Sensors, Volume 12, Issue 1 (January 2012) – 60 articles , Pages 1-1129

The following paper “Juan V. Capella, Alberto Bonastre, Miguel Peris and Rafael Ors. Distributed In-Line Analysis of Water Pollution in a Spanish Lake. Sensors 2012, 12, 878-894” has been withdrawn at the request of the authors before the issue release of Sensors Volume 12, Issue 1. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Full article

Since 2011, Sensors has been instituting an annual award to recognize outstanding papers that are related to sensing technologies and applications and meet the aims, scope and high standards of this journal [1]. To improve the timeliness of the award, we have decided that starting from next year, only papers published in the preceding three years will be eligible for the competition. [...] Full article

Obtaining precise attitude information is essential for aircraft navigation and control. This paper presents the results of the attitude determination using an in-house designed low-cost MEMS-based flight information measurement unit. This study proposes a quaternion-based extended Kalman filter to integrate the traditional quaternion and gravitational force decomposition methods for attitude determination algorithm. The proposed extended Kalman filter utilizes the evolution of the four elements in the quaternion method for attitude determination as the dynamic model, with the four elements as the states of the filter. The attitude angles obtained from the gravity computations and from the electronic magnetic sensors are regarded as the measurement of the filter. The immeasurable gravity accelerations are deduced from the outputs of the three axes accelerometers, the relative accelerations, and the accelerations due to body rotation. The constraint of the four elements of the quaternion method is treated as a perfect measurement and is integrated into the filter computation. Approximations of the time-varying noise variances of the measured signals are discussed and presented with details through Taylor series expansions. The algorithm is intuitive, easy to implement, and reliable for long-term high dynamic maneuvers. Moreover, a set of flight test data is utilized to demonstrate the success and practicality of the proposed algorithm and the filter design. Full article

Installation of a Wireless and Powerless Sensing Node (WPSN) inside a spindle enables the direct transmission of monitoring signals through a metal case of a certain thickness instead of the traditional method of using connecting cables. Thus, the node can be conveniently installed inside motors to measure various operational parameters. This study extends this earlier finding by applying this advantage to the monitoring of spindle systems. After over 2 years of system observation and optimization, the system has been verified to be superior to traditional methods. The innovation of fault diagnosis in this study includes the unmatched assembly dimensions of the spindle system, the unbalanced system, and bearing damage. The results of the experiment demonstrate that the WPSN provides a desirable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in all three of the simulated faults, with the difference of SNR reaching a maximum of 8.6 dB. Following multiple repetitions of the three experiment types, 80% of the faults were diagnosed when the spindle revolved at 4,000 rpm, significantly higher than the 30% fault recognition rate of traditional methods. The experimental results of monitoring of the spindle production line indicated that monitoring using the WPSN encounters less interference from noise compared to that of traditional methods. Therefore, this study has successfully developed a prototype concept into a well-developed monitoring system, and the monitoring can be implemented in a spindle production line or real-time monitoring of machine tools. Full article

This paper addresses the challenging problem of ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation (NDE) imaging with adaptive transducer arrays. In NDE applications, most materials like concrete, stainless steel and carbon-reinforced composites used extensively in industries and civil engineering exhibit heterogeneous internal structure. When inspected using ultrasound, the signals from defects are significantly corrupted by the echoes form randomly distributed scatterers, even defects that are much larger than these random reflectors are difficult to detect with the conventional delay-and-sum operation. We propose to apply adaptive beamforming to the received data samples to reduce the interference and clutter noise. Beamforming is to manipulate the array beam pattern by appropriately weighting the per-element delayed data samples prior to summing them. The adaptive weights are computed from the statistical analysis of the data samples. This delay-weight-and-sum process can be explained as applying a lateral spatial filter to the signals across the probe aperture. Simulations show that the clutter noise is reduced by more than 30 dB and the lateral resolution is enhanced simultaneously when adaptive beamforming is applied. In experiments inspecting a steel block with side-drilled holes, good quantitative agreement with simulation results is demonstrated. Full article

In this work, we present an energy efficient hierarchical cooperative clustering scheme for wireless sensor networks. Communication cost is a crucial factor in depleting the energy of sensor nodes. In the proposed scheme, nodes cooperate to form clusters at each level of network hierarchy ensuring maximal coverage and minimal energy expenditure with relatively uniform distribution of load within the network. Performance is enhanced by cooperative multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication ensuring energy efficiency for WSN deployments over large geographical areas. We test our scheme using TOSSIM and compare the proposed scheme with cooperative multiple-input multiple-output (CMIMO) clustering scheme and traditional multihop Single-Input-Single-Output (SISO) routing approach. Performance is evaluated on the basis of number of clusters, number of hops, energy consumption and network lifetime. Experimental results show significant energy conservation and increase in network lifetime as compared to existing schemes. Full article

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. Full article

This paper summarises the results of voltammetric studies on the herbicide 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1-methoxy-1-methylurea (Linuron), using a carbon paste electrode containing tricresyl phosphate (TCP-CPE) as liquid binder. The principal experimental conditions, such as the pH effect, investigated in Britton-Robinson buffer solutions (pH 2.0–7.0), the peak characteristics for the analyte of interest, or instrumental parameters for the differential pulse voltammetric mode were optimized for the method. As found out, the best electroanalytical performance of the TCP-CPE was achieved at pH 2.0, whereby the oxidation peak of Linuron appeared at ca. +1.3 V vs. SCE. The analytical procedure developed offers good linearity in the concentration range of 1.25–44.20 μg mL⁻¹ (1.77 × 10⁻⁴–5.05 × 10⁻⁶ mol L⁻¹), showing - for the first time - the applicability of the TCP-CPE for anodic oxidations in direct voltammetry (without accumulation). The method was then verified by determining Linuron in a spiked river water sample and a commercial formulation and the results obtained agreed well with those obtained by the reference HPLC/UV determination. Full article

A hyperspectral imaging system to measure and analyze the reflectance spectra of the human tongue with high spatial resolution is proposed for tongue tumor detection. To achieve fast and accurate performance for detecting tongue tumors, reflectance data were collected using spectral acousto-optic tunable filters and a spectral adapter, and sparse representation was used for the data analysis algorithm. Based on the tumor image database, a recognition rate of 96.5% was achieved. The experimental results show that hyperspectral imaging for tongue tumor diagnosis, together with the spectroscopic classification method provide a new approach for the noninvasive computer-aided diagnosis of tongue tumors. Full article

A hybrid atomic force microscopic (AFM) measurement system combined with white light scanning interferometry for micro/nanometer dimensional measurement is developed. The system is based on a high precision large-range positioning platform with nanometer accuracy on which a white light scanning interferometric module and an AFM head are built. A compact AFM head is developed using a self-sensing tuning fork probe. The head need no external optical sensors to detect the deflection of the cantilever, which saves room on the head, and it can be directly fixed under an optical microscopic interferometric system. To enhance the system’s dynamic response, the frequency modulation (FM) mode is adopted for the AFM head. The measuring data can be traceable through three laser interferometers in the system. The lateral scanning range can reach 25 mm × 25 mm by using a large-range positioning platform. A hybrid method combining AFM and white light scanning interferometry is proposed to improve the AFM measurement efficiency. In this method, the sample is measured firstly by white light scanning interferometry to get an overall coarse morphology, and then, further measured with higher resolution by AFM. Several measuring experiments on standard samples demonstrate the system’s good measurement performance and feasibility of the hybrid measurement method. Full article

In light of the problems of low recognition efficiency, high false rates and poor localization accuracy in traditional pipeline security detection technology, this paper proposes a type of hierarchical leak detection and localization method for use in natural gas pipeline monitoring sensor networks. In the signal preprocessing phase, original monitoring signals are dealt with by wavelet transform technology to extract the single mode signals as well as characteristic parameters. In the initial recognition phase, a multi-classifier model based on SVM is constructed and characteristic parameters are sent as input vectors to the multi-classifier for initial recognition. In the final decision phase, an improved evidence combination rule is designed to integrate initial recognition results for final decisions. Furthermore, a weighted average localization algorithm based on time difference of arrival is introduced for determining the leak point’s position. Experimental results illustrate that this hierarchical pipeline leak detection and localization method could effectively improve the accuracy of the leak point localization and reduce the undetected rate as well as false alarm rate. Full article

Restoration of walking ability of Spinal Cord Injury subjects can be achieved by different approaches, as the use of robotic exoskeletons or electrical stimulation of the user’s muscles. The combined (hybrid) approach has the potential to provide a solution to the drawback of each approach. Specific challenges must be addressed with specific sensory systems and control strategies. In this paper we present a system and a procedure to estimate muscle fatigue from online physical interaction assessment to provide hybrid control of walking, regarding the performances of the muscles under stimulation. Full article

A 1.1 µW power dissipation, voltage-output humidity sensor with 10% relative humidity accuracy was developed in the LFoundry 0.15 µm CMOS technology without post-processing. The sensor consists of a woven lateral array of electrodes implemented in CMOS top metal, a humidity-sensitive layer of Intervia Photodielectric 8023D-10, a CMOS capacitance to voltage converter, and the self-calibration circuitry. Full article

Deep displacement observation is one basic means of landslide dynamic study and early warning monitoring and a key part of engineering geological investigation. In our previous work, we proposed a novel electromagnetic induction-based deep displacement sensor (I-type) to predict deep horizontal displacement and a theoretical model called equation-based equivalent loop approach (EELA) to describe its sensing characters. However in many landslide and related geological engineering cases, both horizontal displacement and vertical displacement vary apparently and dynamically so both may require monitoring. In this study, a II-type deep displacement sensor is designed by revising our I-type sensor to simultaneously monitor the deep horizontal displacement and vertical displacement variations at different depths within a sliding mass. Meanwhile, a new theoretical modeling called the numerical integration-based equivalent loop approach (NIELA) has been proposed to quantitatively depict II-type sensors’ mutual inductance properties with respect to predicted horizontal displacements and vertical displacements. After detailed examinations and comparative studies between measured mutual inductance voltage, NIELA-based mutual inductance and EELA-based mutual inductance, NIELA has verified to be an effective and quite accurate analytic model for characterization of II-type sensors. The NIELA model is widely applicable for II-type sensors’ monitoring on all kinds of landslides and other related geohazards with satisfactory estimation accuracy and calculation efficiency. Full article

We report a method for building a simple and reproducible electronic nose based on commercially available metal oxide sensors (MOS) to monitor the freshness of hairtail fish and pork stored at 15, 10, and 5 °C. After assembly in the laboratory, the proposed product was tested by a manufacturer. Sample delivery was based on the dynamic headspace method, and two features were extracted from the transient response of each sensor using an unsupervised principal component analysis (PCA) method. The compensation method and pattern recognition based on PCA are discussed in the current paper. PCA compensation can be used for all storage temperatures, however, pattern recognition differs according to storage conditions. Total volatile basic nitrogen (TVBN) and aerobic bacterial counts of the samples were measured simultaneously with the standard indicators of hairtail fish and pork freshness. The PCA models based on TVBN and aerobic bacterial counts were used to classify hairtail fish samples as “fresh” (TVBN ≤ 25 g and microbial counts ≤ 10⁶ cfu/g) or “spoiled” (TVBN ≥ 25 g and microbial counts ≥ 10⁶ cfu/g) and pork samples also as “fresh” (TVBN ≤ 15 g and microbial counts ≤ 10⁶ cfu/g) or “spoiled” (TVBN ≥ 15 g and microbial counts ≥ 10⁶ cfu/g). Good correlation coefficients between the responses of the electronic nose and the TVBN and aerobic bacterial counts of the samples were obtained. For hairtail fish, correlation coefficients were 0.97 and 0.91, and for pork, correlation coefficients were 0.81 and 0.88, respectively. Through laboratory simulation and field application, we were able to determine that the electronic nose could help ensure the shelf life of hairtail fish and pork, especially when an instrument is needed to take measurements rapidly. The results also showed that the electronic nose could analyze the process and level of spoilage for hairtail fish and pork. Full article

One of the greatest difficulties in stereo vision is the appearance of ambiguities when matching similar points from different images. In this article we analyze the effectiveness of using a fusion of multiple baselines and a range finder from a theoretical point of view, focusing on the results of using both prismatic and rotational articulations for baseline generation, and offer a practical case to prove its efficiency on an autonomous vehicle. Full article

This paper presents the design of a wireless pressure-monitoring system for harsh-environment applications. Two types of ceramic pressure sensors made with a low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) were considered. The first type is a piezoresistive strain gauge pressure sensor. The second type is a capacitive pressure sensor, which is based on changes of the capacitance values between two electrodes: one electrode is fixed and the other is movable under an applied pressure. The design was primarily focused on low power consumption. Reliable operation in the presence of disturbances, like electromagnetic interference, parasitic capacitances, etc., proved to be contradictory constraints. A piezoresistive ceramic pressure sensor with a high bridge impedance was chosen for use in a wireless pressure-monitoring system and an acceptable solution using energy-harvesting techniques has been achieved. The described solution allows for the integration of a sensor element with an energy harvester that has a printed thick-film battery and complete electronics in a single substrate packaged inside a compact housing. Full article

Train wheel sets must be periodically inspected for possible or actual premature failures and it is very significant to record the wear history for the full life of utilization of wheel sets. This means that an online measuring system could be of great benefit to overall process control. An online non-contact method for measuring a wheel set’s geometric parameters based on the opto-electronic measuring technique is presented in this paper. A charge coupled device (CCD) camera with a selected optical lens and a frame grabber was used to capture the image of the light profile of the wheel set illuminated by a linear laser. The analogue signals of the image were transformed into corresponding digital grey level values. The ‘mapping function method’ is used to transform an image pixel coordinate to a space coordinate. The images of wheel sets were captured when the train passed through the measuring system. The rim inside thickness and flange thickness were measured and analyzed. The spatial resolution of the whole image capturing system is about 0.33 mm. Theoretic and experimental results show that the online measurement system based on computer vision can meet wheel set measurement requirements. Full article

Many conventional biochemical assays are performed using populations of cells to determine their quantitative biomolecular profiles. However, population averages do not reflect actual physiological processes in individual cells, which occur either on short time scales or nonsynchronously. Therefore, accurate analysis at the single-cell level has become a highly attractive tool for investigating cellular content. Microfluidic chips with arrays of microwells were developed for single-cell chemical lysis in the present study. The cellular occupancy in 30-mm-diameter microwells (91.45%) was higher than that in 20-mm-diameter microwells (83.19%) at an injection flow rate of 2.8 mL/min. However, most of the occupied 20-mm-diameter microwells contained individual cells. The results of chemical lysis experiments at the single-cell level indicate that cell membranes were gradually lysed as the lysis buffer was injected; they were fully lysed after 12 s. Single-cell chemical lysis was demonstrated in the proposed microfluidic chip, which is suitable for high-throughput cell lysis. Full article

A BIPV-powered smart window comprising a building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) panel and an all-solid-state electrochromic (EC) stack is proposed. In the proposed device, the output voltage of the BIPV panel varies in accordance with the intensity of the incident light and is modulated in such a way as to generate the EC stack voltage required to maintain the indoor illuminance within a specified range. Two different EC stacks are fabricated and characterized, namely one stack comprising ITO/WO₃/Ta₂O₅/ITO and one stack comprising ITO/WO₃/lithium-polymer electrolyte/ITO. It is shown that of the two stacks, the ITO/WO₃/lithium-polymer electrolyte/ITO stack has a larger absorptance (i.e., approximately 99% at a driving voltage of 3.5 V). The experimental results show that the smart window incorporating an ITO/WO₃/lithium-polymer electrolyte/ITO stack with an electrolyte thickness of 1.0 μm provides an indoor illuminance range of 750–1,500 Lux under typical summertime conditions in Taiwan. Full article

The micro-scale and meso-scale ocean dynamic processes which are nonlinear and have large variability, have a significant impact on the fisheries, natural resources, and marine climatology. A rapid, refined and sophisticated observation system is therefore needed in marine scientific research. The maneuverability and controllability of mobile sensor platforms make them a preferred choice to establish ocean observing networks, compared to the static sensor observing platform. In this study, marine vehicles are utilized as the nodes of mobile sensor networks for coverage sampling of a regional ocean area and ocean feature tracking. A synoptic analysis about marine vehicle dynamic control, multi vehicles mission assignment and path planning methods, and ocean feature tracking and observing techniques is given. Combined with the observation plan in the South China Sea, we provide an overview of the mobile sensor networks established with marine vehicles, and the corresponding simulation results. Full article

This paper presents a new Ubiquitous Sensor Network (USN) Architecture to be used in developing countries and reveals its usefulness by highlighting some of its key features. In complement to a previous ITU proposal, our architecture referred to as “Ubiquitous Sensor Network for Development (USN4D)” integrates in its layers features such as opportunistic data dissemination, long distance deployment and localisation of information to meet the requirements of the developing world. Besides describing some of the most important requirements for the sensor equipment to be used in a USN4D setting, we present the main features and experiments conducted using the “WaspNet” as one of the wireless sensor deployment platforms that meets these requirements. Furthermore, building upon “WaspNet” platform, we present an application to Air pollution Monitoring in the city of Cape Town, in South Africa as one of the first steps towards building community wireless sensor networks (CSN) in the developing world using off-the-shelf sensor equipment. Full article

A micro-displacement sensor consisting of a fiber-loop made with a tapered fiber is reported. The sensor operation is based on the interaction between the fundamental cladding mode propagating through the taper waist and higher order cladding modes excited when the taper is deformed to form a loop. As a result, a transmission spectrum with several notches is observed, where the notch wavelength resonances shift as a function of the loop diameter. The loop diameter is varied by the spatial displacement of one end of the fiber-loop attached to a linear translation stage. In a displacement range of 3.125 mm the maximum wavelength shift is 360.93 nm, with 0.116 nm/μm sensitivity. By using a 1,280 nm broadband low-power LED source and a single Ge-photodetector in a power transmission sensor setup, a sensitivity in the order of 2.7 nW/μm is obtained in ~1 mm range. The proposed sensor is easy to implement and has a plenty of room to improve its performance. Full article

This paper presents a sensor fusion strategy applied for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) in dynamic environments. The designed approach consists of two features: (i) the first one is a fusion module which synthesizes line segments obtained from laser rangefinder and line features extracted from monocular camera. This policy eliminates any pseudo segments that appear from any momentary pause of dynamic objects in laser data. (ii) The second characteristic is a modified multi-sensor point estimation fusion SLAM (MPEF-SLAM) that incorporates two individual Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) based SLAM algorithms: monocular and laser SLAM. The error of the localization in fused SLAM is reduced compared with those of individual SLAM. Additionally, a new data association technique based on the homography transformation matrix is developed for monocular SLAM. This data association method relaxes the pleonastic computation. The experimental results validate the performance of the proposed sensor fusion and data association method. Full article

The objective of this investigation was to develop and investigate methods for point cloud generation by image matching using aerial image data collected by quadrocopter type micro unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imaging systems. Automatic generation of high-quality, dense point clouds from digital images by image matching is a recent, cutting-edge step forward in digital photogrammetric technology. The major components of the system for point cloud generation are a UAV imaging system, an image data collection process using high image overlaps, and post-processing with image orientation and point cloud generation. Two post-processing approaches were developed: one of the methods is based on Bae Systems’ SOCET SET classical commercial photogrammetric software and another is built using Microsoft^®’s Photosynth™ service available in the Internet. Empirical testing was carried out in two test areas. Photosynth processing showed that it is possible to orient the images and generate point clouds fully automatically without any a priori orientation information or interactive work. The photogrammetric processing line provided dense and accurate point clouds that followed the theoretical principles of photogrammetry, but also some artifacts were detected. The point clouds from the Photosynth processing were sparser and noisier, which is to a large extent due to the fact that the method is not optimized for dense point cloud generation. Careful photogrammetric processing with self-calibration is required to achieve the highest accuracy. Our results demonstrate the high performance potential of the approach and that with rigorous processing it is possible to reach results that are consistent with theory. We also point out several further research topics. Based on theoretical and empirical results, we give recommendations for properties of imaging sensor, data collection and processing of UAV image data to ensure accurate point cloud generation. Full article

In this investigation, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a method for measuring the refractive index (RI) of liquid organic chemicals. The scheme is based on a single-mode fiber (SMF) sensor and an optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR). Here, due to the different reflectance (R) between the SMF and organic liquid chemicals, the reflected power level of the backscattering light (BSL) measured by the OTDR would be different. Therefore, we can measure the RI of chemical under test via the measured BSL level. The proposed RI sensor is simple and easy to manipulate, with stable detected signals, and has the potential to be a valuable tool for use in biological and chemical applications. Full article

Surface electromyography (sEMG) is an important measurement for monitoring exercise and fitness. Because if its high sampling frequency requirement, wireless transmission of sEMG data is a challenge. In this article a wireless sEMG measurement system with a sampling frequency of 2 KHz is developed based upon a MSP 430 microcontroller and Bluetooth transmission. Standard isotonic and isometric muscle contraction are clearly represented in the receiving user interface. Muscle fatigue detection is an important application of sEMG. Traditional muscle fatigue is detected from the median frequency of the sEMG power spectrum. The regression slope of the linear regression of median frequency is an important muscle fatigue index. A more negative slope value represents a higher muscle fatigue condition. To test the system performance, muscle fatigue detection was examined by having subjects run on a pedaled-multifunctional elliptical trainer for approximately 30 minutes at three loading levels. Ten subjects underwent a total of 60 exercise sessions to provide the experimental data. Results showed that the regression slope gradually decreases as expected, and there is a significant gender difference. Full article

Many commercial wireless mesh network (WMN) products are available in the marketplace with their own proprietary standards, but interoperability among the different vendors is not possible. Open source communities have their own WMN implementation in accordance with the IEEE 802.11s draft standard, Linux open80211s project and FreeBSD WMN implementation. While some studies have focused on the test bed of WMNs based on the open80211s project, none are based on the FreeBSD. In this paper, we built an embedded system using the FreeBSD WMN implementation that utilizes two channels and evaluated its performance. This implementation allows the legacy system to connect to the WMN independent of the type of platform and distributes the load between the two non-overlapping channels. One channel is used for the backhaul connection and the other one is used to connect to the stations to wireless mesh network. By using the power efficient 802.11 technology, this device can also be used as a gateway for the wireless sensor network (WSN). Full article

Condition assessment of cables has gained considerable attention for the bridge safety. A magnetic flux leakage and magnetostrictive guided wave hybrid transducer is provided to inspect bridge cables. The similarities and differences between the two methods are investigated. The hybrid transducer for bridge cables consists of an aluminum framework, climbing modules, embedded magnetizers and a ribbon coil. The static axial magnetic field provided by the magnetizers meets the needs of the magnetic flux leakage testing and the magnetostrictive guided wave testing. The magnetizers also provide the attraction for the climbing modules. In the magnetic flux leakage testing for the free length of cable, the coil induces the axial leakage magnetic field. In the magnetostrictive guided wave testing for the anchorage zone, the coil provides a pulse high power variational magnetic field for generating guided waves; the coil induces the magnetic field variation for receiving guided waves. The experimental results show that the transducer with the corresponding inspection system could be applied to detect the broken wires in the free length and in the anchorage zone of bridge cables. Full article

This study proposes trenching piezoelectric (PZT) material in a thicker PZT pyroelectric cell to improve the temperature variation rate to enhance the efficiency of thermal energy-harvesting conversion by pyroelectricity. A thicker pyroelectric cell is beneficial in generating electricity pyroelectrically, but it hinders rapid temperature variations. Therefore, the PZT sheet was fabricated to produce deeper trenches to cause lateral temperature gradients induced by the trenched electrode, enhancing the temperature variation rate under homogeneous heat irradiation. When the trenched electrode type with an electrode width of 200 μm and a cutting depth of 150 μm was used to fabricate a PZT pyroelectric cell with a 200 μm thick PZT sheet, the temperature variation rate was improved by about 55%. Therefore, the trenched electrode design did indeed enhance the temperature variation rate and the efficiency of pyroelectric energy converters. Full article

Vision-based abnormal event detection for home healthcare systems can be greatly improved using visual sensor-based techniques able to detect, track and recognize objects in the scene. However, in moving object detection and tracking processes, moving cast shadows can be misclassified as part of objects or moving objects. Shadow removal is an essential step for developing video surveillance systems. The goal of the primary is to design novel computer vision techniques that can extract objects more accurately and discriminate between abnormal and normal activities. To improve the accuracy of object detection and tracking, our proposed shadow removal algorithm is employed. Abnormal event detection based on visual sensor by using shape features variation and 3-D trajectory is presented to overcome the low fall detection rate. The experimental results showed that the success rate of detecting abnormal events was 97% with a false positive rate of 2%. Our proposed algorithm can allow distinguishing diverse fall activities such as forward falls, backward falls, and falling asides from normal activities. Full article

Background subtraction is considered the first processing stage in video surveillance systems, and consists of determining objects in movement in a scene captured by a static camera. It is an intensive task with a high computational cost. This work proposes an embedded novel architecture on FPGA which is able to extract the background on resource-limited environments and offers low degradation (produced because of the hardware-friendly model modification). In addition, the original model is extended in order to detect shadows and improve the quality of the segmentation of the moving objects. We have analyzed the resource consumption and performance in Spartan3 Xilinx FPGAs and compared to others works available on the literature, showing that the current architecture is a good trade-off in terms of accuracy, performance and resources utilization. With less than a 65% of the resources utilization of a XC3SD3400 Spartan-3A low-cost family FPGA, the system achieves a frequency of 66.5 MHz reaching 32.8 fps with resolution 1,024 x 1,024 pixels, and an estimated power consumption of 5.76 W. Full article

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. Full article

The time required to image large samples is an important limiting factor in SPM-based systems. In multiprobe setups, especially when working with biological samples, this drawback can make impossible to conduct certain experiments. In this work, we present a feedfordward controller based on bang-bang and adaptive controls. The controls are based in the difference between the maximum speeds that can be used for imaging depending on the flatness of the sample zone. Topographic images of Escherichia coli bacteria samples were acquired using the implemented controllers. Results show that to go faster in the flat zones, rather than using a constant scanning speed for the whole image, speeds up the imaging process of large samples by up to a 4x factor. Full article

The specific characteristics of underwater environments introduce new challenges for networking protocols. In this paper, a specialized architecture for underwater sensor networks (UWSNs) is proposed and evaluated. Experiments are conducted in order to analyze the suitability of this protocol for the subaquatic transmission medium. Moreover, different scheduling techniques are applied to the architecture in order to study their performance. In addition, given the harsh conditions of the underwater medium, different retransmission methods are combined with the scheduling techniques. Finally, simulation results illustrate the performance achievements of the proposed protocol in end-to-end delay, packet delivery ratio and energy consumption, showing that this protocol can be very suitable for the underwater medium. Full article

There is a need for low-cost, high-accuracy measurement of water content in various materials. This study assesses the performance of a new microwave swept frequency domain instrument (SFI) that has promise to provide a low-cost, high-accuracy alternative to the traditional and more expensive time domain reflectometry (TDR). The technique obtains permittivity measurements of soils in the frequency domain utilizing a through transmission configuration, transmissometry, which provides a frequency domain transmissometry measurement (FDT). The measurement is comparable to time domain transmissometry (TDT) with the added advantage of also being able to separately quantify the real and imaginary portions of the complex permittivity so that the measured bulk permittivity is more accurate that the measurement TDR provides where the apparent permittivity is impacted by the signal loss, which can be significant in heavier soils. The experimental SFI was compared with a high-end 12 GHz TDR/TDT system across a range of soils at varying soil water contents and densities. As propagation delay is the fundamental measurement of interest to the well-established TDR or TDT technique; the first set of tests utilized precision propagation delay lines to test the accuracy of the SFI instrument’s ability to resolve propagation delays across the expected range of delays that a soil probe would present when subjected to the expected range of soil types and soil moisture typical to an agronomic cropping system. The results of the precision-delay line testing suggests the instrument is capable of predicting propagation delays with a RMSE of +/−105 ps across the range of delays ranging from 0 to 12,000 ps with a coefficient of determination of r² = 0.998. The second phase of tests noted the rich history of TDR for prediction of soil moisture and leveraged this history by utilizing TDT measured with a high-end Hewlett Packard TDR/TDT instrument to directly benchmark the SFI instrument over a range of soil types, at varying levels of moisture. This testing protocol was developed to provide the best possible comparison between SFI to TDT than would otherwise be possible by using soil moisture as the bench mark, due to variations in soil density between soil water content levels which are known to impact the calibration between TDR’s estimate of soil water content from the measured propagation delay which is converted to an apparent permittivity measurement. This experimental decision, to compare propagation delay of TDT to FDT, effectively removes the errors due to variations in packing density from the evaluation and provides a direct comparison between the SFI instrument and the time domain technique of TDT. The tests utilized three soils (a sand, an Acuff loam and an Olton clay-loam) that were packed to varying bulk densities and prepared to provide a range of water contents and electrical conductivities by which to compare the performance of the SFI technology to TDT measurements of propagation delay. For each sample tested, the SFI instrument and the TDT both performed the measurements on the exact same probe, thereby both instruments were measuring the exact same soil/soil-probe response to ensure the most accurate means to compare the SFI instrument to a high-end TDT instrument. Test results provided an estimated instrumental accuracy for the SFI of +/−0.98% of full scale, RMSE basis, for the precision delay lines and +/−1.32% when the SFI was evaluated on loam and clay loam soils, in comparison to TDT as the bench-mark. Results from both experiments provide evidence that the low-cost SFI approach is a viable alternative to conventional TDR/TDT for high accuracy applications. Full article

In this study, local area water content distribution under various gas purging conditions are experimentally analyzed for the first time. The local high frequency resistance (HFR) is measured using novel micro sensors. The results reveal that the liquid water removal rate in a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is non-uniform. In the under-the-channel area, the removal of liquid water is governed by both convective and diffusive flux of the through-plane drying. Thus, almost all of the liquid water is removed within 30 s of purging with gas. However, liquid water that is stored in the under-the-rib area is not easy to remove during 1 min of gas purging. Therefore, the re-hydration of the membrane by internal diffusive flux is faster than that in the under-the-channel area. Consequently, local fuel starvation and membrane degradation can degrade the performance of a fuel cell that is started from cold. Full article

Plant responses to physiological function disorders are called symptoms and they are caused principally by pathogens and nutritional deficiencies. Plant symptoms are commonly used as indicators of the health and nutrition status of plants. Nowadays, the most popular method to quantify plant symptoms is based on visual estimations, consisting on evaluations that raters give based on their observation of plant symptoms; however, this method is inaccurate and imprecise because of its obvious subjectivity. Computational Vision has been employed in plant symptom quantification because of its accuracy and precision. Nevertheless, the systems developed so far lack in-situ, real-time and multi-symptom analysis. There exist methods to obtain information about the health and nutritional status of plants based on reflectance and chlorophyll fluorescence, but they use expensive equipment and are frequently destructive. Therefore, systems able of quantifying plant symptoms overcoming the aforementioned disadvantages that can serve as indicators of health and nutrition in plants are desirable. This paper reports an FPGA-based smart sensor able to perform non-destructive, real-time and in-situ analysis of leaf images to quantify multiple symptoms presented by diseased and malnourished plants; this system can serve as indicator of the health and nutrition in plants. The effectiveness of the proposed smart-sensor was successfully tested by analyzing diseased and malnourished plants. Full article

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) currently represent the best candidate to be adopted as the communication solution for the last mile connection in process control and monitoring applications in industrial environments. Most of these applications have stringent dependability (reliability and availability) requirements, as a system failure may result in economic losses, put people in danger or lead to environmental damages. Among the different type of faults that can lead to a system failure, permanent faults on network devices have a major impact. They can hamper communications over long periods of time and consequently disturb, or even disable, control algorithms. The lack of a structured approach enabling the evaluation of permanent faults, prevents system designers to optimize decisions that minimize these occurrences. In this work we propose a methodology based on an automatic generation of a fault tree to evaluate the reliability and availability of Wireless Sensor Networks, when permanent faults occur on network devices. The proposal supports any topology, different levels of redundancy, network reconfigurations, criticality of devices and arbitrary failure conditions. The proposed methodology is particularly suitable for the design and validation of Wireless Sensor Networks when trying to optimize its reliability and availability requirements. Full article

This research presents a distributed and formula-based bilateration algorithm that can be used to provide initial set of locations. In this scheme each node uses distance estimates to anchors to solve a set of circle-circle intersection (CCI) problems, solved through a purely geometric formulation. The resulting CCIs are processed to pick those that cluster together and then take the average to produce an initial node location. The algorithm is compared in terms of accuracy and computational complexity with a Least-Squares localization algorithm, based on the Levenberg–Marquardt methodology. Results in accuracy vs. computational performance show that the bilateration algorithm is competitive compared with well known optimized localization algorithms. Full article

This paper describes the target detection algorithm for the image processor of a vision-based system that is installed onboard an unmanned helicopter. It has been developed in the framework of a project of the French national aerospace research center Office National d’Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales (ONERA) which aims at developing an air-to-ground target tracking mission in an unknown urban environment. In particular, the image processor must detect targets and estimate ground motion in proximity of the detected target position. Concerning the target detection function, the analysis has dealt with realizing a corner detection algorithm and selecting the best choices in terms of edge detection methods, filtering size and type and the more suitable criterion of detection of the points of interest in order to obtain a very fast algorithm which fulfills the computation load requirements. The compared criteria are the Harris-Stephen and the Shi-Tomasi, ones, which are the most widely used in literature among those based on intensity. Experimental results which illustrate the performance of the developed algorithm and demonstrate that the detection time is fully compliant with the requirements of the real-time system are discussed. Full article

This paper describes a three-layer head phantom with artificial pulsating arteries at five different depths (1.2 mm, 3.7 mm, 6.8 mm, 9.6 mm and 11.8 mm). The structure enables formation of spatially and temporally varying tissue properties similar to those of living tissues. In our experiment, pressure pulses were generated in the arteries by an electronically controlled pump. The physical and optical parameters of the layers and the liquid in the artificial arteries were similar to those of real tissues and blood. The amplitude of the pulsating component of the light returning from the phantom tissues was measured at each artery depth mentioned above. The build-up of the in-house-developed pulse oximeter used for performing the measurements and the physical layout of the measuring head are described. The radiant flux generated by the LED on the measuring head was measured to be 1.8 mW at 910 nm. The backscattered radiant flux was measured, and found to be 0.46 nW (0.26 ppm), 0.55 nW (0.31 ppm), and 0.18 nW (0.10 ppm) for the 1.2 mm, 3.7 mm and 6.8 mm arteries, respectively. In the case of the 9.6 mm and 11.8 mm arteries, useful measurement data were not obtained owing to weak signals. We simulated the phantom with the arteries at the above-mentioned five depths and at two additional ones (2.5 mm and 5.3 mm in depth) using the Monte Carlo method. The measurement results were verified by the simulation results. We concluded that in case of 11 mm source-detector separation the arteries at a depth of about 2.5 mm generate the strongest pulse oximeter signal level in a tissue system comprising three layers of thicknesses: 1.5 mm (skin), 5.0 mm (skull), and > 50 mm (brain). Full article

Particle separation is of great interest in many biological and biomedical applications. Flow-based methods have been used to sort particles and cells. However, the main challenge with flow based particle separation systems is the need for a sheath flow for successful operation. Existence of the sheath liquid dilutes the analyte, necessitates precise flow control between sample and sheath flow, requires a complicated design to create sheath flow and separation efficiency depends on the sheath liquid composition. In this paper, we present a microfluidic platform for sheathless particle separation using standing surface acoustic waves. In this platform, particles are first lined up at the center of the channel without introducing any external sheath flow. The particles are then entered into the second stage where particles are driven towards the off-center pressure nodes for size based separation. The larger particles are exposed to more lateral displacement in the channel due to the acoustic force differences. Consequently, different-size particles are separated into multiple collection outlets. The prominent feature of the present microfluidic platform is that the device does not require the use of the sheath flow for positioning and aligning of particles. Instead, the sheathless flow focusing and separation are integrated within a single microfluidic device and accomplished simultaneously. In this paper, we demonstrated two different particle size-resolution separations; (1) 3 µm and 10 µm and (2) 3 µm and 5 µm. Also, the effects of the input power, the flow rate, and particle concentration on the separation efficiency were investigated. These technologies have potential to impact broadly various areas including the essential microfluidic components for lab-on-a-chip system and integrated biological and biomedical applications. Full article

This work provides a design for two types of sensors, based on the thermal dissipation and heat ratio methods of sap flow calculation, for moderate to large scale deployments for the purpose of monitoring tree transpiration. These designs include a procedure for making these sensors, a quality control method for the final products, and a complete list of components with vendors and pricing information. Both sensor designs were field tested alongside a commercial sap flow sensor to assess their performance and show the importance for quality controlling the sensor outputs. Results show that for roughly 2% of the cost of commercial sensors, self-made sap flow sensors can provide acceptable estimates of the sap flow measurements compared to the commercial sensors. Full article

The development of a real-time monitoring tool for the estimation of water quality is essential for efficient management of river pollution in urban areas. The Gap River in Korea is a typical urban river, which is affected by the effluent of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and various anthropogenic activities. In this study, fluorescence excitation-emission matrices (EEM) with parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) and UV absorption values at 220 nm and 254 nm were applied to evaluate the estimation capabilities for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and total nitrogen (TN) concentrations of the river samples. Three components were successfully identified by the PARAFAC modeling from the fluorescence EEM data, in which each fluorophore group represents microbial humic-like (C1), terrestrial humic-like organic substances (C2), and protein-like organic substances (C3), and UV absorption indices (UV₂₂₀ and UV₂₅₄), and the score values of the three PARAFAC components were selected as the estimation parameters for the nitrogen and the organic pollution of the river samples. Among the selected indices, UV₂₂₀, C3 and C1 exhibited the highest correlation coefficients with BOD, COD, and TN concentrations, respectively. Multiple regression analysis using UV₂₂₀ and C3 demonstrated the enhancement of the prediction capability for TN. Full article

The present work presents a biometric identification system for hand shape identification. The different contours have been coded based on angular descriptions forming a Markov chain descriptor. Discrete Hidden Markov Models (DHMM), each representing a target identification class, have been trained with such chains. Features have been calculated from a kernel based on the HMM parameter descriptors. Finally, supervised Support Vector Machines were used to classify parameters from the DHMM kernel. First, the system was modelled using 60 users to tune the DHMM and DHMM_kernel+SVM configuration parameters and finally, the system was checked with the whole database (GPDS database, 144 users with 10 samples per class). Our experiments have obtained similar results in both cases, demonstrating a scalable, stable and robust system. Our experiments have achieved an upper success rate of 99.87% for the GPDS database using three hand samples per class in training mode, and seven hand samples in test mode. Secondly, the authors have verified their algorithms using another independent and public database (the UST database). Our approach has reached 100% and 99.92% success for right and left hand, respectively; showing the robustness and independence of our algorithms. This success was found using as features the transformation of 100 points hand shape with our DHMM kernel, and as classifier Support Vector Machines with linear separating functions, with similar success. Full article

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common type of arrhythmia, and is characterized by a disordered contractile activity of the atria (top chambers of the heart). A popular treatment for AF is radiofrequency (RF) ablation. In about 2.4% of cardiac RF ablation procedures, the catheter is accidently pushed through the heart wall due to the application of excessive force. Despite the various capabilities of currently available technology, there has yet to be any data establishing how cardiac perforation can be reliably predicted. Thus, two new FBG based sensor prototypes were developed to monitor contact levels and predict perforation. Two live sheep were utilized during the study. It was observed during operation that peaks appeared in rhythm with the heart rate whenever firm contact was made between the sensor and the endocardial wall. The magnitude of these peaks varied with pressure applied by the operator. Lastly, transmural perforation of the left atrial wall was characterized by a visible loading phase and a rapid signal drop-off correlating to perforation. A possible pre-perforation signal was observed for the epoxy-based sensor in the form of a slight signal reversal (12–26% of loading phase magnitude) prior to perforation (occurring over 8 s). Full article

The accurate measurement of diverse displacements of structures is an important index for the evaluation of a structure’s safety. In this study, a comparative analysis was conducted to determine the integrated RTK-GPS/accelerometer method that can provide the most precise structure displacement measurements. For this purpose, three methods of calculating the dynamic displacements from the acceleration data were comparatively analyzed. In addition, two methods of determining dynamic, static, and quasi-static displacements by integrating the displacements measured from the RTK-GPS system and the accelerometer were also comparatively analyzed. To ensure precise comparison results, a cantilever beam was manufactured onto which diverse types of displacements were generated to evaluate the measurement accuracy by method. Linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) measurements were used as references for the evaluation to ensure accuracy. The study results showed that the most suitable method of measuring the dynamic displacement with the accelerometer was to calculate the displacement by filtering and double-integrating the acceleration data using the FIR band-pass filter. The integration method that uses frequency-based displacement extraction was most appropriate for the integrated RTK-GPS/accelerometer method of comprehensively measuring the dynamic, static, and quasi-static displacements. Full article

Cell-based biosensing is a “smart” way to obtain efficacy-information on the effect of applied chemical on cellular biological cascade. We have proposed an engineered post-synapse model cell-based biosensors to investigate the effects of chemicals on ionotropic glutamate receptor (GluR), which is a focus of attention as a molecular target for clinical neural drug discovery. The engineered model cell has several advantages over native cells, including improved ease of handling and better reproducibility in the application of cell-based biosensors. However, in general, cell-based biosensors often have low signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios due to the low level of cellular responses. In order to obtain a higher S/N ratio in model cells, we have attempted to design a tactic model cell with elevated cellular response. We have revealed that the increase GluR expression level is not directly connected to the amplification of cellular responses because the saturation of surface expression of GluR, leading to a limit on the total ion influx. Furthermore, coexpression of GluR with a voltage-gated potassium channel increased Ca²⁺ ion influx beyond levels obtained with saturating amounts of GluR alone. The construction of model cells based on strategy of amplifying ion flux per individual receptors can be used to perform smart cell-based biosensing with an improved S/N ratio. Full article

A method for testing electronic instrument transformers is described, including electronic voltage and current transformers (EVTs, ECTs) with both analog and digital outputs. A testing device prototype is developed. It is based on digital signal processing of the signals that are measured at the secondary outputs of the tested transformer and the reference transformer when the same excitation signal is fed to their primaries. The test that estimates the performance of the prototype has been carried out at the National Centre for High Voltage Measurement and the prototype is approved for testing transformers with precision class up to 0.2 at the industrial frequency (50 Hz or 60 Hz). The device is suitable for on-site testing due to its high accuracy, simple structure and low-cost hardware. Full article

Plant leaves grow and change their orientation as well their emission of chlorophyll fluorescence in time. All these dynamic plant properties can be semi-automatically monitored by a 3D imaging system that generates plant models by the method of coded light illumination, fluorescence imaging and computer 3D reconstruction. Here, we describe the essentials of the method, as well as the system hardware. We show that the technique can reconstruct, with a high fidelity, the leaf size, the leaf angle and the plant height. The method fails with wilted plants when leaves overlap obscuring their true area. This effect, naturally, also interferes when the method is applied to measure plant growth under water stress. The method is, however, very potent in capturing the plant dynamics under mild stress and without stress. The 3D reconstruction is also highly effective in correcting geometrical factors that distort measurements of chlorophyll fluorescence emission of naturally positioned plant leaves. Full article

Human activity inference is not a simple process due to distinct ways of performing it. Our proposal presents the SCAN framework for activity inference. SCAN is divided into three modules: (1) artifact recognition, (2) activity inference, and (3) activity representation, integrating three important elements of Ambient Intelligence (AmI) (artifact-behavior modeling, event interpretation and context extraction). The framework extends the roaming beat (RB) concept by obtaining the representation using three kinds of technologies for activity inference. The RB is based on both analysis and recognition from artifact behavior for activity inference. A practical case is shown in a nursing home where a system affording 91.35% effectiveness was implemented in situ. Three examples are shown using RB representation for activity representation. Framework description, RB description and CALog system overcome distinct problems such as the feasibility to implement AmI systems, and to show the feasibility for accomplishing the challenges related to activity recognition based on artifact recognition. We discuss how the use of RBs might positively impact the problems faced by designers and developers for recovering information in an easier manner and thus they can develop tools focused on the user. Full article

Contemporary 3D digitization systems employed by reverse engineering (RE) feature ever-growing scanning speeds with the ability to generate large quantity of points in a unit of time. Although advantageous for the quality and efficiency of RE modelling, the huge number of point datas can turn into a serious practical problem, later on, when the CAD model is generated. In addition, 3D digitization processes are very often plagued by measuring errors, which can be attributed to the very nature of measuring systems, various characteristics of the digitized objects and subjective errors by the operator, which also contribute to problems in the CAD model generation process. This paper presents an integral system for the pre-processing of point data, i.e., filtering, smoothing and reduction, based on a cross-sectional RE approach. In the course of the proposed system development, major emphasis was placed on the module for point data reduction, which was designed according to a novel approach with integrated deviation analysis and fuzzy logic reasoning. The developed system was verified through its application on three case studies, on point data from objects of versatile geometries obtained by contact and laser 3D digitization systems. The obtained results demonstrate the effectiveness of the system. Full article

Healthcare applications are considered as promising fields for wireless sensor networks, where patients can be monitored using wireless medical sensor networks (WMSNs). Current WMSN healthcare research trends focus on patient reliable communication, patient mobility, and energy-efficient routing, as a few examples. However, deploying new technologies in healthcare applications without considering security makes patient privacy vulnerable. Moreover, the physiological data of an individual are highly sensitive. Therefore, security is a paramount requirement of healthcare applications, especially in the case of patient privacy, if the patient has an embarrassing disease. This paper discusses the security and privacy issues in healthcare application using WMSNs. We highlight some popular healthcare projects using wireless medical sensor networks, and discuss their security. Our aim is to instigate discussion on these critical issues since the success of healthcare application depends directly on patient security and privacy, for ethic as well as legal reasons. In addition, we discuss the issues with existing security mechanisms, and sketch out the important security requirements for such applications. In addition, the paper reviews existing schemes that have been recently proposed to provide security solutions in wireless healthcare scenarios. Finally, the paper ends up with a summary of open security research issues that need to be explored for future healthcare applications using WMSNs. Full article

Implanted medical devices are very important electronic devices because of their usefulness in monitoring and diagnosis, safety and comfort for patients. Since 1950s, remarkable efforts have been undertaken for the development of bio-medical implanted and wireless telemetry bio-devices. Issues such as design of suitable modulation methods, use of power and monitoring devices, transfer energy from external to internal parts with high efficiency and high data rates and low power consumption all play an important role in the development of implantable devices. This paper provides a comprehensive survey on various modulation and demodulation techniques such as amplitude shift keying (ASK), frequency shift keying (FSK) and phase shift keying (PSK) of the existing wireless implanted devices. The details of specifications, including carrier frequency, CMOS size, data rate, power consumption and supply, chip area and application of the various modulation schemes of the implanted devices are investigated and summarized in the tables along with the corresponding key references. Current challenges and problems of the typical modulation applications of these technologies are illustrated with a brief suggestions and discussion for the progress of implanted device research in the future. It is observed that the prime requisites for the good quality of the implanted devices and their reliability are the energy transformation, data rate, CMOS size, power consumption and operation frequency. This review will hopefully lead to increasing efforts towards the development of low powered, high efficient, high data rate and reliable implanted devices. Full article

Specific protein domains known as protein transduction domains (PTDs) can permeate cell membranes and deliver proteins or bioactive materials into living cells. Various approaches have been applied for improving their transduction efficacy. It is, therefore, crucial to clarify the entry mechanisms and to identify the rate-limiting steps. Because of technical limitations for imaging PTD behavior on cells with conventional fluorescent-dyes, how PTDs enter the cells has been a topic of much debate. Utilizing quantum dots (QDs), we recently tracked the behavior of PTD that was derived from HIV-1 Tat (TatP) in living cells at the single-molecule level with 7-nm special precision. In this review article, we initially summarize the controversy on TatP entry mechanisms; thereafter, we will focus on our recent findings on single-TatP-QD tracking (SQT), to identify the major sequential steps of intracellular delivery in living cells and to discuss how SQT can easily provide direct information on TatP entry mechanisms. As a primer for SQT study, we also discuss the latest findings on single particle tracking of various molecules on the plasma membrane. Finally, we discuss the problems of QDs and the challenges for the future in utilizing currently available QD probes for SQT. In conclusion, direct identification of the rate-limiting steps of PTD entry with SQT should dramatically improve the methods for enhancing transduction efficiency. Full article

Recently, aptamers have attracted the attention of many scientists, because they not only have all of the advantages of antibodies, but also have unique merits, such as thermal stability, low cost, and unlimited applications. In this review, we present the reasons why aptamers are known as alternatives to antibodies. Furthermore, several types of in vitro selection processes, including nitrocellulose membrane filtration, affinity chromatography, magnetic bead, and capillary electrophoresis-based selection methods, are explained in detail. We also introduce various applications of aptamers for the diagnosis of diseases and detection of small molecules. Numerous analytical techniques, such as electrochemical, colorimetric, optical, and mass-sensitive methods, can be utilized to detect targets, due to convenient modifications and the stability of aptamers. Finally, several medical and analytical applications of aptamers are presented. In summary, aptamers are promising materials for diverse areas, not just as alternatives to antibodies, but as the core components of medical and analytical equipment. Full article

A wireless sensor network is a large collection of sensor nodes with limited power supply and constrained computational capability. Due to the restricted communication range and high density of sensor nodes, packet forwarding in sensor networks is usually performed through multi-hop data transmission. Therefore, routing in wireless sensor networks has been considered an important field of research over the past decade. Nowadays, multipath routing approach is widely used in wireless sensor networks to improve network performance through efficient utilization of available network resources. Accordingly, the main aim of this survey is to present the concept of the multipath routing approach and its fundamental challenges, as well as the basic motivations for utilizing this technique in wireless sensor networks. In addition, we present a comprehensive taxonomy on the existing multipath routing protocols, which are especially designed for wireless sensor networks. We highlight the primary motivation behind the development of each protocol category and explain the operation of different protocols in detail, with emphasis on their advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, this paper compares and summarizes the state-of-the-art multipath routing techniques from the network application point of view. Finally, we identify open issues for further research in the development of multipath routing protocols for wireless sensor networks. Full article

The bacterial luciferase gene cassette (lux) is unique among bioluminescent bioreporter systems due to its ability to synthesize and/or scavenge all of the substrate compounds required for its production of light. As a result, the lux system has the unique ability to autonomously produce a luminescent signal, either continuously or in response to the presence of a specific trigger, across a wide array of organismal hosts. While originally employed extensively as a bacterial bioreporter system for the detection of specific chemical signals in environmental samples, the use of lux as a bioreporter technology has continuously expanded over the last 30 years to include expression in eukaryotic cells such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae and even human cell lines as well. Under these conditions, the lux system has been developed for use as a biomedical detection tool for toxicity screening and visualization of tumors in small animal models. As the technologies for lux signal detection continue to improve, it is poised to become one of the first fully implantable detection systems for intra-organismal optical detection through direct marriage to an implantable photon-detecting digital chip. This review presents the basic biochemical background that allows the lux system to continuously autobioluminesce and highlights the important milestones in the use of lux-based bioreporters as they have evolved from chemical detection platforms in prokaryotic bacteria to rodent-based tumorigenesis study targets. In addition, the future of lux imaging using integrated circuit microluminometry to image directly within a living host in real-time will be introduced and its role in the development of dose/response therapeutic systems will be highlighted. Full article

Different classes of polymeric materials such as nanomaterials, sol-gel materials, conducting polymers, functional polymers and biomaterials have been used in the design of sensors and biosensors. Various methods have been used, for example from direct adsorption, covalent bonding, crossing-linking with glutaraldehyde on composites to mixing the enzymes or use of functionalized beads for the design of sensors and biosensors using these polymeric materials in recent years. It is widely acknowledged that analytical sensing at electrodes modified with polymeric materials results in low detection limits, high sensitivities, lower applied potential, good stability, efficient electron transfer and easier immobilization of enzymes on electrodes such that sensing and biosensing of environmental pollutants is made easier. However, there are a number of challenges to be addressed in order to fulfill the applications of polymeric based polymers such as cost and shortening the long laboratory synthetic pathways involved in sensor preparation. Furthermore, the toxicological effects on flora and fauna of some of these polymeric materials have not been well studied. Given these disadvantages, efforts are now geared towards introducing low cost biomaterials that can serve as alternatives for the development of novel electrochemical sensors and biosensors. This review highlights recent contributions in the development of the electrochemical sensors and biosensors based on different polymeric material. The synergistic action of some of these polymeric materials and nanocomposites imposed when combined on electrode during sensing is discussed. Full article