Sensor-guided threat countermeasure system

Science.gov (United States)

Stuart, Brent C.; Hackel, Lloyd A.; Hermann, Mark R.; Armstrong, James P.

2012-12-25

A countermeasure system for use by a target to protect against an incoming sensor-guided threat. The system includes a laser system for producing a broadband beam and means for directing the broadband beam from the target to the threat. The countermeasure system comprises the steps of producing a broadband beam and directing the broad band beam from the target to blind or confuse the incoming sensor-guided threat.

Sensor system for web inspection

Science.gov (United States)

Sleefe, Gerard E.; Rudnick, Thomas J.; Novak, James L.

2002-01-01

A system for electrically measuring variations over a flexible web has a capacitive sensor including spaced electrically conductive, transmit and receive electrodes mounted on a flexible substrate. The sensor is held against a flexible web with sufficient force to deflect the path of the web, which moves relative to the sensor.

System-level Modeling of Wireless Integrated Sensor Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Virk, Kashif M.; Hansen, Knud; Madsen, Jan

2005-01-01

Wireless integrated sensor networks have emerged as a promising infrastructure for a new generation of monitoring and tracking applications. In order to efficiently utilize the extremely limited resources of wireless sensor nodes, accurate modeling of the key aspects of wireless sensor networks...... is necessary so that system-level design decisions can be made about the hardware and the software (applications and real-time operating system) architecture of sensor nodes. In this paper, we present a SystemC-based abstract modeling framework that enables system-level modeling of sensor network behavior...... by modeling the applications, real-time operating system, sensors, processor, and radio transceiver at the sensor node level and environmental phenomena, including radio signal propagation, at the sensor network level. We demonstrate the potential of our modeling framework by simulating and analyzing a small...

The Sense of the Worthy as a Motivation for Studying: The Case of the Yeshiva

Science.gov (United States)

Nisan, Mordecai; Shalif, Yishai

2006-01-01

This paper describes a type of motivation for studying that has not been accorded sufficient psychological consideration--namely, motivation based on belief in the worthiness of the subject matter. This sort of motivation is distinguished from both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. It is exemplified by the motivation for studying at the Yeshiva,…

Common bus multinode sensor system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kelly, T.F.; Naviasky, E.H.; Evans, W.P.; Jefferies, D.W.; Smith, J.R.

1988-01-01

This patent describes a nuclear power plant including a common bus multinode sensor system for sensors in the nuclear power plant, each sensor producing a sensor signal. The system consists of: a power supply providing power; a communication cable coupled to the power supply; plural remote sensor units coupled between the cable and one or more sensors, and comprising: a direct current power supply, connected to the cable and converting the power on the cable into direct current; an analog-to-digital converter connected to the direct current power supply; an oscillator reference; a filter; and an integrated circuit sensor interface connected to the direct current power supply, the analog-to-digital converter, the oscillator crystal and the filter, the interface comprising: a counter receiving a frequency designation word from external to the interface; a phase-frequency comparator connected to the counter; an oscillator connected to the oscillator reference; a timing counter connected to the oscillator, the phase/frequency comparator and the analog-to-digital converter; an analog multiplexer connectable to the sensors and the analog-to-digital converter, and connected to the timing counter; a shift register operatively connected to the timing counter and the analog-to-digital converter; an encoder connected to the shift register and connectable to the filter; and a voltage controlled oscillator connected to the filter and the cable

Proximity sensor system development. CRADA final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haley, D.C. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States); Pigoski, T.M. [Merrit Systems, Inc. (United States)

1998-01-01

Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation (LMERC) and Merritt Systems, Inc. (MSI) entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) for the development and demonstration of a compact, modular proximity sensing system suitable for application to a wide class of manipulator systems operated in support of environmental restoration and waste management activities. In teleoperated modes, proximity sensing provides the manipulator operator continuous information regarding the proximity of the manipulator to objects in the workspace. In teleoperated and robotic modes, proximity sensing provides added safety through the implementation of active whole arm collision avoidance capabilities. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), managed by LMERC for the United States Department of Energy (DOE), has developed an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design for the electronics required to support a modular whole arm proximity sensing system based on the use of capacitive sensors developed at Sandia National Laboratories. The use of ASIC technology greatly reduces the size of the electronics required to support the selected sensor types allowing deployment of many small sensor nodes over a large area of the manipulator surface to provide maximum sensor coverage. The ASIC design also provides a communication interface to support sensor commands from and sensor data transmission to a distributed processing system which allows modular implementation and operation of the sensor system. MSI is a commercial small business specializing in proximity sensing systems based upon infrared and acoustic sensors.

Proximity sensor system development. CRADA final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haley, D.C.; Pigoski, T.M.

1998-01-01

Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation (LMERC) and Merritt Systems, Inc. (MSI) entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) for the development and demonstration of a compact, modular proximity sensing system suitable for application to a wide class of manipulator systems operated in support of environmental restoration and waste management activities. In teleoperated modes, proximity sensing provides the manipulator operator continuous information regarding the proximity of the manipulator to objects in the workspace. In teleoperated and robotic modes, proximity sensing provides added safety through the implementation of active whole arm collision avoidance capabilities. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), managed by LMERC for the United States Department of Energy (DOE), has developed an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design for the electronics required to support a modular whole arm proximity sensing system based on the use of capacitive sensors developed at Sandia National Laboratories. The use of ASIC technology greatly reduces the size of the electronics required to support the selected sensor types allowing deployment of many small sensor nodes over a large area of the manipulator surface to provide maximum sensor coverage. The ASIC design also provides a communication interface to support sensor commands from and sensor data transmission to a distributed processing system which allows modular implementation and operation of the sensor system. MSI is a commercial small business specializing in proximity sensing systems based upon infrared and acoustic sensors

Optical fiber sensors: Systems and applications. Volume 2

Science.gov (United States)

Culshaw, Brian; Dakin, John

State-of-the-art fiber-optic (FO) sensors and their applications are described in chapters contributed by leading experts. Consideration is given to interferometers, FO gyros, intensity- and wavelength-based sensors and optical actuators, Si in FO sensors, point-sensor multiplexing principles, and distributed FO sensor systems. Also examined are chemical, biochemical, and medical sensors; physical and chemical sensors for process control; FO-sensor applications in the marine and aerospace industries; FO-sensor monitoring systems for security and safety, structural integrity, NDE, and the electric-power industry; and the market situation for FO-sensor technology. Diagrams, drawings, graphs, and photographs are provided.

Robust Solar Position Sensor for Tracking Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ritchie, Ewen; Argeseanu, Alin; Leban, Krisztina Monika

2009-01-01

The paper proposes a new solar position sensor used in tracking system control. The main advantages of the new solution are the robustness and the economical aspect. Positioning accuracy of the tracking system that uses the new sensor is better than 1°. The new sensor uses the ancient principle...... of the solar clock. The sensitive elements are eight ordinary photo-resistors. It is important to note that all the sensors are not selected simultaneously. It is not necessary for sensor operating characteristics to be quasi-identical because the sensor principle is based on extreme operating duty measurement...... (bright or dark). In addition, the proposed solar sensor significantly simplifies the operation of the tracking control device....

A portable readout system for silicon microstrip sensors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marco-Hernandez, Ricardo

2010-01-01

This system can measure the collected charge in one or two microstrip silicon sensors by reading out all the channels of the sensor(s), up to 256. The system is able to operate with different types (p- and n-type) and different sizes (up to 3 cm 2 ) of microstrip silicon sensors, both irradiated and non-irradiated. Heavily irradiated sensors will be used at the Super Large Hadron Collider, so this system can be used to research the performance of microstrip silicon sensors in conditions as similar as possible to the Super Large Hadron Collider operating conditions. The system has two main parts: a hardware part and a software part. The hardware part acquires the sensor signals either from external trigger inputs, in case of a radioactive source setup is used, or from a synchronised trigger output generated by the system, if a laser setup is used. The software controls the system and processes the data acquired from the sensors in order to store it in an adequate format. The main characteristics of the system are described. Results of measurements acquired with n- and p-type detectors using both the laser and the radioactive source setup are also presented and discussed.

Irradiance sensors for solar systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Storch, A.; Schindl, J. [Oesterreichisches Forschungs- und Pruefzentrum Arsenal GesmbH, Vienna (Austria). Business Unit Renewable Energy

2004-07-01

The presented project surveyed the quality of irradiance sensors used for applications in solar systems. By analysing an outdoor measurement, the accuracies of ten commercially available irradiance sensors were evaluated, comparing their results to those of a calibrated Kipp and Zonen pyranometer CM21. Furthermore, as a simple method for improving the quality of the results, for each sensor an irradiance-calibration was carried out and examined for its effectiveness. (orig.)

Error propagation analysis for a sensor system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yeater, M.L.; Hockenbury, R.W.; Hawkins, J.; Wilkinson, J.

1976-01-01

As part of a program to develop reliability methods for operational use with reactor sensors and protective systems, error propagation analyses are being made for each model. An example is a sensor system computer simulation model, in which the sensor system signature is convoluted with a reactor signature to show the effect of each in revealing or obscuring information contained in the other. The error propagation analysis models the system and signature uncertainties and sensitivities, whereas the simulation models the signatures and by extensive repetitions reveals the effect of errors in various reactor input or sensor response data. In the approach for the example presented, the errors accumulated by the signature (set of ''noise'' frequencies) are successively calculated as it is propagated stepwise through a system comprised of sensor and signal processing components. Additional modeling steps include a Fourier transform calculation to produce the usual power spectral density representation of the product signature, and some form of pattern recognition algorithm

Distributed Sensor Coordination for Advanced Energy Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tumer, Kagan [Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)

2013-07-31

The ability to collect key system level information is critical to the safe, efficient and reliable operation of advanced energy systems. With recent advances in sensor development, it is now possible to push some level of decision making directly to computationally sophisticated sensors, rather than wait for data to arrive to a massive centralized location before a decision is made. This type of approach relies on networked sensors (called “agents” from here on) to actively collect and process data, and provide key control decisions to significantly improve both the quality/relevance of the collected data and the associating decision making. The technological bottlenecks for such sensor networks stem from a lack of mathematics and algorithms to manage the systems, rather than difficulties associated with building and deploying them. Indeed, traditional sensor coordination strategies do not provide adequate solutions for this problem. Passive data collection methods (e.g., large sensor webs) can scale to large systems, but are generally not suited to highly dynamic environments, such as advanced energy systems, where crucial decisions may need to be reached quickly and locally. Approaches based on local decisions on the other hand cannot guarantee that each agent performing its task (maximize an agent objective) will lead to good network wide solution (maximize a network objective) without invoking cumbersome coordination routines. There is currently a lack of algorithms that will enable self-organization and blend the efficiency of local decision making with the system level guarantees of global decision making, particularly when the systems operate in dynamic and stochastic environments. In this work we addressed this critical gap and provided a comprehensive solution to the problem of sensor coordination to ensure the safe, reliable, and robust operation of advanced energy systems. The differentiating aspect of the proposed work is in shifting the focus

The Radio Frequency Health Node Wireless Sensor System

Science.gov (United States)

Valencia, J. Emilio; Stanley, Priscilla C.; Mackey, Paul J.

2009-01-01

The Radio Frequency Health Node (RFHN) wireless sensor system differs from other wireless sensor systems in ways originally intended to enhance utility as an instrumentation system for a spacecraft. The RFHN can also be adapted to use in terrestrial applications in which there are requirements for operational flexibility and integrability into higher-level instrumentation and data acquisition systems. As shown in the figure, the heart of the system is the RFHN, which is a unit that passes commands and data between (1) one or more commercially available wireless sensor units (optionally, also including wired sensor units) and (2) command and data interfaces with a local control computer that may be part of the spacecraft or other engineering system in which the wireless sensor system is installed. In turn, the local control computer can be in radio or wire communication with a remote control computer that may be part of a higher-level system. The remote control computer, acting via the local control computer and the RFHN, cannot only monitor readout data from the sensor units but can also remotely configure (program or reprogram) the RFHN and the sensor units during operation. In a spacecraft application, the RFHN and the sensor units can also be configured more nearly directly, prior to launch, via a serial interface that includes an umbilical cable between the spacecraft and ground support equipment. In either case, the RFHN wireless sensor system has the flexibility to be configured, as required, with different numbers and types of sensors for different applications. The RFHN can be used to effect realtime transfer of data from, and commands to, the wireless sensor units. It can also store data for later retrieval by an external computer. The RFHN communicates with the wireless sensor units via a radio transceiver module. The modular design of the RFHN makes it possible to add radio transceiver modules as needed to accommodate additional sets of wireless sensor

Sensor Technologies for Intelligent Transportation Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Guerrero-Ibáñez, Juan; Zeadally, Sherali; Contreras-Castillo, Juan

2018-04-16

Modern society faces serious problems with transportation systems, including but not limited to traffic congestion, safety, and pollution. Information communication technologies have gained increasing attention and importance in modern transportation systems. Automotive manufacturers are developing in-vehicle sensors and their applications in different areas including safety, traffic management, and infotainment. Government institutions are implementing roadside infrastructures such as cameras and sensors to collect data about environmental and traffic conditions. By seamlessly integrating vehicles and sensing devices, their sensing and communication capabilities can be leveraged to achieve smart and intelligent transportation systems. We discuss how sensor technology can be integrated with the transportation infrastructure to achieve a sustainable Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) and how safety, traffic control and infotainment applications can benefit from multiple sensors deployed in different elements of an ITS. Finally, we discuss some of the challenges that need to be addressed to enable a fully operational and cooperative ITS environment.

Sensor Technologies for Intelligent Transportation Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Guerrero-Ibáñez, Juan; Zeadally, Sherali

2018-01-01

Modern society faces serious problems with transportation systems, including but not limited to traffic congestion, safety, and pollution. Information communication technologies have gained increasing attention and importance in modern transportation systems. Automotive manufacturers are developing in-vehicle sensors and their applications in different areas including safety, traffic management, and infotainment. Government institutions are implementing roadside infrastructures such as cameras and sensors to collect data about environmental and traffic conditions. By seamlessly integrating vehicles and sensing devices, their sensing and communication capabilities can be leveraged to achieve smart and intelligent transportation systems. We discuss how sensor technology can be integrated with the transportation infrastructure to achieve a sustainable Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) and how safety, traffic control and infotainment applications can benefit from multiple sensors deployed in different elements of an ITS. Finally, we discuss some of the challenges that need to be addressed to enable a fully operational and cooperative ITS environment. PMID:29659524

Sensor Technologies for Intelligent Transportation Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Guerrero-Ibáñez

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Modern society faces serious problems with transportation systems, including but not limited to traffic congestion, safety, and pollution. Information communication technologies have gained increasing attention and importance in modern transportation systems. Automotive manufacturers are developing in-vehicle sensors and their applications in different areas including safety, traffic management, and infotainment. Government institutions are implementing roadside infrastructures such as cameras and sensors to collect data about environmental and traffic conditions. By seamlessly integrating vehicles and sensing devices, their sensing and communication capabilities can be leveraged to achieve smart and intelligent transportation systems. We discuss how sensor technology can be integrated with the transportation infrastructure to achieve a sustainable Intelligent Transportation System (ITS and how safety, traffic control and infotainment applications can benefit from multiple sensors deployed in different elements of an ITS. Finally, we discuss some of the challenges that need to be addressed to enable a fully operational and cooperative ITS environment.

Optimal sensor configuration for complex systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sadegh, Payman; Spall, J. C.

1998-01-01

configuration is based on maximizing the overall sensor response while minimizing the correlation among the sensor outputs. The procedure for sensor configuration is based on simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation (SPSA). SPSA avoids the need for detailed modeling of the sensor response by simply......Considers the problem of sensor configuration for complex systems. Our approach involves definition of an appropriate optimality criterion or performance measure, and description of an efficient and practical algorithm for achieving the optimality objective. The criterion for optimal sensor...... relying on observed responses as obtained by limited experimentation with test sensor configurations. We illustrate the approach with the optimal placement of acoustic sensors for signal detection in structures. This includes both a computer simulation study for an aluminum plate, and real...

Sensor Webs as Virtual Data Systems for Earth Science

Science.gov (United States)

Moe, K. L.; Sherwood, R.

2008-05-01

The NASA Earth Science Technology Office established a 3-year Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) development program in late 2006 to explore the technical challenges associated with integrating sensors, sensor networks, data assimilation and modeling components into virtual data systems called "sensor webs". The AIST sensor web program was initiated in response to a renewed emphasis on the sensor web concepts. In 2004, NASA proposed an Earth science vision for a more robust Earth observing system, coupled with remote sensing data analysis tools and advances in Earth system models. The AIST program is conducting the research and developing components to explore the technology infrastructure that will enable the visionary goals. A working statement for a NASA Earth science sensor web vision is the following: On-demand sensing of a broad array of environmental and ecological phenomena across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, from a heterogeneous suite of sensors both in-situ and in orbit. Sensor webs will be dynamically organized to collect data, extract information from it, accept input from other sensor / forecast / tasking systems, interact with the environment based on what they detect or are tasked to perform, and communicate observations and results in real time. The focus on sensor webs is to develop the technology and prototypes to demonstrate the evolving sensor web capabilities. There are 35 AIST projects ranging from 1 to 3 years in duration addressing various aspects of sensor webs involving space sensors such as Earth Observing-1, in situ sensor networks such as the southern California earthquake network, and various modeling and forecasting systems. Some of these projects build on proof-of-concept demonstrations of sensor web capabilities like the EO-1 rapid fire response initially implemented in 2003. Other projects simulate future sensor web configurations to evaluate the effectiveness of sensor-model interactions for producing

Sensor system for fuel transport vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Earl, Dennis Duncan; McIntyre, Timothy J.; West, David L.

2016-03-22

An exemplary sensor system for a fuel transport vehicle can comprise a fuel marker sensor positioned between a fuel storage chamber of the vehicle and an access valve for the fuel storage chamber of the vehicle. The fuel marker sensor can be configured to measure one or more characteristics of one or more fuel markers present in the fuel adjacent the sensor, such as when the marked fuel is unloaded at a retail station. The one or more characteristics can comprise concentration and/or identity of the one or more fuel markers in the fuel. Based on the measured characteristics of the one or more fuel markers, the sensor system can identify the fuel and/or can determine whether the fuel has been adulterated after the marked fuel was last measured, such as when the marked fuel was loaded into the vehicle.

Solid-State Gas Sensors: Sensor System Challenges in the Civil Security Domain.

Science.gov (United States)

Müller, Gerhard; Hackner, Angelika; Beer, Sebastian; Göbel, Johann

2016-01-20

The detection of military high explosives and illicit drugs presents problems of paramount importance in the fields of counter terrorism and criminal investigation. Effectively dealing with such threats requires hand-portable, mobile and affordable instruments. The paper shows that solid-state gas sensors can contribute to the development of such instruments provided the sensors are incorporated into integrated sensor systems, which acquire the target substances in the form of particle residue from suspect objects and which process the collected residue through a sequence of particle sampling, solid-vapor conversion, vapor detection and signal treatment steps. Considering sensor systems with metal oxide gas sensors at the backend, it is demonstrated that significant gains in sensitivity, selectivity and speed of response can be attained when the threat substances are sampled in particle as opposed to vapor form.

Integrated active sensor system for real time vibration monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Qijie; Yan, Xiaoqin; Liao, Xinqin; Cao, Shiyao; Lu, Shengnan; Zheng, Xin; Zhang, Yue

2015-11-05

We report a self-powered, lightweight and cost-effective active sensor system for vibration monitoring with multiplexed operation based on contact electrification between sensor and detected objects. The as-fabricated sensor matrix is capable of monitoring and mapping the vibration state of large amounts of units. The monitoring contents include: on-off state, vibration frequency and vibration amplitude of each unit. The active sensor system delivers a detection range of 0-60 Hz, high accuracy (relative error below 0.42%), long-term stability (10000 cycles). On the time dimension, the sensor can provide the vibration process memory by recording the outputs of the sensor system in an extend period of time. Besides, the developed sensor system can realize detection under contact mode and non-contact mode. Its high performance is not sensitive to the shape or the conductivity of the detected object. With these features, the active sensor system has great potential in automatic control, remote operation, surveillance and security systems.

Fusion of Images from Dissimilar Sensor Systems

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Chow, Khin

2004-01-01

Different sensors exploit different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum; therefore a multi-sensor image fusion system can take full advantage of the complementary capabilities of individual sensors in the suit...

Development of wireless sensor network for landslide monitoring system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suryadi; Puranto, Prabowo; Adinanta, Hendra; Tohari, Adrin; Priambodo, Purnomo S

2017-01-01

A wireless sensor network has been developed to monitor soil movement of some observed areas periodically. The system consists of four nodes and one gateway which installed on a scope area of 0.2 Km 2 . Each of nodehastwo types of sensor,an inclinometer and an extensometer. An inclinometer sensor is used to measure the tilt of a structure while anextensometer sensor is used to measure the displacement of soil movement. Each of nodeisalso supported by awireless communication device, a solar power supply unit, and a microcontroller unit called sensor module. In this system, there is also gateway module as a main communication system consistinga wireless communication device, power supply unit, and rain gauge to measure the rainfall intensity of the observed area. Each sensor of inclinometer and extensometer isconnected to the sensor module in wiring system but sensor module iscommunicating with gateway in a wireless system. Those four nodes are alsoconnectedeach other in a wireless system collecting the data from inclinometer and extensometer sensors. Module Gateway istransmitting the instruction code to each sensor module one by one and collecting the data from them. Gateway module is an important part to communicate with not only sensor modules but also to the server. This wireless system wasdesigned toreducethe electric consumption powered by 80 WP solar panel and 55Ah battery. This system has been implemented in Pangalengan, Bandung, which has high intensity of rainfall and it can be seen on the website. (paper)

Automatic Water Sensor Window Opening System

KAUST Repository

Percher, Michael

2013-01-01

A system can automatically open at least one window of a vehicle when the vehicle is being submerged in water. The system can include a water collector and a water sensor, and when the water sensor detects water in the water collector, at least one window of the vehicle opens.

Automatic Water Sensor Window Opening System

KAUST Repository

Percher, Michael

2013-12-05

A system can automatically open at least one window of a vehicle when the vehicle is being submerged in water. The system can include a water collector and a water sensor, and when the water sensor detects water in the water collector, at least one window of the vehicle opens.

Battery management system with distributed wireless sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Farmer, Joseph C.; Bandhauer, Todd M.

2016-02-23

A system for monitoring parameters of an energy storage system having a multiplicity of individual energy storage cells. A radio frequency identification and sensor unit is connected to each of the individual energy storage cells. The radio frequency identification and sensor unit operates to sense the parameter of each individual energy storage cell and provides radio frequency transmission of the parameters of each individual energy storage cell. A management system monitors the radio frequency transmissions from the radio frequency identification and sensor units for monitoring the parameters of the energy storage system.

Optimal sensor configuration for complex systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sadegh, Payman; Spall, J. C.

1998-01-01

. The procedure for sensor configuration is based on the simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation (SPSA) algorithm. SPSA avoids the need for detailed modeling of the sensor response by simply relying on the observed responses obtained by limited experimentation with test sensor configurations. We......The paper considers the problem of sensor configuration for complex systems with the aim of maximizing the useful information about certain quantities of interest. Our approach involves: 1) definition of an appropriate optimality criterion or performance measure; and 2) description of an efficient...... and practical algorithm for achieving the optimality objective. The criterion for optimal sensor configuration is based on maximizing the overall sensor response while minimizing the correlation among the sensor outputs, so as to minimize the redundant information being provided by the multiple sensors...

Vibration welding system with thin film sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Wayne W; Abell, Jeffrey A; Li, Xiaochun; Choi, Hongseok; Zhao, Jingzhou

2014-03-18

A vibration welding system includes an anvil, a welding horn, a thin film sensor, and a process controller. The anvil and horn include working surfaces that contact a work piece during the welding process. The sensor measures a control value at the working surface. The measured control value is transmitted to the controller, which controls the system in part using the measured control value. The thin film sensor may include a plurality of thermopiles and thermocouples which collectively measure temperature and heat flux at the working surface. A method includes providing a welder device with a slot adjacent to a working surface of the welder device, inserting the thin film sensor into the slot, and using the sensor to measure a control value at the working surface. A process controller then controls the vibration welding system in part using the measured control value.

Solid-State Gas Sensors: Sensor System Challenges in the Civil Security Domain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gerhard Müller

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The detection of military high explosives and illicit drugs presents problems of paramount importance in the fields of counter terrorism and criminal investigation. Effectively dealing with such threats requires hand-portable, mobile and affordable instruments. The paper shows that solid-state gas sensors can contribute to the development of such instruments provided the sensors are incorporated into integrated sensor systems, which acquire the target substances in the form of particle residue from suspect objects and which process the collected residue through a sequence of particle sampling, solid-vapor conversion, vapor detection and signal treatment steps. Considering sensor systems with metal oxide gas sensors at the backend, it is demonstrated that significant gains in sensitivity, selectivity and speed of response can be attained when the threat substances are sampled in particle as opposed to vapor form.

Active Sensor Configuration Validation for Refrigeration Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hovgaard, Tobias Gybel; Blanke, Mogens; Niemann, Hans Henrik

2010-01-01

-diagnosis methods falling short on this problem, this paper suggests an active diagnosis procedure to isolate sensor faults at the commissioning stage, before normal operation has started. Using statistical methods, residuals are evaluated versus multiple hypothesis models in a minimization process to uniquely......Major faults in the commissioning phase of refrigeration systems are caused by defects related to sensors. With a number of similar sensors available that do not differ by type but only by spatial location in the plant, interchange of sensors is a common defect. With sensors being used quite...... differently by the control system, fault-finding is difficult in practice and defects are regularly causing commissioning delays at considerable expense. Validation and handling of faults in the sensor configuration are therefore essential to cut costs during commissioning. With passive fault...

A neuro-fuzzy inference system for sensor monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Na, Man Gyun

2001-01-01

A neuro-fuzzy inference system combined with the wavelet denoising, PCA (principal component analysis) and SPRT (sequential probability ratio test) methods has been developed to monitor the relevant sensor using the information of other sensors. The paramters of the neuro-fuzzy inference system which estimates the relevant sensor signal are optimized by a genetic algorithm and a least-squares algorithm. The wavelet denoising technique was applied to remove noise components in input signals into the neuro-fuzzy system. By reducing the dimension of an input space into the neuro-fuzzy system without losing a significant amount of information, the PCA was used to reduce the time necessary to train the neuro-fuzzy system, simplify the structure of the neuro-fuzzy inference system and also, make easy the selection of the input signals into the neuro-fuzzy system. By using the residual signals between the estimated signals and the measured signals, the SPRT is applied to detect whether the sensors are degraded or not. The proposed sensor-monitoring algorithm was verified through applications to the pressurizer water level, the pressurizer pressure, and the hot-leg temperature sensors in pressurized water reactors

Optical seismic sensor systems and methods

Science.gov (United States)

Beal, A. Craig; Cummings, Malcolm E.; Zavriyev, Anton; Christensen, Caleb A.; Lee, Keun

2015-12-08

Disclosed is an optical seismic sensor system for measuring seismic events in a geological formation, including a surface unit for generating and processing an optical signal, and a sensor device optically connected to the surface unit for receiving the optical signal over an optical conduit. The sensor device includes at least one sensor head for sensing a seismic disturbance from at least one direction during a deployment of the sensor device within a borehole of the geological formation. The sensor head includes a frame and a reference mass attached to the frame via at least one flexure, such that movement of the reference mass relative to the frame is constrained to a single predetermined path.

Sensor Arrays and Electronic Tongue Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manel del Valle

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes recent work performed with electronic tongue systems utilizing electrochemical sensors. The electronic tongues concept is a new trend in sensors that uses arrays of sensors together with chemometric tools to unravel the complex information generated. Initial contributions and also the most used variant employ conventional ion selective electrodes, in which it is named potentiometric electronic tongue. The second important variant is the one that employs voltammetry for its operation. As chemometric processing tool, the use of artificial neural networks as the preferred data processing variant will be described. The use of the sensor arrays inserted in flow injection or sequential injection systems will exemplify attempts made to automate the operation of electronic tongues. Significant use of biosensors, mainly enzyme-based, to form what is already named bioelectronic tongue will be also presented. Application examples will be illustrated with selected study cases from the Sensors and Biosensors Group at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Smart sensor systems for human health breath monitoring applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, G W; Xu, J C; Biaggi-Labiosa, A M; Laskowski, D; Dutta, P K; Mondal, S P; Ward, B J; Makel, D B; Liu, C C; Chang, C W; Dweik, R A

2011-09-01

Breath analysis techniques offer a potential revolution in health care diagnostics, especially if these techniques can be brought into standard use in the clinic and at home. The advent of microsensors combined with smart sensor system technology enables a new generation of sensor systems with significantly enhanced capabilities and minimal size, weight and power consumption. This paper discusses the microsensor/smart sensor system approach and provides a summary of efforts to migrate this technology into human health breath monitoring applications. First, the basic capability of this approach to measure exhaled breath associated with exercise physiology is demonstrated. Building from this foundation, the development of a system for a portable asthma home health care system is described. A solid-state nitric oxide (NO) sensor for asthma monitoring has been identified, and efforts are underway to miniaturize this NO sensor technology and integrate it into a smart sensor system. It is concluded that base platform microsensor technology combined with smart sensor systems can address the needs of a range of breath monitoring applications and enable new capabilities for healthcare.

Optimal Sensor Selection for Health Monitoring Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Santi, L. Michael; Sowers, T. Shane; Aguilar, Robert B.

2005-01-01

Sensor data are the basis for performance and health assessment of most complex systems. Careful selection and implementation of sensors is critical to enable high fidelity system health assessment. A model-based procedure that systematically selects an optimal sensor suite for overall health assessment of a designated host system is described. This procedure, termed the Systematic Sensor Selection Strategy (S4), was developed at NASA John H. Glenn Research Center in order to enhance design phase planning and preparations for in-space propulsion health management systems (HMS). Information and capabilities required to utilize the S4 approach in support of design phase development of robust health diagnostics are outlined. A merit metric that quantifies diagnostic performance and overall risk reduction potential of individual sensor suites is introduced. The conceptual foundation for this merit metric is presented and the algorithmic organization of the S4 optimization process is described. Representative results from S4 analyses of a boost stage rocket engine previously under development as part of NASA's Next Generation Launch Technology (NGLT) program are presented.

Alcohol Control: Mobile Sensor System and Numerical Signal Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rolf SEIFERT

2016-10-01

Full Text Available An innovative mobile sensor system for alcohol control in the respiratory air is introduced. The gas sensor included in the sensor system is thermo-cyclically operated. Ethanol is the leading component in this context. However, other components occur in the breathing air which can influence the concentration determination of ethanol. Therefore, mono- ethanol samples and binary gas mixtures are measured by the sensor system and analyzed with a new calibration and evaluation procedure which is also incorporated in the system. The applications demonstrate a good substance identification capability of the sensor system and a very good concentration determination of the components.

Vertebrate gravity sensors as dynamic systems

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, M. D.

1985-01-01

This paper considers verterbrate gravity receptors as dynamic sensors. That is, it is hypothesized that gravity is a constant force to which an acceleration-sensing system would readily adapt. Premises are considered in light of the presence of kinocilia on hair cells of vertebrate gravity sensors; differences in loading of the sensors among species; and of possible reduction in loading by inclusion of much organic material in otoconia. Moreover, organic-inorganic interfaces may confer a piezoelectric property upon otoconia, which increase the sensitivity of the sensory system to small accelerations. Comparisons with man-made accelerometers are briefly taken up.

Sensor Selection method for IoT systems – focusing on embedded system requirements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hirayama Masayuki

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Recently, various types of sensors have been developed. Using these sensors, IoT systems have become hot topics in embedded system domain. However, sensor selections for embedded systems are not well discussed up to now. This paper focuses on embedded system’s features and architecture, and proposes a sensor selection method which is composed seven steps. In addition, we applied the proposed method to a simple example – a sensor selection for computer scored answer sheet reader unit. From this case study, an idea to use FTA in sensor selection is also discussed.

Next generation sensors and systems

CERN Document Server

2016-01-01

Written by experts in their area of research, this book has outlined the current status of the fundamentals and analytical concepts, modelling and design issues, technical details and practical applications of different types of sensors and discussed about the trends of next generation of sensors and systems happening in the area of Sensing technology. This book will be useful as a reference book for engineers and scientist especially the post-graduate students find will this book as reference book for their research on wearable sensors, devices and technologies.  .

Smart Sensor Network System For Environment Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Javed Ali Baloch

2012-07-01

Full Text Available SSN (Smart Sensor Network systems could be used to monitor buildings with modern infrastructure, plant sites with chemical pollution, horticulture, natural habitat, wastewater management and modern transport system. To sense attributes of phenomena and make decisions on the basis of the sensed value is the primary goal of such systems. In this paper a Smart Spatially aware sensor system is presented. A smart system, which could continuously monitor the network to observe the functionality and trigger, alerts to the base station if a change in the system occurs and provide feedback periodically, on demand or even continuously depending on the nature of the application. The results of the simulation trials presented in this paper exhibit the performance of a Smart Spatially Aware Sensor Networks.

Optimization of wireless Bluetooth sensor systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Lonnblad, J; Castano, J; Ekstrom, M; Linden, M; Backlund, Y

2004-01-01

Within this study, three different Bluetooth sensor systems, replacing cables for transmission of biomedical sensor data, have been designed and evaluated. The three sensor architectures are built on 1-, 2- and 3-chip solutions and depending on the monitoring situation and signal character, different solutions are optimal. Essential parameters for all systems have been low physical weight and small size, resistance to interference and interoperability with other technologies as global- or local networks, PC's and mobile phones. Two different biomedical input signals, ECG and PPG (photoplethysmography), have been used to evaluate the three solutions. The study shows that it is possibly to continuously transmit an analogue signal. At low sampling rates and slowly varying parameters, as monitoring the heart rate with PPG, the 1-chip solution is the most suitable, offering low power consumption and thus a longer battery lifetime or a smaller battery, minimizing the weight of the sensor system. On the other hand, when a higher sampling rate is required, as an ECG, the 3-chip architecture, with a FPGA or micro-controller, offers the best solution and performance. Our conclusion is that Bluetooth might be useful in replacing cables of medical monitoring systems.

Ultrasonic sensors in urban traffic driving-aid systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Alonso, Luciano; Milanés, Vicente; Torre-Ferrero, Carlos; Godoy, Jorge; Oria, Juan P; de Pedro, Teresa

2011-01-01

Currently, vehicles are often equipped with active safety systems to reduce the risk of accidents, most of which occur in urban environments. The most prominent include Antilock Braking Systems (ABS), Traction Control and Stability Control. All these systems use different kinds of sensors to constantly monitor the conditions of the vehicle, and act in an emergency. In this paper the use of ultrasonic sensors in active safety systems for urban traffic is proposed, and the advantages and disadvantages when compared to other sensors are discussed. Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) for urban traffic based on ultrasounds is presented as an application example. The proposed system has been implemented in a fully-automated prototype vehicle and has been tested under real traffic conditions. The results confirm the good performance of ultrasonic sensors in these systems.

MicroSensors Systems: detection of a dismounted threat

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Bill; Berglund, Victor; Falkofske, Dwight; Krantz, Brian

2005-05-01

The Micro Sensor System (MSS) is a layered sensor network with the goal of detecting dismounted threats approaching high value assets. A low power unattended ground sensor network is dependant on a network protocol for efficiency in order to minimize data transmissions after network establishment. The reduction of network 'chattiness' is a primary driver for minimizing power consumption and is a factor in establishing a low probability of detection and interception. The MSS has developed a unique protocol to meet these challenges. Unattended ground sensor systems are most likely dependant on batteries for power which due to size determines the ability of the sensor to be concealed after placement. To minimize power requirements, overcome size limitations, and maintain a low system cost the MSS utilizes advanced manufacturing processes know as Fluidic Self-Assembly and Chip Scale Packaging. The type of sensing element and the ability to sense various phenomenologies (particularly magnetic) at ranges greater than a few meters limits the effectiveness of a system. The MicroSensor System will overcome these limitations by deploying large numbers of low cost sensors, which is made possible by the advanced manufacturing process used in production of the sensors. The MSS program will provide unprecedented levels of real-time battlefield information which greatly enhances combat situational awareness when integrated with the existing Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) infrastructure. This system will provide an important boost to realizing the information dominant, network-centric objective of Joint Vision 2020.

A Tactile Sensor Network System Using a Multiple Sensor Platform with a Dedicated CMOS-LSI for Robot Applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Shao, Chenzhong; Tanaka, Shuji; Nakayama, Takahiro; Hata, Yoshiyuki; Bartley, Travis; Nonomura, Yutaka; Muroyama, Masanori

2017-08-28

Robot tactile sensation can enhance human-robot communication in terms of safety, reliability and accuracy. The final goal of our project is to widely cover a robot body with a large number of tactile sensors, which has significant advantages such as accurate object recognition, high sensitivity and high redundancy. In this study, we developed a multi-sensor system with dedicated Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) Large-Scale Integration (LSI) circuit chips (referred to as "sensor platform LSI") as a framework of a serial bus-based tactile sensor network system. The sensor platform LSI supports three types of sensors: an on-chip temperature sensor, off-chip capacitive and resistive tactile sensors, and communicates with a relay node via a bus line. The multi-sensor system was first constructed on a printed circuit board to evaluate basic functions of the sensor platform LSI, such as capacitance-to-digital and resistance-to-digital conversion. Then, two kinds of external sensors, nine sensors in total, were connected to two sensor platform LSIs, and temperature, capacitive and resistive sensing data were acquired simultaneously. Moreover, we fabricated flexible printed circuit cables to demonstrate the multi-sensor system with 15 sensor platform LSIs operating simultaneously, which showed a more realistic implementation in robots. In conclusion, the multi-sensor system with up to 15 sensor platform LSIs on a bus line supporting temperature, capacitive and resistive sensing was successfully demonstrated.

Intelligent Wireless Sensor Networks for System Health Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Alena, Rick

2011-01-01

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) based on the IEEE 802.15.4 Personal Area Network (PAN) standard are finding increasing use in the home automation and emerging smart energy markets. The network and application layers, based on the ZigBee 2007 Standard, provide a convenient framework for component-based software that supports customer solutions from multiple vendors. WSNs provide the inherent fault tolerance required for aerospace applications. The Discovery and Systems Health Group at NASA Ames Research Center has been developing WSN technology for use aboard aircraft and spacecraft for System Health Monitoring of structures and life support systems using funding from the NASA Engineering and Safety Center and Exploration Technology Development and Demonstration Program. This technology provides key advantages for low-power, low-cost ancillary sensing systems particularly across pressure interfaces and in areas where it is difficult to run wires. Intelligence for sensor networks could be defined as the capability of forming dynamic sensor networks, allowing high-level application software to identify and address any sensor that joined the network without the use of any centralized database defining the sensors characteristics. The IEEE 1451 Standard defines methods for the management of intelligent sensor systems and the IEEE 1451.4 section defines Transducer Electronic Datasheets (TEDS), which contain key information regarding the sensor characteristics such as name, description, serial number, calibration information and user information such as location within a vehicle. By locating the TEDS information on the wireless sensor itself and enabling access to this information base from the application software, the application can identify the sensor unambiguously and interpret and present the sensor data stream without reference to any other information. The application software is able to read the status of each sensor module, responding in real-time to changes of

Semiautonomous Avionics-and-Sensors System for a UAV

Science.gov (United States)

Shams, Qamar

2006-01-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) autonomous or remotely controlled pilotless aircraft have been recently thrust into the spotlight for military applications, for homeland security, and as test beds for research. In addition to these functions, there are many space applications in which lightweight, inexpensive, small UAVS can be used e.g., to determine the chemical composition and other qualities of the atmospheres of remote planets. Moreover, on Earth, such UAVs can be used to obtain information about weather in various regions; in particular, they can be used to analyze wide-band acoustic signals to aid in determining the complex dynamics of movement of hurricanes. The Advanced Sensors and Electronics group at Langley Research Center has developed an inexpensive, small, integrated avionics-and-sensors system to be installed in a UAV that serves two purposes. The first purpose is to provide flight data to an AI (Artificial Intelligence) controller as part of an autonomous flight-control system. The second purpose is to store data from a subsystem of distributed MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) sensors. Examples of these MEMS sensors include humidity, temperature, and acoustic sensors, plus chemical sensors for detecting various vapors and other gases in the environment. The critical sensors used for flight control are a differential- pressure sensor that is part of an apparatus for determining airspeed, an absolute-pressure sensor for determining altitude, three orthogonal accelerometers for determining tilt and acceleration, and three orthogonal angular-rate detectors (gyroscopes). By using these eight sensors, it is possible to determine the orientation, height, speed, and rates of roll, pitch, and yaw of the UAV. This avionics-and-sensors system is shown in the figure. During the last few years, there has been rapid growth and advancement in the technological disciplines of MEMS, of onboard artificial-intelligence systems, and of smaller, faster, and

Alcohol control: Mobile sensor system and numerical signal analysis

OpenAIRE

Seifert, Rolf; Keller, Hubert B.; Conrad, Thorsten; Peter, Jens

2016-01-01

An innovative mobile sensor system for alcohol control in the respiratory air is introduced. The gas sensor included in the sensor system is thermo-cyclically operated. Ethanol is the leading component in this context. However, other components occur in the breathing air which can influence the concentration determination of ethanol. Therefore, mono- ethanol samples and binary gas mixtures are measured by the sensor system and analyzed with a new calibration and evaluation procedure which is ...

Wireless Sensor Network Metrics for Real-Time Systems

Science.gov (United States)

2009-05-20

Wireless Sensor Network Metrics for Real-Time Systems Phoebus Wei-Chih Chen Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences University of California at...3. DATES COVERED 00-00-2009 to 00-00-2009 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Wireless Sensor Network Metrics for Real-Time Systems 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b... wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is moving from studies of WSNs in isolation toward studies where the WSN is treated as a component of a larger system

Ultrasonic Sensors in Urban Traffic Driving-Aid Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teresa de Pedro

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Currently, vehicles are often equipped with active safety systems to reduce the risk of accidents, most of which occur in urban environments. The most prominent include Antilock Braking Systems (ABS, Traction Control and Stability Control. All these systems use different kinds of sensors to constantly monitor the conditions of the vehicle, and act in an emergency. In this paper the use of ultrasonic sensors in active safety systems for urban traffic is proposed, and the advantages and disadvantages when compared to other sensors are discussed. Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC for urban traffic based on ultrasounds is presented as an application example. The proposed system has been implemented in a fully-automated prototype vehicle and has been tested under real traffic conditions. The results confirm the good performance of ultrasonic sensors in these systems.

Ultra-Low Power Sensor System for Disaster Event Detection in Metro Tunnel Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonah VINCKE

2017-05-01

Full Text Available In this extended paper, the concept for an ultra-low power wireless sensor network (WSN for underground tunnel systems is presented highlighting the chosen sensors. Its objectives are the detection of emergency events either from natural disasters, such as flooding or fire, or from terrorist attacks using explosives. Earlier works have demonstrated that the power consumption for the communication can be reduced such that the data acquisition (i.e. sensor sub-system becomes the most significant energy consumer. By using ultra-low power components for the smoke detector, a hydrostatic pressure sensor for water ingress detection and a passive acoustic emission sensor for explosion detection, all considered threats are covered while the energy consumption can be kept very low in relation to the data acquisition. In addition to 1 the sensor system is integrated into a sensor board. The total average power consumption for operating the sensor sub-system is measured to be 35.9 µW for lower and 7.8 µW for upper nodes.

Sensor-based material tagging system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vercellotti, L.C.; Cox, R.W.; Ravas, R.J.; Schlotterer, J.C.

1991-01-01

Electronic identification tags are being developed for tracking material and personnel. In applying electronic identification tags to radioactive materials safeguards, it is important to measure attributes of the material to ensure that the tag remains with the material. The addition of a microcontroller with an on-board analog-to-digital converter to an electronic identification tag application-specific integrated-circuit has been demonstrated as means to provide the tag with sensor data. Each tag is assembled into a housing, which serves as a scale for measuring the weight of a paint-can-sized container and its contents. Temperature rise of the can above ambient is also measured, and a piezoelectric detector detects disturbances and immediately puts the tag into its alarm and beacon mode. Radiation measurement was also considered, but the background from nearby containers was found to be excessive. The sensor-based tagging system allows tracking of the material in cans as it is stored in vaults or is moved through the manufacturing process. The paper presents details of the sensor-based material tagging system and describes a demonstration system

Circuits and Systems for Low-Power Miniaturized Wireless Sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Nagaraju, Manohar

The field of electronic sensors has witnessed a tremendous growth over the last decade particularly with the proliferation of mobile devices. New applications in Internet of Things (IoT), wearable technology, are further expected to fuel the demand for sensors from current numbers in the range of billions to trillions in the next decade. The main challenges for a trillion sensors are continued miniaturization, low-cost and large-scale manufacturing process, and low power consumption. Traditional integration and circuit design techniques in sensor systems are not suitable for applications in smart dust, IoT etc. The first part of this thesis demonstrates an example sensor system for biosignal recording and illustrates the tradeoffs in the design of low-power miniaturized sensors. The different components of the sensor system are integrated at the board level. The second part of the thesis demonstrates fully integrated sensors that enable extreme miniaturization of a sensing system with the sensor element, processing circuitry, a frequency reference for communication and the communication circuitry in a single hermetically sealed die. Design techniques to reduce the power consumption of the sensor interface circuitry at the architecture and circuit level are demonstrated. The principles are used to design sensors for two of the most common physical variables, mass and pressure. A low-power wireless mass and pressure sensor suitable for a wide variety of biological/chemical sensing applications and Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) respectively are demonstrated. Further, the idea of using high-Q resonators for a Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) is proposed and a low-noise, wide bandwidth FBAR-based VCO is presented.

Heimdall System for MSSS Sensor Tasking

Science.gov (United States)

Herz, A.; Jones, B.; Herz, E.; George, D.; Axelrad, P.; Gehly, S.

In Norse Mythology, Heimdall uses his foreknowledge and keen eyesight to keep watch for disaster from his home near the Rainbow Bridge. Orbit Logic and the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research (CCAR) at the University of Colorado (CU) have developed the Heimdall System to schedule observations of known and uncharacterized objects and search for new objects from the Maui Space Surveillance Site. Heimdall addresses the current need for automated and optimized SSA sensor tasking driven by factors associated with improved space object catalog maintenance. Orbit Logic and CU developed an initial baseline prototype SSA sensor tasking capability for select sensors at the Maui Space Surveillance Site (MSSS) using STK and STK Scheduler, and then added a new Track Prioritization Component for FiSST-inspired computations for predicted Information Gain and Probability of Detection, and a new SSA-specific Figure-of-Merit (FOM) for optimized SSA sensor tasking. While the baseline prototype addresses automation and some of the multi-sensor tasking optimization, the SSA-improved prototype addresses all of the key elements required for improved tasking leading to enhanced object catalog maintenance. The Heimdall proof-of-concept was demonstrated for MSSS SSA sensor tasking for a 24 hour period to attempt observations of all operational satellites in the unclassified NORAD catalog, observe a small set of high priority GEO targets every 30 minutes, make a sky survey of the GEO belt region accessible to MSSS sensors, and observe particular GEO regions that have a high probability of finding new objects with any excess sensor time. This Heimdall prototype software paves the way for further R&D that will integrate this technology into the MSSS systems for operational scheduling, improve the software's scalability, and further tune and enhance schedule optimization. The Heimdall software for SSA sensor tasking provides greatly improved performance over manual tasking, improved

SENSORS FAULT DIAGNOSIS ALGORITHM DESIGN OF A HYDRAULIC SYSTEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matej ORAVEC

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This article presents the sensors fault diagnosis system design for the hydraulic system, which is based on the group of the three fault estimation filters. These filters are used for estimation of the system states and sensors fault magnitude. Also, this article briefly stated the hydraulic system state control design with integrator, which is important assumption for the fault diagnosis system design. The sensors fault diagnosis system is implemented into the Matlab/Simulink environment and it is verified using the controlled hydraulic system simulation model. Verification of the designed fault diagnosis system is realized by series of experiments, which simulates sensors faults. The results of the experiments are briefly presented in the last part of this article.

AMA Conferences 2015. SENSOR 2015. 17th international conference on sensors and measurement technology. IRS2 2015. 14th international conference on infrared sensors and systems. Proceedings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2015-01-01

This meeting paper contains presentations of two conferences: SENSOR 2015 and IRS 2 (= International conference on InfraRed Sensors and systems). The first part of SENSOR 2015 contains the following chapters: (A) SENSOR PRINCIPLES: A.1: Mechanical sensors; A.2: Optical sensors; A.3: Ultrasonic sensors; A.4: Microacoustic sensors; A.5: Magnetic sensors; A.6: Impedance sensors; A.7: Gas sensors; A.8: Flow sensors; A.9: Dimensional measurement; A.10: Temperature and humidity sensors; A.11: Chemosensors; A.12: Biosensors; A.13: Embedded sensors; A.14: Sensor-actuator systems; (B) SENSOR TECHNOLOGY: B.1: Sensor design; B.2: Numerical simulation of sensors; B.3: Sensor materials; B.4: MEMS technology; B.5: Micro-Nano-Integration; B.6: Packaging; B.7: Materials; B.8: Thin films; B.9: Sensor production; B.10: Sensor reliability; B.11: Calibration and testing; B.12: Optical fibre sensors. (C) SENSOR ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION: C.1: Sensor electronics; C.2: Sensor networks; C.3: Wireless sensors; C.4: Sensor communication; C.5: Energy harvesting; C.6: Measuring systems; C.7: Embedded systems; C.8: Self-monitoring and diagnosis; (D) APPLICATIONS: D.1: Medical measuring technology; D.2: Ambient assisted living; D.3: Process measuring technology; D.4: Automotive; D.5: Sensors in energy technology; D.6: Production technology; D.7: Security technology; D.8: Smart home; D.9: Household technology. The second part with the contributions of the IRS 2 2015 is structured as follows: (E) INFRARED SENSORS: E.1: Photon detectors; E.2: Thermal detectors; E.3: Cooled detectors; E.4: Uncooled detectors; E.5: Sensor modules; E.6: Sensor packaging. (G) INFRARED SYSTEMS AND APPLICATIONS: G.1: Thermal imaging; G.2: Pyrometry / contactless temperature measurement; G.3: Gas analysis; G.4: Spectroscopy; G.5: Motion control and presence detection; G.6: Security and safety monitoring; G.7: Non-destructive testing; F: INFRARED SYSTEM COMPONENTS: F.1: Infrared optics; F.2: Optical modulators; F.3

Integrating soft sensor systems using conductive thread

Science.gov (United States)

Teng, Lijun; Jeronimo, Karina; Wei, Tianqi; Nemitz, Markus P.; Lyu, Geng; Stokes, Adam A.

2018-05-01

We are part of a growing community of researchers who are developing a new class of soft machines. By using mechanically soft materials (MPa modulus) we can design systems which overcome the bulk-mechanical mismatches between soft biological systems and hard engineered components. To develop fully integrated soft machines—which include power, communications, and control sub-systems—the research community requires methods for interconnecting between soft and hard electronics. Sensors based upon eutectic gallium alloys in microfluidic channels can be used to measure normal and strain forces, but integrating these sensors into systems of heterogeneous Young’s modulus is difficult due the complexity of finding a material which is electrically conductive, mechanically flexible, and stable over prolonged periods of time. Many existing gallium-based liquid alloy sensors are not mechanically or electrically robust, and have poor stability over time. We present the design and fabrication of a high-resolution pressure-sensor soft system that can transduce normal force into a digital output. In this soft system, which is built on a monolithic silicone substrate, a galinstan-based microfluidic pressure sensor is integrated with a flexible printed circuit board. We used conductive thread as the interconnect and found that this method alleviates problems arising due to the mechanical mismatch between conventional metal wires and soft or liquid materials. Conductive thread is low-cost, it is readily wetted by the liquid metal, it produces little bending moment into the microfluidic channel, and it can be connected directly onto the copper bond-pads of the flexible printed circuit board. We built a bridge-system to provide stable readings from the galinstan pressure sensor. This system gives linear measurement results between 500-3500 Pa of applied pressure. We anticipate that integrated systems of this type will find utility in soft-robotic systems as used for wearable

Muscular condition monitoring system using fiber bragg grating sensors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Heon Young; Lee, Jin Hyuk; Kim, Dae Hyun

2014-01-01

Fiber optic sensors (FOS) have advantages such as electromagnetic interference (EMI) immunity, corrosion resistance and multiplexing capability. For these reasons, they are widely used in various condition monitoring systems (CMS). This study investigated a muscular condition monitoring system using fiber optic sensors (FOS). Generally, sensors for monitoring the condition of the human body are based on electro-magnetic devices. However, such an electrical system has several weaknesses, including the potential for electro-magnetic interference and distortion. Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors overcome these weaknesses, along with simplifying the devices and increasing user convenience. To measure the level of muscle contraction and relaxation, which indicates the muscle condition, a belt-shaped FBG sensor module that makes it possible to monitor the movement of muscles in the radial and circumferential directions was fabricated in this study. In addition, a uniaxial tensile test was carried out in order to evaluate the applicability of this FBG sensor module. Based on the experimental results, a relationship was observed between the tensile stress and Bragg wavelength of the FBG sensors, which revealed the possibility of fabricating a muscular condition monitoring system based on FBG sensors.

Muscular condition monitoring system using fiber bragg grating sensors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Heon Young; Lee, Jin Hyuk; Kim, Dae Hyun [Seoul National University of Technology, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2014-10-15

Fiber optic sensors (FOS) have advantages such as electromagnetic interference (EMI) immunity, corrosion resistance and multiplexing capability. For these reasons, they are widely used in various condition monitoring systems (CMS). This study investigated a muscular condition monitoring system using fiber optic sensors (FOS). Generally, sensors for monitoring the condition of the human body are based on electro-magnetic devices. However, such an electrical system has several weaknesses, including the potential for electro-magnetic interference and distortion. Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors overcome these weaknesses, along with simplifying the devices and increasing user convenience. To measure the level of muscle contraction and relaxation, which indicates the muscle condition, a belt-shaped FBG sensor module that makes it possible to monitor the movement of muscles in the radial and circumferential directions was fabricated in this study. In addition, a uniaxial tensile test was carried out in order to evaluate the applicability of this FBG sensor module. Based on the experimental results, a relationship was observed between the tensile stress and Bragg wavelength of the FBG sensors, which revealed the possibility of fabricating a muscular condition monitoring system based on FBG sensors.

A Tactile Sensor Network System Using a Multiple Sensor Platform with a Dedicated CMOS-LSI for Robot Applications †

Science.gov (United States)

Shao, Chenzhong; Tanaka, Shuji; Nakayama, Takahiro; Hata, Yoshiyuki; Bartley, Travis; Muroyama, Masanori

2017-01-01

Robot tactile sensation can enhance human–robot communication in terms of safety, reliability and accuracy. The final goal of our project is to widely cover a robot body with a large number of tactile sensors, which has significant advantages such as accurate object recognition, high sensitivity and high redundancy. In this study, we developed a multi-sensor system with dedicated Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) Large-Scale Integration (LSI) circuit chips (referred to as “sensor platform LSI”) as a framework of a serial bus-based tactile sensor network system. The sensor platform LSI supports three types of sensors: an on-chip temperature sensor, off-chip capacitive and resistive tactile sensors, and communicates with a relay node via a bus line. The multi-sensor system was first constructed on a printed circuit board to evaluate basic functions of the sensor platform LSI, such as capacitance-to-digital and resistance-to-digital conversion. Then, two kinds of external sensors, nine sensors in total, were connected to two sensor platform LSIs, and temperature, capacitive and resistive sensing data were acquired simultaneously. Moreover, we fabricated flexible printed circuit cables to demonstrate the multi-sensor system with 15 sensor platform LSIs operating simultaneously, which showed a more realistic implementation in robots. In conclusion, the multi-sensor system with up to 15 sensor platform LSIs on a bus line supporting temperature, capacitive and resistive sensing was successfully demonstrated. PMID:29061954

Closed-loop System Identification with New Sensors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bendtsen, Jan Dimon; Trangbæk, K; Stoustrup, Jakob

2008-01-01

This paper deals with system identification of new system dynamics revealed by online introduction of new sensors in existing multi-variable linear control systems. The so-called "Hansen Scheme" utilises the dual Youla-Kucera parameterisation of all systems stabilised by a given linear controller...... to transform closed-loop system identification problems into open-loop-like problems. We show that this scheme can be formally extended to accomodate extra sensors in a nice way. The approach is illustrated on a simple simulation example....

Energy storage management system with distributed wireless sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Farmer, Joseph C.; Bandhauer, Todd M.

2015-12-08

An energy storage system having a multiple different types of energy storage and conversion devices. Each device is equipped with one or more sensors and RFID tags to communicate sensor information wirelessly to a central electronic management system, which is used to control the operation of each device. Each device can have multiple RFID tags and sensor types. Several energy storage and conversion devices can be combined.

Enhanced technologies for unattended ground sensor systems

Science.gov (United States)

Hartup, David C.

2010-04-01

Progress in several technical areas is being leveraged to advantage in Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) systems. This paper discusses advanced technologies that are appropriate for use in UGS systems. While some technologies provide evolutionary improvements, other technologies result in revolutionary performance advancements for UGS systems. Some specific technologies discussed include wireless cameras and viewers, commercial PDA-based system programmers and monitors, new materials and techniques for packaging improvements, low power cueing sensor radios, advanced long-haul terrestrial and SATCOM radios, and networked communications. Other technologies covered include advanced target detection algorithms, high pixel count cameras for license plate and facial recognition, small cameras that provide large stand-off distances, video transmissions of target activity instead of still images, sensor fusion algorithms, and control center hardware. The impact of each technology on the overall UGS system architecture is discussed, along with the advantages provided to UGS system users. Areas of analysis include required camera parameters as a function of stand-off distance for license plate and facial recognition applications, power consumption for wireless cameras and viewers, sensor fusion communication requirements, and requirements to practically implement video transmission through UGS systems. Examples of devices that have already been fielded using technology from several of these areas are given.

On-line methanol sensor system development for recombinant ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

On-line methanol sensor system development for recombinant human serum ... of the methanol sensor system was done in a medium environment with yeast cells ... induction at a low temperature and a pH where protease does not function.

Reconfigurable Sensor Monitoring System

Science.gov (United States)

Alhorn, Dean C. (Inventor); Dutton, Kenneth R. (Inventor); Howard, David E. (Inventor); Smith, Dennis A. (Inventor)

2017-01-01

A reconfigurable sensor monitoring system includes software tunable filters, each of which is programmable to condition one type of analog signal. A processor coupled to the software tunable filters receives each type of analog signal so-conditioned.

Progress in triboluminescence-based smart optical sensor system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Olawale, David O.; Dickens, Tarik; Sullivan, William G.; Okoli, Okenwa I.; Sobanjo, John O.; Wang, Ben

2011-01-01

Extensive research work has been done in recent times to apply the triboluminescence (TL) phenomenon for damage detection in engineering structures. Of particular note are the various attempts to apply it in the detection of impact damages in composites and aerospace structures. This is because TL-based sensor systems have a great potential for wireless, in-situ and distributed (WID) structural health monitoring when fully developed. This review article highlights development and the current state-of-the-art in the application of TL-based sensor systems. The underlying mechanisms believed to be responsible for triboluminescence, particularly in zinc sulfide manganese, a highly triboluminescent material, are discussed. The challenges militating against the full exploitation and field application of TL sensor systems are also identified. Finally, viable solutions and approaches to address these challenges are enumerated. - Highlights: → The underlying mechanisms believed to be responsible for triboluminescence. → State-of-the-art in the development and application of TL-based sensor systems. → The challenges militating against the full exploitation and field application of TL sensor systems are identified. → Viable solutions and approaches to address these challenges are enumerated.

Transparent Fingerprint Sensor System for Large Flat Panel Display.

Science.gov (United States)

Seo, Wonkuk; Pi, Jae-Eun; Cho, Sung Haeung; Kang, Seung-Youl; Ahn, Seong-Deok; Hwang, Chi-Sun; Jeon, Ho-Sik; Kim, Jong-Uk; Lee, Myunghee

2018-01-19

In this paper, we introduce a transparent fingerprint sensing system using a thin film transistor (TFT) sensor panel, based on a self-capacitive sensing scheme. An armorphousindium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) TFT sensor array and associated custom Read-Out IC (ROIC) are implemented for the system. The sensor panel has a 200 × 200 pixel array and each pixel size is as small as 50 μm × 50 μm. The ROIC uses only eight analog front-end (AFE) amplifier stages along with a successive approximation analog-to-digital converter (SAR ADC). To get the fingerprint image data from the sensor array, the ROIC senses a capacitance, which is formed by a cover glass material between a human finger and an electrode of each pixel of the sensor array. Three methods are reviewed for estimating the self-capacitance. The measurement result demonstrates that the transparent fingerprint sensor system has an ability to differentiate a human finger's ridges and valleys through the fingerprint sensor array.

An Environmental Monitoring System for Managing Spatiotemporal Sensor Data over Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Keun Ho Ryu

2012-03-01

Full Text Available In a wireless sensor network, sensors collect data about natural phenomena and transmit them to a server in real-time. Many studies have been conducted focusing on the processing of continuous queries in an approximate form. However, this approach is difficult to apply to environmental applications which require the correct data to be stored. In this paper, we propose a weather monitoring system for handling and storing the sensor data stream in real-time in order to support continuous spatial and/or temporal queries. In our system, we exploit two time-based insertion methods to store the sensor data stream and reduce the number of managed tuples, without losing any of the raw data which are useful for queries, by using the sensors’ temporal attributes. In addition, we offer a method for reducing the cost of the join operations used in processing spatiotemporal queries by filtering out a list of irrelevant sensors from query range before making a join operation. In the results of the performance evaluation, the number of tuples obtained from the data stream is reduced by about 30% in comparison to a naïve approach, thereby decreasing the query execution time.

Third-generation imaging sensor system concepts

Science.gov (United States)

Reago, Donald A.; Horn, Stuart B.; Campbell, James, Jr.; Vollmerhausen, Richard H.

1999-07-01

Second generation forward looking infrared sensors, based on either parallel scanning, long wave (8 - 12 um) time delay and integration HgCdTe detectors or mid wave (3 - 5 um), medium format staring (640 X 480 pixels) InSb detectors, are being fielded. The science and technology community is now turning its attention toward the definition of a future third generation of FLIR sensors, based on emerging research and development efforts. Modeled third generation sensor performance demonstrates a significant improvement in performance over second generation, resulting in enhanced lethality and survivability on the future battlefield. In this paper we present the current thinking on what third generation sensors systems will be and the resulting requirements for third generation focal plane array detectors. Three classes of sensors have been identified. The high performance sensor will contain a megapixel or larger array with at least two colors. Higher operating temperatures will also be the goal here so that power and weight can be reduced. A high performance uncooled sensor is also envisioned that will perform somewhere between first and second generation cooled detectors, but at significantly lower cost, weight, and power. The final third generation sensor is a very low cost micro sensor. This sensor can open up a whole new IR market because of its small size, weight, and cost. Future unattended throwaway sensors, micro UAVs, and helmet mounted IR cameras will be the result of this new class.

AMA Conferences 2015. SENSOR 2015. 17th international conference on sensors and measurement technology. IRS{sup 2} 2015. 14th international conference on infrared sensors and systems. Proceedings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2015-07-01

This meeting paper contains presentations of two conferences: SENSOR 2015 and IRS{sup 2} (= International conference on InfraRed Sensors and systems). The first part of SENSOR 2015 contains the following chapters: (A) SENSOR PRINCIPLES: A.1: Mechanical sensors; A.2: Optical sensors; A.3: Ultrasonic sensors; A.4: Microacoustic sensors; A.5: Magnetic sensors; A.6: Impedance sensors; A.7: Gas sensors; A.8: Flow sensors; A.9: Dimensional measurement; A.10: Temperature and humidity sensors; A.11: Chemosensors; A.12: Biosensors; A.13: Embedded sensors; A.14: Sensor-actuator systems; (B) SENSOR TECHNOLOGY: B.1: Sensor design; B.2: Numerical simulation of sensors; B.3: Sensor materials; B.4: MEMS technology; B.5: Micro-Nano-Integration; B.6: Packaging; B.7: Materials; B.8: Thin films; B.9: Sensor production; B.10: Sensor reliability; B.11: Calibration and testing; B.12: Optical fibre sensors. (C) SENSOR ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION: C.1: Sensor electronics; C.2: Sensor networks; C.3: Wireless sensors; C.4: Sensor communication; C.5: Energy harvesting; C.6: Measuring systems; C.7: Embedded systems; C.8: Self-monitoring and diagnosis; (D) APPLICATIONS: D.1: Medical measuring technology; D.2: Ambient assisted living; D.3: Process measuring technology; D.4: Automotive; D.5: Sensors in energy technology; D.6: Production technology; D.7: Security technology; D.8: Smart home; D.9: Household technology. The second part with the contributions of the IRS{sup 2} 2015 is structured as follows: (E) INFRARED SENSORS: E.1: Photon detectors; E.2: Thermal detectors; E.3: Cooled detectors; E.4: Uncooled detectors; E.5: Sensor modules; E.6: Sensor packaging. (G) INFRARED SYSTEMS AND APPLICATIONS: G.1: Thermal imaging; G.2: Pyrometry / contactless temperature measurement; G.3: Gas analysis; G.4: Spectroscopy; G.5: Motion control and presence detection; G.6: Security and safety monitoring; G.7: Non-destructive testing; F: INFRARED SYSTEM COMPONENTS: F.1: Infrared optics; F.2: Optical

Advanced interfacing techniques for sensors measurement circuits and systems for intelligent sensors

CERN Document Server

Roy, Joyanta; Kumar, V; Mukhopadhyay, Subhas

2017-01-01

This book presents ways of interfacing sensors to the digital world, and discusses the marriage between sensor systems and the IoT: the opportunities and challenges. As sensor output is often affected by noise and interference, the book presents effective schemes for recovering the data from a signal that is buried in noise. It also explores interesting applications in the area of health care, un-obstructive monitoring and the electronic nose and tongue. It is a valuable resource for engineers and scientists in the area of sensors and interfacing wanting to update their knowledge of the latest developments in the field and learn more about sensing applications and challenges.

Water-Cut Sensor System

KAUST Repository

Karimi, Muhammad Akram

2018-01-11

Provided in some embodiments is a method of manufacturing a pipe conformable water-cut sensors system. Provided in some embodiments is method for manufacturing a water-cut sensor system that includes providing a helical T-resonator, a helical ground conductor, and a separator at an exterior of a cylindrical pipe. The helical T-resonator including a feed line, and a helical open shunt stub conductively coupled to the feed line. The helical ground conductor including a helical ground plane opposite the helical open shunt stub and a ground ring conductively coupled to the helical ground plane. The feed line overlapping at least a portion of the ground ring, and the separator disposed between the feed line and the portion of the ground ring overlapped by the feed line to electrically isolate the helical T-resonator from the helical ground conductor.

Optical detection system for MEMS-type pressure sensor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sareło, K; Górecka-Drzazga, A; Dziuban, J A

2015-01-01

In this paper a special optical detection system designed for a MEMS-type (micro-electro-mechanical system) silicon pressure sensor is presented. The main part of the optical system—a detection unit with a perforated membrane—is bonded to the silicon sensor, and placed in a measuring system. An external light source illuminates the membrane of the pressure sensor. Owing to the light reflected from the deflected membrane sensor, the optical pattern consisting of light points is visible, and pressure can be estimated. The optical detection unit (20   ×   20   ×   20.4 mm 3 ) is fabricated using microengineering techniques. Its dimensions are adjusted to the dimensions of the pressure sensor (5   ×   5 mm 2 silicon membrane). Preliminary tests of the optical detection unit integrated with the silicon pressure sensor are carried out. For the membrane sensor from 15 to 60 µm thick, a repeatable detection of the differential pressure in the range of 0 to 280 kPa is achieved. The presented optical microsystem is especially suitable for the pressure measurements in a high radiation environment. (paper)

Toward Sensor-Based Context Aware Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kouhei Takada

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a methodology for sensor data interpretation that can combine sensor outputs with contexts represented as sets of annotated business rules. Sensor readings are interpreted to generate events labeled with the appropriate type and level of uncertainty. Then, the appropriate context is selected. Reconciliation of different uncertainty types is achieved by a simple technique that moves uncertainty from events to business rules by generating combs of standard Boolean predicates. Finally, context rules are evaluated together with the events to take a decision. The feasibility of our idea is demonstrated via a case study where a context-reasoning engine has been connected to simulated heartbeat sensors using prerecorded experimental data. We use sensor outputs to identify the proper context of operation of a system and trigger decision-making based on context information.

FPGA-based real-time embedded system for RISS/GPS integrated navigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Abdelfatah, Walid Farid; Georgy, Jacques; Iqbal, Umar; Noureldin, Aboelmagd

2012-01-01

Navigation algorithms integrating measurements from multi-sensor systems overcome the problems that arise from using GPS navigation systems in standalone mode. Algorithms which integrate the data from 2D low-cost reduced inertial sensor system (RISS), consisting of a gyroscope and an odometer or wheel encoders, along with a GPS receiver via a Kalman filter has proved to be worthy in providing a consistent and more reliable navigation solution compared to standalone GPS receivers. It has been also shown to be beneficial, especially in GPS-denied environments such as urban canyons and tunnels. The main objective of this paper is to narrow the idea-to-implementation gap that follows the algorithm development by realizing a low-cost real-time embedded navigation system capable of computing the data-fused positioning solution. The role of the developed system is to synchronize the measurements from the three sensors, relative to the pulse per second signal generated from the GPS, after which the navigation algorithm is applied to the synchronized measurements to compute the navigation solution in real-time. Employing a customizable soft-core processor on an FPGA in the kernel of the navigation system, provided the flexibility for communicating with the various sensors and the computation capability required by the Kalman filter integration algorithm.

Sensor Failure Detection of FASSIP System using Principal Component Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Sudarno; Juarsa, Mulya; Santosa, Kussigit; Deswandri; Sunaryo, Geni Rina

2018-02-01

In the nuclear reactor accident of Fukushima Daiichi in Japan, the damages of core and pressure vessel were caused by the failure of its active cooling system (diesel generator was inundated by tsunami). Thus researches on passive cooling system for Nuclear Power Plant are performed to improve the safety aspects of nuclear reactors. The FASSIP system (Passive System Simulation Facility) is an installation used to study the characteristics of passive cooling systems at nuclear power plants. The accuracy of sensor measurement of FASSIP system is essential, because as the basis for determining the characteristics of a passive cooling system. In this research, a sensor failure detection method for FASSIP system is developed, so the indication of sensor failures can be detected early. The method used is Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to reduce the dimension of the sensor, with the Squarred Prediction Error (SPE) and statistic Hotteling criteria for detecting sensor failure indication. The results shows that PCA method is capable to detect the occurrence of a failure at any sensor.

Bio-integrated electronics and sensor systems

Science.gov (United States)

Yeo, Woon-Hong; Webb, R. Chad; Lee, Woosik; Jung, Sungyoung; Rogers, John A.

2013-05-01

Skin-mounted epidermal electronics, a strategy for bio-integrated electronics, provide an avenue to non-invasive monitoring of clinically relevant physiological signals for healthcare applications. Current conventional systems consist of single-point sensors fastened to the skin with adhesives, and sometimes with conducting gels, which limits their use outside of clinical settings due to loss of adhesion and irritation to the user. In order to facilitate extended use of skin-mounted healthcare sensors without disrupting everyday life, we envision electronic monitoring systems that integrate seamlessly with the skin below the notice of the user. This manuscript reviews recent significant results towards our goal of wearable electronic sensor systems for long-term monitoring of physiological signals. Ultra-thin epidermal electronic systems (EES) are demonstrated for extended use on the skin, in a conformal manner, including during everyday bathing and sleeping activities. We describe the assessment of clinically relevant physiological parameters, such as electrocardiograms (ECG), electromyograms (EMG), electroencephalograms (EEG), temperature, mechanical strain and thermal conductivity, using examples of multifunctional EES devices. Additionally, we demonstrate capability for real life application of EES by monitoring the system functionality, which has no discernible change, during cyclic fatigue testing.

Embedded Sensor Systems for Health - A Step Towards Personalized Health.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindén, Maria; Björkman, Mats

2018-01-01

The demography is changing towards older people, and the challenge to provide an appropriate care is well known. Sensor systems, combined with IT solutions are recognized as one of the major tools to handle this situation. Embedded Sensor Systems for Health (ESS-H) is a research profile at Mälardalen University in Sweden, focusing on embedded sensor systems for health technology applications. The research addresses several important issues: to provide sensor systems for health monitoring at home, to provide sensor systems for health monitoring at work, to provide safe and secure infrastructure and software testing methods for physiological data management. The user perspective is important in order to solve real problems and to develop systems that are easy and intuitive to use. One of the overall aims is to enable health trend monitoring in home environments, thus being able to detect early deterioration of a patient. Sensor systems, signal processing algorithms, and decision support algorithms have been developed. Work on development of safe and secure infrastructure and software testing methods are important for an embedded sensor system aimed for health monitoring, both in home and in work applications. Patient data must be sent and received in a safe and secure manner, also fulfilling the integrity criteria.

Battery system with temperature sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, Steven J.; Trester, Dale B.

2012-11-13

A battery system to monitor temperature includes at least one cell with a temperature sensing device proximate the at least one cell. The battery system also includes a flexible member that holds the temperature sensor proximate to the at least one cell.

Urinary incontinence monitoring system using laser-induced graphene sensors

KAUST Repository

Nag, Anindya

2017-12-25

This paper presents the design and development of a sensor patch to be used in a sensing system to deal with the urinary incontinence problem primarily faced by women and elderly people. The sensor patches were developed from laser-induced graphene from low-cost commercial polyimide (PI) polymers. The graphene was manually transferred to a commercial tape, which was used as sensor patch for experimentation. Salt solutions with different concentrations were tested to determine the most sensitive frequency region of the sensor. The results are encouraging to further develop this sensor in a platform for a fully functional urinary incontinence detection system.

Development of an equipment diagnostic system that evaluates sensor drift

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kanada, Masaki; Arita, Setsuo; Tada, Nobuo; Yokota, Katsuo

2011-01-01

The importance of condition monitoring technology for equipment has increased with the introduction of condition-based maintenance in nuclear power plants. We are developing a diagnostic system using process signals for plant equipment, such as pumps and motors. It is important to enable the diagnostic system to distinguish sensor drift and equipment failure. We have developed a sensor drift diagnostic method that combines some highly correlative sensor signals by using the MT (Mahalanobis-Taguchi) method. Furthermore, we have developed an equipment failure diagnostic method that measures the Mahalanobis distance from the normal state of equipment by the MT method. These methods can respectively detect sensor drift and equipment failure, but there are the following problems. In the sensor drift diagnosis, there is a possibility of misjudging the sensor drift when the equipment failure occurs and the process signal changes because the behavior of the process signal is the same as that of the sensor drift. Oppositely, in the equipment failure diagnosis, there is a possibility of misjudging the equipment failure when the sensor drift occurs because the sensor drift influences the change of process signal. To solve these problems, we propose a diagnostic method combining the sensor drift diagnosis and the equipment failure diagnosis by the MT method. Firstly, the sensor drift values are estimated by the sensor drift diagnosis, and the sensor drift is removed from the process signal. It is necessary to judge the validity of the estimated sensor drift values before removing the sensor drift from the process signal. We developed a method for judging the validity of the estimated sensor drift values by using the drift distribution based on the sensor calibration data. And then, the equipment failure is diagnosed by using the process signals after removal of the sensor drifts. To verify the developed diagnostic system, several sets of simulation data based on abnormal cases

Taylor, Graicunas, Worthy, Likert, and Thayer: Span of Control and Organizational Structure--Where They Fit on the "Leadership Continuum."

Science.gov (United States)

Corder, Lloyd E.

The "Leadership Continuum" model developed in 1961 by R. Tannenbaum, I. Weschler, and F. Massarik clearly illustrates the ideas that management scholars like Frederick Taylor, V. A. Graicunas, James Worthy, Rensis Likert, and Frederick Thayer have posited concerning span of control and organizational structure. Each of these scholars…

A smart sensor-based vision system: implementation and evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elouardi, A; Bouaziz, S; Dupret, A; Lacassagne, L; Klein, J O; Reynaud, R

2006-01-01

One of the methods of solving the computational complexity of image-processing is to perform some low-level computations on the sensor focal plane. This paper presents a vision system based on a smart sensor. PARIS1 (Programmable Analog Retina-like Image Sensor1) is the first prototype used to evaluate the architecture of an on-chip vision system based on such a sensor coupled with a microcontroller. The smart sensor integrates a set of analog and digital computing units. This architecture paves the way for a more compact vision system and increases the performances reducing the data flow exchanges with a microprocessor in control. A system has been implemented as a proof-of-concept and has enabled us to evaluate the performance requirements for a possible integration of a microcontroller on the same chip. The used approach is compared with two architectures implementing CMOS active pixel sensors (APS) and interfaced to the same microcontroller. The comparison is related to image processing computation time, processing reliability, programmability, precision, bandwidth and subsequent stages of computations

A smart sensor-based vision system: implementation and evaluation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Elouardi, A; Bouaziz, S; Dupret, A; Lacassagne, L; Klein, J O; Reynaud, R [Institute of Fundamental Electronics, Bat. 220, Paris XI University, 91405 Orsay (France)

2006-04-21

One of the methods of solving the computational complexity of image-processing is to perform some low-level computations on the sensor focal plane. This paper presents a vision system based on a smart sensor. PARIS1 (Programmable Analog Retina-like Image Sensor1) is the first prototype used to evaluate the architecture of an on-chip vision system based on such a sensor coupled with a microcontroller. The smart sensor integrates a set of analog and digital computing units. This architecture paves the way for a more compact vision system and increases the performances reducing the data flow exchanges with a microprocessor in control. A system has been implemented as a proof-of-concept and has enabled us to evaluate the performance requirements for a possible integration of a microcontroller on the same chip. The used approach is compared with two architectures implementing CMOS active pixel sensors (APS) and interfaced to the same microcontroller. The comparison is related to image processing computation time, processing reliability, programmability, precision, bandwidth and subsequent stages of computations.

Capillarity-based preparation system for optical colorimetric sensor arrays.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Xiao-Gang; Yi, Xin; Bu, Xiang-Nan; Hou, Chang-Jun; Huo, Dan-Qun; Yang, Mei; Fa, Huan-Bao; Lei, Jin-Can

2017-03-01

In recent years, optical colorimetric sensor arrays have demonstrated beneficial features, including rapid response, high selectivity, and high specificity; as a result, it has been extensively applied in food inspection and chemical studies, among other fields. There are instruments in the current market available for the preparation of an optical colorimetric sensor array, but it lacks the corresponding research of the preparation mechanism. Therefore, in connection with the main features of this kind of sensor array such as consistency, based on the preparation method of contact spotting, combined with a capillary fluid model, Washburn equation, Laplace equation, etc., this paper develops a diffusion model of an optical colorimetric sensor array during its preparation and sets up an optical colorimetric sensor array preparation system based on this diffusion model. Finally, this paper compares and evaluates the sensor arrays prepared by the system and prepared manually in three aspects such as the quality of array point, response of array, and response result, and the results show that the performance index of the sensor array prepared by a system under this diffusion model is better than that of the sensor array of manual spotting, which meets the needs of the experiment.

CMOS-MEMS Chemiresistive and Chemicapacitive Chemical Sensor System

Science.gov (United States)

Lazarus, Nathan S.

Integrating chemical sensors with testing electronics is a powerful technique with the potential to lower power and cost and allow for lower system limits of detection. This thesis explores the possibility of creating an integrated sensor system intended to be embedded within respirator cartridges to notify the user that hazardous chemicals will soon leak into the face mask. For a chemical sensor designer, this application is particularly challenging due to the need for a very sensitive and cheap sensor that will be exposed to widely varying environmental conditions during use. An octanethiol-coated gold nanoparticle chemiresistor to detect industrial solvents is developed, focusing on characterizing the environmental stability and limits of detection of the sensor. Since the chemiresistor was found to be highly sensitive to water vapor, a series of highly sensitive humidity sensor topologies were developed, with sensitivities several times previous integrated capacitive humidity sensors achieved. Circuit techniques were then explored to reduce the humidity sensor limits of detection, including the analysis of noise, charge injection, jitter and clock feedthrough in a charge-based capacitance measurement (CBCM) circuit and the design of a low noise Colpitts LC oscillator. The characterization of high resistance gold nanoclusters for capacitive chemical sensing was also performed. In the final section, a preconcentrator, a heater element intended to release a brief concentrated pulse of analate, was developed and tested for the purposes of lowering the system limit of detection.

Transparent Fingerprint Sensor System for Large Flat Panel Display

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wonkuk Seo

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we introduce a transparent fingerprint sensing system using a thin film transistor (TFT sensor panel, based on a self-capacitive sensing scheme. An armorphousindium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO TFT sensor array and associated custom Read-Out IC (ROIC are implemented for the system. The sensor panel has a 200 × 200 pixel array and each pixel size is as small as 50 μm × 50 μm. The ROIC uses only eight analog front-end (AFE amplifier stages along with a successive approximation analog-to-digital converter (SAR ADC. To get the fingerprint image data from the sensor array, the ROIC senses a capacitance, which is formed by a cover glass material between a human finger and an electrode of each pixel of the sensor array. Three methods are reviewed for estimating the self-capacitance. The measurement result demonstrates that the transparent fingerprint sensor system has an ability to differentiate a human finger’s ridges and valleys through the fingerprint sensor array.

Miniaturized, low power FGMOSFET radiation sensor and wireless dosimeter system

KAUST Repository

Arsalan, Muhammad; Shamim, Atif; Tarr, Nicholas Garry; Roy, Langis

2013-01-01

A miniaturized floating gate (FG) MOSFET radiation sensor system is disclosed, The sensor preferably comprises a matched pair of sensor and reference FGMOSFETs wherein the sensor FGMOSFET has a larger area floating gate with an extension over a field oxide layer, for accumulation of charge and increased sensitivity. Elimination of a conventional control gate and injector gate reduces capacitance, and increases sensitivity, and allows for fabrication using standard low cost CMOS technology. A sensor system may be provided with integrated signal processing electronics, for monitoring a change in differential channel current I.sub.D, indicative of radiation dose, and an integrated negative bias generator for automatic pre-charging from a low voltage power source. Optionally, the system may be coupled to a wireless transmitter. A compact wireless sensor System on Package solution is presented, suitable for dosimetry for radiotherapy or other biomedical applications.

Miniaturized, low power FGMOSFET radiation sensor and wireless dosimeter system

KAUST Repository

Arsalan, Muhammad

2013-08-27

A miniaturized floating gate (FG) MOSFET radiation sensor system is disclosed, The sensor preferably comprises a matched pair of sensor and reference FGMOSFETs wherein the sensor FGMOSFET has a larger area floating gate with an extension over a field oxide layer, for accumulation of charge and increased sensitivity. Elimination of a conventional control gate and injector gate reduces capacitance, and increases sensitivity, and allows for fabrication using standard low cost CMOS technology. A sensor system may be provided with integrated signal processing electronics, for monitoring a change in differential channel current I.sub.D, indicative of radiation dose, and an integrated negative bias generator for automatic pre-charging from a low voltage power source. Optionally, the system may be coupled to a wireless transmitter. A compact wireless sensor System on Package solution is presented, suitable for dosimetry for radiotherapy or other biomedical applications.

Air to fuel ratio sensor for internal combustion engine control system; Nainen kikan no nensho seigyoyo kunen hi sensor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tsuzuki, M.; Kawai, T.; Yamada, T.; Nishio [NGK Spark Plug Co. Ltd., Aichi (Japan)

1998-06-01

Air to fuel ratio sensor is used for emission control system of three-way catalyst, and constitutes the important functional part of combustion control system. For further precise combustion control application, universal air to fuel ratio heated exhaust gas oxygen sensor (UEGO sensor) has been developed. This paper introduces heater control system for constant element temperature of UEGO sensor. By the heater wattage feedback control of sensing cell impedance, the change of sensor element temperature is decreased. 9 refs., 13 figs.

Multimodal surveillance sensors, algorithms, and systems

CERN Document Server

Zhu, Zhigang

2007-01-01

From front-end sensors to systems and environmental issues, this practical resource guides you through the many facets of multimodal surveillance. The book examines thermal, vibration, video, and audio sensors in a broad context of civilian and military applications. This cutting-edge volume provides an in-depth treatment of data fusion algorithms that takes you to the core of multimodal surveillance, biometrics, and sentient computing. The book discusses such people and activity topics as tracking people and vehicles and identifying individuals by their speech.Systems designers benefit from d

Sensor network based vehicle classification and license plate identification system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Frigo, Janette Rose [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Brennan, Sean M [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Rosten, Edward J [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Raby, Eric Y [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Kulathumani, Vinod K [WEST VIRGINIA UNIV.

2009-01-01

Typically, for energy efficiency and scalability purposes, sensor networks have been used in the context of environmental and traffic monitoring applications in which operations at the sensor level are not computationally intensive. But increasingly, sensor network applications require data and compute intensive sensors such video cameras and microphones. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of two such systems: a vehicle classifier based on acoustic signals and a license plate identification system using a camera. The systems are implemented in an energy-efficient manner to the extent possible using commercially available hardware, the Mica motes and the Stargate platform. Our experience in designing these systems leads us to consider an alternate more flexible, modular, low-power mote architecture that uses a combination of FPGAs, specialized embedded processing units and sensor data acquisition systems.

Wireless energizing system for an automated implantable sensor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Swain, Biswaranjan; Nayak, Praveen P.; Kar, Durga P.; Bhuyan, Satyanarayan; Mishra, Laxmi P. [Department of Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University, Bhubaneswar 751030 (India)

2016-07-15

The wireless drive of an automated implantable electronic sensor has been explored for health monitoring applications. The proposed system comprises of an automated biomedical sensing system which is energized through resonant inductive coupling. The implantable sensor unit is able to monitor the body temperature parameter and sends back the corresponding telemetry data wirelessly to the data recoding unit. It has been observed that the wireless power delivery system is capable of energizing the automated biomedical implantable electronic sensor placed over a distance of 3 cm from the power transmitter with an energy transfer efficiency of 26% at the operating resonant frequency of 562 kHz. This proposed method ensures real-time monitoring of different human body temperatures around the clock. The monitored temperature data have been compared with a calibrated temperature measurement system to ascertain the accuracy of the proposed system. The investigated technique can also be useful for monitoring other body parameters such as blood pressure, bladder pressure, and physiological signals of the patient in vivo using various implantable sensors.

Wireless energizing system for an automated implantable sensor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Swain, Biswaranjan; Nayak, Praveen P.; Kar, Durga P.; Bhuyan, Satyanarayan; Mishra, Laxmi P.

2016-01-01

The wireless drive of an automated implantable electronic sensor has been explored for health monitoring applications. The proposed system comprises of an automated biomedical sensing system which is energized through resonant inductive coupling. The implantable sensor unit is able to monitor the body temperature parameter and sends back the corresponding telemetry data wirelessly to the data recoding unit. It has been observed that the wireless power delivery system is capable of energizing the automated biomedical implantable electronic sensor placed over a distance of 3 cm from the power transmitter with an energy transfer efficiency of 26% at the operating resonant frequency of 562 kHz. This proposed method ensures real-time monitoring of different human body temperatures around the clock. The monitored temperature data have been compared with a calibrated temperature measurement system to ascertain the accuracy of the proposed system. The investigated technique can also be useful for monitoring other body parameters such as blood pressure, bladder pressure, and physiological signals of the patient in vivo using various implantable sensors.

Wireless energizing system for an automated implantable sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Swain, Biswaranjan; Nayak, Praveen P; Kar, Durga P; Bhuyan, Satyanarayan; Mishra, Laxmi P

2016-07-01

The wireless drive of an automated implantable electronic sensor has been explored for health monitoring applications. The proposed system comprises of an automated biomedical sensing system which is energized through resonant inductive coupling. The implantable sensor unit is able to monitor the body temperature parameter and sends back the corresponding telemetry data wirelessly to the data recoding unit. It has been observed that the wireless power delivery system is capable of energizing the automated biomedical implantable electronic sensor placed over a distance of 3 cm from the power transmitter with an energy transfer efficiency of 26% at the operating resonant frequency of 562 kHz. This proposed method ensures real-time monitoring of different human body temperatures around the clock. The monitored temperature data have been compared with a calibrated temperature measurement system to ascertain the accuracy of the proposed system. The investigated technique can also be useful for monitoring other body parameters such as blood pressure, bladder pressure, and physiological signals of the patient in vivo using various implantable sensors.

A novel design of an automatic lighting control system for a wireless sensor network with increased sensor lifetime and reduced sensor numbers.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohamaddoust, Reza; Haghighat, Abolfazl Toroghi; Sharif, Mohamad Javad Motahari; Capanni, Niccolo

2011-01-01

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are currently being applied to energy conservation applications such as light control. We propose a design for such a system called a lighting automatic control system (LACS). The LACS system contains a centralized or distributed architecture determined by application requirements and space usage. The system optimizes the calculations and communications for lighting intensity, incorporates user illumination requirements according to their activities and performs adjustments based on external lighting effects in external sensor and external sensor-less architectures. Methods are proposed for reducing the number of sensors required and increasing the lifetime of those used, for considerably reduced energy consumption. Additionally we suggest methods for improving uniformity of illuminance distribution on a workplane's surface, which improves user satisfaction. Finally simulation results are presented to verify the effectiveness of our design.

Patient Posture Monitoring System Based on Flexible Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Youngsu Cha

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Monitoring patients using vision cameras can cause privacy intrusion problems. In this paper, we propose a patient position monitoring system based on a patient cloth with unobtrusive sensors. We use flexible sensors based on polyvinylidene fluoride, which is a flexible piezoelectric material. Theflexiblesensorsareinsertedintopartsclosetothekneeandhipoftheloosepatientcloth. We measure electrical signals from the sensors caused by the piezoelectric effect when the knee and hip in the cloth are bent. The measured sensor outputs are transferred to a computer via Bluetooth. We use a custom-made program to detect the position of the patient through a rule-based algorithm and the sensor outputs. The detectable postures are based on six human motions in and around a bed. The proposed system can detect the patient positions with a success rate over 88 percent for three patients.

Development of sensor system for indoor location based service implementation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cha, Joo Heon; Lee, Kyung Ho [Kookmin Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2012-11-15

This paper introduces a sensor system based on indoor locations in order to implement the Building Energy Management System. This system consists of a thermopile sensor and an ultrasonic sensor. The sensor module is rotated by 360 .deg. and yawed up and down by two electric motors. Therefore, it can simultaneously detect the number and location of the inhabitants in the room. It uses wireless technology to communicate with the building manager or the smart home server, and it can save electric energy by controlling the lighting system or heating/air conditioning equipment automatically. We also demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed system by applying it to a real environment.

Development of sensor system for indoor location based service implementation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cha, Joo Heon; Lee, Kyung Ho

2012-01-01

This paper introduces a sensor system based on indoor locations in order to implement the Building Energy Management System. This system consists of a thermopile sensor and an ultrasonic sensor. The sensor module is rotated by 360 .deg. and yawed up and down by two electric motors. Therefore, it can simultaneously detect the number and location of the inhabitants in the room. It uses wireless technology to communicate with the building manager or the smart home server, and it can save electric energy by controlling the lighting system or heating/air conditioning equipment automatically. We also demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed system by applying it to a real environment

Compact, self-contained enhanced-vision system (EVS) sensor simulator

Science.gov (United States)

Tiana, Carlo

2007-04-01

We describe the model SIM-100 PC-based simulator, for imaging sensors used, or planned for use, in Enhanced Vision System (EVS) applications. Typically housed in a small-form-factor PC, it can be easily integrated into existing out-the-window visual simulators for fixed-wing or rotorcraft, to add realistic sensor imagery to the simulator cockpit. Multiple bands of infrared (short-wave, midwave, extended-midwave and longwave) as well as active millimeter-wave RADAR systems can all be simulated in real time. Various aspects of physical and electronic image formation and processing in the sensor are accurately (and optionally) simulated, including sensor random and fixed pattern noise, dead pixels, blooming, B-C scope transformation (MMWR). The effects of various obscurants (fog, rain, etc.) on the sensor imagery are faithfully represented and can be selected by an operator remotely and in real-time. The images generated by the system are ideally suited for many applications, ranging from sensor development engineering tradeoffs (Field Of View, resolution, etc.), to pilot familiarization and operational training, and certification support. The realistic appearance of the simulated images goes well beyond that of currently deployed systems, and beyond that required by certification authorities; this level of realism will become necessary as operational experience with EVS systems grows.

Electron beam diagnostic system using computed tomography and an annular sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Elmer, John W.; Teruya, Alan T.

2014-07-29

A system for analyzing an electron beam including a circular electron beam diagnostic sensor adapted to receive the electron beam, the circular electron beam diagnostic sensor having a central axis; an annular sensor structure operatively connected to the circular electron beam diagnostic sensor, wherein the sensor structure receives the electron beam; a system for sweeping the electron beam radially outward from the central axis of the circular electron beam diagnostic sensor to the annular sensor structure wherein the electron beam is intercepted by the annular sensor structure; and a device for measuring the electron beam that is intercepted by the annular sensor structure.

A multi-agent system architecture for sensor networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Fuentes-Fernández, Rubén; Guijarro, María; Pajares, Gonzalo

2009-01-01

The design of the control systems for sensor networks presents important challenges. Besides the traditional problems about how to process the sensor data to obtain the target information, engineers need to consider additional aspects such as the heterogeneity and high number of sensors, and the flexibility of these networks regarding topologies and the sensors in them. Although there are partial approaches for resolving these issues, their integration relies on ad hoc solutions requiring important development efforts. In order to provide an effective approach for this integration, this paper proposes an architecture based on the multi-agent system paradigm with a clear separation of concerns. The architecture considers sensors as devices used by an upper layer of manager agents. These agents are able to communicate and negotiate services to achieve the required functionality. Activities are organized according to roles related with the different aspects to integrate, mainly sensor management, data processing, communication and adaptation to changes in the available devices and their capabilities. This organization largely isolates and decouples the data management from the changing network, while encouraging reuse of solutions. The use of the architecture is facilitated by a specific modelling language developed through metamodelling. A case study concerning a generic distributed system for fire fighting illustrates the approach and the comparison with related work.

SnO2 Nanostructure as Pollutant Gas Sensors: Synthesis, Sensing Performances, and Mechanism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brian Yuliarto

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A significant amount of pollutants is produced from factories and motor vehicles in the form of gas. Their negative impact on the environment is well known; therefore detection with effective gas sensors is important as part of pollution prevention efforts. Gas sensors use a metal oxide semiconductor, specifically SnO2 nanostructures. This semiconductor is interesting and worthy of further investigation because of its many uses, for example, as lithium battery electrode, energy storage, catalyst, and transistor, and has potential as a gas sensor. In addition, there has to be a discussion of the use of SnO2 as a pollutant gas sensor especially for waste products such as CO, CO2, SO2, and NOx. In this paper, the development of the fabrication of SnO2 nanostructures synthesis will be described as it relates to the performances as pollutant gas sensors. In addition, the functionalization of SnO2 as a gas sensor is extensively discussed with respect to the theory of gas adsorption, the surface features of SnO2, the band gap theory, and electron transfer.

Wireless Integrated Microelectronic Vacuum Sensor System

Science.gov (United States)

Krug, Eric; Philpot, Brian; Trott, Aaron; Lawrence, Shaun

2013-01-01

NASA Stennis Space Center's (SSC's) large rocket engine test facility requires the use of liquid propellants, including the use of cryogenic fluids like liquid hydrogen as fuel, and liquid oxygen as an oxidizer (gases which have been liquefied at very low temperatures). These fluids require special handling, storage, and transfer technology. The biggest problem associated with transferring cryogenic liquids is product loss due to heat transfer. Vacuum jacketed piping is specifically designed to maintain high thermal efficiency so that cryogenic liquids can be transferred with minimal heat transfer. A vacuum jacketed pipe is essentially two pipes in one. There is an inner carrier pipe, in which the cryogenic liquid is actually transferred, and an outer jacket pipe that supports and seals the vacuum insulation, forming the "vacuum jacket." The integrity of the vacuum jacketed transmission lines that transfer the cryogenic fluid from delivery barges to the test stand must be maintained prior to and during engine testing. To monitor the vacuum in these vacuum jacketed transmission lines, vacuum gauge readings are used. At SSC, vacuum gauge measurements are done on a manual rotation basis with two technicians, each using a handheld instrument. Manual collection of vacuum data is labor intensive and uses valuable personnel time. Additionally, there are times when personnel cannot collect the data in a timely fashion (i.e., when a leak is detected, measurements must be taken more often). Additionally, distribution of this data to all interested parties can be cumbersome. To simplify the vacuum-gauge data collection process, automate the data collection, and decrease the labor costs associated with acquiring these measurements, an automated system that monitors the existing gauges was developed by Invocon, Inc. For this project, Invocon developed a Wireless Integrated Microelectronic Vacuum Sensor System (WIMVSS) that provides the ability to gather vacuum

Sense, decide, act, communicate (SDAC): next generation of smart sensor systems

Science.gov (United States)

Berry, Nina; Davis, Jesse; Ko, Teresa H.; Kyker, Ron; Pate, Ron; Stark, Doug; Stinnett, Regan; Baker, James; Cushner, Adam; Van Dyke, Colin; Kyckelhahn, Brian

2004-09-01

The recent war on terrorism and increased urban warfare has been a major catalysis for increased interest in the development of disposable unattended wireless ground sensors. While the application of these sensors to hostile domains has been generally governed by specific tasks, this research explores a unique paradigm capitalizing on the fundamental functionality related to sensor systems. This functionality includes a sensors ability to Sense - multi-modal sensing of environmental events, Decide - smart analysis of sensor data, Act - response to environmental events, and Communication - internal to system and external to humans (SDAC). The main concept behind SDAC sensor systems is to integrate the hardware, software, and networking to generate 'knowledge and not just data'. This research explores the usage of wireless SDAC units to collectively make up a sensor system capable of persistent, adaptive, and autonomous behavior. These systems are base on the evaluation of scenarios and existing systems covering various domains. This paper presents a promising view of sensor network characteristics, which will eventually yield smart (intelligent collectives) network arrays of SDAC sensing units generally applicable to multiple related domains. This paper will also discuss and evaluate the demonstration system developed to test the concepts related to SDAC systems.

State Estimation for Sensor Monitoring System with Uncertainty and Disturbance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianhong Sun

2014-10-01

Full Text Available This paper considers the state estimation problem for the sensor monitoring system which contains system uncertainty and nonlinear disturbance. In the sensor monitoring system, states of each inner sensor node usually contains system uncertainty, and external noise often works as nonlinear item. Besides, information transmission in the system is also time consuming. All mentioned above may arouse in unstable of the monitoring system. In this case, states of sensors could be wrongly sampled. Under this circumstance, a proper mathematical model is proposed and by the use of Lipschitz condition, the nonlinear item is transformed to linear one. In addition, we suppose that all sensor nodes are distributed arranged, no interface occurs with each other. By establishing proper Lyapunov– Krasovskii functional, sufficient conditions are acquired by solving linear matrix inequality to make the error augmented system stable, and the gains of observers are also derived. Finally, an illustrated example is given to show that system observed value tracks system states well, which fully demonstrate the effectiveness of our result.

Testing of a Wireless Sensor System for Instrumented Thermal Protection Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Kummer, Allen T.; Weir, Erik D.; Morris, Trey J.; Friedenberger, Corey W.; Singh, Aseem; Capuro, Robert M.; Bilen, Sven G.; Fu, Johnny; Swanson, Gregory T.; Hash, David B.

2011-01-01

Funded by NASA's Constellation Universities Institutes Project (CUIP), we have been developing and testing a system to wirelessly power and collect data from sensors on space platforms in general and, in particular, the harsh environment of spacecraft re-entry. The elimination of wires and associated failures such as chafing, sparking, ageing, and connector issues can increase reliability and design flexibility while reducing costs. These factors present an appealing case for the pursuit of wireless solutions for harsh environments, particularly for their use in space and on spacecraft. We have designed and built a prototype wireless sensor system. The system, with capabilities similar to that of a wired sensor system, was tested in NASA Ames Research Center s Aerodynamic Heating Facility and Interaction Heating Facility. This paper discusses the overall development effort, testing results, as well as future directions.

A Novel Design of an Automatic Lighting Control System for a Wireless Sensor Network with Increased Sensor Lifetime and Reduced Sensor Numbers

Science.gov (United States)

Mohamaddoust, Reza; Haghighat, Abolfazl Toroghi; Sharif, Mohamad Javad Motahari; Capanni, Niccolo

2011-01-01

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are currently being applied to energy conservation applications such as light control. We propose a design for such a system called a Lighting Automatic Control System (LACS). The LACS system contains a centralized or distributed architecture determined by application requirements and space usage. The system optimizes the calculations and communications for lighting intensity, incorporates user illumination requirements according to their activities and performs adjustments based on external lighting effects in external sensor and external sensor-less architectures. Methods are proposed for reducing the number of sensors required and increasing the lifetime of those used, for considerably reduced energy consumption. Additionally we suggest methods for improving uniformity of illuminance distribution on a workplane’s surface, which improves user satisfaction. Finally simulation results are presented to verify the effectiveness of our design. PMID:22164114

Selected examples of intelligent (micro) sensor systems: state-of-the-art and tendencies

Science.gov (United States)

Hauptmann, Peter R.

2006-03-01

The capability of intelligent sensors to have more intelligence built into them continues to drive their application in areas including automotive, aerospace and defense, industrial, intelligent house and wear, medical and homeland security. In principle it is difficult to overestimate the importance of intelligent (micro) sensors or sensor systems within advanced societies but one characteristic feature is the global market for sensors, which is now about 20 billion annually. Therefore sensors or sensor systems play a dominant role in many fields from the macro sensor in manufacturing industry down to the miniaturized sensor for medical applications. The diversity of sensors precludes a complete description of the state-of-the-art; selected examples will illustrate the current situation. MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) devices are of special interest in the context of micro sensor systems. In past the main requirements of a sensor were in terms of metrological performance. The electrical (or optical) signal produced by the sensor needed to match the measure relatively accurately. Such basic functionality is no longer sufficient. Data processing near the sensor, the extraction of more information than just the direct sensor information by signal analysis, system aspects and multi-sensor information are the new demands. A shifting can be observed away from aiming to design perfect single-function transducers and towards the utilization of system-based sensors as system components. In the ideal case such systems contain sensors, actuators and electronics. They can be realized in monolithic, hybrid or discrete form—which kind is used depends on the application. In this article the state-of-the-art of intelligent sensors or sensor systems is reviewed using selected examples. Future trends are deduced.

New optical sensor systems for high-resolution satellite, airborne and terrestrial imaging systems

Science.gov (United States)

Eckardt, Andreas; Börner, Anko; Lehmann, Frank

2007-10-01

The department of Optical Information Systems (OS) at the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has more than 25 years experience with high-resolution imaging technology. The technology changes in the development of detectors, as well as the significant change of the manufacturing accuracy in combination with the engineering research define the next generation of spaceborne sensor systems focusing on Earth observation and remote sensing. The combination of large TDI lines, intelligent synchronization control, fast-readable sensors and new focal-plane concepts open the door to new remote-sensing instruments. This class of instruments is feasible for high-resolution sensor systems regarding geometry and radiometry and their data products like 3D virtual reality. Systemic approaches are essential for such designs of complex sensor systems for dedicated tasks. The system theory of the instrument inside a simulated environment is the beginning of the optimization process for the optical, mechanical and electrical designs. Single modules and the entire system have to be calibrated and verified. Suitable procedures must be defined on component, module and system level for the assembly test and verification process. This kind of development strategy allows the hardware-in-the-loop design. The paper gives an overview about the current activities at DLR in the field of innovative sensor systems for photogrammetric and remote sensing purposes.

ENERGY EFFICIENT TRACKING SYSTEM USING WIRELESS SENSORS

OpenAIRE

Thankaselvi Kumaresan; Sheryl Mathias; Digja Khanvilkar; Prof. Smita Dange

2014-01-01

One of the most important applications of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is surveillance system, which is used to track moving targets. WSN is composed of a large number of low cost sensors which operate on the power derived from batteries. Energy efficiency is an important issue in WSN, which determines the network lifetime. Due to the need for continuous monitoring with 100% efficiency, keeping all the sensor nodes active permanently leads to fast draining of batteries. Hen...

Passive sensor systems for nuclear material monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simpson, M.L.; Boatner, L.A.; Holcomb, D.E.; McElhaney, S.A.; Mihalczo, J.T.; Muhs, J.D.; Roberts, M.R.; Hill, N.W.

1993-01-01

Passive fiber optic sensor systems capable of confirming the presence of special nuclear materials in storage or process facilities are being developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). These sensors provide completely passive, remote measurement capability. No power supplies, amplifiers, or other active components that could degrade system reliability are required at the sensor location. ORNL, through its research programs in scintillator materials, has developed a variety of materials for use in alpha-, beta-, gamma-, and neutron-sensitive scintillator detectors. In addition to sensors for measuring radiation flux, new sensor materials have been developed which are capable of measuring weight, temperature, and source location. An example of a passive sensor for temperature measurement is the combination of a thermophosphor (e.g., rare-earth activated Y 2 O 3 ) with 6 LiF (95% 6 Li). This combination results in a new class of scintillators for thermal neutrons that absorb energy from the radiation particles and remit the energy as a light pulse, the decay rate of which, over a specified temperature range, is temperature dependent. Other passive sensors being developed include pressure-sensitive triboluminescent materials, weight-sensitive silicone rubber fibers, scintillating fibers, and other materials for gamma and neutron detection. The light from the scintillator materials of each sensor would be sent through optical fibers to a monitoring station, where the attribute quantity could be measured and compared with previously recorded emission levels. Confirmatory measurement applications of these technologies are being evaluated to reduce the effort, costs, and employee exposures associated with inventorying stockpiles of highly enriched uranium at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant

Systems and Sensors for Debris-flow Monitoring and Warning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lorenzo Marchi

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Debris flows are a type of mass movement that occurs in mountain torrents. They consist of a high concentration of solid material in water that flows as a wave with a steep front. Debris flows can be considered a phenomenon intermediate between landslides and water floods. They are amongst the most hazardous natural processes in mountainous regions and may occur under different climatic conditions. Their destructiveness is due to different factors: their capability of transporting and depositing huge amounts of solid materials, which may also reach large sizes (boulders of several cubic meters are commonly transported by debris flows, their steep fronts, which may reach several meters of height and also their high velocities. The implementation of both structural and nonstructural control measures is often required when debris flows endanger routes, urban areas and other infrastructures. Sensor networks for debris-flow monitoring and warning play an important role amongst non-structural measures intended to reduce debris-flow risk. In particular, debris flow warning systems can be subdivided into two main classes: advance warning and event warning systems. These two classes employ different types of sensors. Advance warning systems are based on monitoring causative hydrometeorological processes (typically rainfall and aim to issue a warning before a possible debris flow is triggered. Event warning systems are based on detecting debris flows when these processes are in progress. They have a much smaller lead time than advance warning ones but are also less prone to false alarms. Advance warning for debris flows employs sensors and techniques typical of meteorology and hydrology, including measuring rainfall by means of rain gauges and weather radar and monitoring water discharge in headwater streams. Event warning systems use different types of sensors, encompassing ultrasonic or radar gauges, ground vibration sensors, videocameras, avalanche

Active Multimodal Sensor System for Target Recognition and Tracking.

Science.gov (United States)

Qu, Yufu; Zhang, Guirong; Zou, Zhaofan; Liu, Ziyue; Mao, Jiansen

2017-06-28

High accuracy target recognition and tracking systems using a single sensor or a passive multisensor set are susceptible to external interferences and exhibit environmental dependencies. These difficulties stem mainly from limitations to the available imaging frequency bands, and a general lack of coherent diversity of the available target-related data. This paper proposes an active multimodal sensor system for target recognition and tracking, consisting of a visible, an infrared, and a hyperspectral sensor. The system makes full use of its multisensor information collection abilities; furthermore, it can actively control different sensors to collect additional data, according to the needs of the real-time target recognition and tracking processes. This level of integration between hardware collection control and data processing is experimentally shown to effectively improve the accuracy and robustness of the target recognition and tracking system.

Integrated tunneling sensor for nanoelectromechanical systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sadewasser, S.; Abadal, G.; Barniol, N.

2006-01-01

Transducers based on quantum mechanical tunneling provide an extremely sensitive sensor principle, especially for nanoelectromechanical systems. For proper operation a gap between the electrodes of below 1 nm is essential, requiring the use of structures with a mobile electrode. At such small...... distances, attractive van der Waals and capillary forces become sizable, possibly resulting in snap-in of the electrodes. The authors present a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the interplay between the involved forces and identify requirements for the design of tunneling sensors. Based...... on this analysis, a tunneling sensor is fabricated by Si micromachining technology and its proper operation is demonstrated. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics....

A Multi-Agent System Architecture for Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María Guijarro

2009-12-01

Full Text Available The design of the control systems for sensor networks presents important challenges. Besides the traditional problems about how to process the sensor data to obtain the target information, engineers need to consider additional aspects such as the heterogeneity and high number of sensors, and the flexibility of these networks regarding topologies and the sensors in them. Although there are partial approaches for resolving these issues, their integration relies on ad hoc solutions requiring important development efforts. In order to provide an effective approach for this integration, this paper proposes an architecture based on the multi-agent system paradigm with a clear separation of concerns. The architecture considers sensors as devices used by an upper layer of manager agents. These agents are able to communicate and negotiate services to achieve the required functionality. Activities are organized according to roles related with the different aspects to integrate, mainly sensor management, data processing, communication and adaptation to changes in the available devices and their capabilities. This organization largely isolates and decouples the data management from the changing network, while encouraging reuse of solutions. The use of the architecture is facilitated by a specific modelling language developed through metamodelling. A case study concerning a generic distributed system for fire fighting illustrates the approach and the comparison with related work.

Bayesian based design of real-time sensor systems for high-risk indoor contaminants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sreedharan, Priya [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

2007-01-01

The sudden release of toxic contaminants that reach indoor spaces can be hazardousto building occupants. To respond effectively, the contaminant release must be quicklydetected and characterized to determine unobserved parameters, such as release locationand strength. Characterizing the release requires solving an inverse problem. Designinga robust real-time sensor system that solves the inverse problem is challenging becausethe fate and transport of contaminants is complex, sensor information is limited andimperfect, and real-time estimation is computationally constrained.This dissertation uses a system-level approach, based on a Bayes Monte Carloframework, to develop sensor-system design concepts and methods. I describe threeinvestigations that explore complex relationships among sensors, network architecture,interpretation algorithms, and system performance. The investigations use data obtainedfrom tracer gas experiments conducted in a real building. The influence of individual sensor characteristics on the sensor-system performance for binary-type contaminant sensors is analyzed. Performance tradeoffs among sensor accuracy, threshold level and response time are identified; these attributes could not be inferred without a system-level analysis. For example, more accurate but slower sensors are found to outperform less accurate but faster sensors. Secondly, I investigate how the sensor-system performance can be understood in terms of contaminant transport processes and the model representation that is used to solve the inverse problem. The determination of release location and mass are shown to be related to and constrained by transport and mixing time scales. These time scales explain performance differences among different sensor networks. For example, the effect of longer sensor response times is comparably less for releases with longer mixing time scales. The third investigation explores how information fusion from heterogeneous sensors may improve the sensor-system

Online Sensor Calibration Assessment in Nuclear Power Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coble, Jamie B.; Ramuhalli, Pradeep; Meyer, Ryan M.; Hashemian, Hash

2013-01-01

Safe, efficient, and economic operation of nuclear systems (nuclear power plants, fuel fabrication and storage, used fuel processing, etc.) relies on transmission of accurate and reliable measurements. During operation, sensors degrade due to age, environmental exposure, and maintenance interventions. Sensor degradation can affect the measured and transmitted signals, including sensor failure, signal drift, sensor response time, etc. Currently, periodic sensor recalibration is performed to avoid these problems. Sensor recalibration activities include both calibration assessment and adjustment (if necessary). In nuclear power plants, periodic recalibration of safety-related sensors is required by the plant technical specifications. Recalibration typically occurs during refueling outages (about every 18 to 24 months). Non-safety-related sensors also undergo recalibration, though not as frequently. However, this approach to maintaining sensor calibration and performance is time-consuming and expensive, leading to unnecessary maintenance, increased radiation exposure to maintenance personnel, and potential damage to sensors. Online monitoring (OLM) of sensor performance is a non-invasive approach to assess instrument calibration. OLM can mitigate many of the limitations of the current periodic recalibration practice by providing more frequent assessment of calibration and identifying those sensors that are operating outside of calibration tolerance limits without removing sensors or interrupting operation. This can support extended operating intervals for unfaulted sensors and target recalibration efforts to only degraded sensors

Micro optical sensor systems for sunsensing applications

Science.gov (United States)

Leijtens, Johan; de Boom, Kees

2017-11-01

Optimum application of micro system technologies allows building small sensor systems that will alter procurement strategies for spacecraft manufacturers. One example is the decreased size and cost for state of the art sunsensors. Integrated sensor systems are being designed which, through use of microsystem technology, are an order of magnitutde smaller than most current sunsensors and which hold due to the large reproducibility through batch manufacturing the promise of drastic price reduction. If the Commercial Of The Shelf (COTS) approach is adopted by satellite manufacturers, this will drastically decrease mass and cost budgets associated with sunsensing applications.

Hybrid Exploration Agent Platform and Sensor Web System

Science.gov (United States)

Stoffel, A. William; VanSteenberg, Michael E.

2004-01-01

A sensor web to collect the scientific data needed to further exploration is a major and efficient asset to any exploration effort. This is true not only for lunar and planetary environments, but also for interplanetary and liquid environments. Such a system would also have myriad direct commercial spin-off applications. The Hybrid Exploration Agent Platform and Sensor Web or HEAP-SW like the ANTS concept is a Sensor Web concept. The HEAP-SW is conceptually and practically a very different system. HEAP-SW is applicable to any environment and a huge range of exploration tasks. It is a very robust, low cost, high return, solution to a complex problem. All of the technology for initial development and implementation is currently available. The HEAP Sensor Web or HEAP-SW consists of three major parts, The Hybrid Exploration Agent Platforms or HEAP, the Sensor Web or SW and the immobile Data collection and Uplink units or DU. The HEAP-SW as a whole will refer to any group of mobile agents or robots where each robot is a mobile data collection unit that spends most of its time acting in concert with all other robots, DUs in the web, and the HEAP-SWs overall Command and Control (CC) system. Each DU and robot is, however, capable of acting independently. The three parts of the HEAP-SW system are discussed in this paper. The Goals of the HEAP-SW system are: 1) To maximize the amount of exploration enhancing science data collected; 2) To minimize data loss due to system malfunctions; 3) To minimize or, possibly, eliminate the risk of total system failure; 4) To minimize the size, weight, and power requirements of each HEAP robot; 5) To minimize HEAP-SW system costs. The rest of this paper discusses how these goals are attained.

Smart sensors and systems innovations for medical, environmental, and IoT applications

CERN Document Server

Yasuura, Hiroto; Liu, Yongpan; Lin, Youn-Long

2017-01-01

This book describes the technology used for effective sensing of our physical world and intelligent processing techniques for sensed information, which are essential to the success of Internet of Things (IoT). The authors provide a multidisciplinary view of sensor technology from materials, process, circuits, and big data domains and showcase smart sensor systems in real applications including smart home, transportation, medical, environmental, agricultural, etc. Unlike earlier books on sensors, this book provides a “global” view on smart sensors covering abstraction levels from device, circuit, systems, and algorithms. Profiles active research on smart sensors based on CMOS microelectronics; Describes applications of sensors and sensor systems in cyber physical systems, the social information infrastructure in our modern world; Includes coverage of a variety of related information technologies supporting the application of sensors; Discusses the integration of computation, networking, actuation, database...

Validation of an Inertial Sensor System for Swing Analysis in Golf

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paul Lückemann

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Wearable inertial sensor systems are an upcoming tool for self-evaluation in sports, and can be used for swing analysis in golf. The aim of this work was to determine the validity and repeatability of an inertial sensor system attached to a player’s glove using a radar system as a reference. 20 subjects performed five full swings with each of three different clubs (wood, 7-iron, wedge. Clubhead speed was measured simultaneously by both sensor systems. Limits of Agreement were used to determine the accuracy and precision of the inertial sensor system. Results show that the inertial sensor system is quite accurate but with a lack of precision. Random error was quantified to approximately 17 km/h. The measurement error was dependent on the club type and was weakly negatively correlated to the magnitude of clubhead speed.

Operation of remote mobile sensors for security of drinking water distribution systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Perelman, By Lina; Ostfeld, Avi

2013-09-01

The deployment of fixed online water quality sensors in water distribution systems has been recognized as one of the key components of contamination warning systems for securing public health. This study proposes to explore how the inclusion of mobile sensors for inline monitoring of various water quality parameters (e.g., residual chlorine, pH) can enhance water distribution system security. Mobile sensors equipped with sampling, sensing, data acquisition, wireless transmission and power generation systems are being designed, fabricated, and tested, and prototypes are expected to be released in the very near future. This study initiates the development of a theoretical framework for modeling mobile sensor movement in water distribution systems and integrating the sensory data collected from stationary and non-stationary sensor nodes to increase system security. The methodology is applied and demonstrated on two benchmark networks. Performance of different sensor network designs are compared for fixed and combined fixed and mobile sensor networks. Results indicate that complementing online sensor networks with inline monitoring can increase detection likelihood and decrease mean time to detection. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Wearable PPG sensor based alertness scoring system.

Science.gov (United States)

Dey, Jishnu; Bhowmik, Tanmoy; Sahoo, Saswata; Tiwari, Vijay Narayan

2017-07-01

Quantifying mental alertness in today's world is important as it enables the person to adopt lifestyle changes for better work efficiency. Miniaturized sensors in wearable devices have facilitated detection/monitoring of mental alertness. Photoplethysmography (PPG) sensors through Heart Rate Variability (HRV) offer one such opportunity by providing information about one's daily alertness levels without requiring any manual interference from the user. In this paper, a smartwatch based alertness estimation system is proposed. Data collected from PPG sensor of smartwatch is processed and fed to machine learning based model to get a continuous alertness score. Utility functions are designed based on statistical analysis to give a quality score on different stages of alertness such as awake, long sleep and short duration power nap. An intelligent data collection approach is proposed in collaboration with the motion sensor in the smartwatch to reduce battery drainage. Overall, our proposed wearable based system provides a detailed analysis of alertness over a period in a systematic and optimized manner. We were able to achieve an accuracy of 80.1% for sleep/awake classification along with alertness score. This opens up the possibility for quantifying alertness levels using a single PPG sensor for better management of health related activities including sleep.

Wireless Sensor Network Based Smart Parking System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeffrey JOSEPH

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Ambient Intelligence is a vision in which various devices come together and process information from multiple sources in order to exert control on the physical environment. In addition to computation and control, communication plays a crucial role in the overall functionality of such a system. Wireless Sensor Networks are one such class of networks, which meet these criteria. These networks consist of spatially distributed sensor motes which work in a co-operative manner to sense and control the environment. In this work, an implementation of an energy-efficient and cost-effective, wireless sensor networks based vehicle parking system for a multi-floor indoor parking facility has been introduced. The system monitors the availability of free parking slots and guides the vehicle to the nearest free slot. The amount of time the vehicle has been parked is monitored for billing purposes. The status of the motes (dead/alive is also recorded. Information like slot allocated, directions to the slot and billing data is sent as a message to customer’s mobile phones. This paper extends our previous work 1 with the development of a low cost sensor mote, about one tenth the cost of a commercially available mote, keeping in mind the price sensitive markets of the developing countries.

Development of basic system for sensor calibration support in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kusumi, Naohiro; Ohga, Yukiharu; Fukuda, Mitsuko; Ishizaki, Yuuichi; Koyama, Mikio; Maeda, Akihiko

2004-01-01

It is strongly desirable to reduce maintenance costs and shorten the time of periodic inspections in nuclear power plants. Therefore, it is important to reduce the amount of maintenance work during the inspection. In Japan, sensor calibration is usually performed at every periodic inspection, and the sensor calibration requires a large amount of work. A system for sensor calibration support has been developed to reduce sensor calibration work. The system is composed of two subsystems: a statistical analysis subsystem and a drift detection subsystem, as well as a human-machine interface, which offers support information. The statistical analysis subsystem supports the decision of the sensor calibration intervals based on the statistical analysis of sensor calibration data. There is the possibility that sensor drift increases beyond an allowance value before the sensor calibration intervals determined by the statistical analysis subsystem because of malfunctions, etc. To cope with this, the drift detection subsystem detects the sensor drift online during the plant operation. By combining the statistical analysis subsystem and the drift detection subsystem, a reliable sensor calibration support system is realized. The basic system composed of two subsystems was developed and evaluated using real plant data. The results showed that the sensor calibration intervals can be extended beyond current intervals and that the system is capable of detecting the sensor drift online. (author)

The tsunami service bus, an integration platform for heterogeneous sensor systems

Science.gov (United States)

Haener, R.; Waechter, J.; Kriegel, U.; Fleischer, J.; Mueller, S.

2009-04-01

1. INTRODUCTION Early warning systems are long living and evolving: New sensor-systems and -types may be developed and deployed, sensors will be replaced or redeployed on other locations and the functionality of analyzing software will be improved. To ensure a continuous operability of those systems their architecture must be evolution-enabled. From a computer science point of view an evolution-enabled architecture must fulfill following criteria: • Encapsulation of and functionality on data in standardized services. Access to proprietary sensor data is only possible via these services. • Loose coupling of system constituents which easily can be achieved by implementing standardized interfaces. • Location transparency of services what means that services can be provided everywhere. • Separation of concerns that means breaking a system into distinct features which overlap in functionality as little as possible. A Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) as e. g. realized in the German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) and the advantages of functional integration on the basis of services described below adopt these criteria best. 2. SENSOR INTEGRATION Integration of data from (distributed) data sources is just a standard task in computer science. From few well known solution patterns, taking into account performance and security requirements of early warning systems only functional integration should be considered. Precondition for this is that systems are realized compliant to SOA patterns. Functionality is realized in form of dedicated components communicating via a service infrastructure. These components provide their functionality in form of services via standardized and published interfaces which could be used to access data maintained in - and functionality provided by dedicated components. Functional integration replaces the tight coupling at data level by a dependency on loosely coupled services. If the interfaces of the service providing

Research on MEMS sensor in hydraulic system flow detection

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Hongpeng; Zhang, Yindong; Liu, Dong; Ji, Yulong; Jiang, Jihai; Sun, Yuqing

2011-05-01

With the development of mechatronics technology and fault diagnosis theory, people regard flow information much more than before. Cheap, fast and accurate flow sensors are urgently needed by hydraulic industry. So MEMS sensor, which is small, low cost, well performed and easy to integrate, will surely play an important role in this field. Based on the new method of flow measurement which was put forward by our research group, this paper completed the measurement of flow rate in hydraulic system by setting up the mathematical model, using numerical simulation method and doing physical experiment. Based on viscous fluid flow equations we deduced differential pressure-velocity model of this new sensor and did optimization on parameters. Then, we designed and manufactured the throttle and studied the velocity and pressure field inside the sensor by FLUENT. Also in simulation we get the differential pressure-velocity curve .The model machine was simulated too to direct experiment. In the static experiments we calibrated the MEMS sensing element and built some sample sensors. Then in a hydraulic testing system we compared the sensor signal with a turbine meter. It presented good linearity and could meet general hydraulic system use. Based on the CFD curves, we analyzed the error reasons and made some suggestion to improve. In the dynamic test, we confirmed this sensor can realize high frequency flow detection by a 7 piston-pump.

An Embedded Multi-Agent Systems Based Industrial Wireless Sensor Network.

Science.gov (United States)

Taboun, Mohammed S; Brennan, Robert W

2017-09-14

With the emergence of cyber-physical systems, there has been a growing interest in network-connected devices. One of the key requirements of a cyber-physical device is the ability to sense its environment. Wireless sensor networks are a widely-accepted solution for this requirement. In this study, an embedded multi-agent systems-managed wireless sensor network is presented. A novel architecture is proposed, along with a novel wireless sensor network architecture. Active and passive wireless sensor node types are defined, along with their communication protocols, and two application-specific examples are presented. A series of three experiments is conducted to evaluate the performance of the agent-embedded wireless sensor network.

Design of Mine Ventilators Monitoring System Based on Wireless Sensor Network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fu Sheng; Song Haiqiang

2012-01-01

A monitoring system for a mine ventilator is designed based on ZigBee wireless sensor network technology in the paper. The system consists of a sink node, sensor nodes, industrial personal computer and several sensors. Sensor nodes communicate with the sink node through the ZigBee wireless sensor network. The sink node connects with the configuration software on the pc via serial port. The system can collect or calculate vibration, temperature, negative pressure, air volume and other information of the mine ventilator. Meanwhile the system accurately monitors operating condition of the ventilator through these parameters. Especially it provides the most original information for potential faults of the ventilator. Therefore, there is no doubt that it improves the efficiency of fault diagnosis.

Design of Mine Ventilators Monitoring System Based on Wireless Sensor Network

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Sheng; Song, Haiqiang

2012-05-01

A monitoring system for a mine ventilator is designed based on ZigBee wireless sensor network technology in the paper. The system consists of a sink node, sensor nodes, industrial personal computer and several sensors. Sensor nodes communicate with the sink node through the ZigBee wireless sensor network. The sink node connects with the configuration software on the pc via serial port. The system can collect or calculate vibration, temperature, negative pressure, air volume and other information of the mine ventilator. Meanwhile the system accurately monitors operating condition of the ventilator through these parameters. Especially it provides the most original information for potential faults of the ventilator. Therefore, there is no doubt that it improves the efficiency of fault diagnosis.

Re-Vitalizing Worthiness: A theory of overcoming suicidality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Evelyn Gordon, RPN, Reg. Fam. Ther. & Sup. (FTAI, MSc, Ph.D.

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Rates of suicide and suicidality have risen in many countries in recent years and in Ireland this trend has been particularly evident among young men (NOSP, 2005, focusing attention on how best to respond to this group. Although mental health professionals have been identified as a key group to respond to the suicidal person, it has been suggested that they are ill-prepared for working in this area (Maltsberger & Goldblatt, 1996; Ting et al., 2006; Cutcliffe & Stevenson, 2007. This study aimed to address these issues by developing a theoretical understanding of suicidality among young men to inform professional practice. Using Classic Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967, in-depth one-to-one interviews were conducted with 17 young men who had been suicidal and had been in contact with the mental health services. The substantive theory that emerged, re-vitalizing worthiness in overcoming suicidality, describes the psychosocial process that young men go through to resolve their main concern, which centres on their painful pull between life and death. Overcoming suicidality involves moving from a death orientation to a life orientation while incorporating the inevitability of death into their new sense of being. This transition entails identity re-configuration whereby young men emerge as individuals of value who are deserving of life. The process is influenced significantly by personal insights and interpersonal interactions that influence their suicide trajectories and life pathways. The theory contributes to the fields of suicidology and mental health by providing a theoretical understanding of overcoming suicidality and identifying professional and social practices that facilitate and impede this process.

Compact Hip-Force Sensor for a Gait-Assistance Exoskeleton System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hyundo Choi

2018-02-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we propose a compact force sensor system for a hip-mounted exoskeleton for seniors with difficulties in walking due to muscle weakness. It senses and monitors the delivered force and power of the exoskeleton for motion control and taking urgent safety action. Two FSR (force-sensitive resistors sensors are used to measure the assistance force when the user is walking. The sensor system directly measures the interaction force between the exoskeleton and the lower limb of the user instead of a previously reported force-sensing method, which estimated the hip assistance force from the current of the motor and lookup tables. Furthermore, the sensor system has the advantage of generating torque in the walking-assistant actuator based on directly measuring the hip-assistance force. Thus, the gait-assistance exoskeleton system can control the delivered power and torque to the user. The force sensing structure is designed to decouple the force caused by hip motion from other directional forces to the sensor so as to only measure that force. We confirmed that the hip-assistance force could be measured with the proposed prototype compact force sensor attached to a thigh frame through an experiment with a real system.

Compact Hip-Force Sensor for a Gait-Assistance Exoskeleton System.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Hyundo; Seo, Keehong; Hyung, Seungyong; Shim, Youngbo; Lim, Soo-Chul

2018-02-13

In this paper, we propose a compact force sensor system for a hip-mounted exoskeleton for seniors with difficulties in walking due to muscle weakness. It senses and monitors the delivered force and power of the exoskeleton for motion control and taking urgent safety action. Two FSR (force-sensitive resistors) sensors are used to measure the assistance force when the user is walking. The sensor system directly measures the interaction force between the exoskeleton and the lower limb of the user instead of a previously reported force-sensing method, which estimated the hip assistance force from the current of the motor and lookup tables. Furthermore, the sensor system has the advantage of generating torque in the walking-assistant actuator based on directly measuring the hip-assistance force. Thus, the gait-assistance exoskeleton system can control the delivered power and torque to the user. The force sensing structure is designed to decouple the force caused by hip motion from other directional forces to the sensor so as to only measure that force. We confirmed that the hip-assistance force could be measured with the proposed prototype compact force sensor attached to a thigh frame through an experiment with a real system.

A Survey of Wireless Sensor Network Based Air Pollution Monitoring Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Yi, Wei Ying; Lo, Kin Ming; Mak, Terrence; Leung, Kwong Sak; Leung, Yee; Meng, Mei Ling

2015-12-12

The air quality in urban areas is a major concern in modern cities due to significant impacts of air pollution on public health, global environment, and worldwide economy. Recent studies reveal the importance of micro-level pollution information, including human personal exposure and acute exposure to air pollutants. A real-time system with high spatio-temporal resolution is essential because of the limited data availability and non-scalability of conventional air pollution monitoring systems. Currently, researchers focus on the concept of The Next Generation Air Pollution Monitoring System (TNGAPMS) and have achieved significant breakthroughs by utilizing the advance sensing technologies, MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) and Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). However, there exist potential problems of these newly proposed systems, namely the lack of 3D data acquisition ability and the flexibility of the sensor network. In this paper, we classify the existing works into three categories as Static Sensor Network (SSN), Community Sensor Network (CSN) and Vehicle Sensor Network (VSN) based on the carriers of the sensors. Comprehensive reviews and comparisons among these three types of sensor networks were also performed. Last but not least, we discuss the limitations of the existing works and conclude the objectives that we want to achieve in future systems.

Sensor concentrator unit for the Continuous Automated Vault Inventory System

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nodine, R.N.; Lenarduzzi, R.

1997-06-01

The purpose of this document is to describe the use and operation of the sensor concentrator in the Continuous Automated Vault Inventory System (CAVIS). The CAVIS electronically verifies the presence of items of stored special nuclear material (SNM). US Department of Energy orders require that stored SNM be inventoried periodically to provide assurance that the material is secure. Currently this inventory is a highly manual activity, requiring personnel to enter the storage vaults. Using a CAVIS allows the frequency of physical inventories to be significantly reduced, resulting in substantial cost savings, increased security, and improved safety. The electronic inventory of stored SNM requires two different types of sensors for each item. The two sensors measure different parameters of the item, usually weight and gamma rays. A CAVIS is constructed using four basic system components: sensors, sensor concentrators, a data collection unit, and a database/user interface unit. One sensor concentrator supports the inventory of up to 20 items (40 sensors) and continuously takes readings from the item sensors. On request the sensor concentrator outputs the most recent sensor readings to the data collection unit. The information transfer takes place over a RS485 communications link. The data collection unit supports from 1 to 120 sensor concentrators (1 to 2,400 items) and is referred to as the Sensor Polling and Configuration System (SPCS). The SPCS is connected by a secure Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) network to the database/user interface unit, which is referred to as the Graphical Facility Information Center (GraFIC). A CAVIS containing more than 2,400 items is supported by connecting additional SPCS units to the GraFIC.

Sensor concentrator unit for the Continuous Automated Vault Inventory System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nodine, R.N.; Lenarduzzi, R.

1997-06-01

The purpose of this document is to describe the use and operation of the sensor concentrator in the Continuous Automated Vault Inventory System (CAVIS). The CAVIS electronically verifies the presence of items of stored special nuclear material (SNM). US Department of Energy orders require that stored SNM be inventoried periodically to provide assurance that the material is secure. Currently this inventory is a highly manual activity, requiring personnel to enter the storage vaults. Using a CAVIS allows the frequency of physical inventories to be significantly reduced, resulting in substantial cost savings, increased security, and improved safety. The electronic inventory of stored SNM requires two different types of sensors for each item. The two sensors measure different parameters of the item, usually weight and gamma rays. A CAVIS is constructed using four basic system components: sensors, sensor concentrators, a data collection unit, and a database/user interface unit. One sensor concentrator supports the inventory of up to 20 items (40 sensors) and continuously takes readings from the item sensors. On request the sensor concentrator outputs the most recent sensor readings to the data collection unit. The information transfer takes place over a RS485 communications link. The data collection unit supports from 1 to 120 sensor concentrators (1 to 2,400 items) and is referred to as the Sensor Polling and Configuration System (SPCS). The SPCS is connected by a secure Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) network to the database/user interface unit, which is referred to as the Graphical Facility Information Center (GraFIC). A CAVIS containing more than 2,400 items is supported by connecting additional SPCS units to the GraFIC

A Printed Organic Amplification System for Wearable Potentiometric Electrochemical Sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Shiwaku, Rei; Matsui, Hiroyuki; Nagamine, Kuniaki; Uematsu, Mayu; Mano, Taisei; Maruyama, Yuki; Nomura, Ayako; Tsuchiya, Kazuhiko; Hayasaka, Kazuma; Takeda, Yasunori; Fukuda, Takashi; Kumaki, Daisuke; Tokito, Shizuo

2018-03-02

Electrochemical sensor systems with integrated amplifier circuits play an important role in measuring physiological signals via in situ human perspiration analysis. Signal processing circuitry based on organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) have significant potential in realizing wearable sensor devices due to their superior mechanical flexibility and biocompatibility. Here, we demonstrate a novel potentiometric electrochemical sensing system comprised of a potassium ion (K + ) sensor and amplifier circuits employing OTFT-based pseudo-CMOS inverters, which have a highly controllable switching voltage and closed-loop gain. The ion concentration sensitivity of the fabricated K + sensor was 34 mV/dec, which was amplified to 160 mV/dec (by a factor of 4.6) with high linearity. The developed system is expected to help further the realization of ultra-thin and flexible wearable sensor devices for healthcare applications.

Dual cameras acquisition and display system of retina-like sensor camera and rectangular sensor camera

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, Nan; Cao, Fengmei; Lin, Yabin; Bai, Tingzhu; Song, Shengyu

2015-04-01

For a new kind of retina-like senor camera and a traditional rectangular sensor camera, dual cameras acquisition and display system need to be built. We introduce the principle and the development of retina-like senor. Image coordinates transformation and interpolation based on sub-pixel interpolation need to be realized for our retina-like sensor's special pixels distribution. The hardware platform is composed of retina-like senor camera, rectangular sensor camera, image grabber and PC. Combined the MIL and OpenCV library, the software program is composed in VC++ on VS 2010. Experience results show that the system can realizes two cameras' acquisition and display.

Wireless Zigbee strain gage sensor system for structural health monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Ide, Hiroshi; Abdi, Frank; Miraj, Rashid; Dang, Chau; Takahashi, Tatsuya; Sauer, Bruce

2009-05-01

A compact cell phone size radio frequency (ZigBee) wireless strain measurement sensor system to measure the structural strain deformation was developed. The developed system provides an accurate strain measurement data stream to the Internet for further Diagnostic and Prognostic (DPS) correlation. Existing methods of structural measurement by strain sensors (gauges) do not completely satisfy problems posed by continuous structural health monitoring. The need for efficient health monitoring methods with real-time requirements to bidirectional data flow from sensors and to a commanding device is becoming critical for keeping our daily life safety. The use of full-field strain measurement techniques could reduce costly experimental programs through better understanding of material behavior. Wireless sensor-network technology is a monitoring method that is estimated to grow rapidly providing potential for cost savings over traditional wired sensors. The many of currently available wireless monitoring methods have: the proactive and constant data rate character of the data streams rather than traditional reactive, event-driven data delivery; mostly static node placement on structures with limited number of nodes. Alpha STAR Electronics' wireless sensor network system, ASWN, addresses some of these deficiencies, making the system easier to operate. The ASWN strain measurement system utilizes off-the-shelf sensors, namely strain gauges, with an analog-to-digital converter/amplifier and ZigBee radio chips to keep cost lower. Strain data is captured by the sensor, converted to digital form and delivered to the ZigBee radio chip, which in turn broadcasts the information using wireless protocols to a Personal Data Assistant (PDA) or Laptop/Desktop computers. From here, data is forwarded to remote computers for higher-level analysis and feedback using traditional cellular and satellite communication or the Ethernet infrastructure. This system offers a compact size, lower cost

Sensor Systems for Vehicle Environment Perception in a Highway Intelligent Space System

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Xiaofeng; Gao, Feng; Xu, Guoyan; Ding, Nenggen; Cai, Yao; Ma, Mingming; Liu, Jianxing

2014-01-01

A Highway Intelligent Space System (HISS) is proposed to study vehicle environment perception in this paper. The nature of HISS is that a space sensors system using laser, ultrasonic or radar sensors are installed in a highway environment and communication technology is used to realize the information exchange between the HISS server and vehicles, which provides vehicles with the surrounding road information. Considering the high-speed feature of vehicles on highways, when vehicles will be passing a road ahead that is prone to accidents, the vehicle driving state should be predicted to ensure drivers have road environment perception information in advance, thereby ensuring vehicle driving safety and stability. In order to verify the accuracy and feasibility of the HISS, a traditional vehicle-mounted sensor system for environment perception is used to obtain the relative driving state. Furthermore, an inter-vehicle dynamics model is built and model predictive control approach is used to predict the driving state in the following period. Finally, the simulation results shows that using the HISS for environment perception can arrive at the same results detected by a traditional vehicle-mounted sensors system. Meanwhile, we can further draw the conclusion that using HISS to realize vehicle environment perception can ensure system stability, thereby demonstrating the method's feasibility. PMID:24834907

Tank Monitor and Control System sensor acceptance test procedure. Revision 5

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scaief, C.C. III.

1994-01-01

The purpose of this acceptance test procedure (ATP) is to verify the correct reading of sensor elements connected to the Tank Monitor and Control System (TMACS). This ATP is intended to be used for testing of the connection of existing temperature sensors, new temperature sensors, pressure sensing equipment, new Engraf level gauges, sensors that generate a current output, and discrete (on/off) inputs. It is intended that this ATP will be used each time sensors are added to the system. As a result, the data sheets have been designed to be generic. The TMACS has been designed in response to recommendations from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board primarily for improved monitoring of waste tank temperatures. The system has been designed with the capability to monitor other types of sensor input as well

Intelligent Chemical Sensor Systems for In-space Safety Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, G. W.; Xu, J. C.; Neudeck, P. G.; Makel, D. B.; Ward, B.; Liu, C. C.

2006-01-01

Future in-space and lunar operations will require significantly improved monitoring and Integrated System Health Management (ISHM) throughout the mission. In particular, the monitoring of chemical species is an important component of an overall monitoring system for space vehicles and operations. For example, in leak monitoring of propulsion systems during launch, inspace, and on lunar surfaces, detection of low concentrations of hydrogen and other fuels is important to avoid explosive conditions that could harm personnel and damage the vehicle. Dependable vehicle operation also depends on the timely and accurate measurement of these leaks. Thus, the development of a sensor array to determine the concentration of fuels such as hydrogen, hydrocarbons, or hydrazine as well as oxygen is necessary. Work has been on-going to develop an integrated smart leak detection system based on miniaturized sensors to detect hydrogen, hydrocarbons, or hydrazine, and oxygen. The approach is to implement Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) based sensors incorporated with signal conditioning electronics, power, data storage, and telemetry enabling intelligent systems. The final sensor system will be self-contained with a surface area comparable to a postage stamp. This paper discusses the development of this "Lick and Stick" leak detection system and it s application to In-Space Transportation and other Exploration applications.

Sensor Buoy System for Monitoring Renewable Marine Energy Resources.

Science.gov (United States)

García, Emilio; Quiles, Eduardo; Correcher, Antonio; Morant, Francisco

2018-03-22

In this paper we present a multi-sensor floating system designed to monitor marine energy parameters, in order to sample wind, wave, and marine current energy resources. For this purpose, a set of dedicated sensors to measure the height and period of the waves, wind, and marine current intensity and direction have been selected and installed in the system. The floating device incorporates wind and marine current turbines for renewable energy self-consumption and to carry out complementary studies on the stability of such a system. The feasibility, safety, sensor communications, and buoy stability of the floating device have been successfully checked in real operating conditions.

Underwater Animal Monitoring Magnetic Sensor System

KAUST Repository

Kaidarova, Altynay

2017-10-01

Obtaining new insights into the behavior of free-living marine organisms is fundamental for conservation efforts and anticipating the impact of climate change on marine ecosystems. Despite the recent advances in biotelemetry, collecting physiological and behavioral parameters of underwater free-living animals remains technically challenging. In this thesis, we develop the first magnetic underwater animal monitoring system that utilizes Tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) sensors, the most sensitive solid-state sensors today, coupled with flexible magnetic composites. The TMR sensors are composed of CoFeB free layers and MgO tunnel barriers, patterned using standard optical lithography and ion milling procedures. The short and long-term stability of the TMR sensors has been studied using statistical and Allan deviation analysis. Instrumentation noise has been reduced using optimized electrical interconnection schemes. We also develop flexible NdFeB-PDMS composite magnets optimized for applications in corrosive marine environments, and which can be attached to marine animals. The magnetic and mechanical properties are studied for different NdFeB powder concentrations and the performance of the magnetic composites for different exposure times to sea water is systematically investigated. Without protective layer, the composite magnets loose more than 50% of their magnetization after 51 days in seawater. The durability of the composite magnets can be considerably improved by using polymer coatings which are protecting the composite magnet, whereby Parylene C is found to be the most effective solution, providing simultaneously corrosion resistance, flexibility, and enhanced biocompatibility. A Parylene C film of 2μm thickness provides the sufficient protection of the magnetic composite in corrosive aqueous environments for more than 70 days. For the high level performance of the system, the theoretically optimal position of the composite magnets with respect to the sensing

A Smart Sensor Data Transmission Technique for Logistics and Intelligent Transportation Systems

OpenAIRE

Kyunghee Sun; Intae Ryoo

2018-01-01

When it comes to Internet of Things systems that include both a logistics system and an intelligent transportation system, a smart sensor is one of the key elements to collect useful information whenever and wherever necessary. This study proposes the Smart Sensor Node Group Management Medium Access Control Scheme designed to group smart sensor devices and collect data from them efficiently. The proposed scheme performs grouping of portable sensor devices connected to a system depending on th...

An Embedded Multi-Agent Systems Based Industrial Wireless Sensor Network

Science.gov (United States)

Brennan, Robert W.

2017-01-01

With the emergence of cyber-physical systems, there has been a growing interest in network-connected devices. One of the key requirements of a cyber-physical device is the ability to sense its environment. Wireless sensor networks are a widely-accepted solution for this requirement. In this study, an embedded multi-agent systems-managed wireless sensor network is presented. A novel architecture is proposed, along with a novel wireless sensor network architecture. Active and passive wireless sensor node types are defined, along with their communication protocols, and two application-specific examples are presented. A series of three experiments is conducted to evaluate the performance of the agent-embedded wireless sensor network. PMID:28906452

Handbook of sensor networks compact wireless and wired sensing systems

CERN Document Server

Ilyas, Mohammad

2004-01-01

INTRODUCTION Opportunities and Challenges in Wireless Sensor Networks, M. Haenggi, Next Generation Technologies to Enable Sensor Networks, J. I.  Goodman, A. I. Reuther, and D. R. Martinez Sensor Networks Management, L. B. Ruiz, J. M. Nogueira, and A. A. F. Loureiro Models for Programmability in Sensor Networks, A. Boulis Miniaturizing Sensor Networks with MEMS, Brett Warneke A Taxonomy of Routing Techniques in Wireless Sensor Networks, J. N. Al-Karaki and A. E. Kamal Artificial Perceptual Systems, A. Loutfi, M. Lindquist, and P. Wide APPLICATIONS Sensor Network Architecture and Appl

Novel Wireless Sensor System for Dynamic Characterization of Borehole Heat Exchangers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raimundo García-Olcina

2011-07-01

Full Text Available The design and field test of a novel sensor system based in autonomous wireless sensors to measure the temperature of the heat transfer fluid along a borehole heat exchanger (BHE is presented. The system, by means of two specials valves, inserts and extracts miniaturized wireless sensors inside the pipes of the borehole, which are carried by the thermal fluid. Each sensor is embedded in a small sphere of just 25 mm diameter and 8 gr weight, containing a transceiver, a microcontroller, a temperature sensor and a power supply. A wireless data processing unit transmits to the sensors the acquisition configuration before the measurements, and also downloads the temperature data measured by the sensor along its way through the BHE U-tube. This sensor system is intended to improve the conventional thermal response test (TRT and it allows the collection of information about the thermal characteristics of the geological structure of subsurface and its influence in borehole thermal behaviour, which in turn, facilitates the implementation of TRTs in a more cost-effective and reliable way.

Novel wireless sensor system for dynamic characterization of borehole heat exchangers.

Science.gov (United States)

Martos, Julio; Montero, Álvaro; Torres, José; Soret, Jesús; Martínez, Guillermo; García-Olcina, Raimundo

2011-01-01

The design and field test of a novel sensor system based in autonomous wireless sensors to measure the temperature of the heat transfer fluid along a borehole heat exchanger (BHE) is presented. The system, by means of two special valves, inserts and extracts miniaturized wireless sensors inside the pipes of the borehole, which are carried by the thermal fluid. Each sensor is embedded in a small sphere of just 25 mm diameter and 8 gr weight, containing a transceiver, a microcontroller, a temperature sensor and a power supply. A wireless data processing unit transmits to the sensors the acquisition configuration before the measurements, and also downloads the temperature data measured by the sensor along its way through the BHE U-tube. This sensor system is intended to improve the conventional thermal response test (TRT) and it allows the collection of information about the thermal characteristics of the geological structure of subsurface and its influence in borehole thermal behaviour, which in turn, facilitates the implementation of TRTs in a more cost-effective and reliable way.

A Mobile Sensor Network System for Monitoring of Unfriendly Environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Guangming; Zhou, Yaoxin; Ding, Fei; Song, Aiguo

2008-11-14

Observing microclimate changes is one of the most popular applications of wireless sensor networks. However, some target environments are often too dangerous or inaccessible to humans or large robots and there are many challenges for deploying and maintaining wireless sensor networks in those unfriendly environments. This paper presents a mobile sensor network system for solving this problem. The system architecture, the mobile node design, the basic behaviors and advanced network capabilities have been investigated respectively. A wheel-based robotic node architecture is proposed here that can add controlled mobility to wireless sensor networks. A testbed including some prototype nodes has also been created for validating the basic functions of the proposed mobile sensor network system. Motion performance tests have been done to get the positioning errors and power consumption model of the mobile nodes. Results of the autonomous deployment experiment show that the mobile nodes can be distributed evenly into the previously unknown environments. It provides powerful support for network deployment and maintenance and can ensure that the sensor network will work properly in unfriendly environments.

A Novel Attitude Determination System Aided by Polarization Sensor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Zhi

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to develop a novel attitude determination system aided by polarization sensor. An improved heading angle function is derived using the perpendicular relationship between directions of E-vector of linearly polarized light and solar vector in the atmospheric polarization distribution model. The Extended Kalman filter (EKF with quaternion differential equation as a dynamic model is applied to fuse the data from sensors. The covariance functions of filter process and measurement noises are deduced in detail. The indoor and outdoor tests are conducted to verify the validity and feasibility of proposed attitude determination system. The test results showed that polarization sensor is not affected by magnetic field, thus the proposed system can work properly in environments containing the magnetic interference. The results also showed that proposed system has higher measurement accuracy than common attitude determination system and can provide precise parameters for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV flight control. The main contribution of this paper is implementation of the EKF for incorporating the self-developed polarization sensor into the conventional attitude determination system. The real-world experiment with the quad-rotor proved that proposed system can work in a magnetic interference environment and provide sufficient accuracy in attitude determination for autonomous navigation of vehicle.

A Novel Attitude Determination System Aided by Polarization Sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhi, Wei; Chu, Jinkui; Li, Jinshan; Wang, Yinlong

2018-01-09

This paper aims to develop a novel attitude determination system aided by polarization sensor. An improved heading angle function is derived using the perpendicular relationship between directions of E-vector of linearly polarized light and solar vector in the atmospheric polarization distribution model. The Extended Kalman filter (EKF) with quaternion differential equation as a dynamic model is applied to fuse the data from sensors. The covariance functions of filter process and measurement noises are deduced in detail. The indoor and outdoor tests are conducted to verify the validity and feasibility of proposed attitude determination system. The test results showed that polarization sensor is not affected by magnetic field, thus the proposed system can work properly in environments containing the magnetic interference. The results also showed that proposed system has higher measurement accuracy than common attitude determination system and can provide precise parameters for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flight control. The main contribution of this paper is implementation of the EKF for incorporating the self-developed polarization sensor into the conventional attitude determination system. The real-world experiment with the quad-rotor proved that proposed system can work in a magnetic interference environment and provide sufficient accuracy in attitude determination for autonomous navigation of vehicle.

A Wildlife Monitoring System Based on Wireless Image Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Junguo Zhang

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Survival and development of wildlife sustains the balance and stability of the entire ecosystem. Wildlife monitoring can provide lots of information such as wildlife species, quantity, habits, quality of life and habitat conditions, to help researchers grasp the status and dynamics of wildlife resources, and to provide basis for the effective protection, sustainable use, and scientific management of wildlife resources. Wildlife monitoring is the foundation of wildlife protection and management. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN technology has become the most popular technology in the field of information. With advance of the CMOS image sensor technology, wireless sensor networks combined with image sensors, namely Wireless Image Sensor Networks (WISN technology, has emerged as an alternative in monitoring applications. Monitoring wildlife is one of its most promising applications. In this paper, system architecture of the wildlife monitoring system based on the wireless image sensor networks was presented to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional monitoring methods. Specifically, some key issues including design of wireless image sensor nodes and software process design have been studied and presented. A self-powered rotatable wireless infrared image sensor node based on ARM and an aggregation node designed for large amounts of data were developed. In addition, their corresponding software was designed. The proposed system is able to monitor wildlife accurately, automatically, and remotely in all-weather condition, which lays foundations for applications of wireless image sensor networks in wildlife monitoring.

Analog Organic Electronics Building Blocks for Organic Smart Sensor Systems on Foil

CERN Document Server

Marien, Hagen; Heremans, Paul

2013-01-01

 This book provides insight into organic electronics technology and in analog circuit techniques that can be used to increase the performance of both analog and digital organic circuits. It explores the domain of organic electronics technology for analog circuit applications, specifically smart sensor systems.  It focuses on all the building blocks in the data path of an organic sensor system between the sensor and the digital processing block. Sensors, amplifiers, analog-to-digital converters and DC-DC converters are discussed in detail. Coverage includes circuit techniques, circuit implementation, design decisions and measurement results of the building blocks described. Offers readers the first book to focus on analog organic circuit design; Discusses organic electronics technology for analog circuit applications in the context of smart sensor systems; Describes all building blocks necessary for an organic sensor system between the sensor and the digital processing block; Includes circuit techniques, cir...

Effect of sensor systems for cow management on milk production, somatic cell count, and reproduction.

Science.gov (United States)

Steeneveld, W; Vernooij, J C M; Hogeveen, H

2015-06-01

To improve management on dairy herds, sensor systems have been developed that can measure physiological, behavioral, and production indicators on individual cows. It is not known whether using sensor systems also improves measures of health and production in dairy herds. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of using sensor systems on measures of health and production in dairy herds. Data of 414 Dutch dairy farms with (n=152) and without (n=262) sensor systems were available. For these herds, information on milk production per cow, days to first service, first calving age, and somatic cell count (SCC) was provided for the years 2003 to 2013. Moreover, year of investment in sensor systems was available. For every farm year, we determined whether that year was before or after the year of investment in sensor systems on farms with an automatic milking system (AMS) or a conventional milking system (CMS), or whether it was a year on a farm that never invested in sensor systems. Separate statistical analyses were performed to determine the effect of sensor systems for mastitis detection (color, SCC, electrical conductivity, and lactate dehydrogenase sensors), estrus detection for dairy cows, estrus detection for young stock, and other sensor systems (weighing platform, rumination time sensor, fat and protein sensor, temperature sensor, milk temperature sensor, urea sensor, β-hydroxybutyrate sensor, and other sensor systems). The AMS farms had a higher average SCC (by 12,000 cells/mL) after sensor investment, and CMS farms with a mastitis detection system had a lower average SCC (by 10,000 cells/mL) in the years after sensor investment. Having sensor systems was associated with a higher average production per cow on AMS farms, and with a lower average production per cow on CMS farms in the years after investment. The most likely reason for this lower milk production after investment was that on 96% of CMS farms, the sensor system investment occurred

Active Hearing Mechanisms Inspire Adaptive Amplification in an Acoustic Sensor System.

Science.gov (United States)

Guerreiro, Jose; Reid, Andrew; Jackson, Joseph C; Windmill, James F C

2018-06-01

Over many millions of years of evolution, nature has developed some of the most adaptable sensors and sensory systems possible, capable of sensing, conditioning and processing signals in a very power- and size-effective manner. By looking into biological sensors and systems as a source of inspiration, this paper presents the study of a bioinspired concept of signal processing at the sensor level. By exploiting a feedback control mechanism between a front-end acoustic receiver and back-end neuronal based computation, a nonlinear amplification with hysteretic behavior is created. Moreover, the transient response of the front-end acoustic receiver can also be controlled and enhanced. A theoretical model is proposed and the concept is prototyped experimentally through an embedded system setup that can provide dynamic adaptations of a sensory system comprising a MEMS microphone placed in a closed-loop feedback system. It faithfully mimics the mosquito's active hearing response as a function of the input sound intensity. This is an adaptive acoustic sensor system concept that can be exploited by sensor and system designers within acoustics and ultrasonic engineering fields.

AN INTEROPERABLE ARCHITECTURE FOR AIR POLLUTION EARLY WARNING SYSTEM BASED ON SENSOR WEB

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Samadzadegan

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Environmental monitoring systems deal with time-sensitive issues which require quick responses in emergency situations. Handling the sensor observations in near real-time and obtaining valuable information is challenging issues in these systems from a technical and scientific point of view. The ever-increasing population growth in urban areas has caused certain problems in developing countries, which has direct or indirect impact on human life. One of applicable solution for controlling and managing air quality by considering real time and update air quality information gathered by spatially distributed sensors in mega cities, using sensor web technology for developing monitoring and early warning systems. Urban air quality monitoring systems using functionalities of geospatial information system as a platform for analysing, processing, and visualization of data in combination with Sensor Web for supporting decision support systems in disaster management and emergency situations. This system uses Sensor Web Enablement (SWE framework of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC, which offers a standard framework that allows the integration of sensors and sensor data into spatial data infrastructures. SWE framework introduces standards for services to access sensor data and discover events from sensor data streams as well as definition set of standards for the description of sensors and the encoding of measurements. The presented system provides capabilities to collect, transfer, share, process air quality sensor data and disseminate air quality status in real-time. It is possible to overcome interoperability challenges by using standard framework. In a routine scenario, air quality data measured by in-situ sensors are communicated to central station where data is analysed and processed. The extracted air quality status is processed for discovering emergency situations, and if necessary air quality reports are sent to the authorities. This research

An Interoperable Architecture for Air Pollution Early Warning System Based on Sensor Web

Science.gov (United States)

Samadzadegan, F.; Zahmatkesh, H.; Saber, M.; Ghazi khanlou, H. J.

2013-09-01

Environmental monitoring systems deal with time-sensitive issues which require quick responses in emergency situations. Handling the sensor observations in near real-time and obtaining valuable information is challenging issues in these systems from a technical and scientific point of view. The ever-increasing population growth in urban areas has caused certain problems in developing countries, which has direct or indirect impact on human life. One of applicable solution for controlling and managing air quality by considering real time and update air quality information gathered by spatially distributed sensors in mega cities, using sensor web technology for developing monitoring and early warning systems. Urban air quality monitoring systems using functionalities of geospatial information system as a platform for analysing, processing, and visualization of data in combination with Sensor Web for supporting decision support systems in disaster management and emergency situations. This system uses Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) framework of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), which offers a standard framework that allows the integration of sensors and sensor data into spatial data infrastructures. SWE framework introduces standards for services to access sensor data and discover events from sensor data streams as well as definition set of standards for the description of sensors and the encoding of measurements. The presented system provides capabilities to collect, transfer, share, process air quality sensor data and disseminate air quality status in real-time. It is possible to overcome interoperability challenges by using standard framework. In a routine scenario, air quality data measured by in-situ sensors are communicated to central station where data is analysed and processed. The extracted air quality status is processed for discovering emergency situations, and if necessary air quality reports are sent to the authorities. This research proposed an

30 CFR 75.1103-6 - Automatic fire sensors; actuation of fire suppression systems.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Automatic fire sensors; actuation of fire... Protection § 75.1103-6 Automatic fire sensors; actuation of fire suppression systems. Point-type heat sensors or automatic fire sensor and warning device systems may be used to actuate deluge-type water systems...

Integration of Fiber-Optic Sensor Arrays into a Multi-Modal Tactile Sensor Processing System for Robotic End-Effectors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Kampmann

2014-04-01

Full Text Available With the increasing complexity of robotic missions and the development towards long-term autonomous systems, the need for multi-modal sensing of the environment increases. Until now, the use of tactile sensor systems has been mostly based on sensing one modality of forces in the robotic end-effector. The use of a multi-modal tactile sensory system is motivated, which combines static and dynamic force sensor arrays together with an absolute force measurement system. This publication is focused on the development of a compact sensor interface for a fiber-optic sensor array, as optic measurement principles tend to have a bulky interface. Mechanical, electrical and software approaches are combined to realize an integrated structure that provides decentralized data pre-processing of the tactile measurements. Local behaviors are implemented using this setup to show the effectiveness of this approach.

Therapeutic hypertension system based on a microbreathing pressure sensor system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diao Z

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Ziji Diao1, Hongying Liu1, Lan Zhu1, Xiaoqiang Gao1, Suwen Zhao1, Xitian Pi1,2, Xiaolin Zheng1,21Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Chongqing University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing; 2Key Laboratories for National Defense Science and Technology of Innovative Micronano Devices and System Technology, Chongqing, People’s Republic of ChinaBackground and methods: A novel therapeutic system for the treatment of hypertension was developed on the basis of a slow-breath training mechanism, using a microbreathing pressure sensor device for the detection of human respiratory signals attached to the abdomen. The system utilizes a single-chip AT89C51 microcomputer as a core processor, programmed by Microsoft Visual C++6.0 to communicate with a PC via a full-speed PDIUSBD12 interface chip. The programming is based on a slow-breath guided algorithm in which the respiratory signal serves as a physiological feedback parameter. Inhalation and exhalation by the subject is guided by music signals.Results and conclusion: Our study indicates that this microbreathing sensor system may assist in slow-breath training and may help to decrease blood pressure.Keywords: hypertension, microbreathing sensor, single-chip microcomputer, slow-pace breathing

Sensor Selection and Data Validation for Reliable Integrated System Health Management

Science.gov (United States)

Garg, Sanjay; Melcher, Kevin J.

2008-01-01

For new access to space systems with challenging mission requirements, effective implementation of integrated system health management (ISHM) must be available early in the program to support the design of systems that are safe, reliable, highly autonomous. Early ISHM availability is also needed to promote design for affordable operations; increased knowledge of functional health provided by ISHM supports construction of more efficient operations infrastructure. Lack of early ISHM inclusion in the system design process could result in retrofitting health management systems to augment and expand operational and safety requirements; thereby increasing program cost and risk due to increased instrumentation and computational complexity. Having the right sensors generating the required data to perform condition assessment, such as fault detection and isolation, with a high degree of confidence is critical to reliable operation of ISHM. Also, the data being generated by the sensors needs to be qualified to ensure that the assessments made by the ISHM is not based on faulty data. NASA Glenn Research Center has been developing technologies for sensor selection and data validation as part of the FDDR (Fault Detection, Diagnosis, and Response) element of the Upper Stage project of the Ares 1 launch vehicle development. This presentation will provide an overview of the GRC approach to sensor selection and data quality validation and will present recent results from applications that are representative of the complexity of propulsion systems for access to space vehicles. A brief overview of the sensor selection and data quality validation approaches is provided below. The NASA GRC developed Systematic Sensor Selection Strategy (S4) is a model-based procedure for systematically and quantitatively selecting an optimal sensor suite to provide overall health assessment of a host system. S4 can be logically partitioned into three major subdivisions: the knowledge base, the down

Internetting tactical security sensor systems

Science.gov (United States)

Gage, Douglas W.; Bryan, W. D.; Nguyen, Hoa G.

1998-08-01

The Multipurpose Surveillance and Security Mission Platform (MSSMP) is a distributed network of remote sensing packages and control stations, designed to provide a rapidly deployable, extended-range surveillance capability for a wide variety of military security operations and other tactical missions. The baseline MSSMP sensor suite consists of a pan/tilt unit with video and FLIR cameras and laser rangefinder. With an additional radio transceiver, MSSMP can also function as a gateway between existing security/surveillance sensor systems such as TASS, TRSS, and IREMBASS, and IP-based networks, to support the timely distribution of both threat detection and threat assessment information. The MSSMP system makes maximum use of Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) components for sensing, processing, and communications, and of both established and emerging standard communications networking protocols and system integration techniques. Its use of IP-based protocols allows it to freely interoperate with the Internet -- providing geographic transparency, facilitating development, and allowing fully distributed demonstration capability -- and prepares it for integration with the IP-based tactical radio networks that will evolve in the next decade. Unfortunately, the Internet's standard Transport layer protocol, TCP, is poorly matched to the requirements of security sensors and other quasi- autonomous systems in being oriented to conveying a continuous data stream, rather than discrete messages. Also, its canonical 'socket' interface both conceals short losses of communications connectivity and simply gives up and forces the Application layer software to deal with longer losses. For MSSMP, a software applique is being developed that will run on top of User Datagram Protocol (UDP) to provide a reliable message-based Transport service. In addition, a Session layer protocol is being developed to support the effective transfer of control of multiple platforms among multiple control

Tank Monitor and Control System sensor acceptance test procedure. Revision 6

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scaief, C.C. III.

1994-01-01

The purpose of this Acceptance Test Procedure (ATP) is to verify the correct reading of sensor elements connected to the Tank Monitor and Control System (TMACS). The system functional requirements are contained in WHC-SD-WM-RD-013, Rev. 1 (WHC 1992a). This ATP is intended to be used for testing of the connection of existing temperature sensors, new temperature sensors, pressure sensing equipment, new Enraf level gauges, sensors that generate a current output, and discrete (on/off) inputs. The TMACS operation was verified by the original ATP (WHC 1991 c). It is intended that this ATP will be used each time sensors are added to the system. As a result, the data sheets have been designed to be generic

System-in Package of Integrated Humidity Sensor Using CMOS-MEMS Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sung Pil

2015-10-01

Temperature/humidity microchips with micropump were fabricated using a CMOS-MEMS process and combined with ZigBee modules to implement a sensor system in package (SIP) for a ubiquitous sensor network (USN) and/or a wireless communication system. The current of a diode temperature sensor to temperature and a normalized current of FET humidity sensor to relative humidity showed linear characteristics, respectively, and the use of the micropump has enabled a faster response. A wireless reception module using the same protocol as that in transmission systems processed the received data within 10 m and showed temperature and humidity values in the display.

Integrated Microfluidic Sensor System with Magnetostrictive Resonators

KAUST Repository

Liang, Cai; Kosel, Jü rgen; Gooneratne, Chinthaka

2011-01-01

The present embodiments describe a method that integrates a magnetostrictive sensor with driving and detecting elements into a microfluidic chip to detect a chemical, biochemical or biomedical species. These embodiments may also measure the properties of a fluid such as viscosity, pH values. The whole system can be referred to lab-on-a-chip (LOC) or micro-total-analysis-systems (.mu.TAS). In particular, this present embodiments include three units, including a microfluidics unit, a magnetostrictive sensor, and driving/detecting elements. An analyzer may also be provided to analyze an electrical signal associated with a feature of a target specimen.

Integrated Microfluidic Sensor System with Magnetostrictive Resonators

KAUST Repository

Liang, Cai

2011-12-08

The present embodiments describe a method that integrates a magnetostrictive sensor with driving and detecting elements into a microfluidic chip to detect a chemical, biochemical or biomedical species. These embodiments may also measure the properties of a fluid such as viscosity, pH values. The whole system can be referred to lab-on-a-chip (LOC) or micro-total-analysis-systems (.mu.TAS). In particular, this present embodiments include three units, including a microfluidics unit, a magnetostrictive sensor, and driving/detecting elements. An analyzer may also be provided to analyze an electrical signal associated with a feature of a target specimen.

Image acquisition system using on sensor compressed sampling technique

Science.gov (United States)

Gupta, Pravir Singh; Choi, Gwan Seong

2018-01-01

Advances in CMOS technology have made high-resolution image sensors possible. These image sensors pose significant challenges in terms of the amount of raw data generated, energy efficiency, and frame rate. This paper presents a design methodology for an imaging system and a simplified image sensor pixel design to be used in the system so that the compressed sensing (CS) technique can be implemented easily at the sensor level. This results in significant energy savings as it not only cuts the raw data rate but also reduces transistor count per pixel; decreases pixel size; increases fill factor; simplifies analog-to-digital converter, JPEG encoder, and JPEG decoder design; decreases wiring; and reduces the decoder size by half. Thus, CS has the potential to increase the resolution of image sensors for a given technology and die size while significantly decreasing the power consumption and design complexity. We show that it has potential to reduce power consumption by about 23% to 65%.

Sensor network infrastructure for a home care monitoring system.

Science.gov (United States)

Palumbo, Filippo; Ullberg, Jonas; Stimec, Ales; Furfari, Francesco; Karlsson, Lars; Coradeschi, Silvia

2014-02-25

This paper presents the sensor network infrastructure for a home care system that allows long-term monitoring of physiological data and everyday activities. The aim of the proposed system is to allow the elderly to live longer in their home without compromising safety and ensuring the detection of health problems. The system offers the possibility of a virtual visit via a teleoperated robot. During the visit, physiological data and activities occurring during a period of time can be discussed. These data are collected from physiological sensors (e.g., temperature, blood pressure, glucose) and environmental sensors (e.g., motion, bed/chair occupancy, electrical usage). The system can also give alarms if sudden problems occur, like a fall, and warnings based on more long-term trends, such as the deterioration of health being detected. It has been implemented and tested in a test environment and has been deployed in six real homes for a year-long evaluation. The key contribution of the paper is the presentation of an implemented system for ambient assisted living (AAL) tested in a real environment, combining the acquisition of sensor data, a flexible and adaptable middleware compliant with the OSGistandard and a context recognition application. The system has been developed in a European project called GiraffPlus.

SENSOR: a tool for the simulation of hyperspectral remote sensing systems

Science.gov (United States)

Börner, Anko; Wiest, Lorenz; Keller, Peter; Reulke, Ralf; Richter, Rolf; Schaepman, Michael; Schläpfer, Daniel

The consistent end-to-end simulation of airborne and spaceborne earth remote sensing systems is an important task, and sometimes the only way for the adaptation and optimisation of a sensor and its observation conditions, the choice and test of algorithms for data processing, error estimation and the evaluation of the capabilities of the whole sensor system. The presented software simulator SENSOR (Software Environment for the Simulation of Optical Remote sensing systems) includes a full model of the sensor hardware, the observed scene, and the atmosphere in between. The simulator consists of three parts. The first part describes the geometrical relations between scene, sun, and the remote sensing system using a ray-tracing algorithm. The second part of the simulation environment considers the radiometry. It calculates the at-sensor radiance using a pre-calculated multidimensional lookup-table taking the atmospheric influence on the radiation into account. The third part consists of an optical and an electronic sensor model for the generation of digital images. Using SENSOR for an optimisation requires the additional application of task-specific data processing algorithms. The principle of the end-to-end-simulation approach is explained, all relevant concepts of SENSOR are discussed, and first examples of its use are given. The verification of SENSOR is demonstrated. This work is closely related to the Airborne PRISM Experiment (APEX), an airborne imaging spectrometer funded by the European Space Agency.

Calibrating a novel multi-sensor physical activity measurement system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

John, D; Sasaki, J E; Howe, C A; Freedson, P S; Liu, S; Gao, R X; Staudenmayer, J

2011-01-01

Advancing the field of physical activity (PA) monitoring requires the development of innovative multi-sensor measurement systems that are feasible in the free-living environment. The use of novel analytical techniques to combine and process these multiple sensor signals is equally important. This paper describes a novel multi-sensor 'integrated PA measurement system' (IMS), the lab-based methodology used to calibrate the IMS, techniques used to predict multiple variables from the sensor signals, and proposes design changes to improve the feasibility of deploying the IMS in the free-living environment. The IMS consists of hip and wrist acceleration sensors, two piezoelectric respiration sensors on the torso, and an ultraviolet radiation sensor to obtain contextual information (indoors versus outdoors) of PA. During lab-based calibration of the IMS, data were collected on participants performing a PA routine consisting of seven different ambulatory and free-living activities while wearing a portable metabolic unit (criterion measure) and the IMS. Data analyses on the first 50 adult participants are presented. These analyses were used to determine if the IMS can be used to predict the variables of interest. Finally, physical modifications for the IMS that could enhance the feasibility of free-living use are proposed and refinement of the prediction techniques is discussed

Experimental Study of Nuclear Security System Components for Achieving the Intrusion Process via Sensor's Network System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

EL-Kafas, A.A.

2011-01-01

Cluster sensors are one of nuclear security system components which are used to detect any intrusion process of the nuclear sites. In this work, an experimental measuring test for sensor performance and procedures are presented. Sensor performance testing performed to determine whether a particular sensor will be acceptable in a proposed design. We have access to a sensors test field in which the sensor of interest is already properly installed and the parameters have been set to optimal levels by preliminary testing. The glass-breakage (G.B) and open door (O.D) sensors construction, operation and design for the investigated nuclear site are explained. Intrusion tests were carried out inside the field areas of the sensors to evaluate the sensor performance during the intrusion process. Experimental trials were performed for achieving the intrusion process via sensor network system. The performance and intrusion senses of cluster sensors inside the internal zones was recorded and evaluated. The obtained results explained that the tested and experimented G.B sensors have a probability of detection P (D) value 65% founded, and 80% P (D) of Open-door sensor

Narrow field electromagnetic sensor system and method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McEwan, T.E.

1996-01-01

A narrow field electromagnetic sensor system and method of sensing a characteristic of an object provide the capability to realize a characteristic of an object such as density, thickness, or presence, for any desired coordinate position on the object. One application is imaging. The sensor can also be used as an obstruction detector or an electronic trip wire with a narrow field without the disadvantages of impaired performance when exposed to dirt, snow, rain, or sunlight. The sensor employs a transmitter for transmitting a sequence of electromagnetic signals in response to a transmit timing signal, a receiver for sampling only the initial direct RF path of the electromagnetic signal while excluding all other electromagnetic signals in response to a receive timing signal, and a signal processor for processing the sampled direct RF path electromagnetic signal and providing an indication of the characteristic of an object. Usually, the electromagnetic signal is a short RF burst and the obstruction must provide a substantially complete eclipse of the direct RF path. By employing time-of-flight techniques, a timing circuit controls the receiver to sample only the initial direct RF path of the electromagnetic signal while not sampling indirect path electromagnetic signals. The sensor system also incorporates circuitry for ultra-wideband spread spectrum operation that reduces interference to and from other RF services while allowing co-location of multiple electronic sensors without the need for frequency assignments. 12 figs

A Method of Data Aggregation for Wearable Sensor Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bo Shen

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Data aggregation has been considered as an effective way to decrease the data to be transferred in sensor networks. Particularly for wearable sensor systems, smaller battery has less energy, which makes energy conservation in data transmission more important. Nevertheless, wearable sensor systems usually have features like frequently dynamic changes of topologies and data over a large range, of which current aggregating methods can’t adapt to the demand. In this paper, we study the system composed of many wearable devices with sensors, such as the network of a tactical unit, and introduce an energy consumption-balanced method of data aggregation, named LDA-RT. In the proposed method, we develop a query algorithm based on the idea of ‘happened-before’ to construct a dynamic and energy-balancing routing tree. We also present a distributed data aggregating and sorting algorithm to execute top-k query and decrease the data that must be transferred among wearable devices. Combining these algorithms, LDA-RT tries to balance the energy consumptions for prolonging the lifetime of wearable sensor systems. Results of evaluation indicate that LDA-RT performs well in constructing routing trees and energy balances. It also outperforms the filter-based top-k monitoring approach in energy consumption, load balance, and the network’s lifetime, especially for highly dynamic data sources.

One-port portable SAW sensor system

Science.gov (United States)

Hoa Nguyen, Vu; Peters, Oliver; Schnakenberg, Uwe

2018-01-01

A portable device using the SAW-based impedance sensor type based on one interdigital transducer simultaneously as SAW generator and sensor element (1-port approach) is introduced. As a novelty, the so far required expensive vector network analyzer (VNA) is replaced by a hand-held device to measure the impedance spectrum of the SAW sensor by RF-gain-phase meters. Hence, some of the best features from the conventional oscillator and VNA approaches are combined to develop a low-cost and self-contained measurement system, including signal in- and output ability for real-time measurements. The pivotal aspect of the portable system is the transfer of the sophisticated high frequency approach into a quasi-static one. This enables the use of simple lumped electronics without the need of impedance matching circuits. Proof-of-concept was carried out by measuring conductivities of phosphate-buffered solutions and viscosities of glycerin. Sensitivities for temperature of 0.3%/°C, viscosity of 10.1% (mPa s)-1 and conductivity of 0.5% (S cm)-1 have been determined, respectively, which are competitive results compared to the benchmark approaches.

Bedside arterial blood gas monitoring system using fluorescent optical sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Bartnik, Daniel J.; Rymut, Russell A.

1995-05-01

We describe a bedside arterial blood gas (ABG) monitoring system which uses fluorescent optical sensors in the measurement of blood pH, PCO2 and PO2. The Point-of-Care Arterial Blood Gas Monitoring System consists of the SensiCathTM optical sensor unit manufactured by Optical Sensors Incorporated and the TramTM Critical Care Monitoring System with ABG Module manufactured by Marquette Electronics Incorporated. Current blood gas measurement techniques require a blood sample to be removed from the patient and transported to an electrochemical analyzer for analysis. The ABG system does not require removal of blood from the patient or transport of the sample. The sensor is added to the patient's existing arterial line. ABG measurements are made by drawing a small blood sample from the arterial line in sufficient quantity to ensure an undiluted sample at the sensor. Measurements of pH, PCO2 and PO2 are made within 60 seconds. The blood is then returned to the patient, the line flushed and results appear on the bedside monitor. The ABG system offers several advantages over traditional electrochemical analyzers. Since the arterial line remains closed during the blood sampling procedure the patient's risk of infection is reduced and the caregiver's exposure to blood is eliminated. The single-use, disposable sensor can be measure 100 blood samples over 72 hours after a single two-point calibration. Quality Assurance checks are also available and provide the caregiver the ability to assess system performance even after the sensor is patient attached. The ABG module integrates with an existing bedside monitoring system. This allows ABG results to appear on the same display as ECG, respiration, blood pressure, cardiac output, SpO2, and other clinical information. The small module takes up little space in the crowded intensive care unit. Performance studies compare the ABG system with an electrochemical blood gas analyzer. Study results demonstrated accurate and precise blood

Smart container UWB sensor system for situational awareness of intrusion alarms

Science.gov (United States)

Romero, Carlos E.; Haugen, Peter C.; Zumstein, James M.; Leach, Jr., Richard R.; Vigars, Mark L.

2013-06-11

An in-container monitoring sensor system is based on an UWB radar intrusion detector positioned in a container and having a range gate set to the farthest wall of the container from the detector. Multipath reflections within the container make every point on or in the container appear to be at the range gate, allowing intrusion detection anywhere in the container. The system also includes other sensors to provide false alarm discrimination, and may include other sensors to monitor other parameters, e.g. radiation. The sensor system also includes a control subsystem for controlling system operation. Communications and information extraction capability may also be included. A method of detecting intrusion into a container uses UWB radar, and may also include false alarm discrimination. A secure container has an UWB based monitoring system

Cardiorespiratory system monitoring using a developed acoustic sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Abbasi-Kesbi, Reza; Valipour, Atefeh; Imani, Khadije

2018-02-01

This Letter proposes a wireless acoustic sensor for monitoring heartbeat and respiration rate based on phonocardiogram (PCG). The developed sensor comprises a processor, a transceiver which operates at industrial, scientific and medical band and the frequency of 2.54 GHz as well as two capacitor microphones which one for recording the heartbeat and another one for respiration rate. To evaluate the precision of the presented sensor in estimating heartbeat and respiration rate, the sensor is tested on the different volunteers and the obtained results are compared with a gold standard as a reference. The results reveal that root-mean-square error are determined sensor estimate sounds of [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text] obtained PCG signal with sensitivity and specificity 98.1% and 98.3% in turn that make 3% improvement than previous works. The results prove that the sensor can be appropriate candidate for recognising abnormal condition in the cardiorespiratory system.

Bioinspired optical sensors for unmanned aerial systems

Science.gov (United States)

Chahl, Javaan; Rosser, Kent; Mizutani, Akiko

2011-04-01

Insects are dependant on the spatial, spectral and temporal distributions of light in the environment for flight control and navigation. This paper reports on flight trials of implementations of insect inspired behaviors on unmanned aerial vehicles. Optical flow methods for maintaining a constant height above ground and a constant course have been demonstrated to provide navigation capabilities that are impossible using conventional avionics sensors. Precision control of height above ground and ground course were achieved over long distances. Other vision based techniques demonstrated include a biomimetic stabilization sensor that uses the ultraviolet and green bands of the spectrum, and a sky polarization compass. Both of these sensors were tested over long trajectories in different directions, in each case showing performance similar to low cost inertial heading and attitude systems. The behaviors demonstrate some of the core functionality found in the lower levels of the sensorimotor system of flying insects and shows promise for more integrated solutions in the future.

Continuous liquid level monitoring sensor system using fiber Bragg grating

Science.gov (United States)

Sengupta, Dipankar; Kishore, Putha

2014-01-01

The design and packaging of simple, small, and low cost sensor heads, used for continuous liquid level measurement using uniformly thinned (etched) optical fiber Bragg grating (FBG) are proposed. The sensor system consists of only an FBG and a simple detection system. The sensitivity of sensor is found to be 23 pm/cm of water column pressure. A linear optical fiber edge filter is designed and developed for the conversion of Bragg wavelength shift to its equivalent intensity. The result shows that relative power measured by a photo detector is linearly proportional to the liquid level. The obtained sensitivity of the sensor is nearly -15 mV/cm.

Real-Time Performance of a Self-Powered Environmental IoT Sensor Network System.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Fan; Rüdiger, Christoph; Yuce, Mehmet Rasit

2017-02-01

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) play an increasingly important role in monitoring applications in many areas. With the emergence of the Internet-of-Things (IoT), many more lowpower sensors will need to be deployed in various environments to collect and monitor data about environmental factors in real time. Providing power supply to these sensor nodes becomes a critical challenge for realizations of IoT applications as sensor nodes are normally battery-powered and have a limited lifetime. This paper proposes a wireless sensor network that is powered by solar energy harvesting. The sensor network monitors the environmental data with low-power sensor electronics and forms a network using multiple XBee wireless modules. A detailed performance analysis of the network system under solar energy harvesting has been presented. The sensor network system and the proposed energy-harvesting techniques are configured to achieve a continuous energy source for the sensor network. The proposed energy-harvesting system has been successfully designed to enable an energy solution in order to keep sensor nodes active and reliable for a whole day. The paper also outlines some of our experiences in real-time implementation of a sensor network system with energy harvesting.

Real-Time Performance of a Self-Powered Environmental IoT Sensor Network System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fan Wu

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Wireless sensor networks (WSNs play an increasingly important role in monitoring applications in many areas. With the emergence of the Internet-of-Things (IoT, many more lowpower sensors will need to be deployed in various environments to collect and monitor data about environmental factors in real time. Providing power supply to these sensor nodes becomes a critical challenge for realizations of IoT applications as sensor nodes are normally battery-powered and have a limited lifetime. This paper proposes a wireless sensor network that is powered by solar energy harvesting. The sensor network monitors the environmental data with low-power sensor electronics and forms a network using multiple XBee wireless modules. A detailed performance analysis of the network system under solar energy harvesting has been presented. The sensor network system and the proposed energy-harvesting techniques are configured to achieve a continuous energy source for the sensor network. The proposed energy-harvesting system has been successfully designed to enable an energy solution in order to keep sensor nodes active and reliable for a whole day. The paper also outlines some of our experiences in real-time implementation of a sensor network system with energy harvesting.

Sensor fusion to enable next generation low cost Night Vision systems

Science.gov (United States)

Schweiger, R.; Franz, S.; Löhlein, O.; Ritter, W.; Källhammer, J.-E.; Franks, J.; Krekels, T.

2010-04-01

The next generation of automotive Night Vision Enhancement systems offers automatic pedestrian recognition with a performance beyond current Night Vision systems at a lower cost. This will allow high market penetration, covering the luxury as well as compact car segments. Improved performance can be achieved by fusing a Far Infrared (FIR) sensor with a Near Infrared (NIR) sensor. However, fusing with today's FIR systems will be too costly to get a high market penetration. The main cost drivers of the FIR system are its resolution and its sensitivity. Sensor cost is largely determined by sensor die size. Fewer and smaller pixels will reduce die size but also resolution and sensitivity. Sensitivity limits are mainly determined by inclement weather performance. Sensitivity requirements should be matched to the possibilities of low cost FIR optics, especially implications of molding of highly complex optical surfaces. As a FIR sensor specified for fusion can have lower resolution as well as lower sensitivity, fusing FIR and NIR can solve performance and cost problems. To allow compensation of FIR-sensor degradation on the pedestrian detection capabilities, a fusion approach called MultiSensorBoosting is presented that produces a classifier holding highly discriminative sub-pixel features from both sensors at once. The algorithm is applied on data with different resolution and on data obtained from cameras with varying optics to incorporate various sensor sensitivities. As it is not feasible to record representative data with all different sensor configurations, transformation routines on existing high resolution data recorded with high sensitivity cameras are investigated in order to determine the effects of lower resolution and lower sensitivity to the overall detection performance. This paper also gives an overview of the first results showing that a reduction of FIR sensor resolution can be compensated using fusion techniques and a reduction of sensitivity can be

A temperature and pressure controlled calibration system for pressure sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Chapman, John J.; Kahng, Seun K.

1989-01-01

A data acquisition and experiment control system capable of simulating temperatures from -184 to +220 C and pressures either absolute or differential from 0 to 344.74 kPa is developed to characterize silicon pressure sensor response to temperature and pressure. System software is described that includes sensor data acquisition, algorithms for numerically derived thermal offset and sensitivity correction, and operation of the environmental chamber and pressure standard. This system is shown to be capable of computer interfaced cryogenic testing to within 1 C and 34.47 Pa of single channel or multiplexed arrays of silicon pressure sensors.

Innovative multi-cantilever array sensor system with MOEMS read-out

Science.gov (United States)

Ivaldi, F.; Bieniek, T.; Janus, P.; Grabiec, P.; Majstrzyk, W.; Kopiec, D.; Gotszalk, T.

2016-11-01

Cantilever based sensor system are a well-established sensor family exploited in several every-day life applications as well as in high-end research areas. The very high sensitivity of such systems and the possibility to design and functionalize the cantilevers to create purpose built and highly selective sensors have increased the interest of the scientific community and the industry in further exploiting this promising sensors type. Optical deflection detection systems for cantilever sensors provide a reliable, flexible method for reading information from cantilevers with the highest sensitivity. However the need of using multi-cantilever arrays in several fields of application such as medicine, biology or safety related areas, make the optical method less suitable due to its structural complexity. Working in the frame of a the Joint Undertaking project Lab4MEMS II our group proposes a novel and innovative approach to solve this issue, by integrating a Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical-System (MOEMS) with dedicated optics, electronics and software with a MOEMS micro-mirror, ultimately developed in the frame of Lab4MEMSII. In this way we are able to present a closely packed, lightweight solution combining the advantages of standard optical read-out systems with the possibility of recording multiple read-outs from large cantilever arrays quasi simultaneously.

An expert system for sensor data validation and malfunction detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hashemi, S.; Hajek, B.K.; Miller, D.W.; Chandrasekaran, B.; Punch, W.F. III.

1987-01-01

During recent years, applications of expert systems in different fields of engineering have been under study throughout the world. At the Ohio State University, the theories developed by the Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence Research (LAIR) have been implemented for nuclear power plants and chemical processing systems. For nuclear power plants, these techniques have been further developed to reach diagnostic conclusions about malfunctions and faulty sensors, as well as to suggest corrective actions about the malfunctions. This paper concentrates on the AI applications to plant diagnosis and faulty sensor identifications. To achieve the above goals without adding extra sensors in a plant, the use of unlike sensor data (such as relationships between pressure and temperature in a Boiling Water Reactor (BWR)) and diagnostic conclusions about malfunctions as backups for suspicious sensors has been made. This extra evidence is readily available throughout the plant and is not generally used to backup suspicious sensor data in any manner

A Smart Sensor Data Transmission Technique for Logistics and Intelligent Transportation Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyunghee Sun

2018-03-01

Full Text Available When it comes to Internet of Things systems that include both a logistics system and an intelligent transportation system, a smart sensor is one of the key elements to collect useful information whenever and wherever necessary. This study proposes the Smart Sensor Node Group Management Medium Access Control Scheme designed to group smart sensor devices and collect data from them efficiently. The proposed scheme performs grouping of portable sensor devices connected to a system depending on the distance from the sink node and transmits data by setting different buffer thresholds to each group. This method reduces energy consumption of sensor devices located near the sink node and enhances the IoT system’s general energy efficiency. When a sensor device is moved and, thus, becomes unable to transmit data, it is allocated to a new group so that it can continue transmitting data to the sink node.

A Wireless Self-Powered Urinary Incontinence Sensor System

Science.gov (United States)

Tanaka, Ami; Utsunomiya, Fumiyasu; Douseki, Takakuni

A self-powered urinary incontinence sensor system consisting of a urine-activated coin battery and a wireless transmitter has been developed as an application for wireless biosensor networks. The urine-activated battery makes possible both the sensing of urine leakage and self-powered operation. An intermittent power-supply circuit that uses an electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC) with a small internal resistance suppresses the supply voltage drop due to the large internal resistance of the battery. This circuit and a 1-V surface acoustic wave (SAW) oscillator reduce the power dissipation of a wireless transmitter. The SAW oscillator quickly responds to the on-off control of the power supply, which is suitable for intermittent operation. To verify the effectiveness of the circuit scheme, the authors fabricated a prototype sensor system. When the volume of urine is 0.2 ml, the battery outputs a voltage of over 1.3 V; and the sensor system can transmit signals over a distance of 5 m.

Development of Remote-Type Haptic Catheter Sensor System using Piezoelectric Transducer

Science.gov (United States)

Haruta, Mineyuki; Murayama, Yoshinobu; Omata, Sadao

This study describes the development of Remote-Type Haptic Catheter Sensor System which enables the mechanical property evaluation of a blood vessel. This system consists of a feedback circuit and a piezoelectric ultrasound transducer, and is operated based on a phase shift method so that the entire system oscillates at its inherent resonance frequency. Ultrasound reflected by the blood vessel makes a phase shift of the resonance system depending on the acoustic impedance of the reflector. The phase shift is then measured as a change in resonance frequency of the system; therefore, the detection resolution is highly improved. The correlation between the acoustic impedance and the resonance frequency change of the sensor system was demonstrated using silicone rubbers, metals and actual blood vessels from a pig. The performance of the sensor was also examined using vessel shaped phantom model. Finally, the discussion surveys a possibility of the novel sensor system in an application for intra vascular diagnosis.

Direct sensor orientation of a land-based mobile mapping system.

Science.gov (United States)

Rau, Jiann-Yeou; Habib, Ayman F; Kersting, Ana P; Chiang, Kai-Wei; Bang, Ki-In; Tseng, Yi-Hsing; Li, Yu-Hua

2011-01-01

A land-based mobile mapping system (MMS) is flexible and useful for the acquisition of road environment geospatial information. It integrates a set of imaging sensors and a position and orientation system (POS). The positioning quality of such systems is highly dependent on the accuracy of the utilized POS. This limitation is the major drawback due to the elevated cost associated with high-end GPS/INS units, particularly the inertial system. The potential accuracy of the direct sensor orientation depends on the architecture and quality of the GPS/INS integration process as well as the validity of the system calibration (i.e., calibration of the individual sensors as well as the system mounting parameters). In this paper, a novel single-step procedure using integrated sensor orientation with relative orientation constraint for the estimation of the mounting parameters is introduced. A comparative analysis between the proposed single-step and the traditional two-step procedure is carried out. Moreover, the estimated mounting parameters using the different methods are used in a direct geo-referencing procedure to evaluate their performance and the feasibility of the implemented system. Experimental results show that the proposed system using single-step system calibration method can achieve high 3D positioning accuracy.

Landslide and Flood Warning System Prototypes based on Wireless Sensor Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Hloupis, George; Stavrakas, Ilias; Triantis, Dimos

2010-05-01

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are one of the emerging areas that received great attention during the last few years. This is mainly due to the fact that WSNs have provided scientists with the capability of developing real-time monitoring systems equipped with sensors based on Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS). WSNs have great potential for many applications in environmental monitoring since the sensor nodes that comprised from can host several MEMS sensors (such as temperature, humidity, inertial, pressure, strain-gauge) and transducers (such as position, velocity, acceleration, vibration). The resulting devices are small and inexpensive but with limited memory and computing resources. Each sensor node contains a sensing module which along with an RF transceiver. The communication is broadcast-based since the network topology can change rapidly due to node failures [1]. Sensor nodes can transmit their measurements to central servers through gateway nodes without any processing or they make preliminary calculations locally in order to produce results that will be sent to central servers [2]. Based on the above characteristics, two prototypes using WSNs are presented in this paper: A Landslide detection system and a Flood warning system. Both systems sent their data to central processing server where the core of processing routines exists. Transmission is made using Zigbee and IEEE 802.11b protocol but is capable to use VSAT communication also. Landslide detection system uses structured network topology. Each measuring node comprises of a columnar module that is half buried to the area under investigation. Each sensing module contains a geophone, an inclinometer and a set of strain gauges. Data transmitted to central processing server where possible landslide evolution is monitored. Flood detection system uses unstructured network topology since the failure rate of sensor nodes is expected higher. Each sensing module contains a custom water level sensor

Miniature fiber Bragg grating sensor interrogator (FBG-Transceiver) system

Science.gov (United States)

Mendoza, Edgar A.; Kempen, Cornelia; Lopatin, Craig

2007-04-01

This paper describes recent progress conducted towards the development of a miniature fiber Bragg grating sensor interrogator (FBG-Transceiver TM) system based on multi-channel integrated optic sensor (InOSense TM) microchip technology. The hybrid InOSense TM microchip technology enables the integration of all of the functionalities, both passive and active, of conventional bench top FBG sensor interrogator systems, packaged in a miniaturized, low power operation, 2-cm x 5-cm package suitable for the long-term structural health monitoring in applications where size, weight, and power are critical for operation. The FBG-Transceiver system uses active optoelectronic components monolithically integrated to the InOSense TM microchip, a microprocessor controlled signal processing electronics board capable of processing the FBG sensors signals related to stress-strain and temperature as well as vibration and acoustics. The FBG-Transceiver TM system represents a new, reliable, highly robust technology that can be used to accurately monitor the status of an array of distributed fiber optic Bragg grating sensors installed in critical infrastructures. Its miniature package, low power operation, and state-of-the-art data communications architecture, all at a very affordable price makes it a very attractive solution for a large number of SHM/NDI applications in aerospace, naval and maritime industry, civil structures like bridges, buildings and dams, the oil and chemical industry, and for homeland security applications. The miniature, cost-efficient FBG-Transceiver TM system is poised to revolutionize the field of structural health monitoring and nondestructive inspection market. The sponsor of this program is NAVAIR under a DOD SBIR contract.

Multiobjective Design of Wearable Sensor Systems for Electrocardiogram Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. J. Martinez-Tabares

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Wearable sensor systems will soon become part of the available medical tools for remote and long term physiological monitoring. However, the set of variables involved in the performance of these systems are usually antagonistic, and therefore the design of usable wearable systems in real clinical applications entails a number of challenges that have to be addressed first. This paper describes a method to optimise the design of these systems for the specific application of cardiac monitoring. The method proposed is based on the selection of a subset of 5 design variables, sensor contact, location, and rotation, signal correlation, and patient comfort, and 2 objective functions, functionality and wearability. These variables are optimised using linear and nonlinear models to maximise those objective functions simultaneously. The methodology described and the results achieved demonstrate that it is possible to find an optimal solution and therefore overcome most of the design barriers that prevent wearable sensor systems from being used in normal clinical practice.

Optical measuring system with an interrogator and a polymer-based single-mode fibre optic sensor system

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2017-01-01

The present invention relates to an optical measuring system comprising a polymer-based single-mode fibre-optic sensor system (102), an optical interrogator (101), and an optical arrangement (103) interconnecting the optical interrogator (101) and the polymer-based single-mode fibre-optic sensor...... system (102). The invention further relates to an optical interrogator adapted to be connected to a polymer-based single-mode fibre-optic sensor system via an optical arrangement. The interrogator comprises a broadband light source arrangement (104) and a spectrum analysing arrangement which receives...

Economic consequences of investing in sensor systems on dairy farms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Steeneveld, W.; Hogeveen, H.; Oude Lansink, A.G.J.M.

2015-01-01

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of investment in sensor systems on productivity change, using farm accounting data. Farm accounting data for the years 2008–2013 was available for 217 Dutch dairy farms. In addition, information was available on the adoption of sensor systems

Ontology-Based Architecture for Intelligent Transportation Systems Using a Traffic Sensor Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Susel Fernandez

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Intelligent transportation systems are a set of technological solutions used to improve the performance and safety of road transportation. A crucial element for the success of these systems is the exchange of information, not only between vehicles, but also among other components in the road infrastructure through different applications. One of the most important information sources in this kind of systems is sensors. Sensors can be within vehicles or as part of the infrastructure, such as bridges, roads or traffic signs. Sensors can provide information related to weather conditions and traffic situation, which is useful to improve the driving process. To facilitate the exchange of information between the different applications that use sensor data, a common framework of knowledge is needed to allow interoperability. In this paper an ontology-driven architecture to improve the driving environment through a traffic sensor network is proposed. The system performs different tasks automatically to increase driver safety and comfort using the information provided by the sensors.

Aerial Measuring System Sensor Modeling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Detwiler, R.S.

2002-01-01

This project deals with the modeling the Aerial Measuring System (AMS) fixed-wing and rotary-wing sensor systems, which are critical U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Consequence Management assets. The fixed-wing system is critical in detecting lost or stolen radiography or medical sources, or mixed fission products as from a commercial power plant release at high flying altitudes. The helicopter is typically used at lower altitudes to determine ground contamination, such as in measuring americium from a plutonium ground dispersal during a cleanup. Since the sensitivity of these instruments as a function of altitude is crucial in estimating detection limits of various ground contaminations and necessary count times, a characterization of their sensitivity as a function of altitude and energy is needed. Experimental data at altitude as well as laboratory benchmarks is important to insure that the strong effects of air attenuation are modeled correctly. The modeling presented here is the first attempt at such a characterization of the equipment for flying altitudes. The sodium iodide (NaI) sensors utilized with these systems were characterized using the Monte Carlo N-Particle code (MCNP) developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory. For the fixed wing system, calculations modeled the spectral response for the 3-element NaI detector pod and High-Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector, in the relevant energy range of 50 keV to 3 MeV. NaI detector responses were simulated for both point and distributed surface sources as a function of gamma energy and flying altitude. For point sources, photopeak efficiencies were calculated for a zero radial distance and an offset equal to the altitude. For distributed sources approximating an infinite plane, gross count efficiencies were calculated and normalized to a uniform surface deposition of 1 microCi/m 2 . The helicopter calculations modeled the transport of americium-241 ( 241 Am) as this is

Sensors and sensor systems for guidance and navigation; Proceedings of the Meeting, Orlando, FL, Apr. 2, 3, 1991

Science.gov (United States)

Wade, Jack; Tuchman, Avi

1991-07-01

The present conference discusses wide field-of-view star-tracker cameras, discrete frequency vs radius reticle trackers, a sensor system for comet approach and landing, a static horizon sensor for a remote-sensing satellite, an improved ring laser gyro navigator, FM reticle trackers in the pupil plane, and the 2D encoding of images via discrete reticles. Also discussed are reduced-cost coil windings for interferometric fiber-optic gyro sensors, the ASTRO 1M space attitude-determination system, passive range-sensor refinement via texture and segmentation, a coherent launch-site atmospheric wind sounder, and a radar-optronic tracking experiment for short and medium range aerial combat. (For individual items see A93-27044 to A93-27046)

Pollution Monitoring System Using Gas Sensor based on Wireless Sensor Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Udin Harun Al Rasyid

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Carbon monoxide (CO and carbon dioxide (CO2 gases are classified as colorless and odorless gas so we need special tools to monitor their concentration in the air. Concentration of air pollution of CO and CO2 that are high in the air will give serious effects for health status. CO is a poisonous gas that damages the circulation of oxygen in the blood when inhaled, while CO2 is one of the gases that causes global warming. In this paper, we developed an integrated pollution monitoring (IPOM system to monitor the concentration of air pollution. This research implemented three sensor nodes (end-device which each node contains CO and CO2 sensors on the gas sensors board to perform sensing from the environment. Furthermore, the data taken from the environment by the sensor will be sent to the meshlium gateway using IEEE 802.15.4 Zigbee communications and processed by the gateway in order to be sent to the computer server. The data is stored in meshlium gateway using MySQL database as a backup, and it will be synchronized to the MySQL database in the computer server. We provide services for public to access the information in database server through a desktop and website application.

Portable DMFC system with methanol sensor-less control

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, C.Y.; Liu, D.H.; Huang, C.L.; Chang, C.L. [Institute of Nuclear Energy Research (INER), No. 1000, Wunhua Rd., Jiaan Village, Longtan Township, Taoyuan County 32546 (China)

2007-05-15

This work develops a prototype 20 W portable DMFC by system integration of stack, condenser, methanol sensor-less control and start-up characteristics. The effects of these key components and control schemes on the performance are also discussed. To expedite the use of portable DMFC in electronic applications, the system utilizes a novel methanol sensor-less control method, providing improved fuel efficiency, durability, miniaturization and cost reduction. The operating characteristics of the DMFC stack are applied to control the fuel ejection time and period, enabling the system to continue operating even when the MEAs of the stack are deteriorated. The portable system is also designed with several features including water balance and quick start-up (in 5 min). Notably, the proposed system using methanol sensor-less control with injection of pure methanol can power the DVD player and notebook PC. The system specific energy and energy density following three days of operation are 362 Wh kg{sup -1} and 335 Wh L{sup -1}, respectively, which are better than those of lithium batteries ({proportional_to}150 Wh kg{sup -1} and {proportional_to}250 Wh L{sup -}). This good energy storage feature demonstrates that the portable DMFC is likely to be valuable in computer, communication and consumer electronic (3C) markets. (author)

Novel Hall sensors developed for magnetic field imaging systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cambel, Vladimir; Karapetrov, Goran; Novosad, Valentyn; Bartolome, Elena; Gregusova, Dagmar; Fedor, Jan; Kudela, Robert; Soltys, Jan

2007-01-01

We report here on the fabrication and application of novel planar Hall sensors based on shallow InGaP/AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure with a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) as an active layer. The sensors are developed for two kinds of experiments. In the first one, magnetic samples are placed directly on the Hall sensor. Room temperature experiments of permalloy objects evaporated onto the sensor are presented. In the second experiment, the sensor scans close over a multigranular superconducting sample prepared on a YBCO thin film. Large-area and high-resolution scanning experiments were performed at 4.2 K with the Hall probe scanning system in a liquid helium flow cryostat

Geographically distributed environmental sensor system

Science.gov (United States)

French, Patrick; Veatch, Brad; O'Connor, Mike

2006-10-03

The present invention is directed to a sensor network that includes a number of sensor units and a base unit. The base station operates in a network discovery mode (in which network topology information is collected) in a data polling mode (in which sensed information is collected from selected sensory units). Each of the sensor units can include a number of features, including an anemometer, a rain gauge, a compass, a GPS receiver, a barometric pressure sensor, an air temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a level, and a radiant temperature sensor.

Guaranteed Cost Fault-Tolerant Control for Networked Control Systems with Sensor Faults

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qixin Zhu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available For the large scale and complicated structure of networked control systems, time-varying sensor faults could inevitably occur when the system works in a poor environment. Guaranteed cost fault-tolerant controller for the new networked control systems with time-varying sensor faults is designed in this paper. Based on time delay of the network transmission environment, the networked control systems with sensor faults are modeled as a discrete-time system with uncertain parameters. And the model of networked control systems is related to the boundary values of the sensor faults. Moreover, using Lyapunov stability theory and linear matrix inequalities (LMI approach, the guaranteed cost fault-tolerant controller is verified to render such networked control systems asymptotically stable. Finally, simulations are included to demonstrate the theoretical results.

Automated wireless monitoring system for cable tension using smart sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Sim, Sung-Han; Li, Jian; Jo, Hongki; Park, Jongwoong; Cho, Soojin; Spencer, Billie F.; Yun, Chung-Bang

2013-04-01

Cables are critical load carrying members of cable-stayed bridges; monitoring tension forces of the cables provides valuable information for SHM of the cable-stayed bridges. Monitoring systems for the cable tension can be efficiently realized using wireless smart sensors in conjunction with vibration-based cable tension estimation approaches. This study develops an automated cable tension monitoring system using MEMSIC's Imote2 smart sensors. An embedded data processing strategy is implemented on the Imote2-based wireless sensor network to calculate cable tensions using a vibration-based method, significantly reducing the wireless data transmission and associated power consumption. The autonomous operation of the monitoring system is achieved by AutoMonitor, a high-level coordinator application provided by the Illinois SHM Project Services Toolsuite. The monitoring system also features power harvesting enabled by solar panels attached to each sensor node and AutoMonitor for charging control. The proposed wireless system has been deployed on the Jindo Bridge, a cable-stayed bridge located in South Korea. Tension forces are autonomously monitored for 12 cables in the east, land side of the bridge, proving the validity and potential of the presented tension monitoring system for real-world applications.

Electro-optic architecture for servicing sensors and actuators in advanced aircraft propulsion systems

Science.gov (United States)

Poppel, G. L.; Glasheen, W. M.

1989-01-01

A detailed design of a fiber optic propulsion control system, integrating favored sensors and electro-optics architecture is presented. Layouts, schematics, and sensor lists describe an advanced fighter engine system model. Components and attributes of candidate fiber optic sensors are identified, and evaluation criteria are used in a trade study resulting in favored sensors for each measurand. System architectural ground rules were applied to accomplish an electro-optics architecture for the favored sensors. A key result was a considerable reduction in signal conductors. Drawings, schematics, specifications, and printed circuit board layouts describe the detailed system design, including application of a planar optical waveguide interface.

Multi-Sensor Calibration of Low-Cost Magnetic, Angular Rate and Gravity Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Markus Lüken

2015-10-01

Full Text Available We present a new calibration procedure for low-cost nine degrees-of-freedom (9DOF magnetic, angular rate and gravity (MARG sensor systems, which relies on a calibration cube, a reference table and a body sensor network (BSN. The 9DOF MARG sensor is part of our recently-developed “Integrated Posture and Activity Network by Medit Aachen” (IPANEMA BSN. The advantage of this new approach is the use of the calibration cube, which allows for easy integration of two sensor nodes of the IPANEMA BSN. One 9DOF MARG sensor node is thereby used for calibration; the second 9DOF MARG sensor node is used for reference measurements. A novel algorithm uses these measurements to further improve the performance of the calibration procedure by processing arbitrarily-executed motions. In addition, the calibration routine can be used in an alignment procedure to minimize errors in the orientation between the 9DOF MARG sensor system and a motion capture inertial reference system. A two-stage experimental study is conducted to underline the performance of our calibration procedure. In both stages of the proposed calibration procedure, the BSN data, as well as reference tracking data are recorded. In the first stage, the mean values of all sensor outputs are determined as the absolute measurement offset to minimize integration errors in the derived movement model of the corresponding body segment. The second stage deals with the dynamic characteristics of the measurement system where the dynamic deviation of the sensor output compared to a reference system is Sensors 2015, 15 25920 corrected. In practical validation experiments, this procedure showed promising results with a maximum RMS error of 3.89°.

Multi-sensor calibration of low-cost magnetic, angular rate and gravity systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Lüken, Markus; Misgeld, Berno J E; Rüschen, Daniel; Leonhardt, Steffen

2015-10-13

We present a new calibration procedure for low-cost nine degrees-of-freedom (9DOF) magnetic, angular rate and gravity (MARG) sensor systems, which relies on a calibration cube, a reference table and a body sensor network (BSN). The 9DOF MARG sensor is part of our recently-developed "Integrated Posture and Activity Network by Medit Aachen" (IPANEMA) BSN. The advantage of this new approach is the use of the calibration cube, which allows for easy integration of two sensor nodes of the IPANEMA BSN. One 9DOF MARG sensor node is thereby used for calibration; the second 9DOF MARG sensor node is used for reference measurements. A novel algorithm uses these measurements to further improve the performance of the calibration procedure by processing arbitrarily-executed motions. In addition, the calibration routine can be used in an alignment procedure to minimize errors in the orientation between the 9DOF MARG sensor system and a motion capture inertial reference system. A two-stage experimental study is conducted to underline the performance of our calibration procedure. In both stages of the proposed calibration procedure, the BSN data, as well as reference tracking data are recorded. In the first stage, the mean values of all sensor outputs are determined as the absolute measurement offset to minimize integration errors in the derived movement model of the corresponding body segment. The second stage deals with the dynamic characteristics of the measurement system where the dynamic deviation of the sensor output compared to a reference system is Sensors 2015, 15 25920 corrected. In practical validation experiments, this procedure showed promising results with a maximum RMS error of 3.89°.

REAL-TIME MONITORING SYSTEM USING UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE INTEGRATED WITH SENSOR OBSERVATION SERVICE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Witayangkurn

2012-09-01

Full Text Available The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV is an emerging technology being adapted for a wide range of applications. Real-time monitoring is essential to enhance the effectiveness of UAV applications. Sensor networks are networks constructed from various sensor nodes. International standard such as OGC's SOS (Sensor Observation Service makes it possible to share sensor data with other systems as well as to provide accessibility to globally distributed users. In this paper, we propose a system combining UAV technology and sensor network technology to use an UAV as a mobile node of sensor network so that the sensor data from UAV is published and shared real-time. A UAV can extend the observation range of a sensor network to remote areas where it is usually difficult to access such as disaster area. We constructed a UAV system using remote-controlled helicopter and various sensors such as GPS, gyrocompass, laser range finder, Digital camera and Thermometer. Furthermore, we extended the Sensor Observation Service (SOS and Sensor Service Grid (SSG to support mobile sensor nodes. Then, we conducted experiments of flying the helicopter over an area of the interest. During the flight, the system measured environmental data using its sensors and captured images of the ground. The data was sent to a SOS node as the ground station via Wi-Fi which was published using SSG to give real- time access to globally distributed users.

Sensor failure detection in dynamical systems by Kalman filtering methodology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ciftcioglu, O.

1991-03-01

Design of a sensor failure detection system by Kalman filtering methodology is described. The method models the process systems in state-space form, the information on each state being provided by relevant sensors present in the process system. Since the measured states are usually subject to noise, the estimation of the states optimally is an essential requirement. To this end the detection system comprises Kalman estimation filters, the number of which is equal to the number of states concerned. The estimated state of a particular signal in each filter is compared with the corresponding measured signal and difference beyond a predetermined bound is identified as failure, the sensor being identified/isolated as faulty. (author). 19 refs.; 8 figs.; 1 tab

Design and Evaluation of a Wireless Sensor Network Based Aircraft Strength Testing System

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Jian; Yuan, Shenfang; Zhou, Genyuan; Ji, Sai; Wang, Zilong; Wang, Yang

2009-01-01

The verification of aerospace structures, including full-scale fatigue and static test programs, is essential for structure strength design and evaluation. However, the current overall ground strength testing systems employ a large number of wires for communication among sensors and data acquisition facilities. The centralized data processing makes test programs lack efficiency and intelligence. Wireless sensor network (WSN) technology might be expected to address the limitations of cable-based aeronautical ground testing systems. This paper presents a wireless sensor network based aircraft strength testing (AST) system design and its evaluation on a real aircraft specimen. In this paper, a miniature, high-precision, and shock-proof wireless sensor node is designed for multi-channel strain gauge signal conditioning and monitoring. A cluster-star network topology protocol and application layer interface are designed in detail. To verify the functionality of the designed wireless sensor network for strength testing capability, a multi-point WSN based AST system is developed for static testing of a real aircraft undercarriage. Based on the designed wireless sensor nodes, the wireless sensor network is deployed to gather, process, and transmit strain gauge signals and monitor results under different static test loads. This paper shows the efficiency of the wireless sensor network based AST system, compared to a conventional AST system. PMID:22408521

Design and evaluation of a wireless sensor network based aircraft strength testing system.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Jian; Yuan, Shenfang; Zhou, Genyuan; Ji, Sai; Wang, Zilong; Wang, Yang

2009-01-01

The verification of aerospace structures, including full-scale fatigue and static test programs, is essential for structure strength design and evaluation. However, the current overall ground strength testing systems employ a large number of wires for communication among sensors and data acquisition facilities. The centralized data processing makes test programs lack efficiency and intelligence. Wireless sensor network (WSN) technology might be expected to address the limitations of cable-based aeronautical ground testing systems. This paper presents a wireless sensor network based aircraft strength testing (AST) system design and its evaluation on a real aircraft specimen. In this paper, a miniature, high-precision, and shock-proof wireless sensor node is designed for multi-channel strain gauge signal conditioning and monitoring. A cluster-star network topology protocol and application layer interface are designed in detail. To verify the functionality of the designed wireless sensor network for strength testing capability, a multi-point WSN based AST system is developed for static testing of a real aircraft undercarriage. Based on the designed wireless sensor nodes, the wireless sensor network is deployed to gather, process, and transmit strain gauge signals and monitor results under different static test loads. This paper shows the efficiency of the wireless sensor network based AST system, compared to a conventional AST system.

Passive wireless sensor systems can recognize activites of daily living.

Science.gov (United States)

Urwyler, Prabitha; Stucki, Reto; Muri, Rene; Mosimann, Urs P; Nef, Tobias

2015-08-01

The ability to determine what activity of daily living a person performs is of interest in many application domains. It is possible to determine the physical and cognitive capabilities of the elderly by inferring what activities they perform in their houses. Our primary aim was to establish a proof of concept that a wireless sensor system can monitor and record physical activity and these data can be modeled to predict activities of daily living. The secondary aim was to determine the optimal placement of the sensor boxes for detecting activities in a room. A wireless sensor system was set up in a laboratory kitchen. The ten healthy participants were requested to make tea following a defined sequence of tasks. Data were collected from the eight wireless sensor boxes placed in specific places in the test kitchen and analyzed to detect the sequences of tasks performed by the participants. These sequence of tasks were trained and tested using the Markov Model. Data analysis focused on the reliability of the system and the integrity of the collected data. The sequence of tasks were successfully recognized for all subjects and the averaged data pattern of tasks sequences between the subjects had a high correlation. Analysis of the data collected indicates that sensors placed in different locations are capable of recognizing activities, with the movement detection sensor contributing the most to detection of tasks. The central top of the room with no obstruction of view was considered to be the best location to record data for activity detection. Wireless sensor systems show much promise as easily deployable to monitor and recognize activities of daily living.

Security Techniques for Sensor Systems and the Internet of Things

Science.gov (United States)

Midi, Daniele

2016-01-01

Sensor systems are becoming pervasive in many domains, and are recently being generalized by the Internet of Things (IoT). This wide deployment, however, presents significant security issues. We develop security techniques for sensor systems and IoT, addressing all security management phases. Prior to deployment, the nodes need to be hardened. We…

Aerial measuring system sensor modeling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Detwiler, Rebecca

2002-01-01

The AMS fixed-wing and rotary-wing systems are critical National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Emergency Response assets. This project is principally focused on the characterization of the sensors utilized with these systems via radiation transport calculations. The Monte Carlo N-Particle code (MCNP) which has been developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory was used to model the detector response of the AMS fixed wing and helicopter systems. To validate the calculations, benchmark measurements were made for simple source-detector configurations. The fixed-wing system is an important tool in response to incidents involving the release of mixed fission products (a commercial power reactor release), the threat or actual explosion of a Radiological Dispersal Device, and the loss or theft of a large industrial source (a radiography source). Calculations modeled the spectral response for the sensors contained, a 3-element NaI detector pod and HpGe detector, in the relevant energy range of 50 keV to 3 MeV. NaI detector responses were simulated for both point and distributed surface sources as a function of gamma energy and flying altitude. For point sources, photo-peak efficiencies were calculated for a zero radial distance and an offset equal to the altitude. For distributed sources approximating infinite plane, gross count efficiencies were calculated and normalized to a uniform surface deposition of 1 C i/m2

A bio-inspired apposition compound eye machine vision sensor system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davis, J D; Barrett, S F; Wright, C H G; Wilcox, M

2009-01-01

The Wyoming Information, Signal Processing, and Robotics Laboratory is developing a wide variety of bio-inspired vision sensors. We are interested in exploring the vision system of various insects and adapting some of their features toward the development of specialized vision sensors. We do not attempt to supplant traditional digital imaging techniques but rather develop sensor systems tailor made for the application at hand. We envision that many applications may require a hybrid approach using conventional digital imaging techniques enhanced with bio-inspired analogue sensors. In this specific project, we investigated the apposition compound eye and its characteristics commonly found in diurnal insects and certain species of arthropods. We developed and characterized an array of apposition compound eye-type sensors and tested them on an autonomous robotic vehicle. The robot exhibits the ability to follow a pre-defined target and avoid specified obstacles using a simple control algorithm.

Optimal Sensor Networks Scheduling in Identification of Distributed Parameter Systems

CERN Document Server

Patan, Maciej

2012-01-01

Sensor networks have recently come into prominence because they hold the potential to revolutionize a wide spectrum of both civilian and military applications. An ingenious characteristic of sensor networks is the distributed nature of data acquisition. Therefore they seem to be ideally prepared for the task of monitoring processes with spatio-temporal dynamics which constitute one of most general and important classes of systems in modelling of the real-world phenomena. It is clear that careful deployment and activation of sensor nodes are critical for collecting the most valuable information from the observed environment. Optimal Sensor Network Scheduling in Identification of Distributed Parameter Systems discusses the characteristic features of the sensor scheduling problem, analyzes classical and recent approaches, and proposes a wide range of original solutions, especially dedicated for networks with mobile and scanning nodes. Both researchers and practitioners will find the case studies, the proposed al...

Structural health monitoring system for bridges based on skin-like sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Loupos, Konstantinos; Damigos, Yannis; Amditis, Angelos; Gerhard, Reimund; Rychkov, Dmitry; Wirges, Werner; Schulze, Manuel; Lenas, Sotiris-Angelos; Chatziandreoglou, Christos; Malliou, Christina M.; Tsaoussidis, Vassilis; Brady, Ken; Frankenstein, Bernd

2017-09-01

Structural health monitoring activities are of primal importance for managing transport infrastructure, however most SHM methodologies are based on point-based sensors that have limitations in terms of their spatial positioning requirements, cost of development and measurement range. This paper describes the progress on the SENSKIN EC project whose objective is to develop a dielectric-elastomer and micro-electronics-based sensor, formed from a large highly extensible capacitance sensing membrane supported by advanced microelectronic circuitry, for monitoring transport infrastructure bridges. Such a sensor could provide spatial measurements of strain in excess of 10%. The actual sensor along with the data acquisition module, the communication module and power electronics are all integrated into a compact unit, the SENSKIN device, which is energy-efficient, requires simple signal processing and it is easy to install over various surface types. In terms of communication, SENSKIN devices interact with each other to form the SENSKIN system; a fully distributed and autonomous wireless sensor network that is able to self-monitor. SENSKIN system utilizes Delay-/Disruption-Tolerant Networking technologies to ensure that the strain measurements will be received by the base station even under extreme conditions where normal communications are disrupted. This paper describes the architecture of the SENSKIN system and the development and testing of the first SENSKIN prototype sensor, the data acquisition system, and the communication system.

Smart Sensors' Role in Integrated System Health Management

Science.gov (United States)

Perotti, Jose M.; Mata, Carlos

2005-01-01

During the last decade, there has been a major effort in the aerospace industry to reduce the cost per pond of payload and become competitive in the international market. Competition from Europe, Japan, and China has reduced this cost to almost a third from 1990 to 2000. This cost has leveled in recent years to an average price of around $12,000/pound of payload. One of NASA's goals is to promote the development of technologies to reduce this cost by a factor of 10 or more Exploration of space, specially manned exploration missions, involves very complex launch and flight vehicles, associated ground support systems, and extensive human support during all phases of the mission. When considering the Space Shuttle Program, we can see that vehicle and ground support systems' processing, operation, and maintenance represent a large percentage of the program cost and time. Reducing operating, processing and maintenance costs will greatly reduce the cost of Exploration programs. The Integrated System Health Management (ISHM) concept is one of the technologies that will help reduce these operating, processing and maintenance costs. ISHM is an integrated health monitoring system applicable to both flight and ground systems. It automatically and autonomously acquires information from sensors and actuators and processes that information using the ISHM-embedded knowledge. As a result, it establishes the health of the system based on the acquired information and its prior knowledge. When this concept is fully implemented, ISHM systems shall be able to perform failure prediction and remediation before actual hard failures occurs, preventing its costly consequences. Data sources, sensors, and their associated data acquisition systems, constitute the foundation of the system. A smart sensing architecture is required to support the acquisition of reliable, high quality data, required by the ISHM. A thorough definition of the smart sensor architectures, their embedded diagnostic

WIRELESS SENSOR SYSTEM FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF SMART SPACES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gerardo Cázarez-Ayala

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the design, implementation and application of a smart sensor system based in wireless communication protocol, which was developed with the main objective of facilitate the implementation of smart places, whereby monitoring and supervision of environmental physical variables in a residence or commercial buildings. Based in this system, we want to co-help taking advantage and save electric energy, optimizing the use of the lighting systems and air conditioner only in the schedules and under pre-established conditions for the final user. The system is based in a variety of nodes o modules of sensors like temperature, humidity, light, carbon monoxide, noise and LP gas which have the ability to work collaboratively in networks with topologies like star, tree and mesh.

Secure Data Exchange in Environmental Health Monitoring System through Wireless Sensor Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amang Sudarsono

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Recently, disseminating latest sensory information regarding the status of environmental health in the surroundings of human life is one of very important circumstances which must be known by everyone. These circumstances should be accessible at anytime and anywhere by everyone through any type of end-user devices, both fixed and mobile devices, i.e., Desktop PCs, Laptop PCs, and Smartphones. Wireless Sensor Network (WSN is one of the networks which deals with data sensors distribution from sensor nodes to the gateway node toward a Data Center Server. However, there is a big possibility for many adversaries to intercept and even manipulate data sensors crossing the network. Hence, a secure data sensor exchange in the system would be strongly desirable. In this research, we propose an environmental health conditions monitoring system through WSN and its implementation with considering secure data sensor exchange within the network and secure data sensor access. This work may contribute to support a part of smart cities and take in part the Internet of Thing (IoT technology. In our proposed system, we collect some environmental health information such as temperature, humidity, luminosity, noise, carbon monoxide (CO and carbon dioxide (CO2 from sensor nodes. We keep the confidentiality and integrity of transmitted data sensors propagating through IEEE802.15.4-based communication toward a gateway node. Further, the collected data sensors in the gateway are synchronized to the Data Center Server through a secure TCP/IP connection for permanently storing. At anytime and anywhere, only legitimated users who successfully pass-through an attribute-based authentication system are able to access the data sensors.

SENSOR++: Simulation of Remote Sensing Systems from Visible to Thermal Infrared

Science.gov (United States)

Paproth, C.; Schlüßler, E.; Scherbaum, P.; Börner, A.

2012-07-01

During the development process of a remote sensing system, the optimization and the verification of the sensor system are important tasks. To support these tasks, the simulation of the sensor and its output is valuable. This enables the developers to test algorithms, estimate errors, and evaluate the capabilities of the whole sensor system before the final remote sensing system is available and produces real data. The presented simulation concept, SENSOR++, consists of three parts. The first part is the geometric simulation which calculates where the sensor looks at by using a ray tracing algorithm. This also determines whether the observed part of the scene is shadowed or not. The second part describes the radiometry and results in the spectral at-sensor radiance from the visible spectrum to the thermal infrared according to the simulated sensor type. In the case of earth remote sensing, it also includes a model of the radiative transfer through the atmosphere. The final part uses the at-sensor radiance to generate digital images by using an optical and an electronic sensor model. Using SENSOR++ for an optimization requires the additional application of task-specific data processing algorithms. The principle of the simulation approach is explained, all relevant concepts of SENSOR++ are discussed, and first examples of its use are given, for example a camera simulation for a moon lander. Finally, the verification of SENSOR++ is demonstrated.

Remote Laser Evaporative Molecular Absorption Spectroscopy Sensor System

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — We propose a sensor system capable of remotely probing the molecular composition of cold solar system targets (asteroids, comets, planets, moons), such as from a...

Development of a wireless MEMS multifunction sensor system and field demonstration of embedded sensors for monitoring concrete pavements, volume II

Science.gov (United States)

2016-08-01

This two-pronged study evaluated the performance of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) micro-electromechanical sensors and systems (MEMS) embedded in concrete pavement (Final Report Volume I) and developed a wireless MEMS multifunctional sensor system f...

Structural health monitoring system of soccer arena based on optical sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Shishkin, Victor V.; Churin, Alexey E.; Kharenko, Denis S.; Zheleznova, Maria A.; Shelemba, Ivan S.

2014-05-01

A structural health monitoring system based on optical sensors has been developed and installed on the indoor soccer arena "Zarya" in Novosibirsk. The system integrates 119 fiber optic sensors: 85 strain, 32 temperature and 2 displacement sensors. In addition, total station is used for measuring displacement in 45 control points. All of the constituents of the supporting structure are subjects for monitoring: long-span frames with under floor ties, connections, purlins and foundation.

A Multiple Sensor Machine Vision System for Automatic Hardwood Feature Detection

Science.gov (United States)

D. Earl Kline; Richard W. Conners; Daniel L. Schmoldt; Philip A. Araman; Robert L. Brisbin

1993-01-01

A multiple sensor machine vision prototype is being developed to scan full size hardwood lumber at industrial speeds for automatically detecting features such as knots holes, wane, stain, splits, checks, and color. The prototype integrates a multiple sensor imaging system, a materials handling system, a computer system, and application software. The prototype provides...

Progress of optical sensor system for health monitoring of bridges at Chongqing University

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, W.; Fu, Y.; Zhu, Y.; Huang, S.

2005-02-01

With decades of research experience on optical sensors, Optoelectronic Technology Lab of Chongqing University (OTLCU) has studied on a variety of sensors system designed for practical use in health monitoring. In OTLCU, embedded and surface mounted fiber Fabry-Perot strain sensor has been developed for monitoring the local strain of both concrete and steel truss bridge. Optoelectronic deflect meter, with a group of optical level sensor in a series connected pipe, was developed for deflection monitoring and line shape monitoring of the bridges. Laser deflect meter, with a laser pointer and a sensors array, has been also developed for a dynamic deflection monitoring of the bridges. To monitoring the 2-Dimentional displacement of the bridge, a self-calibrating imaging system was developed. All these sensor systems have been applied in different bridges successfully. This paper briefly describes principle of these optical sensing systems, and also gives some representative results of the system in practical application of bridges.

Towards an operational sensor-fusion system for anti-personnel landmine detection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cremer, F.; Schutte, K.; Schavemaker, J.G.M.; Breejen, E. den

2000-01-01

To acquire detection performance required for an operational system for the detection of anti-personnel landmines, it is necessary to use multiple sensors and sensor-fusion techniques. This paper describes five decision-level sensor-fusion techniques and their common optimisation method. The

A low-cost, portable, high-throughput wireless sensor system for phonocardiography applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Sa-Ngasoongsong, Akkarapol; Kunthong, Jakkrit; Sarangan, Venkatesh; Cai, Xinwei; Bukkapatnam, Satish T S

2012-01-01

This paper presents the design and testing of a wireless sensor system developed using a Microchip PICDEM developer kit to acquire and monitor human heart sounds for phonocardiography applications. This system can serve as a cost-effective option to the recent developments in wireless phonocardiography sensors that have primarily focused on Bluetooth technology. This wireless sensor system has been designed and developed in-house using off-the-shelf components and open source software for remote and mobile applications. The small form factor (3.75 cm × 5 cm × 1 cm), high throughput (6,000 Hz data streaming rate), and low cost ($13 per unit for a 1,000 unit batch) of this wireless sensor system make it particularly attractive for phonocardiography and other sensing applications. The experimental results of sensor signal analysis using several signal characterization techniques suggest that this wireless sensor system can capture both fundamental heart sounds (S1 and S2), and is also capable of capturing abnormal heart sounds (S3 and S4) and heart murmurs without aliasing. The results of a denoising application using Wavelet Transform show that the undesirable noises of sensor signals in the surrounding environment can be reduced dramatically. The exercising experiment results also show that this proposed wireless PCG system can capture heart sounds over different heart conditions simulated by varying heart rates of six subjects over a range of 60-180 Hz through exercise testing.

A Low-Cost, Portable, High-Throughput Wireless Sensor System for Phonocardiography Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Akkarapol Sa-ngasoongsong

2012-08-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the design and testing of a wireless sensor system developed using a Microchip PICDEM developer kit to acquire and monitor human heart sounds for phonocardiography applications. This system can serve as a cost-effective option to the recent developments in wireless phonocardiography sensors that have primarily focused on Bluetooth technology. This wireless sensor system has been designed and developed in-house using off-the-shelf components and open source software for remote and mobile applications. The small form factor (3.75 cm ´ 5 cm ´ 1 cm, high throughput (6,000 Hz data streaming rate, and low cost ($13 per unit for a 1,000 unit batch of this wireless sensor system make it particularly attractive for phonocardiography and other sensing applications. The experimental results of sensor signal analysis using several signal characterization techniques suggest that this wireless sensor system can capture both fundamental heart sounds (S1 and S2, and is also capable of capturing abnormal heart sounds (S3 and S4 and heart murmurs without aliasing. The results of a denoising application using Wavelet Transform show that the undesirable noises of sensor signals in the surrounding environment can be reduced dramatically. The exercising experiment results also show that this proposed wireless PCG system can capture heart sounds over different heart conditions simulated by varying heart rates of six subjects over a range of 60–180 Hz through exercise testing.

AN/FSY-3 Space Fence System – Sensor Site One/Operations Center Integration Status and Sensor Site Two Planned Capability

Science.gov (United States)

Fonder, G. P.; Hack, P. J.; Hughes, M. R.

This paper covers two topics related to Space Fence System development: Sensor Site One / Operations Center construction and integration status including risk reduction integration and test efforts at the Moorestown, NJ Integrated Test Bed (ITB); and the planned capability of Sensor Site Two. The AN/FSY-3 Space Fence System is a ground-based system of S-band radars integrated with an Operations Center designed to greatly enhance the Air Force Space Surveillance network. The radar architecture is based on Digital Beam-forming. This capability permits tremendous user-defined flexibility to customize volume surveillance and track sectors instantaneously without impacting routine surveillance functions. Space Fence provides unprecedented sensitivity, coverage and tracking accuracy, and contributes to key mission threads with the ability to detect, track and catalog small objects in LEO, MEO and GEO. The system is net-centric and will seamlessly integrate into the existing Space Surveillance Network, providing services to external users—such as JSpOC—and coordinating handoffs to other SSN sites. Sensor Site One construction on the Kwajalein Atoll is in progress and nearing completion. The Operations Center in Huntsville, Alabama has been configured and will be integrated with Sensor Site One in the coming months. System hardware, firmware, and software is undergoing integration testing at the Mooretown, NJ ITB and will be deployed at Sensor Site One and the Operations Center. The preliminary design for Sensor Site Two is complete and will provide critical coverage, timeliness, and operational flexibility to the overall system.

Distributed sensor and actuator reconfiguration for fault-tolerant networked control systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Herdeiro Teixeira, A.M.; Araujo, Jose; Sandberg, Henrik; Johansson, Karl H.

2017-01-01

In this paper, we address the problem of distributed reconfiguration of networked control systems upon the removal of misbehaving sensors and actuators. In particular, we consider systems with redundant sensors and actuators cooperating to recover from faults. Reconfiguration is performed while

Sensor Systems for Corrosion Monitoring in Concrete Structures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K.Kumar

2006-05-01

Full Text Available It is a need of permanently embedded corrosion monitoring devices to monitor the progress of corrosion problems on a new or existing reinforced concrete structures before embarking on repair or rehabilitation of the structures. Numerous devices are available for investigating corrosion problems, because no single technique exists which tells an engineer what he needs to know, namely how much damage there is on a structure now and how rapidly the damage will grow with time. In this investigation the studies on the sensors systems based on the measurements of half cell potential of rebars inside the concrete, resistivity of concrete, corrosion rate of rebars by eddy current measurements and sensing of chloride ions are reported. An integrated system consists of above sensors are fabricated and embedded into concrete. The response from each sensor was acquired and analyzed by NI hardware through LabVIEW software.

Development of sensor system built into a robot hand toward environmental monitoring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaneko, Kenji; Ueshiba, Toshio; Yoshimi, Takashi; Kawai, Yoshihiro; Morisawa, Mitsuharu; Kanehiro, Fumio; Yokoi, Kazuhito

2015-01-01

The development of sensor system that is built into a hand of a humanoid robot toward environmental monitoring is presented in this paper. The developed system consists of a color C-MOS camera, a laser projector with a lens distributing a laser light, and a LED projector. The sensor system can activate/disable these components according to the purpose. This paper introduces the design process, pre-experimental results for evaluating components, and the specifications of the developed sensor system together with experimental results. (author)

Structural integrated sensor and actuator systems for active flow control

Science.gov (United States)

Behr, Christian; Schwerter, Martin; Leester-Schädel, Monika; Wierach, Peter; Dietzel, Andreas; Sinapius, Michael

2016-04-01

An adaptive flow separation control system is designed and implemented as an essential part of a novel high-lift device for future aircraft. The system consists of MEMS pressure sensors to determine the flow conditions and adaptive lips to regulate the mass flow and the velocity of a wall near stream over the internally blown Coanda flap. By the oscillating lip the mass flow in the blowing slot changes dynamically, consequently the momentum exchange of the boundary layer over a high lift flap required mass flow can be reduced. These new compact and highly integrated systems provide a real-time monitoring and manipulation of the flow conditions. In this context the integration of pressure sensors into flow sensing airfoils of composite material is investigated. Mechanical and electrical properties of the integrated sensors are investigated under mechanical loads during tensile tests. The sensors contain a reference pressure chamber isolated to the ambient by a deformable membrane with integrated piezoresistors connected as a Wheatstone bridge, which outputs voltage signals depending on the ambient pressure. The composite material in which the sensors are embedded consists of 22 individual layers of unidirectional glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) prepreg. The results of the experiments are used for adapting the design of the sensors and the layout of the laminate to ensure an optimized flux of force in highly loaded structures primarily for future aeronautical applications. It can be shown that the pressure sensor withstands the embedding process into fiber composites with full functional capability and predictable behavior under stress.

A wireless sensor network-based portable vehicle detector evaluation system.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoo, Seong-eun

2013-01-17

In an upcoming smart transportation environment, performance evaluations of existing Vehicle Detection Systems are crucial to maintain their accuracy. The existing evaluation method for Vehicle Detection Systems is based on a wired Vehicle Detection System reference and a video recorder, which must be operated and analyzed by capable traffic experts. However, this conventional evaluation system has many disadvantages. It is inconvenient to deploy, the evaluation takes a long time, and it lacks scalability and objectivity. To improve the evaluation procedure, this paper proposes a Portable Vehicle Detector Evaluation System based on wireless sensor networks. We describe both the architecture and design of a Vehicle Detector Evaluation System and the implementation results, focusing on the wireless sensor networks and methods for traffic information measurement. With the help of wireless sensor networks and automated analysis, our Vehicle Detector Evaluation System can evaluate a Vehicle Detection System conveniently and objectively. The extensive evaluations of our Vehicle Detector Evaluation System show that it can measure the traffic information such as volume counts and speed with over 98% accuracy.

Analysis of the SNR and sensing ability of different sensor types in a LIDAR system

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Gyudong; Han, Munhyun; Seo, Hongseok; Mheen, Bongki

2017-10-01

LIDAR (light distance and ranging) systems use sensors to detect reflected signals. The performance of the sensors significantly affects the specification of the LIDAR system. Especially, the number and size of the sensors determine the FOV (field of view) and resolution of the system, regardless of which sensors are used. The resolution of an array-type sensor normally depends on the number of pixels in the array. In this type of sensor, there are several limitations to increase the number of pixels in an array for higher resolution, specifically complexity, cost, and size limitations. Another type of sensors uses multiple pairs of transmitter and receiver channels. Each channel detects different points with the corresponding directions indicated by the laser points of each channel. In this case, in order to increase the resolution, it is required to increase the number of channels, resulting in bigger sensor head size and deteriorated reliability due to heavy rotating head module containing all the pairs. In this paper, we present a method to overcome these limitations and improve the performance of the LIDAR system. ETRI developed a type of scanning LIDAR system called a STUD (static unitary detector) LIDAR system. It was developed to solve the problems associated with the aforementioned sensors. The STUD LIDAR system can use a variety of sensors without any limitations on the size or number of sensors, unlike other LIDAR systems. Since it provides optimal performance in terms of range and resolution, the detailed analysis was conducted in the STUD LIDAR system by applying different sensor type to have improved sensing performance.

Application of wireless sensor network technology in logistics information system

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Tao; Gong, Lina; Zhang, Wei; Li, Xuhong; Wang, Xia; Pan, Wenwen

2017-04-01

This paper introduces the basic concepts of active RFID (WSN-ARFID) based on wireless sensor networks and analyzes the shortcomings of the existing RFID-based logistics monitoring system. Integrated wireless sensor network technology and the scrambling point of RFID technology. A new real-time logistics detection system based on WSN and RFID, a model of logistics system based on WSN-ARFID is proposed, and the feasibility of this technology applied to logistics field is analyzed.

Wearable sensor system for human localization and motion capture

OpenAIRE

Zihajehzadeh, Shaghayegh

2017-01-01

Recent advances in MEMS wearable inertial/magnetic sensors and mobile computing have fostered a dramatic growth of interest for ambulatory human motion capture (MoCap). Compared to traditional optical MoCap systems such as the optical systems, inertial (i.e. accelerometer and gyroscope) and magnetic sensors do not require external fixtures such as cameras. Hence, they do not have in-the-lab measurement limitations and thus are ideal for ambulatory applications. However, due to the manufacturi...

Monitoring system of hydraulic lifting device based on the fiber optic sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Fajkus, Marcel; Nedoma, Jan; Novak, Martin; Martinek, Radek; Vanus, Jan; Mec, Pavel; Vasinek, Vladimir

2017-10-01

This article deals with the description of the monitoring system of hydraulic lifting device based on the fiber-optic sensors. For minimize the financial costs of the proposed monitoring system, the power evaluation of measured signal has been chosen. The solution is based on an evaluation of the signal obtained using the single point optic fiber sensors with overlapping reflective spectra. For encapsulation of the sensors was used polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer. To obtain a information of loading is uses the action of deformation of the lifting device on the pair single point optic fiber sensors mounted on the lifting device of the tested car. According to the proposed algorithm is determined information of pressure with an accuracy of +/- 5 %. Verification of the proposed system was realized on the various types of the tested car with different loading. The original contribution of the paper is to verify the new low-cost system for monitoring the hydraulic lifting device based on the fiber-optic sensors.

A review of wearable sensors and systems with application in rehabilitation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patel Shyamal

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract The aim of this review paper is to summarize recent developments in the field of wearable sensors and systems that are relevant to the field of rehabilitation. The growing body of work focused on the application of wearable technology to monitor older adults and subjects with chronic conditions in the home and community settings justifies the emphasis of this review paper on summarizing clinical applications of wearable technology currently undergoing assessment rather than describing the development of new wearable sensors and systems. A short description of key enabling technologies (i.e. sensor technology, communication technology, and data analysis techniques that have allowed researchers to implement wearable systems is followed by a detailed description of major areas of application of wearable technology. Applications described in this review paper include those that focus on health and wellness, safety, home rehabilitation, assessment of treatment efficacy, and early detection of disorders. The integration of wearable and ambient sensors is discussed in the context of achieving home monitoring of older adults and subjects with chronic conditions. Future work required to advance the field toward clinical deployment of wearable sensors and systems is discussed.

Tablet PC Enabled Body Sensor System for Rural Telehealth Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nitha V. Panicker

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Telehealth systems benefit from the rapid growth of mobile communication technology for measuring physiological signals. Development and validation of a tablet PC enabled noninvasive body sensor system for rural telehealth application are discussed in this paper. This system includes real time continuous collection of physiological parameters (blood pressure, pulse rate, and temperature and fall detection of a patient with the help of a body sensor unit and wireless transmission of the acquired information to a tablet PC handled by the medical staff in a Primary Health Center (PHC. Abnormal conditions are automatically identified and alert messages are given to the medical officer in real time. Clinical validation is performed in a real environment and found to be successful. Bland-Altman analysis is carried out to validate the wrist blood pressure sensor used. The system works well for all measurements.

Stressor sensor and stress management system

NARCIS (Netherlands)

2012-01-01

A stressor detection system (100) comprises sensor means (101) arranged for being attached to a person for obtaining a time-varying signal representing a physical quantity relating to an environment of the person, and processing means (102) for deriving a stressor value from the obtained signal

Integrated Instrumentation and Sensor Systems Enabling Condition-Based Maintenance of Aerospace Equipment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Richard C. Millar

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The objective of the work reported herein was to use a systems engineering approach to guide development of integrated instrumentation/sensor systems (IISS incorporating communications, interconnections, and signal acquisition. These require enhanced suitability and effectiveness for diagnostics and health management of aerospace equipment governed by the principles of Condition-based maintenance (CBM. It is concluded that the systems engineering approach to IISS definition provided clear benefits in identifying overall system requirements and an architectural framework for categorizing and evaluating alternative architectures, relative to a bottom up focus on sensor technology blind to system level user needs. CBM IISS imperatives identified include factors such as tolerance of the bulk of aerospace equipment operational environments, low intrusiveness, rapid reconfiguration, and affordable life cycle costs. The functional features identified include interrogation of the variety of sensor types and interfaces common in aerospace equipment applications over multiplexed communication media with flexibility to allow rapid system reconfiguration to adapt to evolving sensor needs. This implies standardized interfaces at the sensor location (preferably to open standards, reduced wire/connector pin count in harnesses (or their elimination through use of wireless communications.

Direct Sensor Orientation of a Land-Based Mobile Mapping System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu-Hua Li

2011-07-01

Full Text Available A land-based mobile mapping system (MMS is flexible and useful for the acquisition of road environment geospatial information. It integrates a set of imaging sensors and a position and orientation system (POS. The positioning quality of such systems is highly dependent on the accuracy of the utilized POS. This limitation is the major drawback due to the elevated cost associated with high-end GPS/INS units, particularly the inertial system. The potential accuracy of the direct sensor orientation depends on the architecture and quality of the GPS/INS integration process as well as the validity of the system calibration (i.e., calibration of the individual sensors as well as the system mounting parameters. In this paper, a novel single-step procedure using integrated sensor orientation with relative orientation constraint for the estimation of the mounting parameters is introduced. A comparative analysis between the proposed single-step and the traditional two-step procedure is carried out. Moreover, the estimated mounting parameters using the different methods are used in a direct geo-referencing procedure to evaluate their performance and the feasibility of the implemented system. Experimental results show that the proposed system using single-step system calibration method can achieve high 3D positioning accuracy.

Atmospheric turbulence and sensor system effects on biometric algorithm performance

Science.gov (United States)

Espinola, Richard L.; Leonard, Kevin R.; Byrd, Kenneth A.; Potvin, Guy

2015-05-01

Biometric technologies composed of electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor systems and advanced matching algorithms are being used in various force protection/security and tactical surveillance applications. To date, most of these sensor systems have been widely used in controlled conditions with varying success (e.g., short range, uniform illumination, cooperative subjects). However the limiting conditions of such systems have yet to be fully studied for long range applications and degraded imaging environments. Biometric technologies used for long range applications will invariably suffer from the effects of atmospheric turbulence degradation. Atmospheric turbulence causes blur, distortion and intensity fluctuations that can severely degrade image quality of electro-optic and thermal imaging systems and, for the case of biometrics technology, translate to poor matching algorithm performance. In this paper, we evaluate the effects of atmospheric turbulence and sensor resolution on biometric matching algorithm performance. We use a subset of the Facial Recognition Technology (FERET) database and a commercial algorithm to analyze facial recognition performance on turbulence degraded facial images. The goal of this work is to understand the feasibility of long-range facial recognition in degraded imaging conditions, and the utility of camera parameter trade studies to enable the design of the next generation biometrics sensor systems.

Monitoring the Como Railway Bridge based on dynamic FBG sensor system

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jianzhong; Sun, Weimin; Peng, G. D.; Yuan, Libo

2007-07-01

A FBG-based dynamic strain sensor system, whose responding frequency and resolution can be high as 16Hz and ~1μɛ respectively, is described and the system is applied to monitor the dynamic strain of Como Railway Bridge in Australia. The results of one-month long measurement show that the system can figure out all dynamic strain caused by passed trains and also prove the stability of the sensor system.

Advanced microlens and color filter process technology for the high-efficiency CMOS and CCD image sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Yang-Tung; Peng, Chiou-Shian; Chu, Cheng-Yu

2000-12-01

New markets are emerging for digital electronic image device, especially in visual communications, PC camera, mobile/cell phone, security system, toys, vehicle image system and computer peripherals for document capture. To enable one-chip image system that image sensor is with a full digital interface, can make image capture devices in our daily lives. Adding a color filter to such image sensor in a pattern of mosaics pixel or wide stripes can make image more real and colorful. We can say 'color filter makes the life more colorful color filter is? Color filter means can filter image light source except the color with specific wavelength and transmittance that is same as color filter itself. Color filter process is coating and patterning green, red and blue (or cyan, magenta and yellow) mosaic resists onto matched pixel in image sensing array pixels. According to the signal caught from each pixel, we can figure out the environment image picture. Widely use of digital electronic camera and multimedia applications today makes the feature of color filter becoming bright. Although it has challenge but it is very worthy to develop the process of color filter. We provide the best service on shorter cycle time, excellent color quality, high and stable yield. The key issues of advanced color process have to be solved and implemented are planarization and micro-lens technology. Lost of key points of color filter process technology have to consider will also be described in this paper.

Advances in Sensors-Centric Microprocessors and System-on-Chip

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan A. Gómez-Pulido

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Sensors-based systems are nowadays an extended technology for many markets due to their great potential in the collection of data from the environment and the processing of such data for different purposes. A typical example is the wireless sensor devices, where the outer temperature, humidity, luminosity and many other parameters can be acquired, measured and processed in order to build useful and fascinating applications that contribute to human welfare. In this scenario, the processing architectures of the sensors-based systems play a very important role. The requirements that are necessary for many such applications (real-time processing, low-power consumption, reduced size, reliability, security and many others means that research on advanced architectures of Microprocessors and System-on-Chips (SoC is needed to design and implement a successful product. In this sense, there are many challenges and open questions in this area that need to be addressed. [...

MEMS CHIP CO2 SENSOR FOR BUILDING SYSTEMS INTEGRATION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anton Carl Greenwald

2005-09-14

The objective of this research was to develop an affordable, reliable sensor to enable demand controlled ventilation (DCV). A significant portion of total energy consumption in the United States is used for heating or air conditioning (HVAC) buildings. To assure occupant safety and fresh air levels in large buildings, and especially those with sealed windows, HVAC systems are frequently run in excess of true requirements as automated systems cannot now tell the occupancy level of interior spaces. If such a sensor (e.g. thermostat sized device) were available, it would reduce energy use between 10 and 20% in such buildings. A quantitative measure of ''fresh air'' is the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) present. An inert gas, CO{sub 2} is not easily detected by chemical sensors and is usually measured by infrared spectroscopy. Ion Optics research developed a complete infrared sensor package on a single MEMS chip. It contains the infrared (IR) source, IR detector and IR filter. The device resulting from this DOE sponsored research has sufficient sensitivity, lifetime, and drift rate to meet the specifications of commercial instrument manufacturers who are now testing the device for use in their building systems.

Development of a commercially viable piezoelectric force sensor system for static force measurement

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jun; Luo, Xinwei; Liu, Jingcheng; Li, Min; Qin, Lan

2017-09-01

A compensation method for measuring static force with a commercial piezoelectric force sensor is proposed to disprove the theory that piezoelectric sensors and generators can only operate under dynamic force. After studying the model of the piezoelectric force sensor measurement system, the principle of static force measurement using a piezoelectric material or piezoelectric force sensor is analyzed. Then, the distribution law of the decay time constant of the measurement system and the variation law of the measurement system’s output are studied, and a compensation method based on the time interval threshold Δ t and attenuation threshold Δ {{u}th} is proposed. By calibrating the system and considering the influences of the environment and the hardware, a suitable Δ {{u}th} value is determined, and the system’s output attenuation is compensated based on the Δ {{u}th} value to realize the measurement. Finally, a static force measurement system with a piezoelectric force sensor is developed based on the compensation method. The experimental results confirm the successful development of a simple compensation method for static force measurement with a commercial piezoelectric force sensor. In addition, it is established that, contrary to the current perception, a piezoelectric force sensor system can be used to measure static force through further calibration.

Consistent Steering System using SCTP for Bluetooth Scatternet Sensor Network

Science.gov (United States)

Dhaya, R.; Sadasivam, V.; Kanthavel, R.

2012-12-01

Wireless communication is the best way to convey information from source to destination with flexibility and mobility and Bluetooth is the wireless technology suitable for short distance. On the other hand a wireless sensor network (WSN) consists of spatially distributed autonomous sensors to cooperatively monitor physical or environmental conditions, such as temperature, sound, vibration, pressure, motion or pollutants. Using Bluetooth piconet wireless technique in sensor nodes creates limitation in network depth and placement. The introduction of Scatternet solves the network restrictions with lack of reliability in data transmission. When the depth of the network increases, it results in more difficulties in routing. No authors so far focused on the reliability factors of Scatternet sensor network's routing. This paper illustrates the proposed system architecture and routing mechanism to increase the reliability. The another objective is to use reliable transport protocol that uses the multi-homing concept and supports multiple streams to prevent head-of-line blocking. The results show that the Scatternet sensor network has lower packet loss even in the congestive environment than the existing system suitable for all surveillance applications.

THE TSUNAMI SERVICE BUS, AN INTEGRATION PLATFORM FOR HETEROGENEOUS SENSOR SYSTEMS

Science.gov (United States)

Fleischer, J.; Häner, R.; Herrnkind, S.; Kriegel, U.; Schwarting, H.; Wächter, J.

2009-12-01

The Tsunami Service Bus (TSB) is the sensor integration platform of the German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) [1]. The primary goal of GITEWS is to deliver reliable tsunami warnings as fast as possible. This is achieved on basis of various sensor systems like seismometers, ocean instrumentation, and GPS stations, all providing fundamental data to support prediction of tsunami wave propagation by the GITEWS warning center. However, all these sensors come with their own proprietary data formats and specific behavior. Also new sensor types might be added, old sensors will be replaced. To keep GITEWS flexible the TSB was developed in order to access and control sensors in a uniform way. To meet these requirements the TSB follows the architectural blueprint of a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). The integration platform implements dedicated services communicating via a service infrastructure. The functionality required for early warnings is provided by loosely coupled services replacing the "hard-wired" coupling at data level. Changes in the sensor specification are confined to the data level without affecting the warning center. Great emphasis was laid on following the Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) standard [2], specified by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) [3]. As a result the full functionality needed in GITEWS could be achieved by implementing the four SWE services: The Sensor Observation Service for retrieving sensor measurements, the Sensor Alert Service in order to deliver sensor alerts, the Sensor Planning Service for tasking sensors, and the Web Notification Service for conduction messages to various media channels. Beyond these services the TSB also follows SWE Observation & Measurements specifications (O&M) for data encoding and Sensor Model Language (SensorML) for meta information. Moreover, accessing sensors via the TSB is not restricted to GITEWS. Multiple instances of the TSB can be composed to realize federate warning system

Remote powering platform for implantable sensor systems at 2.45 GHz.

Science.gov (United States)

Kazanc, Onur; Yilmaz, Gurkan; Maloberti, Franco; Dehollain, Catherine

2014-01-01

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.

System on chip thermal vacuum sensor based on standard CMOS process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Jinfeng; Tang Zhenan; Wang Jiaqi

2009-01-01

An on-chip microelectromechanical system was fabricated in a 0.5 μm standard CMOS process for gas pressure detection. The sensor was based on a micro-hotplate (MHP) and had been integrated with a rail to rail operational amplifier and an 8-bit successive approximation register (SAR) A/D converter. A tungsten resistor was manufactured on the MHP as the sensing element, and the sacrificial layer of the sensor was made from polysilicon and etched by surface-micromachining technology. The operational amplifier was configured to make the sensor operate in constant current mode. A digital bit stream was provided as the system output. The measurement results demonstrate that the gas pressure sensitive range of the vacuum sensor extends from 1 to 10 5 Pa. In the gas pressure range from 1 to 100 Pa, the sensitivity of the sensor is 0.23 mV/ Pa, the linearity is 4.95%, and the hysteresis is 8.69%. The operational amplifier can drive 200 ω resistors distortionlessly, and the SAR A/D converter achieves a resolution of 7.4 bit with 100 kHz sample rate. The performance of the operational amplifier and the SAR A/D converter meets the requirements of the sensor system.

Smart architecture for stable multipoint fiber Bragg grating sensor system

Science.gov (United States)

Yeh, Chien-Hung; Tsai, Ning; Zhuang, Yuan-Hong; Huang, Tzu-Jung; Chow, Chi-Wai; Chen, Jing-Heng; Liu, Wen-Fung

2017-12-01

In this work, we propose and investigate an intelligent fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-based sensor system in which the proposed stabilized and wavelength-tunable single-longitudinal-mode erbium-doped fiber laser can improve the sensing accuracy of wavelength-division-multiplexing multiple FBG sensors in a longer fiber transmission distance. Moreover, we also demonstrate the proposed sensor architecture to enhance the FBG capacity for sensing strain and temperature, simultaneously.

A Partially Distributed Intrusion Detection System for Wireless Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eung Jun Cho

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The increasing use of wireless sensor networks, which normally comprise several very small sensor nodes, makes their security an increasingly important issue. They can be practically and efficiently secured using intrusion detection systems. Conventional security mechanisms are not usually applicable due to the sensor nodes having limitations of computational power, memory capacity, and battery power. Therefore, specific security systems should be designed to function under constraints of energy or memory. A partially distributed intrusion detection system with low memory and power demands is proposed here. It employs a Bloom filter, which allows reduced signature code size. Multiple Bloom filters can be combined to reduce the signature code for each Bloom filter array. The mechanism could then cope with potential denial of service attacks, unlike many previous detection systems with Bloom filters. The mechanism was evaluated and validated through analysis and simulation.

Multistream sensor fusion-based prognostics model for systems with single failure modes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fang, Xiaolei; Paynabar, Kamran; Gebraeel, Nagi

2017-01-01

Advances in sensor technology have facilitated the capability of monitoring the degradation of complex engineering systems through the analysis of multistream degradation signals. However, the varying levels of correlation with physical degradation process for different sensors, high-dimensionality of the degradation signals and cross-correlation among different signal streams pose significant challenges in monitoring and prognostics of such systems. To address the foregoing challenges, we develop a three-step multi-sensor prognostic methodology that utilizes multistream signals to predict residual useful lifetimes of partially degraded systems. We first identify the informative sensors via the penalized (log)-location-scale regression. Then, we fuse the degradation signals of the informative sensors using multivariate functional principal component analysis, which is capable of modeling the cross-correlation of signal streams. Finally, the third step focuses on utilizing the fused signal features for prognostics via adaptive penalized (log)-location-scale regression. We validate our multi-sensor prognostic methodology using simulation study as well as a case study of aircraft turbofan engines available from NASA repository.

Wireless Sensing System Using Open-circuit, Electrically-conductive Spiral-trace Sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Woodard, Stanley E. (Inventor); Taylor, Bryant D. (Inventor)

2013-01-01

A wireless sensing system includes a sensor made from an electrical conductor shaped to form an open-circuit, electrically-conductive spiral trace having inductance and capacitance. In the presence of a time-varying magnetic field, the sensor resonates to generate a harmonic response having a frequency, amplitude and bandwidth. A magnetic field response recorder wirelessly transmits the time-varying magnetic field to the sensor and wirelessly detects the sensor's response frequency, amplitude and bandwidth.

Sensor system for multi-point monitoring using bending loss of single mode optical fiber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Heon Young; Kim, Dae Hyun

2015-01-01

Applications of smart sensors have been extended to safety systems in the aerospace, transportation and civil engineering fields. In particular, structural health monitoring techniques using smart sensors have gradually become necessary and have been developed to prevent dangers to human life and damage to assets. Generally, smart sensors are based on electro-magnets and have several weaknesses, including electro-magnetic interference and distortion. Therefore, fiber optic sensors are an outstanding alternative to overcome the weaknesses of electro-magnetic sensors. However, they require expensive devices and complex systems. This paper proposes a new, affordable and simple sensor system that uses a single fiber to monitor pressures at multiple-points. Moreover, a prototype of the sensor system was manufactured and tested for a feasibility study. Based on the results of this experimental test, a relationship was carefully observed between the bend loss conditions and light-intensity. As a result, it was shown that impacts at multiple-points could be monitored.

Hybrid online sensor error detection and functional redundancy for systems with time-varying parameters.

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Jianyuan; Turksoy, Kamuran; Samadi, Sediqeh; Hajizadeh, Iman; Littlejohn, Elizabeth; Cinar, Ali

2017-12-01

Supervision and control systems rely on signals from sensors to receive information to monitor the operation of a system and adjust manipulated variables to achieve the control objective. However, sensor performance is often limited by their working conditions and sensors may also be subjected to interference by other devices. Many different types of sensor errors such as outliers, missing values, drifts and corruption with noise may occur during process operation. A hybrid online sensor error detection and functional redundancy system is developed to detect errors in online signals, and replace erroneous or missing values detected with model-based estimates. The proposed hybrid system relies on two techniques, an outlier-robust Kalman filter (ORKF) and a locally-weighted partial least squares (LW-PLS) regression model, which leverage the advantages of automatic measurement error elimination with ORKF and data-driven prediction with LW-PLS. The system includes a nominal angle analysis (NAA) method to distinguish between signal faults and large changes in sensor values caused by real dynamic changes in process operation. The performance of the system is illustrated with clinical data continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) sensors from people with type 1 diabetes. More than 50,000 CGM sensor errors were added to original CGM signals from 25 clinical experiments, then the performance of error detection and functional redundancy algorithms were analyzed. The results indicate that the proposed system can successfully detect most of the erroneous signals and substitute them with reasonable estimated values computed by functional redundancy system.

Novel wireless sensors for in situ measurement of sub-ice hydrologic systems

OpenAIRE

Bagshaw, E; Lishman, B; Wadham, J; Bowden, J; Burrow, S; Clare, L; Chandler, D

2014-01-01

Wireless sensors have the potential to provide significant insight into in situ physical and biogeochemical processes in sub-ice hydrologic systems. However, the nature of the glacial environment means that sensor deployment and data return is challenging. We describe two bespoke sensor platforms, electronic tracers or ‘ETracers’, and ‘cryoegg’, for untethered, wireless data collection from glacial hydrologic systems, including subglacial channels. Both employ radio frequencies for data trans...

Smart sensor systems for outdoor intrusion detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lynn, J.K.

1988-01-01

A major improvement in outdoor perimeter security system probability of detection (PD) and reduction in false alarm rate (FAR) and nuisance alarm rate (NAR) may be obtained by analyzing the indications immediately preceding an event which might be interpreted as an intrusion. Existing systems go into alarm after crossing a threshold. Very slow changes, which accumulate until the threshold is reached, may be assessed falsely as an intrusion. A hierarchial program has begun at Stellar to develop a modular, expandable Smart Sensor system which may be interfaced to most types of sensor and alarm reporting systems. A major upgrade to the SSI Test Site is in progress so that intrusions may be simulated in a controlled and repeatable manner. A test platform is being constructed which will operate in conduction with a mobile instrumentation center with CCTVB, lighting control, weather and data monitoring and remote control of the test platform and intrusion simulators. Additional testing was contracted with an independent test facility to assess the effects of severe winter weather conditions

Localisation system in wireless sensor networks using ns-2

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Abu-Mahfouz, Adnan M

2012-04-01

Full Text Available -1 /************************************************************************** ********** * * File: readme.asn * * Author: Adnan Abu-Mahfouz * * Date: March 2012 * * Description: Localisation system in wireless sensor networks using ns-2... *************************************************************************** *********/ /************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** *****/ 1. Introduction: ns-2 contains several flexible features that encourage researchers to use ns-2 to investigate the characteristics of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). However, to implement and evaluate localisation algorithms, the current ns- 2...

Probabilistic Multi-Sensor Fusion Based Indoor Positioning System on a Mobile Device

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiang He

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, smart mobile devices include more and more sensors on board, such as motion sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, wireless signal strength indicators (WiFi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and visual sensors (LiDAR, camera. People have developed various indoor positioning techniques based on these sensors. In this paper, the probabilistic fusion of multiple sensors is investigated in a hidden Markov model (HMM framework for mobile-device user-positioning. We propose a graph structure to store the model constructed by multiple sensors during the offline training phase, and a multimodal particle filter to seamlessly fuse the information during the online tracking phase. Based on our algorithm, we develop an indoor positioning system on the iOS platform. The experiments carried out in a typical indoor environment have shown promising results for our proposed algorithm and system design.

Design of a sensor network system with a self-maintenance function for homeland security applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujiwara, Takeshi; Takahashi, Hiroyuki; Iyomoto, Naoko

2008-01-01

In this study, we develop a new concept of a robust wireless sensor network for homeland security applications. The sensor system consists of intelligent radiation sensors that can communicate each other through the wireless network. This structure can cover a wide area with a flexible geometry which is suitable for detecting a moving object with a detectable radiation source. Also, it has a tolerance against both the partial node's failure and packet errors; realized by a Self-Maintenance function. The Self-maintenance function is a function that enables an artifact to find, diagnosis and fix the trouble automatically and maintain itself. So far some approaches have been tried to realize robust monitoring system by applying the idea of multiplex system, based on ''2 out of 3'', but this requires a large amount of the hardware and is not suitable for sensor network systems. We designed a sensor network system with Self-Maintenance function based on qualitative reasoning technique for robust wireless sensor network system, and an instrument network based on ZigBee has been set up for investigations. CsI(Tl) gamma-ray detectors are used as sensors. The network system picks up correlation signals from sensors even some of sensors send false signals, which can be used as a reliable detection system for practical use. (author)

Sensor-integrated polymer actuators for closed-loop drug delivery system

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Han; Wang, Chunlei; Kulinsky, Lawrence; Zoval, Jim; Madou, Marc

2006-03-01

This work presents manufacturing and testing of a closed-loop drug delivery system where drug release is achieved by an electrochemical actuation of an array of polymeric valves on a set of drug reservoirs. The valves are based on bi-layer structures made of polypyrrole/gold in the shape of a flap that is hinged on one side of a valve seat. Drugs stored in the underlying chambers are released by bending the bi-layer flaps back with a small applied bias. These polymeric valves simultaneously function as both drug release components and biological/chemical sensors responding to a specific biological or environmental stimulus. The sensors may send signals to the control module to realize closed-loop control of the drug release. In this study a glucose sensor has been integrated with the polymeric actuators through immobilization of glucose oxidase(GOx) within polypyrrole(PPy) valves. Sensitivities per unit area of the integrated glucose sensor have been measured and compared before and after the actuation of the sensor/actuator PPy/DBS/GOx film. Other sensing parameters such as linear range and response time were discussed as well. Using an array of these sensor/actuator cells, the amount of released drug, e.g. insulin, can be precisely controlled according to the surrounding glucose concentration detected by the glucose sensor. Activation of these reservoirs can be triggered either by the signal from the sensor, or by the signal from the operator. This approach also serves as the initial step to use the proposed system as an implantable drug delivery platform in the future.

A basic system architecture for sensor data diffusion of environment sensors for intelligent cruise control systems; Eine Basis-Systemarchitektur zur Sensordatenfusion von Umfeldsensoren fuer Fahrerassistenzsysteme

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Darms, M.

2007-07-01

The design of the system architecture for sensor data diffusion at the beginning of the development process has significant influence on the cost. With a view to intelligent cruise control systems, the author investigated general assumptions concerning data association and data filtering for sensor data diffusion of environment sensors which must be considered when designing an architecture or may be considered for optimisation. The validity of the assumption is illustrated by simulations of adaptive speed control and time-to-collision calculations as well as on the basis of available literature. A basic sytem architecture is presented as a precursor of the final architecture which is based on these assumptions. Their applicability is proved by implementation in the PRORETA project. The author's work provides a validated basis for architects of a serial system architecture enabling them to design and implement their ultimate systems. (orig.)

Review of High-Speed Fiber Optic Grating Sensors Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Udd, E; Benterou, J; May, C; Mihailov, S J; Lu, P

2010-03-24

Fiber grating sensors can be used to support a wide variety of high speed measurement applications. This includes measurements of vibrations on bridges, traffic monitoring on freeways, ultrasonic detection to support non-destructive tests on metal plates and providing details of detonation events. This paper provides a brief overview of some of the techniques that have been used to support high speed measurements using fiber grating sensors over frequency ranges from 10s of kHz, to MHZ and finally toward frequencies approaching the GHz regime. Very early in the development of fiber grating sensor systems it was realized that a high speed fiber grating sensor system could be realized by placing an optical filter that might be a fiber grating in front of a detector so that spectral changes in the reflection from a fiber grating were amplitude modulated. In principal the only limitation on this type of system involved the speed of the output detector which with the development of high speed communication links moved from the regime of 10s of MHz toward 10s of GHz. The earliest deployed systems involved civil structures including measurements of the strain fields on composite utility poles and missile bodies during break tests, bridges and freeways. This was followed by a series of developments that included high speed fiber grating sensors to support nondestructive testing via ultrasonic wave detection, high speed machining and monitoring ship hulls. Each of these applications involved monitoring mechanical motion of structures and thus interest was in speeds up to a few 10s of MHz. Most recently there has been interest in using fiber grating to monitor the very high speed events such as detonations and this has led to utilization of fiber gratings that are consumed during an event that may require detection speeds of hundreds of MHz and in the future multiple GHz.

FluoRAS Sensor - Online organic matter for optimising recirculating aquaculture systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hambly, Adam; Stedmon, Colin

2018-01-01

FluorRAS will develop a sensor that can save recycled fish farms 30% per year in water and energy consumption for water treatment, as well as optimize nitrogen removal. The sensor will be developed in a partnership between engineers (Krüger A / S) and researchers (DTU), and the product will be made...... both the maintenance of necessary water quality and water treatment costs. Loss of production due to poor water quality is expensive and can be avoided with correct sensor systems. Accumulation of dissolved organic matter and nutrients in the water reduce the effectiveness of UV treatment, is a source...... of nutrition for opportunistic pathogens, and reduces the effectiveness of the biofilter's removing ammonia. Modern recycling systems are therefore dependent on a network of online sensors that monitor and respond to changes in water quality, but currently there is a need for a sensor to monitor...

A Fully Integrated Humidity Sensor System-on-Chip Fabricated by Micro-Stamping Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Che-Wei; Huang, Yu-Jie; Lu, Shey-Shi; Lin, Chih-Ting

2012-01-01

A fully integrated humidity sensor chip was designed, implemented, and tested. Utilizing the micro-stamping technology, the pseudo-3D sensor system-on-chip (SSoC) architecture can be implemented by stacking sensing materials directly on the top of a CMOS-fabricated chip. The fabricated sensor system-on-chip (2.28 mm × 2.48 mm) integrated a humidity sensor, an interface circuit, a digital controller, and an On-Off Keying (OOK) wireless transceiver. With low power consumption, i.e., 750 μW without RF operation, the sensitivity of developed sensor chip was experimentally verified in the relative humidity (RH) range from 32% to 60%. The response time of the chip was also experimentally verified to be within 5 seconds from RH 36% to RH 64%. As a consequence, the implemented humidity SSoC paves the way toward the an ultra-small sensor system for various applications.

A volumetric flow sensor for automotive injection systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmid, U; Krötz, G; Schmitt-Landsiedel, D

2008-01-01

For further optimization of the automotive power train of diesel engines, advanced combustion processes require a highly flexible injection system, provided e.g. by the common rail (CR) injection technique. In the past, the feasibility to implement injection nozzle volumetric flow sensors based on the thermo-resistive measurement principle has been demonstrated up to injection pressures of 135 MPa (1350 bar). To evaluate the transient behaviour of the system-integrated flow sensors as well as an injection amount indicator used as a reference method, hydraulic simulations on the system level are performed for a CR injection system. Experimentally determined injection timings were found to be in good agreement with calculated values, especially for the novel sensing element which is directly implemented into the hydraulic system. For the first time pressure oscillations occurring after termination of the injection pulse, predicted theoretically, could be verified directly in the nozzle. In addition, the injected amount of fuel is monitored with the highest resolution ever reported in the literature

A volumetric flow sensor for automotive injection systems

Science.gov (United States)

Schmid, U.; Krötz, G.; Schmitt-Landsiedel, D.

2008-04-01

For further optimization of the automotive power train of diesel engines, advanced combustion processes require a highly flexible injection system, provided e.g. by the common rail (CR) injection technique. In the past, the feasibility to implement injection nozzle volumetric flow sensors based on the thermo-resistive measurement principle has been demonstrated up to injection pressures of 135 MPa (1350 bar). To evaluate the transient behaviour of the system-integrated flow sensors as well as an injection amount indicator used as a reference method, hydraulic simulations on the system level are performed for a CR injection system. Experimentally determined injection timings were found to be in good agreement with calculated values, especially for the novel sensing element which is directly implemented into the hydraulic system. For the first time pressure oscillations occurring after termination of the injection pulse, predicted theoretically, could be verified directly in the nozzle. In addition, the injected amount of fuel is monitored with the highest resolution ever reported in the literature.

Operating systems and network protocols for wireless sensor networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Dutta, Prabal; Dunkels, Adam

2012-01-13

Sensor network protocols exist to satisfy the communication needs of diverse applications, including data collection, event detection, target tracking and control. Network protocols to enable these services are constrained by the extreme resource scarcity of sensor nodes-including energy, computing, communications and storage-which must be carefully managed and multiplexed by the operating system. These challenges have led to new protocols and operating systems that are efficient in their energy consumption, careful in their computational needs and miserly in their memory footprints, all while discovering neighbours, forming networks, delivering data and correcting failures.

Comparison of sensor systems designed using multizone, zonal, and CFD data for protection of indoor environments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Y. Lisa; Wen, Jin [Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States)

2010-04-15

Sensors that detect chemical and biological warfare agents can offer early warning of dangerous contaminants. However, current sensor system design is mostly by intuition and experience rather than by systematic design. To develop a sensor system design methodology, the proper selection of an indoor airflow model is needed. Various indoor airflow models exist in the literature, from complex computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to simpler approaches such as multizone and zonal models. Airflow models provide the contaminant concentration data, to which an optimization method can be applied to design sensor systems. The authors utilized a subzonal modeling approach when using a multizone model and were the first to utilize a zonal model for systematic sensor system design. The objective of the study was to examine whether or not data from a simpler airflow model could be used to design sensor systems capable of performing just as well as those designed using data from more complex CFD models. Three test environments, a small office, a large hall, and an office suite were examined. Results showed that when a unique sensor system design was not needed, sensor systems designed using data from simpler airflow models could perform just as well as those designed using CFD data. Further, only for the small office did the common engineering sensor system design practice of placing a sensor at the exhaust result in sensor system performance that was equivalent to one designed using CFD data. (author)

A Brief Review of the Need for Robust Smart Wireless Sensor Systems for Future Propulsion Systems, Distributed Engine Controls, and Propulsion Health Management

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, Gary W.; Behbahani, Alireza

2012-01-01

Smart Sensor Systems with wireless capability operational in high temperature, harsh environments are a significant component in enabling future propulsion systems to meet a range of increasingly demanding requirements. These propulsion systems must incorporate technology that will monitor engine component conditions, analyze the incoming data, and modify operating parameters to optimize propulsion system operations. This paper discusses the motivation towards the development of high temperature, smart wireless sensor systems that include sensors, electronics, wireless communication, and power. The challenges associated with the use of traditional wired sensor systems will be reviewed and potential advantages of Smart Sensor Systems will be discussed. A brief review of potential applications for wireless smart sensor networks and their potential impact on propulsion system operation, with emphasis on Distributed Engine Control and Propulsion Health Management, will be given. A specific example related to the development of high temperature Smart Sensor Systems based on silicon carbide electronics will be discussed. It is concluded that the development of a range of robust smart wireless sensor systems are a foundation for future development of intelligent propulsion systems with enhanced capabilities.

Sensing System for Salinity Testing Using Laser-induced Graphene Sensors

KAUST Repository

Nag, Anindya

2017-08-05

The paper presents the development and implementation of a low-cost salinity sensing system. Commercial polymer films were laser ablated at specific conditions to form graphene-based sensors on flexible Kapton substrates. Sodium chloride was considered as the primary constituent for testing due to its prominent presence in water bodies. The sensor was characterized by testing different concentrations of sodium chloride. A standard curve was developed to perform real-time testing with a sample taken from sea water of unknown concentration. The sensitivity and resolution of these graphene sensors for the experimental solutions were 1.07Ω/ppm and 1ppm respectively. The developed system was validated by testing it with a real sample and cross checking it on the calibration curve. The signal conditioning circuit was further enhanced by embedding a microcontroller to the designed system. The obtained results did provide a platform for implementation of a low-cost salinity sensing system that could be used in marine applications.

Sensing System for Salinity Testing Using Laser-induced Graphene Sensors

KAUST Repository

Nag, Anindya; Mukhopadhyay, Subhas Chandra; Kosel, Jü rgen

2017-01-01

The paper presents the development and implementation of a low-cost salinity sensing system. Commercial polymer films were laser ablated at specific conditions to form graphene-based sensors on flexible Kapton substrates. Sodium chloride was considered as the primary constituent for testing due to its prominent presence in water bodies. The sensor was characterized by testing different concentrations of sodium chloride. A standard curve was developed to perform real-time testing with a sample taken from sea water of unknown concentration. The sensitivity and resolution of these graphene sensors for the experimental solutions were 1.07Ω/ppm and 1ppm respectively. The developed system was validated by testing it with a real sample and cross checking it on the calibration curve. The signal conditioning circuit was further enhanced by embedding a microcontroller to the designed system. The obtained results did provide a platform for implementation of a low-cost salinity sensing system that could be used in marine applications.

Power supply for wireless sensor or actuator systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reindl, L. M.

2011-01-01

Portable wireless sensor or actuator systems, like portable phones, remote control, or ID cards play an ever growing role in our industrialized environment. Those systems and many more were enabled due to the steady decreasing power consumption of high integrated ICs. Most such systems are powered by batteries or inductive coupling. In this presentation several concepts for an alternative power supply of wireless sensor or actuator systems are discussed in detail. Batteries, although today mostly used, suffer from a limited storage capacity, which induce a labour and sometimes cost-intensive periodic maintenance, and a problematic ecological impact. The operating range of inductive coupling systems is due to the near ?eld limited to the aperture of the coupling coil. UHF systems operate in the far field and reach higher distances. Their operating range is limited by the distance where the voltage at the feeding point of the antenna becomes too low to drive the rectifier circuit. Larger read out ranges become feasible by omitting the rectifier stage. In this case we need either a passive frequency modulating device to shift the read out signal to a side band, or a resonator with a high quality factor, like a SAW or BAW device, to store the energy until all environmental echoes are feed away. For many applications, both indoor and outdoor, energy harvesting system become feasible which convert ambient power densities like light, RF fields, special or temporal thermal gradients, or mechanical vibrations into electrical supply power of the wireless system. All those systems strongly suffer from a lack of energy. Thus new concepts for low-ering the power consumption of a wireless sensor or actuator system by keeping their features remain extreme important. Herby, a new wake up receiver is presented which operates on a current requirement as low as 3 micro A.

Distributed Database Semantic Integration of Wireless Sensor Network to Access the Environmental Monitoring System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ubaidillah Umar

2018-06-01

Full Text Available A wireless sensor network (WSN works continuously to gather information from sensors that generate large volumes of data to be handled and processed by applications. Current efforts in sensor networks focus more on networking and development services for a variety of applications and less on processing and integrating data from heterogeneous sensors. There is an increased need for information to become shareable across different sensors, database platforms, and applications that are not easily implemented in traditional database systems. To solve the issue of these large amounts of data from different servers and database platforms (including sensor data, a semantic sensor web service platform is needed to enable a machine to extract meaningful information from the sensor’s raw data. This additionally helps to minimize and simplify data processing and to deduce new information from existing data. This paper implements a semantic web data platform (SWDP to manage the distribution of data sensors based on the semantic database system. SWDP uses sensors for temperature, humidity, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, luminosity, and noise. The system uses the Sesame semantic web database for data processing and a WSN to distribute, minimize, and simplify information processing. The sensor nodes are distributed in different places to collect sensor data. The SWDP generates context information in the form of a resource description framework. The experiment results demonstrate that the SWDP is more efficient than the traditional database system in terms of memory usage and processing time.

Optical Imaging Sensors and Systems for Homeland Security Applications

CERN Document Server

Javidi, Bahram

2006-01-01

Optical and photonic systems and devices have significant potential for homeland security. Optical Imaging Sensors and Systems for Homeland Security Applications presents original and significant technical contributions from leaders of industry, government, and academia in the field of optical and photonic sensors, systems and devices for detection, identification, prevention, sensing, security, verification and anti-counterfeiting. The chapters have recent and technically significant results, ample illustrations, figures, and key references. This book is intended for engineers and scientists in the relevant fields, graduate students, industry managers, university professors, government managers, and policy makers. Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications focuses on research monographs in the areas of -Recognition and identification (including optical imaging, biometrics, authentication, verification, and smart surveillance systems) -Biological and chemical threat detection (including bios...

System-Level Modelling and Simulation of MEMS-Based Sensors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Virk, Kashif M.; Madsen, Jan; Shafique, Mohammad

2005-01-01

The growing complexity of MEMS devices and their increased used in embedded systems (e.g., wireless integrated sensor networks) demands a disciplined aproach for MEMS design as well as the development of techniques for system-level modeling of these devices so that a seamless integration with the......The growing complexity of MEMS devices and their increased used in embedded systems (e.g., wireless integrated sensor networks) demands a disciplined aproach for MEMS design as well as the development of techniques for system-level modeling of these devices so that a seamless integration...... with the existing embedded system design methodologies is possible. In this paper, we present a MEMS design methodology that uses VHDL-AMS based system-level model of a MEMS device as a starting point and combines the top-down and bottom-up design approaches for design, verification, and optimization...

Neuromorphic vision sensors and preprocessors in system applications

Science.gov (United States)

Kramer, Joerg; Indiveri, Giacomo

1998-09-01

A partial review of neuromorphic vision sensors that are suitable for use in autonomous systems is presented. Interfaces are being developed to multiplex the high- dimensional output signals of arrays of such sensors and to communicate them in standard formats to off-chip devices for higher-level processing, actuation, storage and display. Alternatively, on-chip processing stages may be implemented to extract sparse image parameters, thereby obviating the need for multiplexing. Autonomous robots are used to test neuromorphic vision chips in real-world environments and to explore the possibilities of data fusion from different sensing modalities. Examples of autonomous mobile systems that use neuromorphic vision chips for line tracking and optical flow matching are described.

A Fully Integrated Humidity Sensor System-on-Chip Fabricated by Micro-Stamping Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chih-Ting Lin

2012-08-01

Full Text Available A fully integrated humidity sensor chip was designed, implemented, and tested. Utilizing the micro-stamping technology, the pseudo-3D sensor system-on-chip (SSoC architecture can be implemented by stacking sensing materials directly on the top of a CMOS-fabricated chip. The fabricated sensor system-on-chip (2.28 mm × 2.48 mm integrated a humidity sensor, an interface circuit, a digital controller, and an On-Off Keying (OOK wireless transceiver. With low power consumption, i.e., 750 μW without RF operation, the sensitivity of developed sensor chip was experimentally verified in the relative humidity (RH range from 32% to 60%. The response time of the chip was also experimentally verified to be within 5 seconds from RH 36% to RH 64%. As a consequence, the implemented humidity SSoC paves the way toward the an ultra-small sensor system for various applications.

Intelligent Luminance Control of Lighting Systems Based on Imaging Sensor Feedback

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haoting Liu

2017-02-01

Full Text Available An imaging sensor-based intelligent Light Emitting Diode (LED lighting system for desk use is proposed. In contrast to the traditional intelligent lighting system, such as the photosensitive resistance sensor-based or the infrared sensor-based system, the imaging sensor can realize a finer perception of the environmental light; thus it can guide a more precise lighting control. Before this system works, first lots of typical imaging lighting data of the desk application are accumulated. Second, a series of subjective and objective Lighting Effect Evaluation Metrics (LEEMs are defined and assessed for these datasets above. Then the cluster benchmarks of these objective LEEMs can be obtained. Third, both a single LEEM-based control and a multiple LEEMs-based control are developed to realize a kind of optimal luminance tuning. When this system works, first it captures the lighting image using a wearable camera. Then it computes the objective LEEMs of the captured image and compares them with the cluster benchmarks of the objective LEEMs. Finally, the single LEEM-based or the multiple LEEMs-based control can be implemented to get a kind of optimal lighting effect. Many experiment results have shown the proposed system can tune the LED lamp automatically according to environment luminance changes.

Design and application of star map simulation system for star sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Feng; Shen, Weimin; Zhu, Xifang; Chen, Yuheng; Xu, Qinquan

2013-12-01

Modern star sensors are powerful to measure attitude automatically which assure a perfect performance of spacecrafts. They achieve very accurate attitudes by applying algorithms to process star maps obtained by the star camera mounted on them. Therefore, star maps play an important role in designing star cameras and developing procession algorithms. Furthermore, star maps supply significant supports to exam the performance of star sensors completely before their launch. However, it is not always convenient to supply abundant star maps by taking pictures of the sky. Thus, star map simulation with the aid of computer attracts a lot of interests by virtue of its low price and good convenience. A method to simulate star maps by programming and extending the function of the optical design program ZEMAX is proposed. The star map simulation system is established. Firstly, based on analyzing the working procedures of star sensors to measure attitudes and the basic method to design optical system by ZEMAX, the principle of simulating star sensor imaging is given out in detail. The theory about adding false stars and noises, and outputting maps is discussed and the corresponding approaches are proposed. Then, by external programming, the star map simulation program is designed and produced. Its user interference and operation are introduced. Applications of star map simulation method in evaluating optical system, star image extraction algorithm and star identification algorithm, and calibrating system errors are presented completely. It was proved that the proposed simulation method provides magnificent supports to the study on star sensors, and improves the performance of star sensors efficiently.

Integrated Sensor Systems for UAS

Science.gov (United States)

2008-04-01

2. Optical particle counter 0.27 5.4 3. Pyranometer 0.17 ɘ.2 4. Temp. & relative humidity 0.05 ɘ.1 5. Data acquisition system 0.15 ɘ.2 6...payload volume showing sensor instrument installation. The insert shows the Manta exterior with the cloud droplet probe and pyranometer mounted on...Instrumentation Above- 2.7 Aethalometer cloud 14 Optical particle counter Up and down pyranometers Condensation particle counter In- 3.7

Thermostatic system of sensor in NIR spectrometer based on PID control

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhihong; Qiao, Liwei; Ji, Xufei

2016-11-01

Aiming at the shortcomings of the primary sensor thermostatic control system in the near infrared (NIR) spectrometer, a novel thermostatic control system based on proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control technology was developed to improve the detection precision of the NIR spectrometer. There were five parts including bridge amplifier circuit, analog-digital conversion (ADC) circuit, microcontroller, digital-analog conversion (DAC) circuit and drive circuit in the system. The five parts formed a closed-loop control system based on PID algorithm that was used to control the error between the temperature calculated by the sampling data of ADC and the designed temperature to ensure the stability of the spectrometer's sensor. The experimental results show that, when the operating temperature of sensor is -11°, compared with the original system, the temperature control precision of the new control system is improved from ±0.64° to ±0.04° and the spectrum signal to noise ratio (SNR) is improved from 4891 to 5967.

Crack Propagation Analysis Using Acoustic Emission Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Horn, Walter; Steck, James

2013-01-01

Aerospace systems are expected to remain in service well beyond their designed life. Consequently, maintenance is an important issue. A novel method of implementing artificial neural networks and acoustic emission sensors to form a structural health monitoring (SHM) system for aerospace inspection routines was the focus of this research. Simple structural elements, consisting of flat aluminum plates of AL 2024-T3, were subjected to increasing static tensile loading. As the loading increased, designed cracks extended in length, releasing strain waves in the process. Strain wave signals, measured by acoustic emission sensors, were further analyzed in post-processing by artificial neural networks (ANN). Several experiments were performed to determine the severity and location of the crack extensions in the structure. ANNs were trained on a portion of the data acquired by the sensors and the ANNs were then validated with the remaining data. The combination of a system of acoustic emission sensors, and an ANN could determine crack extension accurately. The difference between predicted and actual crack extensions was determined to be between 0.004 in. and 0.015 in. with 95% confidence. These ANNs, coupled with acoustic emission sensors, showed promise for the creation of an SHM system for aerospace systems. PMID:24023536

Fiber Bragg Grating Sensor System for Monitoring Smart Composite Aerospace Structures

Science.gov (United States)

Moslehi, Behzad; Black, Richard J.; Gowayed, Yasser

2012-01-01

Lightweight, electromagnetic interference (EMI) immune, fiber-optic, sensor- based structural health monitoring (SHM) will play an increasing role in aerospace structures ranging from aircraft wings to jet engine vanes. Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors for SHM include advanced signal processing, system and damage identification, and location and quantification algorithms. Potentially, the solution could be developed into an autonomous onboard system to inspect and perform non-destructive evaluation and SHM. A novel method has been developed to massively multiplex FBG sensors, supported by a parallel processing interrogator, which enables high sampling rates combined with highly distributed sensing (up to 96 sensors per system). The interrogation system comprises several subsystems. A broadband optical source subsystem (BOSS) and routing and interface module (RIM) send light from the interrogation system to a composite embedded FBG sensor matrix, which returns measurand-dependent wavelengths back to the interrogation system for measurement with subpicometer resolution. In particular, the returned wavelengths are channeled by the RIM to a photonic signal processing subsystem based on powerful optical chips, then passed through an optoelectronic interface to an analog post-detection electronics subsystem, digital post-detection electronics subsystem, and finally via a data interface to a computer. A range of composite structures has been fabricated with FBGs embedded. Stress tensile, bending, and dynamic strain tests were performed. The experimental work proved that the FBG sensors have a good level of accuracy in measuring the static response of the tested composite coupons (down to submicrostrain levels), the capability to detect and monitor dynamic loads, and the ability to detect defects in composites by a variety of methods including monitoring the decay time under different dynamic loading conditions. In addition to quasi-static and dynamic load monitoring, the

Multi-sensor measurement system for robotic drilling

OpenAIRE

Frommknecht, Andreas; Kühnle, Jens; Pidan, Sergej; Effenberger, Ira

2015-01-01

A multi-sensor measurement system for robotic drilling is presented. The system enables a robot to measure its 6D pose with respect to the work piece and to establish a reference coordinate system for drilling. The robot approaches the drill point and performs an orthogonal alignment with the work piece. Although the measurement systems are readily capable of achieving high position accuracy and low deviation to perpendicularity, experiments show that inaccuracies in the robot's 6D-pose and e...

Micro digital sun sensor: system in a package

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boom, C.W. de; Leijtens, J.A.P.; Duivenbode, L.M.H. van; Heiden, N. van der

2004-01-01

A novel micro Digital Sun Sensor (μDSS) is under development in the frame of a micro systems technology (MST) development program (Microned) from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. Use of available micro system technologies in combination with the implementation of a dedicated solarcell for

Airborne Electro-Optical Sensor Simulation System. Final Report.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayworth, Don

The total system capability, including all the special purpose and general purpose hardware comprising the Airborne Electro-Optical Sensor Simulation (AEOSS) System, is described. The functional relationship between hardware portions is described together with interface to the software portion of the computer image generation. Supporting rationale…

Sensor-actuator system for dynamic chloride ion determination.

Science.gov (United States)

de Graaf, Derk Balthazar; Abbas, Yawar; Gerrit Bomer, Johan; Olthuis, Wouter; van den Berg, Albert

2015-08-12

Chloride is a crucial anion for various analytical applications from biological to environmental applications. In order to measure the chloride ion concentration, a measurement system is needed which can detect this concentration for prolonged times reliably. Chronopotentiometry is a technique which does not need a long term stable reference electrode and is therefore very suitable for prolonged ion concentration measurements. As the used electrode might be fouled by reaction products, this work focuses on a chronopotentiometric approach with a separated sensing electrode (sensor) and actuating electrode (actuator). Both actuation and sensor electrode are made of Ag/AgCl. A constant current is applied to the actuator and will start the reaction between Ag and Cl-, while the resulting Cl- ion concentration change is observed through the sensor, which is placed close to the actuator. The time it takes to locally deplete the Cl- ions is called transition time. Experiments were performed to verify the feasibility of this approach. The performed experiments show that the sensor detects the local concentration changes resulting from the current applied to the actuator. A linear relation between the Cl- ion concentration and the square root of the transition time was observed, just as was predicted by theory. The calibration curves for different chips showed that both a larger sensor and a larger distance between sensor and actuator resulted in a larger time delay between the transition time detected at the actuator and the sensor. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nano-Composite Foam Sensor System in Football Helmets.

Science.gov (United States)

Merrell, A Jake; Christensen, William F; Seeley, Matthew K; Bowden, Anton E; Fullwood, David T

2017-12-01

American football has both the highest rate of concussion incidences as well as the highest number of concussions of all contact sports due to both the number of athletes and nature of the sport. Recent research has linked concussions with long term health complications such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy and early onset Alzheimer's. Understanding the mechanical characteristics of concussive impacts is critical to help protect athletes from these debilitating diseases and is now possible using helmet-based sensor systems. To date, real time on-field measurement of head impacts has been almost exclusively measured by devices that rely on accelerometers or gyroscopes attached to the player's helmet, or embedded in a mouth guard. These systems monitor motion of the head or helmet, but do not directly measure impact energy. This paper evaluates the accuracy of a novel, multifunctional foam-based sensor that replaces a portion of the helmet foam to measure impact. All modified helmets were tested using a National Operating Committee Standards for Athletic Equipment-style drop tower with a total of 24 drop tests (4 locations with 6 impact energies). The impacts were evaluated using a headform, instrumented with a tri-axial accelerometer, mounted to a Hybrid III neck assembly. The resultant accelerations were evaluated for both the peak acceleration and the severity indices. These data were then compared to the voltage response from multiple Nano Composite Foam sensors located throughout the helmet. The foam sensor system proved to be accurate in measuring both the HIC and Gadd severity index, as well as peak acceleration while also providing additional details that were previously difficult to obtain, such as impact energy.

An Ambulatory System for Gait Monitoring Based on Wireless Sensorized Insoles

Science.gov (United States)

González, Iván; Fontecha, Jesús; Hervás, Ramón; Bravo, José

2015-01-01

A new gait phase detection system for continuous monitoring based on wireless sensorized insoles is presented. The system can be used in gait analysis mobile applications, and it is designed for real-time demarcation of gait phases. The system employs pressure sensors to assess the force exerted by each foot during walking. A fuzzy rule-based inference algorithm is implemented on a smartphone and used to detect each of the gait phases based on the sensor signals. Additionally, to provide a solution that is insensitive to perturbations caused by non-walking activities, a probabilistic classifier is employed to discriminate walking forward from other low-level activities, such as turning, walking backwards, lateral walking, etc. The combination of these two algorithms constitutes the first approach towards a continuous gait assessment system, by means of the avoidance of non-walking influences. PMID:26184199

An Ambulatory System for Gait Monitoring Based on Wireless Sensorized Insoles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iván González

2015-07-01

Full Text Available A new gait phase detection system for continuous monitoring based on wireless sensorized insoles is presented. The system can be used in gait analysis mobile applications, and it is designed for real-time demarcation of gait phases. The system employs pressure sensors to assess the force exerted by each foot during walking. A fuzzy rule-based inference algorithm is implemented on a smartphone and used to detect each of the gait phases based on the sensor signals. Additionally, to provide a solution that is insensitive to perturbations caused by non-walking activities, a probabilistic classifier is employed to discriminate walking forward from other low-level activities, such as turning, walking backwards, lateral walking, etc. The combination of these two algorithms constitutes the first approach towards a continuous gait assessment system, by means of the avoidance of non-walking influences.

Measurement system for special surface mapping using miniature displacement sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zowade Martyna

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the work was to design a special system for measurements of elements with repetitive geometry or assemblies with repeating components, set in a linear patterns. The main focus was based on developing a computer program for signal analysis from variable number of miniature displacement sensors. It was set that the response for displacement of measuring tip from each sensor was a 0-5 V voltage signal with possibility of using different type of sensors. Requirements were determined based on projected measurement method. A special design of sensor was made for testing the computer program. If the characteristics of the sensor is known, it is possible to compute the type A evaluation of uncertainty. The results are presented in XY chart on computer screen. The program allows the user to choose any number of the sensors and determine the distance between them. Also, the possibility of calibration of sensors’ set was provided. The test were conducted on a prototype handle for sensors, made on a 3D printer.

Sensor Systems Collect Critical Aerodynamics Data

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

With the support of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts with Dryden Flight Research Center, Tao of Systems Integration Inc. developed sensors and other components that will ultimately form a first-of-its-kind, closed-loop system for detecting, measuring, and controlling aerodynamic forces and moments in flight. The Hampton, Virginia-based company commercialized three of the four planned components, which provide sensing solutions for customers such as Boeing, General Electric, and BMW and are used for applications such as improving wind turbine operation and optimizing air flow from air conditioning systems. The completed system may one day enable flexible-wing aircraft with flight capabilities like those of birds.

SensorKit: A Flexible and Extensible System for In-Situ Data Acquisition

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, F.; Deschon, A.; Chang, J.; Westrich, S.; Cho, Y. H.; Gullapalli, S.; Benzel, T.; Graham, E. A.

2009-12-01

Over the years, sensor networks technology has evolved tremendously and has great potential in environmental sensing applications. However, because sensor networks are usually designed and built by computer scientists and engineers with little input from the scientific community, the resulting technology is often complex and out of reach for most field scientists. A few sensor, and data logger vendors have released data acquisition systems that can be used with their products. Unfortunately, these are generally vendor-specific, requiring scientists with heterogeneous sensors to use multiple systems to acquire data from all their sensors. A few, more generic systems, are compatible with multiple brands. However, these often offer only limited functionality, little flexibility, and no extensibility. We built SensorKit to overcome these limitations and to accelerate the adoption of sensor networks by field scientists. Using a simplicity-through-sophistication approach, we provide scientists with a powerful tool for field data collection. SensorKit is hardware agnostic, and was built using commercial off-the-shelf components. By employing a Linux-based ultra low-power generic embedded processing platform with a variety of dataloggers (including Berkeley motes, National Instruments' Compact RIOs, as well as legacy and newer PakBus-based Campbell data loggers), we support requirements from a large number of scientists. The user interfaces are designed to be intuitive so that most scientists can deploy, configure, and operate the system without extensive training. Working in close collaboration with field scientists allowed us to better understand scientific requirements and ensure system relevancy. The requirements for data acquisition, data storage, and data communication vary significantly for each deployment. Data acquisition needs to include capabilities for different analog, digital, and other complex sensors (e.g. cameras, and robotic sensors). Moreover, the

Disposable Multi-Sensor Unattended Ground Sensor Systems for Detecting Personnel (Systemes de detection multi-capteurs terrestres autonome destines a detecter du personnel)

Science.gov (United States)

2015-02-01

the set of DCT coefficients for all the training data corresponding to the people. Then, the matrix ][ pX can be written as: ][][][ −+ −= ppp XXX ...deployed on two types of ground conditions. This included ARL multi-modal sensors, video and acoustic sensors from the Universities of Memphis and...Mississippi, SASNet from Canada, video from Night Vision Laboratory and Pearls of Wisdom system from Israel operated in conjunction with ARL personnel. This

Ion mobility sensor system

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Jun; Watson, David B.; Whitten, William B.

2013-01-22

An ion mobility sensor system including an ion mobility spectrometer and a differential mobility spectrometer coupled to the ion mobility spectrometer. The ion mobility spectrometer has a first chamber having first end and a second end extending along a first direction, and a first electrode system that generates a constant electric field parallel to the first direction. The differential mobility spectrometer includes a second chamber having a third end and a fourth end configured such that a fluid may flow in a second direction from the third end to the fourth end, and a second electrode system that generates an asymmetric electric field within an interior of the second chamber. Additionally, the ion mobility spectrometer and the differential mobility spectrometer form an interface region. Also, the first end and the third end are positioned facing one another so that the constant electric field enters the third end and overlaps the fluid flowing in the second direction.

Design and implementation of smart sensor nodes for wireless disaster monitoring systems

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yih-Fan; Wu, Wen-Jong; Chen, Chun-Kuang; Wen, Chih-Min; Jin, Ming-Hui; Gau, Chung-Yun; Chang, Chih-Chie; Lee, Chih-Kung

2004-07-01

A newly developed smart sensor node that can monitor the safety of temporary structures such as scaffolds at construction sites is detailed in this paper. The design methodology and its trade-offs, as well as its influence on the optimization of sensor networks, is examined. The potential impact on civil engineering construction sites, environmental and natural disaster pre-warning issues, etc., all of which are foundations of smart sensor nodes and corresponding smart sensor networks, is also presented. To minimize the power requirements in order to achieve a true wireless system both in terms of signal and power, a sensor node was designed by adopting an 8051-based micro-controller, an ISM band RF transceiver, and an auto-balanced strain gage signal conditioner. With the built-in RF transceiver, all measurement data can be transmitted to a local control center for data integrity, security, central monitoring, and full-scale analysis. As a battery is the only well-established power source and there is a strong desire to eliminate the need to install bulky power lines, this system designed includes a battery-powered core with optimal power efficiency. To further extend the service life of the built-in power source, a power control algorithm has been embedded in the microcontroller of each sensor node. The entire system has been verified by experimental tests on full-scale scaffold monitoring. The results show that this system provides a practical method to monitor the structure safety in real time and possesses the potential of reducing maintenance costs significantly. The design of the sensor node, central control station, and the integration of several kinds of wireless communication protocol, all of which are successfully integrated to demonstrate the capabilities of this newly developed system, are detailed. Potential impact to the network topology is briefly examined as well.

Intelligence Control System for Landfills Based on Wireless Sensor Network

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Qian; Huang, Chuan; Gong, Jian

2018-06-01

This paper put forward an intelligence system for controlling the landfill gas in landfills to make the landfill gas (LFG) exhaust controllably and actively. The system, which is assigned by the wireless sensor network, were developed and supervised by remote applications in workshop instead of manual work. An automatic valve control depending on the sensor units embedded is installed in tube, the air pressure and concentration of LFG are detected to decide the level of the valve switch. The paper also proposed a modified algorithm to solve transmission problem, so that the system can keep a high efficiency and long service life.

Simultaneous Sensor and Process Fault Diagnostics for Propellant Feed System

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, J.; Kwan, C.; Figueroa, F.; Xu, R.

2006-01-01

The main objective of this research is to extract fault features from sensor faults and process faults by using advanced fault detection and isolation (FDI) algorithms. A tank system that has some common characteristics to a NASA testbed at Stennis Space Center was used to verify our proposed algorithms. First, a generic tank system was modeled. Second, a mathematical model suitable for FDI has been derived for the tank system. Third, a new and general FDI procedure has been designed to distinguish process faults and sensor faults. Extensive simulations clearly demonstrated the advantages of the new design.

Flood early warning system: sensors and internet

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pengel, B.E.; Krzhizhanovskaya, V.V.; Melnikova, N.B.; Shirshov, G.S.; Koelewijn, A.R.; Pyayt, A.L.; Mokhov, I.I.; Chavoshian, A.; Takeuchi, K.

2013-01-01

The UrbanFlood early warning system (EWS) is designed to monitor data from very large sensornetworks in flood defences such as embankments, dikes, levees, and dams. The EWS, based on the internet, uses real-time sensor information and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to immediately calculate the

Direction-sensitive smart monitoring of structures using heterogeneous smartphone sensor data and coordinate system transformation

Science.gov (United States)

Ozer, Ekin; Feng, Maria Q.

2017-04-01

Mobile, heterogeneous, and smart sensor networks produce pervasive structural health monitoring (SHM) information. With various embedded sensors, smartphones have emerged to innovate SHM by empowering citizens to serve as sensors. By default, smartphones meet the fundamental smart sensor criteria, thanks to the built-in processor, memory, wireless communication units and mobile operating system. SHM using smartphones, however, faces technical challenges due to citizen-induced uncertainties, undesired sensor-structure integration, and lack of control over the sensing platform. Previously, the authors presented successful applications of smartphone accelerometers for structural vibration measurement and proposed a monitoring framework under citizen-induced spatiotemporal uncertainties. This study aims at extending the capabilities of smartphone-based SHM with a special focus on the lack of control over the sensor (i.e., the phone) positioning by citizens resulting in unknown sensor orientations. Using smartphone gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer; instantaneous sensor orientation can be obtained with respect to gravitational and magnetic north directions. Using these sensor data, mobile operating system frameworks return processed features such as attitude and heading that can be used to correct misaligned sensor signals. For this purpose, a coordinate transformation procedure is proposed and illustrated on a two-story laboratory structural model and real-scale bridges with various sensor positioning examples. The proposed method corrects the sensor signals by tracking their orientations and improves measurement accuracy. Moreover, knowing structure’s coordinate system a priori, even the data from arbitrarily positioned sensors can automatically be transformed to the structural coordinates. In addition, this paper also touches some secondary mobile and heterogeneous data issues including imperfect sampling and geolocation services. The coordinate system

ALC Rooftop Sensor System

Science.gov (United States)

2017-10-31

Department of the Army position unless so designated by other authorized documents. Citation of manufacturer’s or trade names does not constitute an... Interior view of the new sensor box ...................................................... 3 Fig. 4 Interior of original sensor box...7 Fig. 10 Interior of fiber patch panel .................................................................. 7 Fig. 11

A framework for an on-line diagnostic expert system with intelligent sensor validation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Young Jin

1997-01-01

This paper outlines a framework for performing two different but inter-related functions in diagnosis, i.e. sensor validation and reasoning under uncertainty. Sensor validation plays a vital role in the ability of the overall system to correctly determine the state of a plant monitored by imperfect sensors (Sopocy, 1990). Two subsystems, Algorithmic(ASV) and Heuristic(HSV) Sensor Validation, separate activities according to the degree of plant knowledge required and represent Sensor Validation Expert System when combined. Uncertain information in sensory values is represented through probability assignments on three discrete states, High, Normal, and Low, and additional sensor confidence measures in ASV. HSV exploits deeper knowledge about parameter interaction within the plant to cull sensor faults from the data stream. Finally the modified probability distributions and validated data are used as input to the reasoning scheme which is the run-time version of the influence diagram. The influence diagram represents the backbone of reasoning under uncertainty in Influence Diagram Knowledge Base. (author)

Gait Dynamics Sensing Using IMU Sensor Array System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Slavomir Kardos

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article deals with a progressive approach in gait sensing. It is incorporated by IMU (Inertia Measurement Unit complex sensors whose field of acting is mainly the motion sensing in medicine, automotive and other industry, self-balancing systems, etc. They allow acquiring the position and orientation of an object in 3D space. Using several IMU units the sensing array for gait dynamics was made. Based on human gait analysis the 7-sensor array was designed to build a gait motion dynamics sensing system with the possibility of graphical interpretation of data from the sensing modules in real-time graphical application interface under the LabVIEW platform. The results of analyses can serve as the information for medical diagnostic purposes. The main control part of the system is microcontroller, whose function is to control the data collection and flow, provide the communication and power management.

Los Alamos energetic particle sensor systems at geostationary orbit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baker, D.N.; Aiello, W.; Asbridge, J.R.; Belian, R.D.; Higbie, P.R.; Klebesadel, R.W.; Laros, J.G.; Tech, E.R.

1985-01-01

The Los Alamos National Laboratory has provided energetic particle sensors for a variety of spacecraft at the geostationary orbit (36,000 km altitude). The sensor system called the Charged Particle Analyzer (CPA) consists of four separate subsystems. The LoE and HiE subsystems measure electrons in the energy ranges 30 to 300 keV and 200 to 2000 keV, respectively. The LoP and HiP subsystems measure ions in the ranges 100 to 600 keV and 0.40 to 150 MeV, respectively. A separate sensor system called the spectrometer for energetic electrons (SEE) measures very high-energy electrons (2 to 15 MeV) using advanced scintillator design. In this paper we describe the relationship of operational anomalies and spacecraft upsets to the directly measured energetic particle environments at 6.6 R/sub E/. We also compare and contrast the CPA and SEE instrument design characteristics with the next generation of Los Alamos instruments to be flown at geostationary altitudes

Remote Power Systems for Sensors on the Northern Border

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Simpson, Lin J [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Kandt, Alicen J [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-06-08

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is working with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) [1] to field sensors that accurately track different types of transportation across the northern border of the U.S.. To do this, the sensors require remote power so that they can be placed in the most advantageous geographical locations, often where no grid power is available. This enables the sensors to detect and track aircraft/vehicles despite natural features (e.g., mountains, ridges, valleys, trees) that often prevent standard methods (e.g., monostatic radar or visual observers) from detecting them. Without grid power, portable power systems were used to provide between 80 and 300 W continuously, even in bitter cold and when buried under feet of snow/ice. NREL provides details about the design, installation, and lessons learned from long-term deployment of a second-generation of novel power systems that used adjustable-angle photovoltaics (PV), lithium ion batteries, and fuel cells that provide power to achieve 100% up-time.

Wearable flex sensor system for multiple badminton player grip identification

Science.gov (United States)

Jacob, Alvin; Zakaria, Wan Nurshazwani Wan; Tomari, Mohd Razali Bin Md; Sek, Tee Kian; Suberi, Anis Azwani Muhd

2017-09-01

This paper focuses on the development of a wearable sensor system to identify the different types of badminton grip that is used by a player during training. Badminton movements and strokes are fast and dynamic, where most of the involved movement are difficult to identify with the naked eye. Also, the usage of high processing optometric motion capture system is expensive and causes computational burden. Therefore, this paper suggests the development of a sensorized glove using flex sensor to measure a badminton player's finger flexion angle. The proposed Hand Monitoring Module (HMM) is connected to a personal computer through Bluetooth to enable wireless data transmission. The usability and feasibility of the HMM to identify different grip types were examined through a series of experiments, where the system exhibited 70% detection ability for the five different grip type. The outcome plays a major role in training players to use the proper grips for a badminton stroke to achieve a more powerful and accurate stroke execution.

An Accelerometer-Based Sensor System for Real-Time Bridge Scour Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi-Jie Hsieh

2015-11-01

Full Text Available With the fast global climate change, many bridge structures are facing the nature disasters such as earthquakes and floods. The damage of bridges can cause the severe cost of human life and property. The heavy rain brought by the typhoon in July and August in Taiwan causes the bridge scour and makes the damage or collapse for bridges. Since scour is one of the major causes for bridge failure, how to monitor the bridge scour becomes an important task in Taiwan. This paper presents a real-time bridge scour monitoring system based on accelerometer sensors. The presented sensor network consists of a gateway node and under-water sensor nodes with the wired RS-485 communication protocol. The proposed master-slave architecture of the bridge scour monitoring system owns the scalability and flexibility and is setup in the field currently. The experimental results in the field show the presented sensor system can detect the bridge scour effectively with our proposed scour detection algorithm in real time.

Low Power Consumption Wireless Sensor Communication System Integrated with an Energy Harvesting Power Source

OpenAIRE

Vlad MARSIC; Alessandro GIULIANO; Meiling ZHU

2013-01-01

This paper presents the testing results of a wireless sensor communication system with low power consumption integrated with an energy harvesting power source. The experiments focus on the system’s capability to perform continuous monitoring and to wirelessly transmit the data acquired from the sensors to a user base station, for realization of completely battery-free wireless sensor system. Energy harvesting technologies together with system design optimization for power consumption minimiza...

Feasibility of an ingestible sensor-based system for monitoring adherence to tuberculosis therapy.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Belknap

Full Text Available Poor adherence to tuberculosis (TB treatment hinders the individual's recovery and threatens public health. Currently, directly observed therapy (DOT is the standard of care; however, high sustaining costs limit its availability, creating a need for more practical adherence confirmation methods. Techniques such as video monitoring and devices to time-register the opening of pill bottles are unable to confirm actual medication ingestions. A novel approach developed by Proteus Digital Health, Inc. consists of an ingestible sensor and an on-body wearable sensor; together, they electronically confirm unique ingestions and record the date/time of the ingestion. A feasibility study using an early prototype was conducted in active TB patients to determine the system's accuracy and safety in confirming co-ingestion of TB medications with sensors. Thirty patients completed 10 DOT visits and 1,080 co-ingestion events; the system showed 95.0% (95% CI 93.5-96.2% positive detection accuracy, defined as the number of detected sensors divided by the number of transmission capable sensors administered. The specificity was 99.7% [95% CI 99.2-99.9%] based on three false signals recorded by receivers. The system's identification accuracy, defined as the number of correctly identified ingestible sensors divided by the number of sensors detected, was 100%. Of 11 adverse events, four were deemed related or possibly related to the device; three mild skin rashes and one complaint of nausea. The system's positive detection accuracy was not affected by the subjects' Body Mass Index (p = 0.7309. Study results suggest the system is capable of correctly identifying ingestible sensors with high accuracy, poses a low risk to users, and may have high patient acceptance. The system has the potential to confirm medication specific treatment compliance on a dose-by-dose basis. When coupled with mobile technology, the system could allow wirelessly observed therapy (WOT for

Development of chipless, wireless current sensor system based on giant magnetoimpedance magnetic sensor and surface acoustic wave transponder.

Science.gov (United States)

Kondalkar, Vijay V; Li, Xiang; Park, Ikmo; Yang, Sang Sik; Lee, Keekeun

2018-02-05

A chipless, wireless current sensor system was developed using a giant magnetoimpedance (GMI) magnetic sensor and one-port surface acoustic wave (SAW) reflective delay line for real-time power monitoring in a current-carrying conductor. The GMI sensor has a high-quality crystalline structure in each layer, which contributes to a high sensitivity and good linearity in a magnetic field of 3-16 Oe. A 400 MHz RF energy generated from the interdigital transducer (IDT)-type reflector on the one-port SAW delay line was used as an activation source for the GMI magnetic sensor. The one-port SAW delay line replaces the presently existing transceiver system, which is composed of thousands of transistors, thus enabling chipless and wireless operation. We confirmed a large variation in the amplitude of the SAW reflection peak with a change in the impedance of the GMI sensor caused by the current flow through the conductor. Good linearity and sensitivity of ~0.691 dB/A were observed for currents in the range 1-12 A. Coupling of Mode (COM) modeling and impedance matching analysis were also performed to predict the device performance in advance and these were compared with the experimental results.

A multimodal image sensor system for identifying water stress in grapevines

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Yong; Zhang, Qin; Li, Minzan; Shao, Yongni; Zhou, Jianfeng; Sun, Hong

2012-11-01

Water stress is one of the most common limitations of fruit growth. Water is the most limiting resource for crop growth. In grapevines, as well as in other fruit crops, fruit quality benefits from a certain level of water deficit which facilitates to balance vegetative and reproductive growth and the flow of carbohydrates to reproductive structures. A multi-modal sensor system was designed to measure the reflectance signature of grape plant surfaces and identify different water stress levels in this paper. The multi-modal sensor system was equipped with one 3CCD camera (three channels in R, G, and IR). The multi-modal sensor can capture and analyze grape canopy from its reflectance features, and identify the different water stress levels. This research aims at solving the aforementioned problems. The core technology of this multi-modal sensor system could further be used as a decision support system that combines multi-modal sensory data to improve plant stress detection and identify the causes of stress. The images were taken by multi-modal sensor which could output images in spectral bands of near-infrared, green and red channel. Based on the analysis of the acquired images, color features based on color space and reflectance features based on image process method were calculated. The results showed that these parameters had the potential as water stress indicators. More experiments and analysis are needed to validate the conclusion.

Activity Recognition Invariant to Sensor Orientation with Wearable Motion Sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Yurtman, Aras; Barshan, Billur

2017-08-09

Most activity recognition studies that employ wearable sensors assume that the sensors are attached at pre-determined positions and orientations that do not change over time. Since this is not the case in practice, it is of interest to develop wearable systems that operate invariantly to sensor position and orientation. We focus on invariance to sensor orientation and develop two alternative transformations to remove the effect of absolute sensor orientation from the raw sensor data. We test the proposed methodology in activity recognition with four state-of-the-art classifiers using five publicly available datasets containing various types of human activities acquired by different sensor configurations. While the ordinary activity recognition system cannot handle incorrectly oriented sensors, the proposed transformations allow the sensors to be worn at any orientation at a given position on the body, and achieve nearly the same activity recognition performance as the ordinary system for which the sensor units are not rotatable. The proposed techniques can be applied to existing wearable systems without much effort, by simply transforming the time-domain sensor data at the pre-processing stage.

Everything is Data - Overview of Modular System of Sensors for Museum Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Valach, J.; Juliš, K.; Štefcová, P.; Pech, M.; Wolf, B.; Kotyk, M.; Frankl, J.

2015-08-01

The main aim of project nearing completion was to develop a modular and scalable system of sensors for monitoring of internal environment of museum exhibitions and depositories. The sensors vary according to parameters being monitored and at the same time also according to required energy autonomy, processing capability and bandwidth requirements. Sensors developed can be divided into three groups: environmental sensors, biosensors and sensors of vibrations. Data acquired by the sensors are archived and stored in open format. Metadata stored alongside true numerical data from measurement, represent assurance of future computer readability in data mining application. Long continuous series of data can provide sufficient data for acquisition of dose-response function.

Performance of the ALIBAVA portable readout system with irradiated and non-irradiated microstrip silicon sensors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marco-Hernadez, R.

2009-01-01

A readout system for microstrip silicon sensors has been developed as a result of collaboration among the University of Liverpool, the CNM of Barcelona and the IFIC of Valencia. The name of this collaboration is ALIBAVA and it is integrated in the RD50 Collaboration. This system is able to measure the collected charge in one or two microstrip silicon sensors by reading out all the channels of the sensor(s), up to 256, as an analogue measurement. The system uses two Beetle chips to read out the detector(s). The Beetle chip is an analogue pipelined readout chip used in the LHCb experiment. The system can operate either with non-irradiated and irradiated sensors as well as with n-type and p-type microstrip silicon sensors. Heavily irradiated sensors will be used at the SLHC, so this system is being to research the performance of microstrip silicon sensors in conditions as similar as possible to the SLHC operating conditions. The system has two main parts: a hardware part and a software part. The hardware part acquires the sensor signals either from external trigger inputs, in case of a radioactive source setup is used, or from a synchronised trigger output generated by the system, if a laser setup is used. This acquired data is sent by USB to be stored in a PC for a further processing. The hardware is a dual board based system. The daughterboard is a small board intended for containing two Beetle readout chips as well as fan-ins and detector support to interface the sensors. The motherboard is intended to process the data, to control the whole hardware and to communicate with the software by USB. The software controls the system and processes the data acquired from the sensors in order to store it in an adequate format file. The main characteristics of the system will be described. Results of measurements acquired with n-type and p-type irradiated and non-irradiated detectors using both the laser and the radioactive source setup will be also presented and discussed

MEGAS multi-electrode gas sensor system. Final report; MEGAS - Multi-Elektroden-Gassensorsystem. Abschlussbericht

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kelleter, J.

2003-07-01

In the context of the MEGAS project, GTE developed and and constructed an electronic system for controlling and data acquisition of sensors for laboratory and test applications. The system is based on microcontrollers and has a data bus connection. Measurements made in order to find out whether the concentrations of a binary gas mixture and combustion gases are detected separately were successful. A demonstration system was constructed. The MEGAS project showed that it is possible to separate two gases by a sensitive layer at constant sensor temperature. The sensor element is a promising technology. Further research is required on suppressing sensor poisoning by siloxanes, and on reduced sensitivity to interfering gases (e.g. ethanol in the case of combustion gases). (orig.)

EMI free fiber optic strain sensor system for TFTR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Szuchy, N.C.; Caserta, A.L.; Ferrara, A.A.; Squires, R.W.; Sredniawski, J.J.

1983-01-01

In certain applications, structural components are subjected to loadings in high electromagnetic interference (EMI) environments. The mechanical responses of these components must be monitored under rapidly varying electromagnetic fields. A Fiber Optic Strain Sensor System (FOSSS) is an acceptable solution since it is immune to EMI. Grumman Aerospace Corporation initiated the development of a FOSSS that can be used in high EMI situations where resistive/electronic-based strain measurement systems would not be effective, such as on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) during plasma disruption. Tests have indicated that because of their increased sensitivity due to the size of the fiber optic (FO) transducer (1-in. 2 ) and responsiveness due to the areal changes of the FO sensor, the strain tracking capability of FO sensors are excellent. For the TFTR application a jacketed 400-micron fiber capable of operating in a 250 0 C temperature environment was used. Continuous 30 foot lengths of high-temperature FO cables were affixed to 304 LN SS tabs, forming an integrated strain sensor and pigtail unit. By fusion splicing 400-micron room temperature fibers to the pigtails, the required runs (approximately 200 feet) to the TFTR data acquisition room were made with minimum coupling attenuation. Development methodology is discussed and test data presented

Monitoring System for Slope Stability under Rainfall by using MEMS Acceleration Sensor IC tags

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murakami, S; Dairaku, A; Komine, H; Saito, O; Sakai, N; Isizawa, T; Maruyama, I

2013-01-01

Real-time warning system for slope failure under rainfall is available to disaster prevention and mitigation. Monitoring of multi-point and wireless measurements is effective because it is difficult to conclude the most dangerous part in a slope. The purpose of this study is to propose a method of monitoring system with multi-point and wireless measurements for a slope stability using MEMS acceleration sensor IC tags. MEMS acceleration sensor IC tag is an acceleration sensor microminiaturized by a technology of Micro Electro Mechanical Systems on board IC tag. Especially, low cost of the sensor will yield to the realization of the system. In order to investigate the applicability of the proposed system, a large-scale model test of artificial slope subjected to rainfall has been performed. MEMS acceleration sensor IC tags has been located on the slope and ground acceleration caused by forced vibration has been measured until the model slope collapses. The experimental results show that the MEMS acceleration sensor IC tag is comfortably available under rainfall, the characteristics of ground accelerations varies with changing the condition of the slope subjected to rainfall, and the proposed method can be applied to a real-time monitoring system for slope failure under rainfall.

Increased Efficiency of Face Recognition System using Wireless Sensor Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rajani Muraleedharan

2006-02-01

Full Text Available This research was inspired by the need of a flexible and cost effective biometric security system. The flexibility of the wireless sensor network makes it a natural choice for data transmission. Swarm intelligence (SI is used to optimize routing in distributed time varying network. In this paper, SI maintains the required bit error rate (BER for varied channel conditions while consuming minimal energy. A specific biometric, the face recognition system, is discussed as an example. Simulation shows that the wireless sensor network is efficient in energy consumption while keeping the transmission accuracy, and the wireless face recognition system is competitive to the traditional wired face recognition system in classification accuracy.

Systems and Methods for Automated Water Detection Using Visible Sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Rankin, Arturo L. (Inventor); Matthies, Larry H. (Inventor); Bellutta, Paolo (Inventor)

2016-01-01

Systems and methods are disclosed that include automated machine vision that can utilize images of scenes captured by a 3D imaging system configured to image light within the visible light spectrum to detect water. One embodiment includes autonomously detecting water bodies within a scene including capturing at least one 3D image of a scene using a sensor system configured to detect visible light and to measure distance from points within the scene to the sensor system, and detecting water within the scene using a processor configured to detect regions within each of the at least one 3D images that possess at least one characteristic indicative of the presence of water.

Cyber-physical system design with sensor networking technologies

CERN Document Server

Zeadally, Sherali

2016-01-01

This book describes how wireless sensor networking technologies can help in establishing and maintaining seamless communications between the physical and cyber systems to enable efficient, secure, reliable acquisition, management, and routing of data.

Low-cost failure sensor design and development for water pipeline distribution systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, K; Widdop, P D; Day, A J; Wood, A S; Mounce, S R; Machell, J

2002-01-01

This paper describes the design and development of a new sensor which is low cost to manufacture and install and is reliable in operation with sufficient accuracy, resolution and repeatability for use in newly developed systems for pipeline monitoring and leakage detection. To provide an appropriate signal, the concept of a "failure" sensor is introduced, in which the output is not necessarily proportional to the input, but is unmistakably affected when an unusual event occurs. The design of this failure sensor is based on the water opacity which can be indicative of an unusual event in a water distribution network. The laboratory work and field trials necessary to design and prove out this type of failure sensor are described here. It is concluded that a low-cost failure sensor of this type has good potential for use in a comprehensive water monitoring and management system based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANN).

Fault-tolerant cooperative output regulation for multi-vehicle systems with sensor faults

Science.gov (United States)

Qin, Liguo; He, Xiao; Zhou, D. H.

2017-10-01

This paper presents a unified framework of fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant cooperative output regulation (FTCOR) for a linear discrete-time multi-vehicle system with sensor faults. The FTCOR control law is designed through three steps. A cooperative output regulation (COR) controller is designed based on the internal mode principle when there are no sensor faults. A sufficient condition on the existence of the COR controller is given based on the discrete-time algebraic Riccati equation (DARE). Then, a decentralised fault diagnosis scheme is designed to cope with sensor faults occurring in followers. A residual generator is developed to detect sensor faults of each follower, and a bank of fault-matching estimators are proposed to isolate and estimate sensor faults of each follower. Unlike the current distributed fault diagnosis for multi-vehicle systems, the presented decentralised fault diagnosis scheme in each vehicle reduces the communication and computation load by only using the information of the vehicle. By combing the sensor fault estimation and the COR control law, an FTCOR controller is proposed. Finally, the simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the FTCOR controller.

Integrated cable vibration control system using wireless sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Jeong, Seunghoo; Cho, Soojin; Sim, Sung-Han

2017-04-01

As the number of long-span bridges is increasing worldwide, maintaining their structural integrity and safety become an important issue. Because the stay cable is a critical member in most long-span bridges and vulnerable to wind-induced vibrations, vibration mitigation has been of interest both in academia and practice. While active and semi-active control schemes are known to be quite effective in vibration reduction compared to the passive control, requirements for equipment including data acquisition, control devices, and power supply prevent a widespread adoption in real-world applications. This study develops an integrated system for vibration control of stay-cables using wireless sensors implementing a semi-active control. Arduino, a low-cost single board system, is employed with a MEMS digital accelerometer and a Zigbee wireless communication module to build the wireless sensor. The magneto-rheological (MR) damper is selected as a damping device, controlled by an optimal control algorithm implemented on the Arduino sensing system. The developed integrated system is tested in a laboratory environment using a cable to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system on vibration reduction. The proposed system is shown to reduce the vibration of stay-cables with low operating power effectively.

Self-Test Procedures for Gas Sensors Embedded in Microreactor Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Helwig, Andreas; Hackner, Angelika; Zappa, Dario; Sberveglieri, Giorgio

2018-01-01

Metal oxide (MOX) gas sensors sensitively respond to a wide variety of combustible, explosive and poisonous gases. However, due to the lack of a built-in self-test capability, MOX gas sensors have not yet been able to penetrate safety-critical applications. In the present work we report on gas sensing experiments performed on MOX gas sensors embedded in ceramic micro-reaction chambers. With the help of an external micro-pump, such systems can be operated in a periodic manner alternating between flow and no-flow conditions, thus allowing repetitive measurements of the sensor resistances under clean air, R0, and under gas exposure, Rgas, to be obtained, even under field conditions. With these pairs of resistance values, eventual drifts in the sensor baseline resistance can be detected and drift-corrected values of the relative resistance response Resp=(R0−Rgas)/R0 can be determined. Residual poisoning-induced changes in the relative resistance response can be detected by reference to humidity measurements taken with room-temperature-operated capacitive humidity sensors which are insensitive to the poisoning processes operative on heated MOX gas sensors. PMID:29401673

Self-Test Procedures for Gas Sensors Embedded in Microreactor Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Helwig, Andreas; Hackner, Angelika; Müller, Gerhard; Zappa, Dario; Sberveglieri, Giorgio

2018-02-03

Metal oxide (MOX) gas sensors sensitively respond to a wide variety of combustible, explosive and poisonous gases. However, due to the lack of a built-in self-test capability, MOX gas sensors have not yet been able to penetrate safety-critical applications. In the present work we report on gas sensing experiments performed on MOX gas sensors embedded in ceramic micro-reaction chambers. With the help of an external micro-pump, such systems can be operated in a periodic manner alternating between flow and no-flow conditions, thus allowing repetitive measurements of the sensor resistances under clean air, R 0 , and under gas exposure, R g a s , to be obtained, even under field conditions. With these pairs of resistance values, eventual drifts in the sensor baseline resistance can be detected and drift-corrected values of the relative resistance response R e s p = ( R 0 - R g a s ) / R 0 can be determined. Residual poisoning-induced changes in the relative resistance response can be detected by reference to humidity measurements taken with room-temperature-operated capacitive humidity sensors which are insensitive to the poisoning processes operative on heated MOX gas sensors.

Mobile Sensor Networks for Leak and Backflow Detection in Water Distribution Systems

KAUST Repository

Suresh, M. Agumbe; Smith, L.; Rasekh, A.; Stoleru, R.; Banks, M.K.; Shihada, Basem

2014-01-01

Leak and backflow detection are essential aspects of Water Distribution System (WDS) monitoring. Most existing solutions for leak/backflow detection in WDSs focus on the placement of expensive static sensors located strategically. In contrast to these, we propose a solution whereby mobile sensors (i.e., their movement aided only by the inherent water flow in the system) detect leaks/backflow. Information about the leaks/backflow is collected from the sensors either by physically capturing them, or through wireless communication. Specifically, we propose models to maximize leak/backflow detection given a cost constraint (a limit on the number of sensors). Through extensive simulations, we demonstrate the superior performance of our proposed solution when compared with the state of the art solutions (e.g., algorithms/protocols and analysis).

Mobile Sensor Networks for Leak and Backflow Detection in Water Distribution Systems

KAUST Repository

Suresh, M. Agumbe

2014-05-01

Leak and backflow detection are essential aspects of Water Distribution System (WDS) monitoring. Most existing solutions for leak/backflow detection in WDSs focus on the placement of expensive static sensors located strategically. In contrast to these, we propose a solution whereby mobile sensors (i.e., their movement aided only by the inherent water flow in the system) detect leaks/backflow. Information about the leaks/backflow is collected from the sensors either by physically capturing them, or through wireless communication. Specifically, we propose models to maximize leak/backflow detection given a cost constraint (a limit on the number of sensors). Through extensive simulations, we demonstrate the superior performance of our proposed solution when compared with the state of the art solutions (e.g., algorithms/protocols and analysis).

Phosphatase activity tunes two-component system sensor detection threshold.

Science.gov (United States)

Landry, Brian P; Palanki, Rohan; Dyulgyarov, Nikola; Hartsough, Lucas A; Tabor, Jeffrey J

2018-04-12

Two-component systems (TCSs) are the largest family of multi-step signal transduction pathways in biology, and a major source of sensors for biotechnology. However, the input concentrations to which biosensors respond are often mismatched with application requirements. Here, we utilize a mathematical model to show that TCS detection thresholds increase with the phosphatase activity of the sensor histidine kinase. We experimentally validate this result in engineered Bacillus subtilis nitrate and E. coli aspartate TCS sensors by tuning their detection threshold up to two orders of magnitude. We go on to apply our TCS tuning method to recently described tetrathionate and thiosulfate sensors by mutating a widely conserved residue previously shown to impact phosphatase activity. Finally, we apply TCS tuning to engineer B. subtilis to sense and report a wide range of fertilizer concentrations in soil. This work will enable the engineering of tailor-made biosensors for diverse synthetic biology applications.

Adaptive Home System Using Wireless Sensor Network And Multi Agent System

OpenAIRE

Jayarani Kamble; Prof.Nandini Dhole

2014-01-01

Smart Home is an emerging technology growing continuously which includes number of new technologies which helps to improve human’s quality of living. This paper proposes an adaptive home system for optimum utilization of power, through Artificial Intelligence and Wireless Sensor network. Artificial Intelligence is a technology for developing adaptive system that can perceive the enviornmrnt, learn from the environment and can make decision using Rule based system.Zigbee is a w...

Design of a Child Localization System on RFID and Wireless Sensor Networks

OpenAIRE

Chen, Chao

2010-01-01

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and wireless sensor networks are wireless technologies that rapidly emerge and show great potential. Combining RFID and wireless sensor networks provides a cost-efficient way to expand the RFID system's range and to enable an RFID system in areas without a network infrastructure. These two technologies are employed to build a wireless localization system in a children's theme park. The main purpose of this child localization system is to track and locate ...