Wireless Setup Research Articles

A wireless optogenetic setup in freely moving mice for evaluation of cortical spreading depolarization in a chronic disease model.

Spreading depolarization (SD) is an electrophysiological phenomenon of massive neuronal depolarization that occurs in a multitude of brain injuries. Clinical studies and experimental data have linked the occurrence of SDs with secondary brain damage. However, there is a translational gap because of methodological limitations between clinical and experimental approaches focusing on short-term effects. Moreover, usage of highly invasive SD triggers has put into question to what extent SDs themselves or the induction method had caused emergence of tissue damage. To overcome this gap, we here show the successful realization of an experimental approach for long-term SD induction in a wireless setup of minimal invasive optogenetic stimulation in freely behaving mice. The proposed method allows for reliable SD induction over the course of three weeks. SD characteristics induced with the wireless setup were comparable to SDs elicited by KCl or cable-bound optogenetic systems. Immunohistological analysis of c-Fos expression revealed neuronal depolarization across the stimulated hemisphere, whereas TUNEL staining revealed no stimulation related apoptosis. Optogenetic SD induction so far relied on cable- or fiber-bound systems which restrict experimental possibilities. The proposed model relies on wireless stimulation that allows SD induction in the home cage. In contrast to existing systems, the wireless setup also allows cage enrichment and group housing, therefore allowing behavioral analyses. This experimental setup has excellent potential to investigate the question of possible long-term SD effects in mouse models of different acute pathologies like traumatic brain injury or migraine.

Wireless power-up and readout from a label-free biosensor

Wearable and implantable biosensors have rapidly entered the fields of health and biomedicine to diagnose diseases and physiological monitoring. The use of wired medical devices causes surgical complications, which can occur when wires break, become infected, generate electrical noise, and are incompatible with implantable applications. In contrast, wireless power transfer is ideal for biosensing applications since it does not necessitate direct connections between measurement tools and sensing systems, enabling remote use of the biosensors. In addition, wireless sensors eliminate the need for a battery or energy harvester, reducing the size of the sensor. As far as we are aware, this is the first report ever describing a new method for wireless readout of a label-free electronic biosensor for detecting protein biomarkers. Our results reveal that we are able to successfully detect target protein and corresponding antibodies within this wireless setup. We are able to distinguish target protein in purified samples from a blank PBS sample as a negative control by tracking gradual changes in impedance at the input of the transmitter (P-value = 0.00788). We also demonstrate real-time wireless quantification of cytokines within rheumatoid arthritis patient serum samples (P-value = 0.00891). A Fine Gaussian Support Vector Machine is also used to differentiate protein from negative controls with the highest accuracy from a dataset of 54 experiments.

MXene/polymer dot-decorated flexible sensor for cancer cell-responsive hydrogel with tunable elastic modulus, porosity, and conductivity

This study reports a facile strategy for cancer cell modulated mechanically and electronically tunable hydrogel based on MXene-immobilized hyaluronic acid polymer dot (M-PD). Elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as H2O2 in cancer cells cleave MXene owing to the oxygen-titanium affinity of Ti3C2Tx, altering the physico-mechanical, electrochemical, and fluorescence (FL) properties of the sensor. The H2O2-induced cleavage of M-PD in the hydrogel causes the quenched FL intensity by the Forster resonance energy transfer effect (FRET) to recover, alongside an increase in pore size, influencing shifts in hydrogen bonding and inducing viscoelastic changes in the flexible sensor. This caused physico-mechanical alterations in the sensor, modified the viscosity (G′ decreased by 98.7%), and enhanced the stretchability. Further, in vitro electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) highlighted the distinct results for cancer cells (B16F10: 8.10 kΩ, MDA-MB-231: 8.30 kΩ), and normal cells (CHO-K1: 3.40 kΩ), showcasing electrochemical differentiation between these cells. Additionally, the flexible M-PD hydrogel sensor exhibits high sensitivity, with detection limits of 2.58 cells/well (CHO-K1), 0.96 cells/well (B16F10), and 1.20 cells/well (MDA-MB-231). Finally, real-time cancer monitoring was achieved by integrating the M-PD hydrogel with a wireless setup on a smartphone.

Automatic cybersickness detection by deep learning of augmented physiological data from off-the-shelf consumer-grade sensors

Cybersickness is still a prominent risk factor potentially affecting the usability of virtual reality applications. Automated real-time detection of cybersickness promises to support a better general understanding of the phenomena and to avoid and counteract its occurrence. It could be used to facilitate application optimization, that is, to systematically link potential causes (technical development and conceptual design decisions) to cybersickness in closed-loop user-centered development cycles. In addition, it could be used to monitor, warn, and hence safeguard users against any onset of cybersickness during a virtual reality exposure, especially in healthcare applications. This article presents a novel real-time-capable cybersickness detection method by deep learning of augmented physiological data. In contrast to related preliminary work, we are exploring a unique combination of mid-immersion ground truth elicitation, an unobtrusive wireless setup, and moderate training performance requirements. We developed a proof-of-concept prototype to compare (combinations of) convolutional neural networks, long short-term memory, and support vector machines with respect to detection performance. We demonstrate that the use of a conditional generative adversarial network-based data augmentation technique increases detection performance significantly and showcase the feasibility of real-time cybersickness detection in a genuine application example. Finally, a comprehensive performance analysis demonstrates that a four-layered bidirectional long short-term memory network with the developed data augmentation delivers superior performance (91.1% F1-score) for real-time cybersickness detection. To encourage replicability and reuse in future cybersickness studies, we released the code and the dataset as publicly available.

PDF Comparison based on Various FSO Channel Models under Different Atmospheric Turbulence

Recently, wireless communication environments with high speeds and low complexity have become increasingly essential. Free-space optics (FSO) has emerged as a promising solution for providing direct connections between devices in such high-spectrum wireless setups. However, FSO communications are susceptible to weather-induced signal fluctuations, leading to fading and signal weakness at the receiver. To mitigate the effects of these challenges, several mathematical models have been proposed to describe the transition from weak to strong atmospheric turbulence, including Rayleigh, lognormal, Málaga, Nakagami-m, K-distribution, Weibull, Negative-Exponential, Inverse-Gaussian, G-G, and Fisher-Snedecor F distributions. This paper extensively studies and analyses different probability density functions (PDFs) that govern the FSO channel, considering various channel models. This paper aims to comprehensively understand how FSO channels can be effectively modeled using different PDFs. Accurate modeling is crucial for designing FSO systems that can operate optimally under potential environmental conditions. Selecting the appropriate PDF model plays a crucial role in determining the FSO channel's performance during system design. With a multitude of PDF models available, this study aims to identify the most effective PDF model to be employed in FSO channel modeling.

Comparing tuberculosis symptom screening to chest X-ray with artificial intelligence in an active case finding campaign in Northeast Nigeria

BackgroundUltra-portable X-ray devices with artificial intelligence (AI) are increasingly used to screen for tuberculosis (TB). Few studies have documented their performance. We aimed to evaluate the performance of chest X-ray (CXR) and symptom screening for active case finding of TB among remote populations using ultra-portable X-ray and AI.MethodsWe organized screening camps in rural northeast Nigeria, and all consenting individuals ≥ 15 years were screened for TB symptoms (cough, fever, night sweats, and weight loss) and received a CXR. We used a MinXray Impact system interpreted by AI (qXR V3), which is a wireless setup and can be run without electricity. We collected sputum samples from individuals with an qXR abnormality score of 0.30 or higher or if they reported any TB symptoms. Samples were tested with Xpert MTB/RIF. We documented the TB screening cascade and evaluated the performance of screening with different combinations of symptoms and CXR interpreted by AI.ResultsWe screened 5297 individuals during 66 camps: 2684 (51%) were females, and 2613 (49%) were males. Using ≥ 2 weeks of cough to define presumptive TB, 1056 people (20%) would be identified. If a cough of any duration was used, the number with presumptive TB increased to 1889 (36%) and to 3083 (58%) if any of the four symptoms were used. Overall, 769 (14.5%) had abnormality scores of 0.3 or higher, and 447 (8.4%) had a score of 0.5 or higher. We collected 1021 samples for Xpert testing and detected 85 (8%) individuals with TB. Screening for prolonged cough only identified 40% of people with TB. Any symptom detected 90.6% of people with TB, but specificity was 11.4%. Using an AI abnormality score of 0.50 identified 89.4% of people with TB with a specificity of 62.8%.ConclusionsUltra-portable CXR can be used to provide more efficient TB screening in hard-to-reach areas. Symptom screening missed large proportions of people with bacteriologically confirmed TB. Employing AI to read CXR can improve triaging when human readers are unavailable and can save expensive diagnostic testing costs.

Outdoor mm-wave 5G/6G transmission with adaptive analog beamforming and IFoF fronthaul

Adaptive analog beamforming is a key technology to enable spatial control of millimeter-wave wireless signals radiated from phased array antennas (PAAs) which is essential to maximize the capacity of future mobile networks and to ensure efficient usage of scarce spectrum. Intermediate frequency-over-fiber (IFoF), on the other hand, is a promising technology for the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) mobile fronthaul due to its low complexity, high optical spectral efficiency, and low latency. The combination of IFoF and PAA is key to implement mm-wave mobile communications in a scalable, centralized, efficient, and reliable manner. This work presents, for the first time to the best of the authors’ knowledge, an extensive outdoor measurement campaign where an experimental IFoF mm-wave wireless setup is evaluated by using PAAs with adaptive beamforming on the transmitter and receiver sides. The configuration of the experimental setup is according to 5G standards, transmitting signals wirelessly at 27 GHz central frequency in the n258 band. The employed PAAs are composed of 8-by-8 patch antenna arrays, allowing beam steering in the azimuth and elevation angles. Furthermore, different end-user locations, antenna configurations, and wireless scenarios are tested in the outdoor experiment, showing excellent EVM performance and achieving 64-QAM transmission over up to 165.5 m at up to 1.88 Gbit/s. The experimental results enable optimization of the experimental setup for different scenarios and prove the system’s reliability in different wireless conditions. In addition, the results of this work prove the viability and potential of IFoF combined with PAA to be part of the future 5G/6G structure.

A Hacker's Delight > You'll Either Love or Hate the Flipper Zero

Readers of this Hands On are likely to fall into one of two camps: those who'll view the Flipper Zero with fascination, and those who'll view it with loathing. Among the former are security re-searchers and hardware developers trying to debug a wireless setup. Among the latter are IT folks charged with de-fending their realm from physical or network attacks. But whatever camp you fall into, the Flipper is something you'll need to know about.

4G Signal Propagation at Ground Level

The primary purpose of this article is to demonstrate experimentally and explain theoretically (based on physics-based literature and empirical-based industry-standard models) that, in the limit where the receiver height vanishes above an imperfectly conducting plane such as the surface of the Earth, the propagation characteristics of 4G (800 MHz) signals in a typical cellular wireless setup behave very simply as the two-ray-plane Earth model, with approximately 40 dB/decade of signal loss, for almost the entire cell, in contrast to the more common case of finite height receivers with more complex path loss scaling with distance from the transmitter to the receiver. The simple reason behind this is that the “breakpoint” distance, beyond which all models predict this power law, vanishes as the height of the receive antenna vanishes, leading to the unified theory of signal propagation for ground-level receivers in the microwave regime.

Visualising the Future of Orthopaedic Surgery: A Novel Application of Wireless Smart Glasses to Visualise Intraoperative Imaging.

Smart glasses can provide a heads-up display of advanced imaging intraoperatively. In recent years, growing attention has been drawn to the use of smart glasses as an assistive technology to improve both efficiency and ergonomics in a surgical setting. Previous studies have reported improved surgical accuracy, efficiency, and ergonomics with its usage, but its effectiveness as a form of intraoperative heads-up display remains elusive in the context of orthopaedics. This study provides a novel account of a wireless set-up of the Moverio BT-35E Smart Glasses (Suwa, Japan: Epson Inc.), incorporated in a complex orthopaedic procedure.Hind-foot nailing was performed on a patient with a complex open ankle fracture and multiple co-morbidities. Smart glasses were worn by the primary surgeon throughout the procedure to provide heads-up visualisation of the intraoperative fluoroscopy.In our surgical case, the surgeon experienced improved ergonomics and reduced disruption to focus with the use of smart glasses. The wireless set-up provided excellent signal transmission throughout the duration of the procedure.The wireless set-up of smart glasses is a potential solution for common occupational risks imposed on orthopaedic surgeons. Smart glasses minimise musculoskeletal strain from switching of vision from monitor to patient, whilst the wireless set-up allows for efficient use of space in an operating theatre and may potentially limit radiation exposure. Lastly, ergonomic benefits may increase the efficiency of movement for the surgeon, decreasing operative duration, and in turn minimising the risk of surgical complications for patients.

A Fuzzy Knowledge-Based Approach for End-2-End Behavioural Analysis of Wormhole Attacks on Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks

Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) involves series of travelling nodes communicating with each other without a fixed Set-up. Certainly, MANETs are networks that utilize communication peripatetic nodes such as; Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, laptops which enable wireless transmission across an area and forwarding data packets to the other nodes resulting in frequent change in topology. MANETs are exposed to several communication assaults such as active attack and passive attack. The active attack disrupts network operations while the passive attack obtains information without upsetting normal networks operation. Wormhole is a typical case of active attack. Indeed, an attacker receives packets at one end of the network, tunnels them to another end of the network, and then replays them into the networks from that point resulting in a collapse in communication across wireless setups. This research work simulates and models a typical wormhole attack in MANET using Network Simulator (NS-2.35) and Fuzzy Inference System (FIS). The End-2-End behavioural analysis of wormhole attacks on the transmitting networks layer of MANET was realized. To detect the level of wormhole attack in the network several parameters such as Packet Delivery Ratio, Packet Forwarding Probability and Packet Dropping Probability were considered by determining the degree of severity of wormhole attack which may upset the Quality of Service (QOS) delivery. The aim of this research paper is in the direction of Network security optimization.

Double-frequency passive deformation sensor based on two-layer patch antenna

To avoid the issues of incomplete strain transfer ratio and insufficient bonding strength of a monolithic stressed antenna, this paper presents an unstressed deformation sensor based on two-layer patch antenna for structural health monitoring. The proposed sensor is composed of a monolithic patch antenna and a stacked patch generating two fundamental resonant frequencies within a 3-to-7 GHz band. The resonant frequencies' shifts caused by the offset of the stacked patch were selected as the sensing parameters. An equivalent circuit was used to analyze the sensing method, which shows the relative displacement to be linear to the shift of resonant frequencies. This phenomenon was then checked by numerical simulation using the Ansoft High Frequency Structure Simulator 15 (HFSS15) and experiments in laboratory using both wired and wireless setups. Furthermore, the accuracy of measurement is verified to be increased by combining two resonant frequencies.

Comparative Analysis of Microstrip Patch Antenna of Wearable IOT Devices for Health Care

The Advances in the biomedical applications demands an antenna having highefficiency and gain, low return losses and Specific Absorption Ratio (SAR) to beassociated with the wearable and implantable devices for the accurate data transferwithout any data drift. For this, multi-band MIMO (multi-input multi output)applications, the antenna design with the target parameters is a challenging task toestablish a rich and reliable wireless communication setup with the monitoring systemin SHM of both biomedical and industrial sectors. Higher SAR will create the hazardsto the human body. The gain of the antenna and return loss figures depends on thesignal loss in the human tissues. Another important design challenge is the antennasize, which should be convenient to carry. Usually, Micro strip patch antenna is usingfor such type of applications as it satisfies most of the design parameters. But thebandwidth and gain of MSP are very limited. Hence there is huge scope to enhancethe gain and bandwidth of the micro strip patch antenna to fit for the biomedicalinvasive applications. Artificial materials having negative permittivity andpermeability will yield a negative refractive index will do better than the existingmaterials in the antenna design for the ISM band(2.45-5.8GHz) and satellites (11-13GHz).

Wireless Transmission of Friedlander‐Type Signals for the Dynamic Measurement of Blast Pressure

AbstractDuring explosive detonation or air blast experiments, long cables are commonly used for transmitting signals delivered by pressure sensors to the safe place of the acquisition unit. While constant efforts are undertaken for enlarging the bandwidth of sensors in order to improve the measurement precision of the peak pressure, the limitations of the wired transmission of blast pressure signals delivered by these sensors are not addressed. We discuss here such limitations and propose a wireless new solution for the dynamic measurement of Friedlander‐type signals delivered by ultra‐wideband sensors (> ). Contrary to the wired solution, the distance between the sensor and the acquisition unit does not limit the measurement bandwidth of the wireless setup. Experimental results are reported for validation purposes and pave the way of the dynamic measurement of blast pressure variations occurring at the heart of the fireball generated during explosions.

Physical Layer Security of Large Reflecting Surface Aided Communications With Phase Errors

The physical layer security (PLS) performance of a wireless communication link through a large reflecting surface (LRS) with phase errors is analyzed. Leveraging recent results that express the LRS-based composite channel as an equivalent scalar fading channel, we show that the eavesdropper's link is Rayleigh distributed and independent of the legitimate link. The different scaling laws of the legitimate and eavesdroppers signal-to-noise ratios with the number of reflecting elements, and the reasonably good performance even in the case of coarse phase quantization, show the great potential of LRS-aided communications to enhance PLS in practical wireless set-ups.

Ephemeral Secrets: Multi-Party Secret Key Acquisition for Secure IEEE 802.11 Mobile Ad Hoc Communication

Mobile ad hoc networks consist of wireless nodes and can be established quickly with minimal configuration and cost, because, they do not require any infrastructure in advance. Civil and military applications are using them extensively in emergency and mission-oriented scenarios respectively as multi-party communication systems. Whereas, the multi-party secret key acquisition is one of the acute issues in these low resource wireless ad hoc networks, especially, which are based on IEEE 802.11ah and IEEE 802.11ba (low power WiFi), IEEE 802.15.4(Zigbee), BLE, IEEE 802.15.6 (body-worn or wearable) devices. In this study, a novel low cost and robust approach has been proposed and tested to establish an identical secret key in a multi-user mobile ad hoc environment. We believe, it is one of the groundbreaking contributions toward establishing a cost-effective secret key acquisition solution with respect to memory, computation, and bandwidth. We have used Bloom-Filters to cope with these resource limitations of such wireless setups. The proposed approach has been tested using IEEE 802.11 adapters in a real environment, and we found it to be highly suitable for wireless resource-limited applications.

Design Of Wearable Shoe For Blind Using Lifi Technology

Being independent in the existing world is crucial for a visually impaired person. There are about 36 million blind people all over the world. The main purpose of the project is to reduce the difficulties faced due to blindness. This proposed system hypothesizes a smart shoe that alerts visually impaired people over obstacles that could help them to walk independently with low chances of accident. Recently, many devices such as smart cane with advanced technology were introduced to assist the visually impaired for safe and independent walking. To overcome the limitation, a smart shoe is designed and developed to detect obstacles in the path of visually impaired person which will make them feel like a normal individual. This proposed system mainly focuses on LiFi technology that helps to identify the locations as they pass through the places. Introducing smart shoe which will assist them in their motion and other needed activities. It supports LiFi with reliable communication and navigation system during the dark. Information is provided as voice playback to the user. Thus, the user can navigate independently just by using the voice commands provided by the device. A wireless setup is provided at the places which are often used by the person in order to specify the person is reached the required place.

Low‐cost triboelectric sensor for speed measurement and weight estimation of vehicles

This study presents and tests the accuracy of a low-cost triboelectric sensor for speed measurement and weight estimation of passenger vehicles in motion. Polytetrafluoroethylene and aluminium films are employed as sensing elements for generating voltage pulses due to movement of vehicles in real time. A number of road tests by 880 and 1020 kg cars in the speed range from 10 to 60 kmph show that the sensor is effective for measuring speeds with more than 95% accuracy and 3% mean absolute percentage error. For weight estimation, it is found that the voltage signals obtained from sensor due to impact between the tires of the vehicles and sensor varies linearly with speed ensuring the reliability of the sensor. On road experimental results reveal that the weight can be predicted from voltage signals by maintaining a database of different class of vehicles. The results and the overall concept indicate that the triboelectric sensor and associated wireless setup is promising for smart traffic-monitoring applications at a very low cost.

An intuitive approach to innovate a low cost Braille embosser

Braille printers are the most convenient way to emboss the texts on a Braille paper. But existing embossers are multiple times more expensive than the normal printers. In this paper, an innovative design of a low cost Braille printer is presented. The design being not dependent on expensive tools is an efficient solution. In the proposed Braille system, major concentration is given to develop the actuators which emboss the impressions on the Braille paper to make dots to decode text language in Braille format. Unlike conventional mechanisms, gear DC motors are utilised to design efficient and inexpensive actuators. Additionally, the overall printing system involves cost efficiently designed inter-dependent components, such as customised printing software, wireless communication system, sensing mechanisms, and compact mechanical setup. Extensive testing under different conditions is carried out and it is found that the proposed design can provide satisfactory embossing performance at a very low cost.

A Standardized Protocol for Stereotaxic Intrahippocampal Administration of Kainic Acid Combined with Electroencephalographic Seizure Monitoring in Mice.

Lack of scientific reproducibility is a growing concern and weak experimental practices may contribute to irreproducibility. Here, we describe an optimized and versatile protocol for stereotaxic intrahippocampal administration of Kainic Acid (KA) in mice with a C57Bl6 background. In this protocol, KA administration is combined with in vivo recording of neuronal activity with wired and wireless setups. Following our protocol, KA administration results in a robust dose-dependent induction of low-level epileptiform activity or Status Epilepticus (SE) and induces previously characterized hallmarks of seizure-associated pathology. The procedure consists of three main steps: Craniotomy, stereotaxic administration of KA, and placement of recording electrodes in intrahippocampal, and subdural locations. This protocol offers extended possibilities compared to the systemic administration of KA, as it allows the researcher to accurately regulate the local dose of KA and resulting seizure activity, and permits the use and study of convulsive and non-convulsive KA doses, resulting in higher reproducibility and lower inter-individual variability and mortality rates. Caution should be taken when translating this procedure to different strains of mice as inter-strain sensitivity to KA has been described before. The procedure can be performed in ~1 h by a trained researcher, while intrahippocampal administration of KA without placing recording electrodes can be done in 25 min, and can be easily adapted to the titrated intrahippocampal administration of other drugs.