0000000000053545
AUTHOR
Leonardo Mistretta
A novel technique for the CMRR improvement in a portable ECG system
This paper presents a new technique to improve the quality of the ECG signals, increasing the Common Mode Rejection Ratio (CMRR). We developed a portable wireless Bluetooth ECG system able to acquire 12 leads, communicating with Smartphones and PCs. Many experiments have been made for measuring CMRR decay due to the difference on skin-electrodes impedances, the asymmetries of the amplifiers input stages and external components. Using some digital potentiometers, the system is able to compensate for these, increasing the CMRR of about 18 dB.
FLUMO: FLexible Underwater MOdem
The last years have seen a growing interest in underwater acoustic communications because of its applications in marine research, oceanography, marine commercial operations, the offshore oil industry and defense. High-speed communication in the underwater acoustic channel has been challenging because of limited bandwidth, extended multipath, refractive properties of the medium, severe fading, rapid time variation and large Doppler shifts. In this paper, we show an implementation of a flexible Software-Defined Acoustic (SDA) underwater modem, where modulation parameters are completely tunable to optimize performance. In particular, we develop the system architecture following two key ideas. …
Impact of the erase algorithms on flash memory lifetime
This paper presents a comparative study on the impact of the erase algorithm on flash memory lifetime, to demonstrate how the reduction of overall stress, suffered by memories, will increase their lifetime, thanks to a smart management of erase operations. To this purpose a fixed erase voltage, equal to the maximum value and the maximum time-window, was taken as the reference test; while an algorithm with adaptive voltage levels and the same overall time-window was designed and implemented in order to compare their experimental results. This study was carried out by using an innovative Automated Test Equipment, named Portable-ATE, tailored for Memory Test Chip and designed for performance e…
Embedding Monitoring Systems for Cured-In-Place Pipes
This paper proposes a non-intrusive electrical measurement system for monitoring some relevant parameters in pipeline systems. Temperature and flow-rate are monitored, using MEMS sensors. The flow-rate is evaluated by measuring pipe vibration, with a 3 axis accelerometer, induced by turbulence when fluid flows within the tube. The sensors are embedded, during the curing process of the cured-in-place pipes, in the pipes wall making the system suitable to be installed in renewed or new pipeline. The first experimental results show that it may be possible to obtain, at low-cost, a fully monitored distribution network.
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy System Validation for Simultaneous EEG-FNIRS Measurements
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) applied to brain monitoring has been gaining increasing relevance in the last years due to its not invasive nature and the capability to work in combination with other well–known techniques such as the EEG. The possible use cases span from neural-rehabilitation to early diagnosis of some neural diseases. In this work a wireline FPGA–based fNIRS system, that use SiPM sensors and dual-wavelength LED sources, has been designed and validated to work with a commercial EEG machine without reciprocal interference.
Exploring FPGA Based Lock-in Techniques for Brain Monitoring Applications
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) systems for e-health applications usually suffer of poor signal detection mainly due to a low end-to-end signal to noise ratio of the electronics chain. Lock-In Amplifiers (LIA) historically represent a powerful technique helping to improve performances in such circumstances. In this work it has been designed and implemented a digital LIA system, based on a Zynq® Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), trying to explore if this technique might improve fNIRS system performances. More broadly, FPGA based solution flexibility has been investigated, with particular emphasis applied to digital filter parameters, needed in the digital LIA, and i…
Low Cost Electrical Current Sensors with Extremely Wide Measurement Range
A new electrical current measurement system is presented. It features the ability to dynamically and automatically change its measurement range to the sensed current amplitude without user action. It also exhibits galvanic isolation and near zero insertion loss characteristics.
Fiberless, Multi-Channel fNIRS-EEG System Based on Silicon Photomultipliers: Towards Sensitive and Ecological Mapping of Brain Activity and Neurovascular Coupling
Portable neuroimaging technologies can be employed for long-term monitoring of neurophysiological and neuropathological states. Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) and Electroencephalography (EEG) are highly suited for such a purpose. Their multimodal integration allows the evaluation of hemodynamic and electrical brain activity together with neurovascular coupling. An innovative fNIRS-EEG system is here presented. The system integrated a novel continuous-wave fNIRS component and a modified commercial EEG device. fNIRS probing relied on fiberless technology based on light emitting diodes and silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs). SiPMs are sensitive semiconductor detectors, whose large…
Exploring FPGA‐Based Lock‐In Techniques for Brain Monitoring Applications
Functional near‐infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) systems for e‐health applications usually suffer from poor signal detection, mainly due to a low end‐to‐end signal‐to‐noise ratio of the electronics chain. Lock‐in amplifiers (LIA) historically represent a powerful technique helping to improve performance in such circumstances. In this work a digital LIA system, based on a Zynq® field programmable gate array (FPGA) has been designed and implemented, in an attempt to explore if this technique might improve fNIRS system performance. More broadly, FPGA‐based solution flexibility has been investigated, with particular emphasis applied to digital filter parameters, needed in the digital LIA, and its …
Adaptive tuning system and parameter estimation of a digitally controlled boost converter with STM32
. This paper proposes a diagnostic system of a power electronic converter, based on a cheap STM32 Nucleo board, aiming to extract some relevant measurements which gives back important values of the converter's parameters behavior. Moreover the designed system is also exploited for implementing the converter's auto tuning in order to optimize its dynamic performance.
FPGA based digital lock-in amplifier for fNIRS systems
Lock-In Amplifiers (LIA) represent a powerful technique helping to improve signals detectability when low signal to noise ratios are experienced. Continuous Wave functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (CW-fNIRS) systems for e-health applications usually suffer of poor detection due to the presence of strong attenuations of the optical recovering path and therefore small signals are severely dipped in a high noise floor. In this work a digital LIA system, implemented on a Zynq® Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), has been designed and tested to verify the quality of the developed solution, when applied in fNIRS systems. Experimental results have shown the goodness of the proposed solutions.
A Novel Wireless Sensor Network for Electric Power Metering
Wireless sensor network with lightweight and efficient communication infrastructures are today a great interest, both at research and industrial level, as they are the basis for reliable monitoring services. Mesh networks are ideal candidates in this scenario, as they can be very fault-tolerant. After introducing wireless network systems requirements, we show the design of a mesh network routing protocol based on AODV schemas. Its implementation runs on top of low-cost off-the-shelf components, and allowed us to build a custom power meter wireless sensor node.
Physiological parameters measurements in a cardiac cycle via a combo PPG-ECG system
In this paper, we present an innovative way to measure some physiological parameters (such as the pre-ejection period, the pulse transit time, the blood pressure) in a cardiac cycle. A combo PPG-ECG system has been developed and employed to extract both the ECG signal from standard limb leads and simultaneously the photoplethysmography signal from the wrist and the forearm, to calculate the pre-ejection period. This system represents an easy and non-invasive technique to determine these biomedical parameters without using expensive impedance cardiography equipment.
Design and Assessment of Optimized EMI Filters for Avionic Applications
This paper presents a procedure to design EMI filters to reduce the electromagnetic disturbances generated by electrical apparatus used in avionic environment. The method proposed can be useful to save weight and size of the attenuation systems, and keep their effectiveness in agreement with the standard requirements. A design of a set of different filters with different topological characteristics is presented for a case study about an electrical actuator used for an aircraft onboard application. Performances and reliabilities of the attenuation systems are assessed by suitable full compliance experimental tests.
Wearable, Fiber-less, Multi-Channel System for Continuous Wave Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy Based on Silicon Photomultipliers Detectors and Lock-In Amplification
Development and in-vivo validation of a Continuous Wave (CW) functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) system is presented. The system is wearable, fiber-less, multi-channel (16×16, 256 channels) and expandable and it relies on silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) for light detection. SiPMs are inexpensive, low voltage and resilient semiconductor light detectors, whose performances are analogous to photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). The advantage of SiPMs with respect to PMTs is that they allow direct contact with the scalp and avoidance of optical fibers. In fact, the coupling of SiPMs and light emitting diodes (LEDs) allows the transfer of the analog signals to and from the scalp through thin …
A LiDAR Prototype with Silicon Photomultiplier and MEMS Mirrors
In this paper, we present a low cost prototype of a Time-Of-Flight (TOF) LiDAR system, employing a SiPM as photo detector and MEMS mirrors in order to steer the nanosecond pulsed optical beam with a scanning angle of +/-6°. Preliminary TOF measurements have been performed both indoor and outdoor to test the limits of the system.
Performance evaluation of non volatile memories with a low cost and portable automatic test equipment
This paper presents a versatile and portable test equipment, called portable ATE for research and development of non-volatile memories functionalities. The system is based on STM32-NUCLEO assembled with a custom designed daughter board, in order to host non-volatile memories test-chips, to manage the needed power supplies and generate suitable signals stimuli for correct operations. The system is controlled and programmed by a personal computer, via USB interface. In particular the system can perform: memory reading, writing and erasing, with settings flexibility on time and voltage levels; Electrical Stress Tests (Drain, Gate and Bulk Stress); Cycling Tests; debugging algorithms (erase or …