Search results for " Sensor"
showing 10 items of 1714 documents
The Use of Accelerometers and Gyroscopes to Estimate Hip and Knee Angles on Gait Analysis
2014
In this paper the performance of a sensor system, which has been developed to estimate hip and knee angles and the beginning of the gait phase, have been investigated. The sensor system consists of accelerometers and gyroscopes. A new algorithm was developed in order to avoid the error accumulation due to the gyroscopes drift and vibrations due to the ground contact at the beginning of the stance phase. The proposed algorithm have been tested and compared to some existing algorithms on over-ground walking trials with a commercial device for assisted gait. The results have shown the good accuracy of the angles estimation, also in high angle rate movement.
Aggregated Packet Transmission in Duty-Cycled WSNs: Modeling and Performance Evaluation
2017
[EN] Duty cycling (DC) is a popular technique for energy conservation in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) that allows nodes to wake up and sleep periodically. Typically, a single-packet transmission (SPT) occurs per cycle, leading to possibly long delay. With aggregated packet transmission (APT), nodes transmit a batch of packets in a single cycle. The potential benefits brought by an APT scheme include shorter delay, higher throughput, and higher energy efficiency. In the literature, different analytical models have been proposed to evaluate the performance of SPT schemes. However, no analytical models for the APT mode on synchronous DC medium access control (MAC) mechanisms exist. In this …
Dynamic railroad inspection using the laser-air hybrid ultrasonic technique
2006
Laser-Air Hybrid Ultrasonic Technique (LAHUT) combines laser generation with air-coupled detection of ultrasound. The technique is non-contact and has the characteristic of operating from remote distances. Acoustic wave laser-generation apparatus can be metres away from the interrogated surface while air-coupled detection standoff can be on the order of several centimetres. The technique has the unique capability of interrogating structural materials in their true industrial environment. Dynamic tests are performed on parts with complex geometry, limited accessibility and curved surfaces. Also, dark and rough finish surfaces, which significantly reduce the efficiency of optical detection te…
Clean recovery of antioxidant compounds from plant foods, by-products and algae assisted by ultrasounds processing. Modeling approaches to optimize p…
2015
Ultrasound treatment is an alternative affordable, effective and reproducible method for the improved recovery of bioactive compounds from various processing streams. The objective of this review is to discuss the impact of ultrasound-assisted extraction on the recovery of polyphenols, carotenoids and chlorophylls from vegetal and algae matters. Optimization strategies will need to focus on appropriate equipment design and configuration of ultrasonic components, and extrinsic and intrinsic control parameters including ultrasonic power, temperature and extraction time to maximize the yield and biological activity of the extract. Modeling strategies to characterize and optimize ultrasound pro…
A tunnel magnetoresistive effect wattmeters-based wireless sensors network
2017
Abstract In the present work a wireless sensors network (WSN) for smart energy metering is presented using the ZigBee protocol as the communication link. Each network node process the electrical power by means of a Wheatstone bridge sensor based on the tunnel magnetoresistive (TMR) effect working as analogue multiplier. The electrical power is acquired and processed by a digital signal processor that extracts various parameters of interest like current and voltage load, active power and power factor by means of Fourier analysis. All the obtained electrical parameters at each node are served and shown in a web page that can be easily accessed by authorized users.
Design, fabrication, and analysis of a spin-valve based current sensor
2004
Abstract In this work, we suggest a novel current sensor design, based on spin valve technology, with a full Wheatstone bridge configuration. The principal characteristic is that the four magnetoresistance sensing elements, fully active, are deposited and patterned at the same time. This way, differences among them should be insignificant, so improving voltage offset and drift temperature parameters. The complete IC fabrication process involves only three lithography steps, making the process cheaper and faster. In order to get a balanced bridge, the measured current must be properly driven, by means of an auxiliary PCB. Some prototypes, with different input impedances, have been fabricated…
A Non-Invasive Thermal Drift Compensation Technique Applied to a Spin-Valve Magnetoresistive Current Sensor
2011
A compensation method for the sensitivity drift of a magnetoresistive (MR) Wheatstone bridge current sensor is proposed. The technique was carried out by placing a ruthenium temperature sensor and the MR sensor to be compensated inside a generalized impedance converter circuit (GIC). No internal modification of the sensor bridge arms is required so that the circuit is capable of compensating practical industrial sensors. The method is based on the temperature modulation of the current supplied to the bridge, which improves previous solutions based on constant current compensation. Experimental results are shown using a microfabricated spin-valve MR current sensor. The temperature compensati…
Analytical compact modeling of GMR based current sensors: Application to power measurement at the IC level
2010
An analytical compact model for giant magnetoresistance (GMR) based current sensors has been developed. Different spin-valve based full Wheatstone bridge sensors, with the current straps integrated in the chip, have been considered. These devices have been experimentally characterized in order to extract the model parameters. In this respect, we have focused on the sensors linear operation regime. The model, which allows the individual description of the magnetoresistive elements, has been implemented in a circuit simulator by means of a behavioral description language: Verilog-A. We also propose the use of the devices in a direct power measurement application at the integrated circuit (IC)…
Fuzzy topology discovery protocol for SDN-based wireless sensor networks
2017
Abstract The growing trend in pervasive systems forces traditional wireless sensor networks to deal with new challenges, such as dynamic application requirements and heterogeneous networks. One of the latest paradigms in this area is software defined wireless sensor network. According to the paradigm, the networks take care of managing topological information and forwarding decisions using a bipartite architecture in which a control plane decides the forwarding policies and the data plane (i.e. ordinary sensor nodes) executes them. Unfortunately, in highly dynamic networks, this approach generates an overhead of control packet exchange between the ordinary nodes and the control plane, that …
A Novel Wireless Sensor Network for Electric Power Metering
2015
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.