Advanced Biomedical Laboratory (ABL) Synergy with Communication, Robotics, and IoT

This paper proposes a framework for integrating IoT and automation in a biomedical laboratory to improve safety, optimize processes, and enhance students\u27 learning experience. The framework incorporates a centralized control unit and distributed subsystems to control equipment and machinery and includes autonomous robotics and intelligent monitoring systems. The paper presents the results of undergraduate students\u27 work on automating various biomedical processes, including developing an Intelligent Autonomous Monitoring (IAM) device. IAM utilizes machine learning algorithms to identify outliers in processes and safety hazards. Moreover, IAM autonomously detects and localizes biomedical tools and equipment. Results show the feasibility of delivering real-time results for localizing specific tools necessary within a biomedical laboratory. This framework offers a systemic approach toward process automation, aiding researchers in developing new equipment and automating existing processes. Furthermore, it assists students in gaining a fundamental understanding of the theory behind biomedical principles while providing a repeatable experimental environment through more accurate data and event collection

Biomedical Sensing - A Sensor Fusion Approach for Improved Medical Detection and Monitoring

Enhanced technological advancement in computation, communication, and sensing has dramatically changed the dynamics of modern medicine. Advancing preventive medicine is paramount to a sustainable improvement in the quality of life and life expectancy. On-body sensors provide continuous measurements for healthy and ailing individuals leading to faster recovery and more timely detection of illnesses. Novel sensor designs and sensor fusion for preventive monitoring can provide extensible benefits, including a better understanding of ailment progression, treatment optimization, and patient feedback through data analytics and visualization. However, existing research does not thoroughly investigate sensor fusion approaches in biomedical sensing, as well as spot sensing, which can provide better information through more accurate detection of specific tissues instead of secondary measurements. This article presents the development of an ex-vivo sensor fusion system to track a person\u27s muscular condition. The embedded system provides a significant benefit by notifying users of particular muscle events in real-time

Development of a Fish Robot Equipped with Novel 3D-Printed Soft Bending Actuators

This paper reports on design and fabrication of a novel soft fish robot. Application of soft actuators for the fish tail will generates continuum bending motion which resembles the natural motion of the fish. However, most soft actuator mechanisms are complex and have low efficiency. Thus, to address this issue we have developed a 3D printed soft bending actuator which can be actuated with an electromotor. The basic design idea of the soft bending actuator is explained, and iteration of the design showed to create the desired motion for the soft tail. The soft actuator has been successfully integrated with fish body and it has been shown that the fish can swim

Dynamic Optimal Fragmentation with Rate Adaptation in Wireless Mobile Networks

Dynamic optimal fragmentation with rate adaptation (DORA) is an algorithm to achieve maximum goodput in wireless mobile networks. With the analytical model that incorporates number of users, contentions, packet lengths, and bit error rates in the network, DORA computes a fragmentation threshold and transmits optimal sized packets with maximum rates. To estimate the SNR in the model, an adaptive on-demand UDP estimator is designed to reduce overheads. Test-beds to execute experiments for channel estimation, WLANs, Ad Hoc networks, and Vehicle-to-Vehicle networks are developed to evaluate the performance of DORA. DORA is an energy-efficient generic CSMA/CA MAC protocol for wireless mobile computing applications, and enhances system goodput in WLANs, Ad Hoc networks, and Vehicle-to-Vehicle networks without modification of the protocols.Ph.D.Committee Chair: John A. Copeland; Committee Member: George F. Riley; Committee Member: Henry L .Owen; Committee Member: Mostafa H. Ammar; Committee Member: Ye L

Towards Fast and Reliable Multihop Routing in VANETs

© 2002-2012 IEEE. In Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs), fast and reliable dissemination of safety messages is a key step toward improving the overall road safety. In a highly dynamic VANET environment, safety message dissemination in a multi-hop manner is a challenging and complex problem that has gained significant attention recently. Many protocols and schemes have been proposed to efficiently share safety messages among vehicles. However, most existing techniques do not perform well under real-world traffic conditions, or perform adequately only under very limited scenarios and traffic conditions. This research proposes a highly efficient and reliable multi-hop broadcasting protocol, Intelligent Forwarding Protocol (IFP), that exploits handshake-less communication, ACK Decoupling, and an efficient collision resolution mechanism. In this research, IFP has been extensively studied and evaluated to establish its robustness and superiority over existing schemes. A key contribution of this paper is to present an in-depth analysis and optimization of IFP using theoretical modeling, thorough simulations, and extensive real-world experimentation. With IFP, the message propagation delay is significantly reduced and packet delivery ratio is drastically improved