setups capable of reconstructing adverse weather conditions on a large scale in a controlled and repeatable way are certainly the best test conditions to analyze and compare LiDARs performances in the fog. Nonetheless, such large plants are extremely expensive and complex, therefore only available in a few sites in the world. In this study, we thus propose a measurement method, a data analysis procedure and, an experimental setup that are extremely simple and inexpensive to implement. The achievable results are reasonably less accurate than those obtainable with large plants. Nevertheless, the proposed method can allow to easily and quickly obtain a preliminary estimate of the performance in the presence of fog and a rapid benchmarking of different LiDAR systems

LiDARs detected signal and Target distance estimation: measurement errors from Target reflectance and multiple echos

The use of LiDARs in automotive is increasingly widespread. In order to operate in a critical environment such as that of mobility, these systems must offer increasingly high performance. In particular, the ability to estimate the position of objects regardless of their reflectance and presence of diffusing backgrounds is a very sought-after feature by manufacturers. In commercial systems various strategies are used to make the measurement as insensitive as possible to these effects, however, it is not possible to fully compensate for the measurement errors caused by them. In this paper, we propose two simple experimental setups to verify the presence of these measurement errors in two scenarios. Moreover, we report the performance of a commercial LiDAR (MRS 6000 by Sick) using certified reflectance standards (Spectralon (R) Diffuse Reflectance Standards, by Labsphere). For this LiDAR, the results obtained show that a logarithmic variation of the reflectance of the target of 1.26-log at a target distance 2.4 m provides incompatible measurements. Furthermore, the presence of a background at a distance shorter than 11 cm, 12 cm and 13 cm respectively with 50 %, 75 % and 99 % reflectance also provides incompatible measurements for a target distance of 1.3 m from the LiDAR

Analysis, Quantification, and Discussion of the Approximations Introduced by Pulsed 3-D LiDARs

Light detection and rangings (LiDARs) are considered essential for the environmental sensing required by most advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), including autonomous driving. This has led to significant investments resulted in the availability of countless measuring systems that are increasingly performing and less expensive. Nevertheless, the extremely high speed of light still leads to a nonnegligible quantization error in the direct time-of-flight (ToF) measure at the base of pulsed LiDARs-the leading technology for automotive applications. Hence, pulsed 3-D LiDARs analyze the surrounding by approximating and deforming it on concentric spheres whose radii are quantized with a quantization step that, for most commercial systems, is on the order of some centimeters. The deformation and error introduced by such quantization can thus he significant. In this study, we point out the approximations and assumptions intrinsic to 3-D LiDARs and propose a measurement procedure that, through the analysis of the fine variations of the target position, allows an accurate investigation of the axial resolution and error-probably among the few limitations still affecting this technology. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study focused on the detailed analysis of the quantization error in 3-D LiDARs. The proposed method has been tested on one of the most popular 3-D LiDARs, namely the MRS 6000 by Sick. The obtained results revealed for the MRS 6000 a quantization step of about 6 cm (ToF quantization of about 0.4 ns) and an axial error normally distributed with experimental standard deviation of about 30 mm

Reduced number and function of peripheral dendritic cells in coeliac disease.

Dendritic cells (DC) play a pivotal role in shaping the immune response in both physiological and pathological conditions. In peripheral blood at least two subsets, the myeloid and plasmacytoid, have been described as having different T stimulatory functions and a variable degree of maturation. Certainly, antigen presentation plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of coeliac disease and circulating immune cells are thought to reflect the state of immune response within the gut. Therefore,we aimed to investigate the quantitative and phenotypical modifications of peripheral bloodDC, together with their functional properties, in this pathological condition. Blood samples from 11 untreated patients before and after a course of gluten-free diet, 27 treated patients and 14 controls underwent flow-cytometric analysis, while immunomagnetically sorted DC from the CD patients and eight human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-DQ2/8+ bone marrow donors were used to evaluate maturation status through the CD83 expression, cytokine profile for interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, IL-12 and interferon (IFN)-a by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and functional properties by mixed leucocyte reaction before and after pulsing with digested gliadin. We found that in both untreated and treated patients, a significant reduction of the entire DC population, mainly the plasmacytoid subset, in comparison to healthy controls was observed. In active disease, an impaired allogenic lymphocyte reaction and a significant reduction of IFN-a production, paralleled by the presence of a more immature status, were also demonstrated. All the latter modifications have been reverted by pulsing DC with digested gliadin

Recent Advances in Self-Powered Electrochemical Biosensors for Early Diagnosis of Diseases

Modern sensing technologies are highly required for health monitoring. In this respect, the development of small-size, high-performance, and self-powered biosensors for detecting and quantifying disease markers in biofluids can bring crucial changes and improvements to the concept of health monitoring systems. Clinical trials identify a wide range of biomarkers in biofluids that provide significant health information. Research into novel functional materials with outstanding properties opens up new perspectives for fabricating new-generation biosensors. Furthermore, energy conversion and storage units are investigated to integrate them into biosensors and develop self-powered systems. Electrochemical methods are very attractive for applications in biosensor technology, both in terms of biomarker detection and energy generation. Here the recent achievements in research into self-powered electrochemical biosensors to detect sweat and saliva biomarkers are presented. Potential biomarkers for efficient analysis of these fluids are discussed in light of their importance in identifying various diseases. The influence of electrode materials on the performance of sensors is discussed. Progress in developing operating strategies for self-powered electrochemical monitoring systems is also discussed. A summary and outlook are presented, mentioning major achievements and current issues to be explored