High precision hybrid RF and ultrasonic chirp-based ranging for low-power IoT nodes

Hybrid acoustic-RF systems offer excellent ranging accuracy, yet they typically come at a power consumption that is too high to meet the energy constraints of mobile IoT nodes. We combine pulse compression and synchronized wake-ups to achieve a ranging solution that limits the active time of the nodes to 1 ms. Hence, an ultra low-power consumption of 9.015 µW for a single measurement is achieved. The operation time is estimated on 8.5 years on a CR2032 coin cell battery at a 1 Hz update rate, which is over 250 times larger than state-of-the-art RF-based positioning systems. Measurements based on a proof-of-concept hardware platform show median distance error values below 10 cm. Both simulations and measurements demonstrate that the accuracy is reduced at low signal-to-noise ratios and when reflections occur. We introduce three methods that enhance the distance measurements at a low extra processing power cost. Hence, we validate in realistic environments that the centimeter accuracy can be obtained within the energy budget of mobile devices and IoT nodes. The proposed hybrid signal ranging system can be extended to perform accurate, low-power indoor positioning

Preclinical in vivo longitudinal assessment of KG207-M as a disease-modifying Alzheimer's disease therapeutic

In vivo biomarker abnormalities provide measures to monitor therapeutic interventions targeting amyloid-β pathology as well as its effects on downstream processes associated with Alzheimer’s disease pathophysiology. Here, we applied an in vivo longitudinal study design combined with imaging and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers, mirroring those used in human clinical trials to assess the efficacy of a novel brain-penetrating anti-amyloid fusion protein treatment in the McGill-R-Thy1-APP transgenic rat model. The bi-functional fusion protein consisted of a blood-brain barrier crossing single domain antibody (FC5) fused to an amyloid-β oligomer-binding peptide (ABP) via Fc fragment of mouse IgG (FC5-mFc2a-ABP). A five-week treatment with FC5-mFc2a-ABP (loading dose of 30 mg/Kg/iv followed by 15 mg/Kg/week/iv for four weeks) substantially reduced brain amyloid-β levels as measured by positron emission tomography and increased the cerebrospinal fluid amyloid-β42/40 ratio. In addition, the 5-week treatment rectified the cerebrospinal fluid neurofilament light chain concentrations, resting-state functional connectivity, and hippocampal atrophy measured using magnetic resonance imaging. Finally, FC5-mFc2a-ABP (referred to as KG207-M) treatment did not induce amyloid-related imaging abnormalities such as microhemorrhage. Together, this study demonstrates the translational values of the designed preclinical studies for the assessment of novel therapies based on the clinical biomarkers providing tangible metrics for designing early-stage clinical trials

Indoor Room Location Estimation

This paper presents an indoor location estimation system, especially to locate people or objects at room level. First of all a theoretical approach is given. Secondly, a practical case, using our own system, is presented. Our system consists of a ZigBee-based wireless sensor network connected to a central PC. Using the signpost algorithm and considering the behavior of the received signal strength (RSS) through walls, floors and ceilings, we succeeded in developing a reliable indoor room localization system

High precision hybrid RF and ultrasonic chirp-based ranging for low-power IoT nodes

Hybrid acoustic-RF systems offer excellent ranging accuracy, yet they typically come at a power consumption that is too high to meet the energy constraints of mobile IoT nodes. We combine pulse compression and synchronized wake-ups to achieve a ranging solution that limits the active time of the nodes to 1 ms. Hence, an ultra low-power consumption of 9.015 µW for a single measurement is achieved. The operation time is estimated on 8.5 years on a CR2032 coin cell battery at a 1 Hz update rate, which is over 250 times larger than state-of-the-art RF-based positioning systems. Measurements based on a proof-of-concept hardware platform show median distance error values below 10 cm. Both simulations and measurements demonstrate that the accuracy is reduced at low signal-to-noise ratios and when reflections occur. We introduce three methods that enhance the distance measurements at a low extra processing power cost. Hence, we validate in realistic environments that the centimeter accuracy can be obtained within the energy budget of mobile devices and IoT nodes. The proposed hybrid signal ranging system can be extended to perform accurate, low-power indoor positioning

Application Of Dynamic Models (ASM1) And Simulation To Minimize Renovation Costs Of A Municipal Activated Sludge Wastewater Treatment Plant

KEYWORDS INTRODUCTION CASE STUDY RESULTS AND DISCUSSION CONCLUSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENT REFERENCES ABSTRACT Model-based scenario analysis with the ASM1 model was used to evaluate the effect of different process modifications on the biological nitrogen removal process for a specific case study (municipal wastewater treatment plant). Simulations showed that the construction of extra tank volume was needed to obtain the effluent standard of 15 mg N/l. However, the renovation scenarios resulting from a model-based analysis resulted in lower construction costs (less extra tank volume to be constructed and better reuse of existing treatment plant components) compared to a rule-of-thumb design as often applied. KEYWORDS ASM1, biological N removal, denitrification, modelling, nitrification, renovation INTRODUCTION Activated sludge models were developed as a tool to study the complex interactions that occur between the different microbial communities in an activated sludge plant. The Act..

Dedicated Hardware for Attribute-Based Credential Verification

Part 1: Research PapersInternational audienceAttribute-based credentials systems offer a privacy-friendly solution to access electronic services. In this field, most research has been directed into optimizing the prover operations and exploring the usability boundaries on mobile platforms like smart cards and mobile phones. This research assumes that the verification of credential proofs occur at a powerful back end. However, a broad range of (embedded) applications lack this powerful back end.This article shows that hardware accelerators for modular exponentiations, greatly reduce the run time of applications that require credential verification in an embedded context. In addition, when verification requires a considerable amount of the total run time (i.e., communication included), the use of dual-base (simultaneous) exponentiation hardware further increases the overall performance.All tests have been performed in a practical setup between a smartphone and an embedded terminal using NFC communication

Fluorine NMR study of proline-rich sequences using fluoroprolines

International audienceProline homopolymer motifs are found in many proteins; their peculiar conformational and dynamic properties are often directly involved in those proteins' functions. However, the dynamics of proline homopolymers is hard to study by NMR due to a lack of amide protons and small chemical shift dispersion. Exploiting the spectroscopic properties of fluorinated prolines opens interesting perspectives to address these issues. Fluorinated prolines are already widely used in protein structure engineering – they introduce conformational and dynamical biases – but their use as 19F NMR reporters of proline conformation has not yet been explored. In this work, we look at model peptides where Cγ-fluorinated prolines with opposite configurations of the chiral Cγ centre have been introduced at two positions in distinct polyproline segments. By looking at the effects of swapping these (4R)-fluoroproline and (4S)-fluoroproline within the polyproline segments, we were able to separate the intrinsic conformational properties of the polyproline sequence from the conformational alterations instilled by fluorination. We assess the fluoroproline 19F relaxation properties, and we exploit the latter in elucidating binding kinetics to the SH3 (Src homology 3) domain