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Sensors, Volume 20, Issue 18 (September-2 2020) – 432 articles

Cover Story (view full-size image): In 2019, the Canadian Space Agency initiated the development of a dedicated wildfire monitoring satellite mission (WildFireSat). This mission will support operational wildfire management, smoke and air quality forecasting, and wildfire carbon emissions reporting. This study introduces the backward traceable approach adopted by the User and Science Team to define requirements for the mission based on Canadian wildfire management needs. View this paper
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25 pages, 5266 KiB  
Article
Pollution Weather Prediction System: Smart Outdoor Pollution Monitoring and Prediction for Healthy Breathing and Living
by Sharnil Pandya, Hemant Ghayvat, Anirban Sur, Muhammad Awais, Ketan Kotecha, Santosh Saxena, Nandita Jassal and Gayatri Pingale
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5448; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185448 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 6550
Abstract
Air pollution has been a looming issue of the 21st century that has also significantly impacted the surrounding environment and societal health. Recently, previous studies have conducted extensive research on air pollution and air quality monitoring. Despite this, the fields of air pollution [...] Read more.
Air pollution has been a looming issue of the 21st century that has also significantly impacted the surrounding environment and societal health. Recently, previous studies have conducted extensive research on air pollution and air quality monitoring. Despite this, the fields of air pollution and air quality monitoring remain plagued with unsolved problems. In this study, the Pollution Weather Prediction System (PWP) is proposed to perform air pollution prediction for outdoor sites for various pollution parameters. In the presented research work, we introduced a PWP system configured with pollution-sensing units, such as SDS021, MQ07-CO, NO2-B43F, and Aeroqual Ozone (O3). These sensing units were utilized to collect and measure various pollutant levels, such as PM2.5, PM10, CO, NO2, and O3, for 90 days at Symbiosis International University, Pune, Maharashtra, India. The data collection was carried out between the duration of December 2019 to February 2020 during the winter. The investigation results validate the success of the presented PWP system. In the conducted experiments, linear regression and artificial neural network (ANN)-based AQI (air quality index) predictions were performed. Furthermore, the presented study also found that the customized linear regression methodology outperformed other machine-learning methods, such as linear, ridge, Lasso, Bayes, Huber, Lars, Lasso-lars, stochastic gradient descent (SGD), and ElasticNet regression methodologies, and the customized ANN regression methodology used in the conducted experiments. The overall AQI values of the air pollutants were calculated based on the summation of the AQI values of all the presented air pollutants. In the end, the web and mobile interfaces were developed to display air pollution prediction values of a variety of air pollutants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Assisted Living)
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22 pages, 7466 KiB  
Article
The Impact Analysis of Land Features to JL1-3B Nighttime Light Data at Parcel Level: Illustrated by the Case of Changchun, China
by Fengyan Wang, Kai Zhou, Mingchang Wang and Qing Wang
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5447; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185447 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2834
Abstract
Nighttime lights (NTL) create a unique footprint left by human activities, which can reflect the economic index and demographic characteristics of a country or region to some extent. It is of great significance to explore the impact of land features related to social–economic [...] Read more.
Nighttime lights (NTL) create a unique footprint left by human activities, which can reflect the economic index and demographic characteristics of a country or region to some extent. It is of great significance to explore the impact of land features related to social–economic indexes to NTL intensity in urban areas. At present, there are few studies on the impact factors of high-resolution NTL remote sensing data to analyze the influence of NTL intensity variation at a fine scale. In this paper, taking Changchun, China as a case study, we selected the new generation of high spatial resolution (0.92 m) and multispectral bands NTL image JL1-3B data to evaluate the relationship between NTL intensity and related land features such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), land use types and point of information (POI) at the parcel level, and combined Luojia 1-01 images for comparative analysis. After screening features by the Gini index, 17 variables were selected to establish the best random forest (RF) regression model for the Luojia 1-01 and JL1-3B data, corresponding to out-of-bag (oob) scores of 0.8304 and 0.9054, respectively. The impact of features on NTL was determined by calculating the features contribution. It was found that JL1-3B data perform better on a finer scale and provide more information. In addition, JL1-3B data are less affected by light overflow effect and saturation, and they could provide more accurate information at smaller parcels. Through the impact analysis of land features on the two kinds of NTL data, it is proven that JL1-3B images can be used to study effectively the relationship between NTL and human activities information. This paper aims to establish a regression model between the radiance of two types of NTL data and land features by RF algorithm, to further excavate the main land features that impact radiance according to the feature contribution, and compare the performance of two types of NTL data in regression. The study is expected to provide a reference to the further application of NTL data such as land feature inversion, artificial surface monitoring and evaluation, geographic information point estimation, information mining, etc., and a more comprehensive cognition of land feature impact to urban social–economic indexes from a unique perspective, which can be used to assist urban planning and related decision-making. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Remote Sensors)
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84 pages, 20580 KiB  
Review
Sensing Systems for Respiration Monitoring: A Technical Systematic Review
by Erik Vanegas, Raul Igual and Inmaculada Plaza
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5446; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185446 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 78 | Viewed by 11120
Abstract
Respiratory monitoring is essential in sleep studies, sport training, patient monitoring, or health at work, among other applications. This paper presents a comprehensive systematic review of respiration sensing systems. After several systematic searches in scientific repositories, the 198 most relevant papers in this [...] Read more.
Respiratory monitoring is essential in sleep studies, sport training, patient monitoring, or health at work, among other applications. This paper presents a comprehensive systematic review of respiration sensing systems. After several systematic searches in scientific repositories, the 198 most relevant papers in this field were analyzed in detail. Different items were examined: sensing technique and sensor, respiration parameter, sensor location and size, general system setup, communication protocol, processing station, energy autonomy and power consumption, sensor validation, processing algorithm, performance evaluation, and analysis software. As a result, several trends and the remaining research challenges of respiration sensors were identified. Long-term evaluations and usability tests should be performed. Researchers designed custom experiments to validate the sensing systems, making it difficult to compare results. Therefore, another challenge is to have a common validation framework to fairly compare sensor performance. The implementation of energy-saving strategies, the incorporation of energy harvesting techniques, the calculation of volume parameters of breathing, or the effective integration of respiration sensors into clothing are other remaining research efforts. Addressing these and other challenges outlined in the paper is a required step to obtain a feasible, robust, affordable, and unobtrusive respiration sensing system. Full article
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19 pages, 7369 KiB  
Article
Passive Extraction of Signal Feature Using a Rectifier with a Mechanically Switched Inductor for Low Power Acoustic Event Detection
by Marko Gazivoda, Dinko Oletić, Carlo Trigona and Vedran Bilas
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5445; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185445 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3084
Abstract
Analog hardware used for signal envelope extraction in low-power interfaces for acoustic event detection, owing to its low complexity and power consumption, suffers from low sensitivity and performs poorly under low signal to noise ratios (SNR) found in undersea environments. To overcome those [...] Read more.
Analog hardware used for signal envelope extraction in low-power interfaces for acoustic event detection, owing to its low complexity and power consumption, suffers from low sensitivity and performs poorly under low signal to noise ratios (SNR) found in undersea environments. To overcome those problems, in this paper, we propose a novel passive electromechanical solution for the signal feature extraction in low frequency acoustic range (200–1000 Hz), in the form of a piezoelectric vibration transducer, and a rectifier with a mechanically switched inductor. A simulation study of the novel solution is presented, and a proof-of-concept device is developed and experimentally characterized. We demonstrate its applicability and show the advantages of the passive electromechanical device in comparison to the active electrical solution in terms of operation with lower input signals (<20 mV compared to 40 mV), and higher robustness in low SNR conditions (output voltage loss for −10 dB ≤ SNR < 40 dB of 1 mV, compared to 10 mV). In addition to the signal processing performance improvements, compared to our previous work, the utilization of the presented novel passive feature extractor would also decrease power consumption of a detector’s channel by over 76%, enabling life-time extension and/or increased quality of detection with larger number of channels. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first solution presented in the literature that demonstrates the possibility of using a passive electromechanical feature extractor in a low-power analog wake-up event detector interface. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low Power and Energy Efficient Sensing Applications)
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21 pages, 5370 KiB  
Article
Development of a Smart Ball to Evaluate Locomotor Performance: Application in Adolescents with Intellectual Disabilities
by Wann-Yun Shieh, Yan-Ying Ju, Yu-Chun Yu, Steven Pandelaki and Hsin-Yi Kathy Cheng
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5444; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185444 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3068
Abstract
Adolescents with intellectual disabilities display maladaptive behaviors in activities of daily living because of physical abnormalities or neurological disorders. These adolescents typically exhibit poor locomotor performance and low cognitive abilities in moving the body to perform tasks (e.g., throwing an object or catching [...] Read more.
Adolescents with intellectual disabilities display maladaptive behaviors in activities of daily living because of physical abnormalities or neurological disorders. These adolescents typically exhibit poor locomotor performance and low cognitive abilities in moving the body to perform tasks (e.g., throwing an object or catching an object) smoothly, quickly, and gracefully when compared with typically developing adolescents. Measuring movement time and distance alone does not provide a complete picture of the atypical performance. In this study, a smart ball with an inertial sensor embedded inside was proposed to measure the locomotor performance of adolescents with intellectual disabilities. Four ball games were designed for use with this smart ball: two lower limb games (dribbling along a straight line and a zigzag line) and two upper limb games (picking up a ball and throwing-and-catching). The results of 25 adolescents with intellectual disabilities (aged 18.36 ± 2.46 years) were compared with the results of 25 typically developing adolescents (aged 18.36 ± 0.49 years) in the four tests. Adolescents with intellectual disabilities exhibited considerable motor-performance differences from typically developing adolescents in terms of moving speed, hand–eye coordination, and object control in all tests. Full article
(This article belongs to the Collection Sensors for Gait, Human Movement Analysis, and Health Monitoring)
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22 pages, 6231 KiB  
Article
End-to-End Automated Lane-Change Maneuvering Considering Driving Style Using a Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient Algorithm
by Hongyu Hu, Ziyang Lu, Qi Wang and Chengyuan Zheng
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5443; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185443 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 4048
Abstract
Changing lanes while driving requires coordinating the lateral and longitudinal controls of a vehicle, considering its running state and the surrounding environment. Although the existing rule-based automated lane-changing method is simple, it is unsuitable for unpredictable scenarios encountered in practice. Therefore, using a [...] Read more.
Changing lanes while driving requires coordinating the lateral and longitudinal controls of a vehicle, considering its running state and the surrounding environment. Although the existing rule-based automated lane-changing method is simple, it is unsuitable for unpredictable scenarios encountered in practice. Therefore, using a deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) algorithm, we propose an end-to-end method for automated lane changing based on lidar data. The distance state information of the lane boundary and the surrounding vehicles obtained by the agent in a simulation environment is denoted as the state space for an automated lane-change problem based on reinforcement learning. The steering wheel angle and longitudinal acceleration are used as the action space, and both the state and action spaces are continuous. In terms of the reward function, avoiding collision and setting different expected lane-changing distances that represent different driving styles are considered for security, and the angular velocity of the steering wheel and jerk are considered for comfort. The minimum speed limit for lane changing and the control of the agent for a quick lane change are considered for efficiency. For a one-way two-lane road, a visual simulation environment scene is constructed using Pyglet. By comparing the lane-changing process tracks of two driving styles in a simplified traffic flow scene, we study the influence of driving style on the lane-changing process and lane-changing time. Through the training and adjustment of the combined lateral and longitudinal control of autonomous vehicles with different driving styles in complex traffic scenes, the vehicles could complete a series of driving tasks while considering driving-style differences. The experimental results show that autonomous vehicles can reflect the differences in the driving styles at the time of lane change at the same speed. Under the combined lateral and longitudinal control, the autonomous vehicles exhibit good robustness to different speeds and traffic density in different road sections. Thus, autonomous vehicles trained using the proposed method can learn an automated lane-changing policy while considering safety, comfort, and efficiency. Full article
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19 pages, 4771 KiB  
Article
Canadian Biomass Burning Aerosol Properties Modification during a Long-Ranged Event on August 2018
by Christina-Anna Papanikolaou, Elina Giannakaki, Alexandros Papayannis, Maria Mylonaki and Ourania Soupiona
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5442; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185442 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3461
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to study the spatio-temporal evolution of a long-lasting Canadian biomass burning event that affected Europe in August 2018. The event produced biomass burning aerosol layers which were observed during their transport from Canada to Europe from the [...] Read more.
The aim of this paper is to study the spatio-temporal evolution of a long-lasting Canadian biomass burning event that affected Europe in August 2018. The event produced biomass burning aerosol layers which were observed during their transport from Canada to Europe from the 16 to the 26 August 2018 using active remote sensing data from the space-borne system Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO). The total number of aerosol layers detected was 745 of which 42% were identified as pure biomass burning. The remaining 58% were attributed to smoke mixed with: polluted dust (34%), clean continental (10%), polluted continental (5%), desert dust (6%) or marine aerosols (3%). In this study, smoke layers, pure and mixed ones, were observed by the CALIPSO satellite from 0.8 and up to 9.6 km height above mean sea level (amsl.). The mean altitude of these layers was found between 2.1 and 5.2 km amsl. The Ångström exponent, relevant to the aerosol backscatter coefficient (532/1064 nm), ranged between 0.9 and 1.5, indicating aerosols of different sizes. The mean linear particle depolarization ratio at 532 nm for pure biomass burning aerosols was found equal to 0.05 ± 0.04, indicating near spherical aerosols. We also observed that, in case of no aerosol mixing, the sphericity of pure smoke aerosols does not change during the air mass transportation (0.05–0.06). On the contrary, when the smoke is mixed with dessert dust the mean linear particle depolarization ratio may reach values up to 0.20 ± 0.04, especially close to the African continent (Region 4). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lidar Remote Sensing of Aerosols Application)
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20 pages, 45309 KiB  
Article
Optical Dual Laser Based Sensor Denoising for OnlineMetal Sheet Flatness Measurement Using Hermite Interpolation
by Marcos Alonso, Alberto Izaguirre, Imanol Andonegui and Manuel Graña
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5441; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185441 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3546
Abstract
Flatness sensors are required for quality control of metal sheets obtained from steel coils by roller leveling and cutting systems. This article presents an innovative system for real-time robust surface estimation of flattened metal sheets composed of two line lasers and a conventional [...] Read more.
Flatness sensors are required for quality control of metal sheets obtained from steel coils by roller leveling and cutting systems. This article presents an innovative system for real-time robust surface estimation of flattened metal sheets composed of two line lasers and a conventional 2D camera. Laser plane triangulation is used for surface height retrieval along virtual surface fibers. The dual laser allows instantaneous robust and quick estimation of the fiber height derivatives. Hermite cubic interpolation along the fibers allows real-time surface estimation and high frequency noise removal. Noise sources are the vibrations induced in the sheet by its movements during the process and some mechanical events, such as cutting into separate pieces. The system is validated on synthetic surfaces that simulate the most critical noise sources and on real data obtained from the installation of the sensor in an actual steel mill. In the comparison with conventional filtering methods, we achieve at least a 41% of improvement in the accuracy of the surface reconstruction. Full article
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32 pages, 790 KiB  
Article
A Modified Genetic Algorithm with Local Search Strategies and Multi-Crossover Operator for Job Shop Scheduling Problem
by Monique Simplicio Viana, Orides Morandin Junior and Rodrigo Colnago Contreras
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5440; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185440 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 42 | Viewed by 5387
Abstract
It is not uncommon for today’s problems to fall within the scope of the well-known class of NP-Hard problems. These problems generally do not have an analytical solution, and it is necessary to use meta-heuristics to solve them. The Job Shop Scheduling Problem [...] Read more.
It is not uncommon for today’s problems to fall within the scope of the well-known class of NP-Hard problems. These problems generally do not have an analytical solution, and it is necessary to use meta-heuristics to solve them. The Job Shop Scheduling Problem (JSSP) is one of these problems, and for its solution, techniques based on Genetic Algorithm (GA) form the most common approach used in the literature. However, GAs are easily compromised by premature convergence and can be trapped in a local optima. To address these issues, researchers have been developing new methodologies based on local search schemes and improvements to standard mutation and crossover operators. In this work, we propose a new GA within this line of research. In detail, we generalize the concept of a massive local search operator; we improved the use of a local search strategy in the traditional mutation operator; and we developed a new multi-crossover operator. In this way, all operators of the proposed algorithm have local search functionality beyond their original inspirations and characteristics. Our method is evaluated in three different case studies, comprising 58 instances of literature, which prove the effectiveness of our approach compared to traditional JSSP solution methods. Full article
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19 pages, 862 KiB  
Article
Addressing the Security Gap in IoT: Towards an IoT Cyber Range
by Oliver Nock, Jonathan Starkey and Constantinos Marios Angelopoulos
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5439; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185439 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 5765
Abstract
The paradigm of Internet of Things has now reached a maturity level where the pertinent research goal is the successful application of IoT technologies in systems of high technological readiness level. However, while basic aspects of IoT connectivity and networking have been well [...] Read more.
The paradigm of Internet of Things has now reached a maturity level where the pertinent research goal is the successful application of IoT technologies in systems of high technological readiness level. However, while basic aspects of IoT connectivity and networking have been well studied and adequately addressed, this has not been the case for cyber security aspects of IoT. This is nicely demonstrated by the number of IoT testbeds focusing on networking aspects and the lack of IoT testbeds focusing on security aspects. Towards addressing the existing and growing skills-shortage in IoT cyber security, we present an IoT Cyber Range (IoT-CR); an IoT testbed designed for research and training in IoT security. The IoT-CR allows the user to specify and work on customisable IoT networks, both virtual and physical, and supports the concurrent execution of multiple scenarios in a scalable way following a modular architecture. We first provide an overview of existing, state of the art IoT testbeds and cyber security related initiatives. We then present the design and architecture of the IoT Cyber Range, also detailing the corresponding RESTful APIs that help de-associate the IoT-CR tiers and obfuscate underlying complexities. The design is focused around the end-user and is based on the four design principles for Cyber Range development discussed in the introduction. Finally, we demonstrate the use of the facility via a red/blue team scenario involving a variant of man-in-the-middle attack using IoT devices. Future work includes the use of the IoT-CR by cohorts of trainees in order to evaluate the effectiveness of specific scenarios in acquiring IoT-related cyber-security knowledge and skills, as well as the IoT-CR integration with a pan-European cyber-security competence network. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors Cybersecurity)
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15 pages, 10788 KiB  
Article
Moving Auto-Correlation Window Approach for Heart Rate Estimation in Ballistocardiography Extracted by Mattress-Integrated Accelerometers
by Marco Laurino, Danilo Menicucci, Angelo Gemignani, Nicola Carbonaro and Alessandro Tognetti
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5438; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185438 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3754
Abstract
Continuous heart monitoring is essential for early detection and diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases, which are key factors for the evaluation of health status in the general population. Therefore, in the future, it will be increasingly important to develop unobtrusive and transparent cardiac monitoring [...] Read more.
Continuous heart monitoring is essential for early detection and diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases, which are key factors for the evaluation of health status in the general population. Therefore, in the future, it will be increasingly important to develop unobtrusive and transparent cardiac monitoring technologies for the population. The possible approaches are the development of wearable technologies or the integration of sensors in daily-life objects. We developed a smart bed for monitoring cardiorespiratory functions during the night or in the case of continuous monitoring of bedridden patients. The mattress includes three accelerometers for the estimation of the ballistocardiogram (BCG). BCG signal is generated due to the vibrational activity of the body in response to the cardiac ejection of blood. BCG is a promising technique but is usually replaced by electrocardiogram due to the difficulty involved in detecting and processing the BCG signals. In this work, we describe a new algorithm for heart parameter extraction from the BCG signal, based on a moving auto-correlation sliding-window. We tested our method on a group of volunteers with the simultaneous co-registration of electrocardiogram (ECG) using a single-lead configuration. Comparisons with ECG reference signals indicated that the algorithm performed satisfactorily. The results presented demonstrate that valuable cardiac information can be obtained from the BCG signal extracted by low cost sensors integrated in the mattress. Thus, a continuous unobtrusive heart-monitoring through a smart bed is now feasible. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Wearable Sensor Technology in Healthcare)
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19 pages, 3113 KiB  
Article
Comprehensive Evaluation on Space Information Network Demonstration Platform Based on Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System
by Feng Liu, Dingyuan Shi, Yunlu Xiao, Tao Zhang and Jie Sun
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5437; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185437 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2335
Abstract
Due to the global coverage and real-time access advantages of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS), the demonstration platform based on TDRSS can satisfy the new technology verification and demonstration needs of the space information network (evolution from sensorweb). However, the [...] Read more.
Due to the global coverage and real-time access advantages of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS), the demonstration platform based on TDRSS can satisfy the new technology verification and demonstration needs of the space information network (evolution from sensorweb). However, the comprehensive evaluation research of this demonstration platform faces many problems: complicated and diverse technical indicators in various areas, coupling redundancy between indicators, difficulty in establishing the number of indicator system layers, and evaluation errors causing by subjective scoring. Concerning the difficulties, this paper gives a method to construct this special index system, and improves the consistency of evaluation results with Analytic Hierarchy Process in Group Decision-Making (AHP-GDM). A comprehensive evaluation index system including five criterions, 11 elements, more than 30 indicators is constructed according to the three-step strategy of initial set classification, hierarchical optimization, and de-redundancy. For the inconsistent scoring of AHP-GDM, a high-speed convergence consistency improvement strategy is proposed in this paper. Moreover, a method for generating a comprehensive judgment matrix (the aggregation of each judgment matrix) aggregation coefficient is provided. Numerical experiments show that this strategy effectively improves the consistency of the comprehensive judgment matrix. Finally, taking the evaluation of TDRSS development as an example, the versatility and feasibility of the new evaluation strategy are demonstrated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Remote Sensors)
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19 pages, 5126 KiB  
Article
Low Cost, High Performance, 16-Channel Microwave Measurement System for Tomographic Applications
by Paul Meaney, Alexander Hartov, Timothy Raynolds, Cynthia Davis, Sebastian Richter, Florian Schoenberger, Shireen Geimer and Keith Paulsen
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5436; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185436 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3387
Abstract
We have developed a multichannel software defined radio-based transceiver measurement system for use in general microwave tomographic applications. The unit is compact enough to fit conveniently underneath the current illumination tank of the Dartmouth microwave breast imaging system. The system includes 16 channels [...] Read more.
We have developed a multichannel software defined radio-based transceiver measurement system for use in general microwave tomographic applications. The unit is compact enough to fit conveniently underneath the current illumination tank of the Dartmouth microwave breast imaging system. The system includes 16 channels that can both transmit and receive and it operates from 500 MHz to 2.5 GHz while measuring signals down to −140 dBm. As is the case with multichannel systems, cross-channel leakage is an important specification and must be lower than the noise floors for each receiver. This design exploits the isolation inherent when the individual receivers for each channel are physically separate; however, these challenging specifications require more involved signal isolation techniques at both the system design level and the individual, shielded component level. We describe the isolation design techniques for the critical system elements and demonstrate specification compliance at both the component and system level. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Sensing and Imaging)
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26 pages, 11062 KiB  
Article
High Density Real-Time Air Quality Derived Services from IoT Networks
by Claudio Badii, Stefano Bilotta, Daniele Cenni, Angelo Difino, Paolo Nesi, Irene Paoli and Michela Paolucci
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5435; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185435 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3559
Abstract
In recent years, there is an increasing attention on air quality derived services for the final users. A dense grid of measures is needed to implement services such as conditional routing, alerting on data values for personal usage, data heatmaps for Dashboards in [...] Read more.
In recent years, there is an increasing attention on air quality derived services for the final users. A dense grid of measures is needed to implement services such as conditional routing, alerting on data values for personal usage, data heatmaps for Dashboards in control room for the operators, and for web and mobile applications for the city users. Therefore, the challenge consists of providing high density data and services starting from scattered data and regardless of the number of sensors and their position to a large number of users. To this aim, this paper is focused on providing an integrated solution addressing at the same time multiple aspects: To create and optimize algorithms for data interpolation (creating regular data from scattered), making it possible to cope with the scalability and providing support for on demand services to provide air quality data in any point of the city with dense data. To this end, the accuracy of different interpolation algorithms has been evaluated comparing the results with respect to real values. In addition, the trends of heatmaps interpolation errors have been exploited to detected devices’ dysfunctions. Such anomalies may often be useful to request a maintenance action. The solution proposed has been integrated as a Micro Services providing data analytics in a data flow real time process based on Node.JS Node-RED, called in the paper IoT Applications. The specific case presented in this paper refers to the data and the solution of Snap4City for Helsinki. Snap4City, which has been developed as a part of Select4Cities PCP of the European Commission, and it is presently used in a number of cities and areas in Europe. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Internet of Things)
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19 pages, 3733 KiB  
Review
MXenes-Based Bioanalytical Sensors: Design, Characterization, and Applications
by Reem Khan and Silvana Andreescu
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5434; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185434 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 82 | Viewed by 7397
Abstract
MXenes are recently developed 2D layered nanomaterials that provide unique capabilities for bioanalytical applications. These include high metallic conductivity, large surface area, hydrophilicity, high ion transport properties, low diffusion barrier, biocompatibility, and ease of surface functionalization. MXenes are composed of transition metal carbides, [...] Read more.
MXenes are recently developed 2D layered nanomaterials that provide unique capabilities for bioanalytical applications. These include high metallic conductivity, large surface area, hydrophilicity, high ion transport properties, low diffusion barrier, biocompatibility, and ease of surface functionalization. MXenes are composed of transition metal carbides, nitrides, or carbonitrides and have a general formula Mn+1Xn, where M is an early transition metal while X is carbon and/or nitrogen. Due to their unique features, MXenes have attracted significant attention in fields such as clean energy production, electronics, fuel cells, supercapacitors, and catalysis. Their composition and layered structure make MXenes attractive for biosensing applications. The high conductivity allows these materials to be used in the design of electrochemical biosensors and the multilayered configuration makes them an efficient immobilization matrix for the retention of activity of the immobilized biomolecules. These properties are applicable to many biosensing systems and applications. This review describes the progress made on the use and application of MXenes in the development of electrochemical and optical biosensors and highlights future needs and opportunities in this field. In particular, opportunities for developing wearable sensors and systems with integrated biomolecule recognition are highlighted. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biosensors – Recent Advances and Future Challenges)
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18 pages, 5117 KiB  
Article
The Influence of Camera and Optical System Parameters on the Uncertainty of Object Location Measurement in Vision Systems
by Jacek Skibicki, Anna Golijanek-Jędrzejczyk and Ariel Dzwonkowski
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5433; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185433 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3799
Abstract
The article presents the influence of the camera and its optical system on the uncertainty of object position measurement in vision systems. The aim of the article is to present the methodology for estimating the combined standard uncertainty of measuring the object position [...] Read more.
The article presents the influence of the camera and its optical system on the uncertainty of object position measurement in vision systems. The aim of the article is to present the methodology for estimating the combined standard uncertainty of measuring the object position with a vision camera treated as a measuring device. The identification of factors affecting the location measurement uncertainty and the determination of their share in the combined standard uncertainty will allow determining the parameters of the camera operation, so that the expanded uncertainty is as small as possible in the given measurement conditions. The analysis of the uncertainty estimation presented in the article was performed with the assumption that there is no influence of any external factors (e.g., temperature, humidity, or vibrations). Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Optical Sensors)
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26 pages, 3047 KiB  
Article
A Class-Independent Texture-Separation Method Based on a Pixel-Wise Binary Classification
by Lucas de Assis Soares, Klaus Fabian Côco, Patrick Marques Ciarelli and Evandro Ottoni Teatini Salles
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5432; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185432 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2915
Abstract
Texture segmentation is a challenging problem in computer vision due to the subjective nature of textures, the variability in which they occur in images, their dependence on scale and illumination variation, and the lack of a precise definition in the literature. This paper [...] Read more.
Texture segmentation is a challenging problem in computer vision due to the subjective nature of textures, the variability in which they occur in images, their dependence on scale and illumination variation, and the lack of a precise definition in the literature. This paper proposes a method to segment textures through a binary pixel-wise classification, thereby without the need for a predefined number of textures classes. Using a convolutional neural network, with an encoder–decoder architecture, each pixel is classified as being inside an internal texture region or in a border between two different textures. The network is trained using the Prague Texture Segmentation Datagenerator and Benchmark and tested using the same dataset, besides the Brodatz textures dataset, and the Describable Texture Dataset. The method is also evaluated on the separation of regions in images from different applications, namely remote sensing images and H&E-stained tissue images. It is shown that the method has a good performance on different test sets, can precisely identify borders between texture regions and does not suffer from over-segmentation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Remote Sensors)
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24 pages, 9661 KiB  
Article
Detection of Direction-Of-Arrival in Time Domain Using Compressive Time Delay Estimation with Single and Multiple Measurements
by Youngmin Choo, Yongsung Park and Woojae Seong
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5431; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185431 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2887
Abstract
The compressive time delay estimation (TDE) is combined with delay-and-sum beamforming to obtain direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimates in the time domain. Generally, the matched filter that detects the arrivals at the hydrophone is used with beamforming. However, when the ocean noise smears the arrivals, [...] Read more.
The compressive time delay estimation (TDE) is combined with delay-and-sum beamforming to obtain direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimates in the time domain. Generally, the matched filter that detects the arrivals at the hydrophone is used with beamforming. However, when the ocean noise smears the arrivals, ambiguities appear in the beamforming results, degrading the DOA estimation. In this work, compressive sensing (CS) is applied to accurately evaluate the arrivals by suppressing the noise, which enables the correct detection of arrivals. For this purpose, CS is used in two steps. First, the candidate time delays for the actual arrivals are calculated in the continuous time domain using a grid-free CS. Then, the dominant arrivals constituting the received signal are selected by a conventional CS using the time delays in the discrete time domain. Basically, the compressive TDE is used with a single measurement. To further reduce the noise, common arrivals over multiple measurements, which are obtained using the extended compressive TDE, are exploited. The delay-and-sum beamforming technique using refined arrival estimates provides more pronounced DOAs. The proposed scheme is applied to shallow-water acoustic variability experiment 15 (SAVEX15) measurement data to demonstrate its validity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Passive Radar Techniques and Applications)
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20 pages, 10606 KiB  
Article
A Novel MEMS Gyroscope In-Self Calibration Approach
by Qifan Zhou, Guizhen Yu, Huazhi Li and Na Zhang
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5430; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185430 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4391
Abstract
This paper presents a novel approach for hand-held low-cost MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) gyroscope in-self calibration. This method does not need the support of external high-precision equipment compared with traditional calibration scheme and can be accomplished by user hand rotation. In this approach, Kalman [...] Read more.
This paper presents a novel approach for hand-held low-cost MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) gyroscope in-self calibration. This method does not need the support of external high-precision equipment compared with traditional calibration scheme and can be accomplished by user hand rotation. In this approach, Kalman filter is designed to perform the calibration procedure and estimate gyroscope bias error, scale factor error and non-orthogonal error. The system observability is analyzed and the dynamic rotating conditions under which the sensor errors become observable are derived. The design principles of optimal calibration procedure are provided as well. Both simulated and practical experiments are carried out to test the validation of the proposed calibration algorithm. The achieved results demonstrate that the introduced approach can provide promising calibration scheme for the low-cost MEMS gyroscope. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Physical Sensors)
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12 pages, 5598 KiB  
Letter
A Feature Optimization Approach Based on Inter-Class and Intra-Class Distance for Ship Type Classification
by Chen Li, Ziyuan Liu, Jiawei Ren, Wenchao Wang and Ji Xu
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5429; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185429 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 29 | Viewed by 3465
Abstract
Deep learning based methods have achieved state-of-the-art results on the task of ship type classification. However, most existing ship type classification algorithms take time–frequency (TF) features as input, the underlying discriminative information of these features has not been explored thoroughly. This paper proposes [...] Read more.
Deep learning based methods have achieved state-of-the-art results on the task of ship type classification. However, most existing ship type classification algorithms take time–frequency (TF) features as input, the underlying discriminative information of these features has not been explored thoroughly. This paper proposes a novel feature optimization method which is designed to minimize an objective function aimed at increasing inter-class and reducing intra-class feature distance for ship type classification. The objective function we design is able to learn a center for each class and make samples from the same class closer to the corresponding center. This ensures that the features maximize underlying discriminative information involved in the data, particularly for some targets that usually confused by the conventional manual designed feature. Results on the dataset from a real environment show that the proposed feature optimization approach outperforms traditional TF features. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Sensor Networks)
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24 pages, 8129 KiB  
Article
Monitoring the Structural Health of Glass Fibre-Reinforced Hybrid Laminates Using Novel Piezoceramic Film
by René Schmidt, Alexander Graf, Ricardo Decker, Michael Heinrich, Verena Kräusel, Lothar Kroll and Wolfram Hardt
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5428; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185428 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2812
Abstract
This work investigates a new generation structural health monitoring (SHM) system for fibre metal laminates (FML) based on an embedded thermoplastic film with compounded piezoceramics, termed piezo-active fibre metal laminate (PFML). The PFML is manufactured using near-series processes and its potential as a [...] Read more.
This work investigates a new generation structural health monitoring (SHM) system for fibre metal laminates (FML) based on an embedded thermoplastic film with compounded piezoceramics, termed piezo-active fibre metal laminate (PFML). The PFML is manufactured using near-series processes and its potential as a passive SHM system is being investigated. A commercial Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) sensor film is used for comparative evaluation of the sensor signals. Furthermore, thermoset and thermoplastic-based FML are equipped with the sensor films and evaluated. For this purpose, static and dynamic three-point bending tests are carried out and the data are recorded. The data obtained from the sensors and the testing machine are compared with the type and time of damage by means of intelligent signal processing. By using a smart sensor system, further investigations are planned which the differentiation between various failure modes, e.g., delamination or fibre breakage. Full article
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18 pages, 9660 KiB  
Article
Convolutional Neural Network Architecture for Recovering Watermark Synchronization
by Wook-Hyung Kim, Jihyeon Kang, Seung-Min Mun and Jong-Uk Hou
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5427; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185427 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2716
Abstract
In this paper, we propose a convolutional neural network-based template architecture that compensates for the disadvantages of existing watermarking techniques that are vulnerable to geometric distortion. The proposed template consists of a template generation network, a template extraction network, and a template matching [...] Read more.
In this paper, we propose a convolutional neural network-based template architecture that compensates for the disadvantages of existing watermarking techniques that are vulnerable to geometric distortion. The proposed template consists of a template generation network, a template extraction network, and a template matching network. The template generation network generates a template in the form of noise and the template is inserted into certain pre-defined spatial locations of the image. The extraction network detects spatial locations where the template is inserted in the image. Finally, the template matching network estimates the parameters of the geometric distortion by comparing the shape of spatial locations where the template was inserted with the locations where the template was detected. It is possible to recover an image in its original geometrical form using the estimated parameters, and as a result, watermarks applied using existing watermarking techniques that are vulnerable to geometric distortion can be decoded normally. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Sensing and Imaging)
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38 pages, 130648 KiB  
Article
Toward Mass Video Data Analysis: Interactive and Immersive 4D Scene Reconstruction
by Matthias Kraus, Thomas Pollok, Matthias Miller, Timon Kilian, Tobias Moritz, Daniel Schweitzer, Jürgen Beyerer, Daniel Keim, Chengchao Qu and Wolfgang Jentner
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5426; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185426 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4063
Abstract
The technical progress in the last decades makes photo and video recording devices omnipresent. This change has a significant impact, among others, on police work. It is no longer unusual that a myriad of digital data accumulates after a criminal act, which must [...] Read more.
The technical progress in the last decades makes photo and video recording devices omnipresent. This change has a significant impact, among others, on police work. It is no longer unusual that a myriad of digital data accumulates after a criminal act, which must be reviewed by criminal investigators to collect evidence or solve the crime. This paper presents the VICTORIA Interactive 4D Scene Reconstruction and Analysis Framework (“ISRA-4D” 1.0), an approach for the visual consolidation of heterogeneous video and image data in a 3D reconstruction of the corresponding environment. First, by reconstructing the environment in which the materials were created, a shared spatial context of all available materials is established. Second, all footage is spatially and temporally registered within this 3D reconstruction. Third, a visualization of the hereby created 4D reconstruction (3D scene + time) is provided, which can be analyzed interactively. Additional information on video and image content is also extracted and displayed and can be analyzed with supporting visualizations. The presented approach facilitates the process of filtering, annotating, analyzing, and getting an overview of large amounts of multimedia material. The framework is evaluated using four case studies which demonstrate its broad applicability. Furthermore, the framework allows the user to immerse themselves in the analysis by entering the scenario in virtual reality. This feature is qualitatively evaluated by means of interviews of criminal investigators and outlines potential benefits such as improved spatial understanding and the initiation of new fields of application. Full article
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12 pages, 1275 KiB  
Letter
Vibration Analysis of Post-Buckled Thin Film on Compliant Substrates
by Xuanqing Fan, Yi Wang, Yuhang Li and Haoran Fu
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5425; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185425 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3584
Abstract
Buckling stability of thin films on compliant substrates is universal and essential in stretchable electronics. The dynamic behaviors of this special system are unavoidable when the stretchable electronics are in real applications. In this paper, an analytical model is established to investigate the [...] Read more.
Buckling stability of thin films on compliant substrates is universal and essential in stretchable electronics. The dynamic behaviors of this special system are unavoidable when the stretchable electronics are in real applications. In this paper, an analytical model is established to investigate the vibration of post-buckled thin films on a compliant substrate by accounting for the substrate as an elastic foundation. The analytical predictions of natural frequencies and vibration modes of the system are systematically investigated. The results may serve as guidance for the dynamic design of the thin film on compliant substrates to avoid resonance in the noise environment. Full article
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12 pages, 3252 KiB  
Letter
Field Demonstration of a Distributed Microsensor Network for Chemical Detection
by Jeffrey S. Erickson, Brandy J. Johnson and Anthony P. Malanoski
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5424; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185424 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2352
Abstract
We have developed the ABEAM-15, a custom-built multiplexed reflectance device for the detection of vapor phase and aerosolized chemical plumes. The instrument incorporates fifteen individual sensing elements, has wireless communications, offers support for a battery pack, and is capable of both live and [...] Read more.
We have developed the ABEAM-15, a custom-built multiplexed reflectance device for the detection of vapor phase and aerosolized chemical plumes. The instrument incorporates fifteen individual sensing elements, has wireless communications, offers support for a battery pack, and is capable of both live and fully autonomous operation. Two housing options have been fabricated: a compact open housing for indoor use and a larger weather-sealed housing for outdoor use. Previously developed six-plex analysis algorithms are extended to 15-plex format and implemented on a laptop computer. We report the results of recent outdoor field trials with this instrument in Denver, CO in a stadium security scenario. Through software, the wireless modules on each instrument were configured to form a six-instrument, star-point topology, distributed microsensor network with live reporting and real-time data analysis. The network was tested with aerosols of methyl salicylate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Distributed and Pervasive Sensing)
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23 pages, 5616 KiB  
Article
MODIS Sensor Capability to Burned Area Mapping—Assessment of Performance and Improvements Provided by the Latest Standard Products in Boreal Regions
by José A. Moreno-Ruiz, José R. García-Lázaro, Manuel Arbelo and Manuel Cantón-Garbín
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5423; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185423 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3019
Abstract
This paper presents an accuracy assessment of the main global scale Burned Area (BA) products, derived from daily images of the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Fire_CCI 5.1 and MCD64A1 C6, as well as the previous versions of both products (Fire_CCI 4.1 and MCD45A1 [...] Read more.
This paper presents an accuracy assessment of the main global scale Burned Area (BA) products, derived from daily images of the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Fire_CCI 5.1 and MCD64A1 C6, as well as the previous versions of both products (Fire_CCI 4.1 and MCD45A1 C5). The exercise was conducted on the boreal region of Alaska during the period 2000–2017. All the BA polygons registered by the Alaska Fire Service were used as reference data. Both new versions doubled the annual BA estimate compared to the previous versions (66% for Fire_CCI 5.1 versus 35% for v4.1, and 63% for MCD64A1 C6 versus 28% for C5), reducing the omission error (OE) by almost one half (39% versus 67% for Fire_CCI and 48% versus 74% for MCD) and slightly increasing the commission error (CE) (7.5% versus 7% for Fire_CCI and 18% versus 7% for MCD). The Fire_CCI 5.1 product (CE = 7.5%, OE = 39%) presented the best results in terms of positional accuracy with respect to MCD64A1 C6 (CE = 18%, OE = 48%). These results suggest that Fire_CCI 5.1 could be suitable for those users who employ BA standard products in geoinformatics analysis techniques for wildfire management, especially in Boreal regions. The Pareto boundary analysis, performed on an annual basis, showed that there is still a potential theoretical capacity to improve the MODIS sensor-based BA algorithms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics in Wildfire Management)
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15 pages, 3270 KiB  
Letter
Timestamp Estimation in P802.15.4z Amendment
by Ioan Domuta, Tudor Petru Palade, Emanuel Puschita and Andra Pastrav
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5422; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185422 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3539
Abstract
Due to the known issue that the ranging in the 802.15.4™-2015 standard is prone to external attacks, the enhanced impulse radio (EiR), a new amendment still under development, advances the secure ranging protocol by encryption of physical layer (PHY) timestamp sequence using the [...] Read more.
Due to the known issue that the ranging in the 802.15.4™-2015 standard is prone to external attacks, the enhanced impulse radio (EiR), a new amendment still under development, advances the secure ranging protocol by encryption of physical layer (PHY) timestamp sequence using the AES-128 encryption algorithm. This new amendment brings many changes and enhancements which affect the impulse-radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) ranging procedures. The timestamp detection is the base factor in the accuracy of range estimation and inherently in the localization precision. This paper analyses the key parts of PHY which have a great contribution in timestamp estimation precision, particularly: UWB pulse, channel sounding and timestamp estimation using ciphered sequence and frequency selective fading. Unlike EiR, where the UWB pulse is defined in the time domain, in this article, the UWB pulse is synthesized from the power spectral density mask, and it is shown that the use of the entire allocated spectrum results in a decrease in risetime, an increase in pulse amplitude, and an attenuation of lateral lobes. The paper proposes a random spreading of the scrambled timestamp sequence (STS), resulting in an improvement in timestamp estimation by the attenuation lateral lobes of the correlation. The timestamp estimation in the noisy channels with non-line-of-sight and multipath propagation is achieved by cross-correlation of the received STS with the locally generated replica of STS. The propagation in the UWB channel with frequency selective fading results in small errors in the timestamp detection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antennas and Propagation)
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27 pages, 5971 KiB  
Article
The Millimeter-Wave Radar SLAM Assisted by the RCS Feature of the Target and IMU
by Yang Li, Yutong Liu, Yanping Wang, Yun Lin and Wenjie Shen
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5421; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185421 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 29 | Viewed by 7918
Abstract
Compared with the commonly used lidar and visual sensors, the millimeter-wave radar has all-day and all-weather performance advantages and more stable performance in the face of different scenarios. However, using the millimeter-wave radar as the Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) sensor is also [...] Read more.
Compared with the commonly used lidar and visual sensors, the millimeter-wave radar has all-day and all-weather performance advantages and more stable performance in the face of different scenarios. However, using the millimeter-wave radar as the Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) sensor is also associated with other problems, such as small data volume, more outliers, and low precision, which reduce the accuracy of SLAM localization and mapping. This paper proposes a millimeter-wave radar SLAM assisted by the Radar Cross Section (RCS) feature of the target and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). Using IMU to combine continuous radar scanning point clouds into “Multi-scan,” the problem of small data volume is solved. The Density-based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN) clustering algorithm is used to filter outliers from radar data. In the clustering, the RCS feature of the target is considered, and the Mahalanobis distance is used to measure the similarity of the radar data. At the same time, in order to alleviate the problem of the lower accuracy of SLAM positioning due to the low precision of millimeter-wave radar data, an improved Correlative Scan Matching (CSM) method is proposed in this paper, which matches the radar point cloud with the local submap of the global grid map. It is a “Scan to Map” point cloud matching method, which achieves the tight coupling of localization and mapping. In this paper, three groups of actual data are collected to verify the proposed method in part and in general. Based on the comparison of the experimental results, it is proved that the proposed millimeter-wave radar SLAM assisted by the RCS feature of the target and IMU has better accuracy and robustness in the face of different scenarios. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue On-Board and Remote Sensors in Intelligent Vehicles)
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8 pages, 1072 KiB  
Letter
Three-Dimensional Simulation of Particle-Induced Mode Splitting in Large Toroidal Microresonators
by Lei Chen, Cheng Li, Yumin Liu, Judith Su and Euan McLeod
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5420; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185420 - 22 Sep 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2980
Abstract
Whispering gallery mode resonators such as silica microtoroids can be used as sensitive biochemical sensors. One sensing modality is mode-splitting, where the binding of individual targets to the resonator breaks the degeneracy between clockwise and counter-clockwise resonant modes. Compared to other sensing modalities, [...] Read more.
Whispering gallery mode resonators such as silica microtoroids can be used as sensitive biochemical sensors. One sensing modality is mode-splitting, where the binding of individual targets to the resonator breaks the degeneracy between clockwise and counter-clockwise resonant modes. Compared to other sensing modalities, mode-splitting is attractive because the signal shift is theoretically insensitive to the polar coordinate where the target binds. However, this theory relies on several assumptions, and previous experimental and numerical results have shown some discrepancies with analytical theory. More accurate numerical modeling techniques could help to elucidate the underlying physics, but efficient 3D electromagnetic finite-element method simulations of large microtoroid (diameter ~90 µm) and their resonance features have previously been intractable. In addition, applications of mode-splitting often involve bacteria or viruses, which are too large to be accurately described by the existing analytical dipole approximation theory. A numerical simulation approach could accurately explain mode splitting induced by these larger particles. Here, we simulate mode-splitting in a large microtoroid using a beam envelope method with periodic boundary conditions in a wedge-shaped domain. We show that particle sizing is accurate to within 11% for radii a<λ/7, where the dipole approximation is valid. Polarizability calculations need only be based on the background media and need not consider the microtoroid material. This modeling approach can be applied to other sizes and shapes of microresonators in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Micro-Resonators for Sensing)
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19 pages, 4450 KiB  
Article
Combining Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) and Visible Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (Vis-NIRS) for Soil Phosphorus Determination
by Sara Sánchez-Esteva, Maria Knadel, Sergey Kucheryavskiy, Lis W. de Jonge, Gitte H. Rubæk, Cecilie Hermansen and Goswin Heckrath
Sensors 2020, 20(18), 5419; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185419 - 21 Sep 2020
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 4390
Abstract
Conventional wet chemical methods for the determination of soil phosphorus (P) pools, relevant for environmental and agronomic purposes, are labor-intensive. Therefore, alternative techniques are needed, and a combination of the spectroscopic techniques—in this case, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS)—and visible near-infrared spectroscopy (vis-NIRS) could [...] Read more.
Conventional wet chemical methods for the determination of soil phosphorus (P) pools, relevant for environmental and agronomic purposes, are labor-intensive. Therefore, alternative techniques are needed, and a combination of the spectroscopic techniques—in this case, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS)—and visible near-infrared spectroscopy (vis-NIRS) could be relevant. We aimed at exploring LIBS, vis-NIRS and their combination for soil P estimation. We analyzed 147 Danish agricultural soils with LIBS and vis-NIRS. As reference measurements, we analyzed water-extractable P (Pwater), Olsen P (Polsen), oxalate-extractable P (Pox) and total P (TP) by conventional wet chemical protocols, as proxies for respectively leachable, plant-available, adsorbed inorganic P, and TP in soil. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) models combined with interval partial least squares (iPLS) and competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS) variable selection methods were tested, and the relevant wavelengths for soil P determination were identified. LIBS exhibited better results compared to vis-NIRS for all P models, except for Pwater, for which results were comparable. Model performance for both the LIBS and vis-NIRS techniques as well as the combined LIBS-vis-NIR approach was significantly improved when variable selection was applied. CARS performed better than iPLS in almost all cases. Combined LIBS and vis-NIRS models with variable selection showed the best results for all four P pools, except for Pox where the results were comparable to using the LIBS model with CARS. Merging LIBS and vis-NIRS with variable selection showed potential for improving soil P determinations, but larger and independent validation datasets should be tested in future studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Biosensors)
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