Special Issue "Advanced Embedded Sensors"
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A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Physical Sensors".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2010)
Special Issue Editor
Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Greg P. Carman
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, UCLA, 38-137 M Engineering IV, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Website: http://aml.seas.ucla.edu/
E-Mail: carman@seas.ucla.edu
Interests: thin film Nitinol; medical devices; magnetoelectric structures; fiber optic sensors; composite laminates
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
During the last couple of decades sensor technologies have seen a revolutionary advancement in new platforms influenced by both fabrication approaches yielding very small sensors as well as new mechanisms to monitor a wide range of external parameters. This sensor revolution has encouraged investigators to explore new approaches for integrating sensors into a variety of platforms to monitor a wide range of phenomenon. Based on these advancements, this special issue of Sensors seeks to compile a collection of fundamental research papers representing state of the art in sensor systems embedded into a variety of platforms. The focus here is both on the development of the sensor technology as well as it integration into the platform.
Prof. Dr. Greg P. Carman
Guest Editor
Submission
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed Open Access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs).
Keywords
- sensors
- embedded
- structures
- composites
- micro-electro-mechanical
- optical
- magnetic
Published Papers (7 papers)
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Received: 10 July 2010; in revised form: 30 July 2010 / Accepted: 15 August 2010 / Published: 30 August 2010
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Abstract: This paper presents a light and compact optical fiber Bragg Grating sensor for DC and AC magnetic field measurements. The fiber is coated by a thick layer of a magnetostrictive composite consisting of particles of Terfenol-D dispersed in a polymeric matrix. Among the different compositions for the coating that were tested, the best magnetostrictive response was obtained using an epoxy resin as binder and a 30% volume fraction of Terfenol-D particles with sizes ranging from 212 to 300 µm. The effect of a compressive preload in the sensor was also investigated. The achieved resolution was 0.4 mT without a preload or 0.3 mT with a compressive pre-stress of 8.6 MPa. The sensor was tested at magnetic fields of up to 750 mT under static conditions. Dynamic measurements were conducted with a magnetic unbalanced four-pole rotor
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Received: 26 October 2010; in revised form: 22 November 2010 / Accepted: 22 November 2010 / Published: 8 December 2010
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Abstract: We present a multisensor designed for industrial compressed air diagnostics and combining the measurement of pressure, flow, and temperature, integrated with the corresponding signal conditioning electronics in a single low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) package. The developed sensor may be soldered onto an integrated electro-fluidic platform by using standard surface mount device (SMD) technology, e.g., as a standard electronic component would be on a printed circuit board, obviating the need for both wires and tubes and thus paving the road towards low-cost integrated electro-fluidic systems. Several performance aspects of this device are presented and discussed, together with electronics design issues.
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Received: 1 December 2010; in revised form: 27 December 2010 / Accepted: 28 December 2010 / Published: 31 December 2010
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Abstract: Embedded optical fibre sensors are considered for structural health monitoring purposes in numerous applications. In fibre reinforced plastics, embedded fibre Bragg gratings are found to be one of the most popular and reliable solutions for strain monitoring. Despite of their growing popularity, users should keep in mind their shortcomings, many of which are associated with the embedding process. This review paper starts with an overview of some of the technical issues to be considered when embedding fibre optics in fibrous composite materials. Next, a monitoring scheme is introduced which shows the different steps necessary to relate the output of an embedded FBG to the strain of the structure in which it is embedded. Each step of the process has already been addressed separately in literature without considering the complete cycle, from embedding of the sensor to the internal strain measurement of the structure. This review paper summarizes the work reported in literature and tries to fit it into the big picture of internal strain measurements with embedded fibre Bragg gratings. The last part of the paper focuses on temperature compensation methods which should not be ignored in terms of in-situ measurement of strains with fibre Bragg gratings. Throughout the paper criticism is given where appropriate, which should be regarded as opportunities for future research.
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Received: 29 October 2010; in revised form: 21 January 2011 / Accepted: 23 January 2011 / Published: 26 January 2011
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Abstract: Implantable biosensing is attractive for both medical monitoring and diagnostic applications. It is possible to monitor phenomena such as physical loads on joints or implants, vital signs, or osseointegration in vivo and in real time. Microelectromechanical (MEMS)-based generation techniques can allow for the autonomous operation of implantable biosensors by generating electrical power to replace or supplement existing battery-based power systems. By supplementing existing battery-based power systems for implantable biosensors, the operational lifetime of the sensor is increased. In addition, the potential for a greater amount of available power allows additional components to be added to the biosensing module, such as computational and wireless and components, improving functionality and performance of the biosensor. Photovoltaic, thermovoltaic, micro fuel cell, electrostatic, electromagnetic, and piezoelectric based generation schemes are evaluated in this paper for applicability for implantable biosensing. MEMS-based generation techniques that harvest ambient energy, such as vibration, are much better suited for implantable biosensing applications than fuel-based approaches, producing up to milliwatts of electrical power. High power density MEMS-based approaches, such as piezoelectric and electromagnetic schemes, allow for supplemental and replacement power schemes for biosensing applications to improve device capabilities and performance. In addition, this may allow for the biosensor to be further miniaturized, reducing the need for relatively large batteries with respect to device size. This would cause the implanted biosensor to be less invasive, increasing the quality of care received by the patient.
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Camille Sonnenfeld, Sanne Sulejmani, Thomas Geernaert, Sophie Eve, Nicolas Lammens, Geert Luyckx, Eli Voet, Joris Degrieck, Waclaw Urbanczyk, Pawel Mergo, Martin Becker, Hartmut Bartelt, Francis Berghmans and Hugo Thienpont
Received: 24 November 2010; in revised form: 3 February 2011 / Accepted: 12 February 2011 / Published: 28 February 2011
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Abstract: Fiber Bragg gratings written in highly birefringent microstructured optical fiber with a dedicated design are embedded in a composite fiber-reinforced polymer. The Bragg peak wavelength shifts are measured under controlled axial and transversal strain and during thermal cycling of the composite sample. We obtain a sensitivity to transversal strain that exceeds values reported earlier in literature by one order of magnitude. Our results evidence the relevance of using microstructured optical fibers for structural integrity monitoring of composite material structures.
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Received: 10 January 2011; in revised form: 7 February 2011 / Accepted: 22 February 2011 / Published: 1 March 2011
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Abstract: This paper presents a system of identifying individuals by their gait patterns. We take into account various distinguishable features that can be extracted from a user’s gait and then divide them into two classes: walking pattern and stepping pattern. The conditions we assume are that our target environments are domestic areas, the number of users is smaller than 10, and all users ambulate with bare feet considering the everyday lifestyle of the Korean home. Under these conditions, we have developed a system that identifies individuals’ gait patterns using our biometric sensor, UbiFloorII. We have created UbiFloorII to collect walking samples and created software modules to extract the user’s gait pattern. To identify the users based on the gait patterns extracted from walking samples over UbiFloorII, we have deployed multilayer perceptron network, a feedforward artificial neural network model. The results show that both walking pattern and stepping pattern extracted from users’ gait over the UbiFloorII are distinguishable enough to identify the users and that fusing two classifiers at the matching score level improves the recognition accuracy. Therefore, our proposed system may provide unobtrusive and automatic user identification methods in ubiquitous computing environments, particularly in domestic areas.
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Received: 23 February 2011; in revised form: 6 April 2011 / Accepted: 27 April 2011 / Published: 4 May 2011
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Abstract: The next generation surveillance and multimedia systems will become increasingly deployed as wireless sensor networks in order to monitor parks, public places and for business usage. The convergence of data and telecommunication over IP-based networks has paved the way for wireless networks. Functions are becoming more intertwined by the compelling force of innovation and technology. For example, many closed-circuit TV premises surveillance systems now rely on transmitting their images and data over IP networks instead of standalone video circuits. These systems will increase their reliability in the future on wireless networks and on IEEE 802.11 networks. However, due to limited non-overlapping channels, delay, and congestion there will be problems at sink nodes. In this paper we provide necessary conditions to verify the feasibility of round robin technique in these networks at the sink nodes by using a technique to regulate multi-radio multichannel assignment. We demonstrate through simulations that dynamic channel assignment scheme using multi-radio, and multichannel configuration at a single sink node can perform close to optimal on the average while multiple sink node assignment also performs well. The methods proposed in this paper can be a valuable tool for network designers in planning network deployment and for optimizing different performance objectives.
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Last update: 21 February 2011
