Low-power Sensor Systems Research Articles

Biomimetic Optical-Filter Sensor System for Discrimination of Infrared Chemical Signatures Against a Cold Sky Background

Passive infrared (IR) systems enable rapid detection of chemical vapors but are limited by size, weight, cost, and power. Previously, the authors reported a novel passive sensor that utilizes multiple IR filter/detector combinations to discriminate between different chemical vapors based on their unique IR absorption spectra in the same manner the human eye uses to generate colors. This approach enables a very small, compact, and low-power sensor system with the capability to discriminate between chemical vapors of interest and background chemicals. All previous work showed the capability of this sensor system in discriminating chemical vapors against a hot blackbody in a laboratory environment. Now the authors demonstrate the ability of this sensor system to discriminate between the chemical vapor agent simulant dimethyl methylphosphonate and ethanol against the cold sky in an outdoor environment.

Novel Design of 8T Ternary SRAM for Low Power Sensor System

Novel Design of 8T Ternary SRAM for Low Power Sensor System

Open-Path Laser Absorption Sensor for Mobile Measurements of Atmospheric Ammonia.

Anthropogenic emissions of ammonia to the atmosphere, particularly those from agricultural sources, can be damaging to the environment and human health and can drive a need for sensor technologies that can be used to detect and quantify the emissions. Mobile sensing approaches that can be deployed on ground-based or aerial vehicles can provide scalable solutions for high throughput measurements but require relatively compact and low-power sensor systems. This contribution presents an ammonia sensor based on wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) integrated with a Herriott multi-pass cell and a quantum cascade laser (QCL) at 10.33 µm oriented to mobile use. An open-path configuration is used to mitigate sticky-gas effects and achieve high time-response. The final sensor package is relatively small (~20 L), lightweight (~3.5 kg), battery-powered (<30 W) and operates autonomously. Details of the WMS setup and analysis method are presented along with laboratory tests showing sensor accuracy (<~2%) and precision (~4 ppb in 1 s). Initial field deployments on both ground vehicles and a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) are also presented.

Textile-based Pressure Sensors for Monitoring Prosthetic-Socket Interfaces.

Amputees are prone to experiencing discomfort when wearing their prosthetic devices. As the amputee population grows this becomes a more prevalent and pressing concern. There is a need for new prosthetic technologies to construct more comfortable and well-fitted liners and sockets. One of the well-recognized impediments to the development of new prosthetic technology is the lack of practical inner socket sensors to monitor the inner socket environment (ISE), or the region between the residual limb and the socket. Here we present a capacitive pressure sensor fabricated through a simple, and scalable sewing process using commercially available conductive yarns and textile materials. This fully-textile sensor provides a soft, flexible, and comfortable sensing system for monitoring the ISE. We provide details of our low-power sensor system capable of high-speed data collection from up to four sensor arrays. Additionally, we demonstrate two custom set-ups to test and validate the textile-based sensors in a simulated prosthetic environment. Finally, we utilize the textile-based sensors to study the ISE of a bilateral transtibial amputee. Results indicate that the textile-based sensors provide a promising potential for seamlessly monitoring the ISE.

A Fully Integrated Sensor-Brain–Machine Interface System for Restoring Somatosensation

Sensory feedback is critical to the performance of neural prostheses that restore movement control after neurological injury. Recent advances in direct neural control of paralyzed arms present new requirements for miniaturized, low-power sensor systems. To address this challenge, we developed a fully-integrated wireless sensor-brain-machine interface (SBMI) system for communicating key somatosensory signals, fingertip forces and limb joint angles, to the brain. The system consists of a tactile force sensor, an electrogoniometer, and a neural interface. The tactile force sensor features a novel optical waveguide on CMOS design for sensing. The electrogoniometer integrates an ultra low-power digital signal processor (DSP) for real-time joint angle measurement. The neural interface enables bidirectional neural stimulation and recording. Innovative designs of sensors and sensing interfaces, analog-to-digital converters (ADC) and ultra wide-band (UWB) wireless transceivers have been developed. The prototypes have been fabricated in 180nm standard CMOS technology and tested on the bench and in vivo. The developed system provides a novel solution for providing somatosensory feedback to next-generation neural prostheses.

Development and Applications of Biomimetic Neuronal Networks Toward BrainMorphic Artificial Intelligence

This brief presents the brainmorphic artificial intelligence (BMAI) project. The main goal is to generate a novel type of neuromorphic computing systems including novel algorithms and devices, which can achieve very high performance of artificial intelligence (AI) information processing with low power consumption and which can be very close to biological systems. To reach this goal, we developed biomimetic neural networks. Two systems have been designed, one analog chip and one digital system into FPGA. We present in this brief two applications of these biomimetic neural networks, one in AI with a pattern recognition algorithm and one in neuroscience for understanding the hearing system of Drosophila for designing a new asynchronous low-power sensor system in the future.

Performance Comparison with Different Antenna Properties in Time Reversal Ultra-Wideband Communications for Sensor System Applications.

The complexity reduction of receivers in ultrawideband (UWB) communication when time reversal (TR) technique is applied makes it suitable for low-cost and low-power sensor systems. Larger antenna dispersion can generally lead to a less stable phase center and will increase the interference in UWB communications based on pulse radio, whereas a higher antenna gain will result in higher channel gain and further larger channel capacity. To find out the trade-off between antenna gain and dispersion, we performed the channel measurements using different antennas in a dense multipath environment and established the distribution of channel capacities based on the measured channel responses. The results show that the capacity loss caused by antenna dispersion cannot be compensated by antenna gain with line-of-sight transmission to some extent, the effect of phase center on the communication system is negligible, and antennas with smaller time dispersion will have a better energy focusing property and anti-interference performance in TR systems.

Electro-resistive bands for non-invasive cardiac and respiration monitoring, a feasibility study

Continuous unobtrusive monitoring of tidal volume, particularly for critical care patients (i.e. neonates and patients in intensive care) during sleep studies and during daily activities, is still an unresolved monitoring need. Also a successful monitoring solution is yet to be proposed for continuous non-invasive cardiac stroke volume monitoring that is a novel clinical need.In this paper we present the feasibility study for a wearable, non-invasive, non-contact and unobtrusive sensor (embedded in a standard T-shirt) based on four electro-resistive bands that simultaneously monitors tidal volume and cardiac stroke volume changes. This low power sensor system (requires only 100 mW and accepts a wide power supply range up to ±18 V); thus the sensor can be easily embedded in existing wearable solutions (i.e. Holter monitors). Moreover, being contactless, it can be worn over bandages or electrodes, and as it does not rely over the integrity of the garment to work, it allows practitioners to perform procedures during monitoring. For this preliminary evaluation, one subject has worn the sensor over the period of 24 h (removing it only to shower); the accuracy of the tidal volume tested against a portable spirometer reported a precision of ±10% also during physical activity; accuracy tests for cardiac output (as it may require invasive procedure) have not been carried out in this preliminary trial.

Adjusting Control Packet Transmission Intervals in Low Power Sensor Systems

In order to construct an efficient wireless sensor system, it is necessary to increase the lifetime of its battery-operated sensor nodes. To this end, a wireless body sensor system adopts a transmission power control (TPC) mechanism. However, existing TPC mechanisms adjust the transmission power level (TPL) according to the received signal strength indication (RSSI) value of the most recently received data packet. Therefore, they do not effectively cope with dynamically changing wireless body channel environments. In particular, when a wireless channel is unstable, changes in the TPL should be avoided to prevent energy consumption due to unnecessary transmission and reception of control packets. Accordingly, this paper proposes a new TPC mechanism that adaptively changes the control packet transmission interval on the basis of the current channel condition. Further, actual sensors are used to experimentally verify that the proposed mechanism (1) performs well in all channel environments and (2) facilitates the construction of an efficient wireless body sensor system.

Remote powering platform for implantable sensor systems at 2.45 GHz.

Far-field remotely powered sensor systems enable long distance operation for low-power sensor systems. In this work, we demonstrate a remote powering platform with a miniaturized antenna and remote powering base station operating at 2.45 GHz. The rectenna, which is the energy receiving and conversion element of the sensor system, is designed and measured. The measurements for the tag are performed within 15 cm distance from the remote powering base station. The realized gain of the tag antenna is measured as -3.3 dB, which is 0.5 dB close to the simulations, where simulated realized gain is -2.8 dB.

The Impact of Vibrotactile Biofeedback on the Excessive Walking Sway and the Postural Control in Elderly.

Gait and postural control are important aspects of human movement and balance. Normal movement control in human is subject to change with aging. With aging, the nervous system comprising, somatosensory, visual senses, spatial orientation senses, and neuromuscular control degrade. As a result, the body movement control such as the lateral sway while walking is affected which has been shown to be a significant cause of falling among the elderly. Biofeedback has been investigated to assist elderly improve their body movement and postural ability, by supplementing the feedback to the nervous system. In this paper, we propose a wearable low-power sensor system capable of characterizing lateral sway and gait parameters. Then, it can provide corrective feedback to reduce excessive sway in real-time via vibratory feedback modules. Real-time and low-power characteristics along with wearability of our proposed system allow long-term continuous subjects' sway monitoring while giving direct feedback to enhance walking sway and prevent falling. It can also be used in the clinics as a tool for evaluating the risks of falls, and training users to better maintain their balance. The effectiveness of the biofeedback system was evaluated on 12 older adults as they performed gait and stance tasks with and without biofeedback. Significant improvement (p-value < 0.1) in sway angle in variance of the sway angle, variance of gait phases, and in postural control while on perturbed surface was detected when the proposed Sway Error Feedback System was used.

DGS Rectenna를 이용한 Wake-Up 수신기 시스템 설계

본 논문에서는 저전력 센서를 위한 평면형 구조의 Rectenna 시스템을 설계하여 수신 센서의 wake-up 회로에 응용함으로써, 유효 주파수 신호의 입사시에만 동작되는 수신기 시스템을 제안하였다. 2.4 GHz 대역의 평면형집적이 가능한 Rectenna 시스템 설계를 위해 기존 여파기를 DGS 형태로 설계하여 다이오드에 의한 고조파 성분인 4.8 GHz, 7.2 GHz 신호를 제거와 DC-path를 위한 2.4 GHz 주 신호원의 제거를 수행하였다. 설계된 Rectenna의 변환 출력 전압 분석을 통해 수신시 시스템의 공급 전원의 스위칭 회로 구동에 활용함으로써 저전력 센서 수신 시스템의 동작 여부를 평가하였다. 제안된 시스템은 수신 센서의 신호 수신 여부에 따른 저 잡음 증폭기 동작점검에 의해 wake-up 성능이 평가되었으며, 실험 결과 우수한 동작 성능을 나타내었다. In this paper, a new design of a planar rectenna system and its application to a wake-up receiver operating for incoming signal with a specified frequency are proposed for low-power sensor system applications. The planar and integrable rectenna system is designed with DGSs(Defected Ground Structures) at 2.4 GHz. The DGSs reject harmonic components of 4.8 and 7.2 GHz and eliminate 2.4 GHz fundamental frequency for DC-path filtering. The rectenna system has been evaluated for the conversion output voltages, and applied to the switching of a power supply at the low-power sensor receivers. The proposed system has been evaluated for the wake-up performance by testing a lownoise amplifier operation. From the experimental results, the proposed receiver system presents excellent operation performances.