Low-Power Electronic Circuits for Monolithic Smart Wireless Sensors

A special issue of Journal of Low Power Electronics and Applications (ISSN 2079-9268).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2017) | Viewed by 72700

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Biomedical Applications Technologies & Sensors (BATS) Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences, Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, Viale Europa, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy
Interests: sensors; biomedical signal processing; ion-sensitive field-effect transistors; PH sensors; sensing; wearable medical devices; electrocardiography; electrodes; textiles
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Guest Editor
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The University of Tennessee, 1520 Middle Drive, Knoxville, TN 37996-2250, USA
Interests: mixed signal circuit design; bio-sensor design; noise theory for electronic systems; microfabrication and development of devices

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Guest Editor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080, USA
Interests: low-power CMOS analog and RF integrated circuit design; antennas and wireless interfaces for biomedical sensors
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recent advancements in sensor and integrated circuit technologies, as well as wireless networking, have facilitated widespread use of smart wireless sensor instruments in various applications encompassing health science, clinical and experimental medicine, and environmental monitoring. New and promising developments in the areas of both transducer design and CMOS process technology have enabled rapid development in low-power smart sensor technology and wireless telemetry. With continuous scaling of CMOS process technologies, a high degree of miniaturization, of many classic measurement techniques, has been achieved, which has led to the realization of complex analytical systems, namely lab-on-a-chip. This new class of monolithic sensors has the potential for a broad range of applications, including biology, medicine, environment monitoring, and homeland security. The purpose of this Special Issue is to address on-going research activities in the design of transducers and the associated electronics, including wireless telemetry required for achieving smart wireless monolithic sensor instruments.

Original contributions are solicited from the following non-exhaustive list of topics:

- Low-power circuit design methodologies
- Transducer design for monolithic sensors
- Energy harvesting techniques for battery-less sensor instruments
- Power and energy management circuits and systems
- Circuits techniques for energy-efficient wireless communication
- Wireless smart sensor architecture and system-level design methodologies
- Low-power, intelligent and adaptive sensor signal processing for wireless sensors

Dr. Syed Kamrul Islam
Dr. Salvatore Pullano
Dr. Nicole McFarlane
Dr. Ifana Mahbub
Guest Editors

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

31 pages, 4081 KiB  
Article
Design of a Programmable Passive SoC for Biomedical Applications Using RFID ISO 15693/NFC5 Interface
by Mayukh Bhattacharyya, Waldemar Gruenwald, Dirk Jansen, Leonhard Reindl and Jasmin Aghassi-Hagmann
J. Low Power Electron. Appl. 2018, 8(1), 3; https://doi.org/10.3390/jlpea8010003 - 31 Jan 2018
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 10875
Abstract
Low power, low cost inductively powered passive biotelemetry system involving fully customized RFID/NFC interface base SoC has gained popularity in the last decades. However, most of the SoCs developed are application specific and lacks either on-chip computational or sensor readout capability. In this [...] Read more.
Low power, low cost inductively powered passive biotelemetry system involving fully customized RFID/NFC interface base SoC has gained popularity in the last decades. However, most of the SoCs developed are application specific and lacks either on-chip computational or sensor readout capability. In this paper, we present design details of a programmable passive SoC in compliance with ISO 15693/NFC5 standard for biomedical applications. The integrated system consists of a 32-bit microcontroller, a sensor readout circuit, a 12-bit SAR type ADC, 16 kB RAM, 16 kB ROM and other digital peripherals. The design is implemented in a 0.18 μ m CMOS technology and used a die area of 1.52 mm × 3.24 mm. The simulated maximum power consumption of the analog block is 592 μ W. The number of external components required by the SoC is limited to an external memory device, sensors, antenna and some passive components. The external memory device contains the application specific firmware. Based on the application, the firmware can be modified accordingly. The SoC design is suitable for medical implants to measure physiological parameters like temperature, pressure or ECG. As an application example, the authors have proposed a bioimplant to measure arterial blood pressure for patients suffering from Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low-Power Electronic Circuits for Monolithic Smart Wireless Sensors)
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18 pages, 6270 KiB  
Article
SoC-Based Edge Computing Gateway in the Context of the Internet of Multimedia Things: Experimental Platform
by Maher Jridi, Thibault Chapel, Victor Dorez, Guénolé Le Bougeant and Antoine Le Botlan
J. Low Power Electron. Appl. 2018, 8(1), 1; https://doi.org/10.3390/jlpea8010001 - 12 Jan 2018
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 9425
Abstract
This paper presents an algorithm/architecture and Hardware/Software co-designs for implementing a digital edge computing layer on a Zynq platform in the context of the Internet of Multimedia Things (IoMT). Traditional cloud computing is no longer suitable for applications that require image processing due [...] Read more.
This paper presents an algorithm/architecture and Hardware/Software co-designs for implementing a digital edge computing layer on a Zynq platform in the context of the Internet of Multimedia Things (IoMT). Traditional cloud computing is no longer suitable for applications that require image processing due to cloud latency and privacy concerns. With edge computing, data are processed, analyzed, and encrypted very close to the device, which enable the ability to secure data and act rapidly on connected things. The proposed edge computing system is composed of a reconfigurable module to simultaneously compress and encrypt multiple images, along with wireless image transmission and display functionalities. A lightweight implementation of the proposed design is obtained by approximate computing of the discrete cosine transform (DCT) and by using a simple chaotic generator which greatly enhances the encryption efficiency. The deployed solution includes four configurations based on HW/SW partitioning in order to handle the compromise between execution time, area, and energy consumption. It was found with the experimental setup that by moving more components to hardware execution, a timing speedup of more than nine times could be achieved with a negligible amount of energy consumption. The power efficiency was then enhanced by a ratio of 7.7 times. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low-Power Electronic Circuits for Monolithic Smart Wireless Sensors)
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7530 KiB  
Article
A Low-Power CMOS Piezoelectric Transducer Based Energy Harvesting Circuit for Wearable Sensors for Medical Applications
by Taeho Oh, Syed K. Islam, Mohamad Mahfouz and Gary To
J. Low Power Electron. Appl. 2017, 7(4), 33; https://doi.org/10.3390/jlpea7040033 - 18 Dec 2017
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 10959
Abstract
Piezoelectric vibration based energy harvesting systems have been widely utilized and researched as powering modules for various types of sensor systems due to their ease of integration and relatively high energy density compared to RF, thermal, and electrostatic based energy harvesting systems. In [...] Read more.
Piezoelectric vibration based energy harvesting systems have been widely utilized and researched as powering modules for various types of sensor systems due to their ease of integration and relatively high energy density compared to RF, thermal, and electrostatic based energy harvesting systems. In this paper, a low-power CMOS full-bridge rectifier is presented as a potential solution for an efficient energy harvesting system for piezoelectric transducers. The energy harvesting circuit consists of two n-channel MOSFETs (NMOS) and two p-channel MOSFETs (PMOS) devices implementing a full-bridge rectifier coupled with a switch control circuit based on a PMOS device driven by a comparator. With a load of 45 kΩ, the output rectifier voltage and the input piezoelectric transducer voltage are 694 mV and 703 mV, respectably, while the VOUT versus VIN conversion ratio is 98.7% with a PCE of 52.2%. The energy harvesting circuit has been designed using 130 nm standard CMOS process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low-Power Electronic Circuits for Monolithic Smart Wireless Sensors)
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783 KiB  
Article
Modified Hermite Pulse-Based Wideband Communication for High-Speed Data Transfer in Wireless Sensor Applications
by Kushal P. Pradhan, Yang-Guo Li, A. K. M. Arifuzzman and Mohammad Rafiqul Haider
J. Low Power Electron. Appl. 2017, 7(4), 30; https://doi.org/10.3390/jlpea7040030 - 1 Dec 2017
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 8738
Abstract
With technological advances in the field of communication, the need for reliable high-speed data transfer is increasing. The deployment of large number of wireless sensors for remote monitoring and control and streaming of high definition video, voice and image data, etc. are imposing [...] Read more.
With technological advances in the field of communication, the need for reliable high-speed data transfer is increasing. The deployment of large number of wireless sensors for remote monitoring and control and streaming of high definition video, voice and image data, etc. are imposing a challenge to the existing network bandwidth allocation for reliable communication. Two novel schemes for ultra-wide band (UWB) communication technology have been proposed in this paper with the key objective of intensifying the data rate by taking advantage of the orthogonal properties of the modified Hermite pulse (MHP). In the first scheme, a composite pulse is transmitted and in the second scheme, a sequence of multi-order orthogonal pulses is transmitted in the place of a single UWB pulse. The MHP pulses exhibit a mutually orthogonal property between different ordered pulses and due to this property, simultaneous transmission is achieved without collision in the UWB system, resulting in an increase in transmission capacity or improved bit error rate. The proposed schemes for enhanced data rate will offer high volume data monitoring, assessment, and control of wireless devices without overburdening the network bandwidth and pave the way for new platforms for future high-speed wireless sensor applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low-Power Electronic Circuits for Monolithic Smart Wireless Sensors)
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978 KiB  
Article
Sleep Stage Classification by a Combination of Actigraphic and Heart Rate Signals
by Emi Yuda, Yutaka Yoshida, Ryujiro Sasanabe, Haruhito Tanaka, Toshiaki Shiomi and Junichiro Hayano
J. Low Power Electron. Appl. 2017, 7(4), 28; https://doi.org/10.3390/jlpea7040028 - 13 Nov 2017
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 10774
Abstract
Although heart rate variability and actigraphic data have been used for sleep-wake or sleep stage classifications, there are few studies on the combined use of them. Recent wearable sensors, however, equip both pulse wave and actigraphic sensors. This paper presents results on the [...] Read more.
Although heart rate variability and actigraphic data have been used for sleep-wake or sleep stage classifications, there are few studies on the combined use of them. Recent wearable sensors, however, equip both pulse wave and actigraphic sensors. This paper presents results on the performance of sleep stage classification by a combination of heart rate and actigraphic signals. We studied 40,643 epochs (length 3 min) of polysomnographic data in 289 subjects. A combined model, consisting of autonomic functional indices from heart rate variability and body movement indices derived from actigraphic data, discriminated non-rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep from waking/REM sleep with 76.9% sensitivity, 74.5% specificity, 75.8% accuracy, and a Cohen’s kappa of 0.514. The combination was also useful for discriminating between REM sleep and waking at 77.2% sensitivity, 72.3% specificity, 74.5% accuracy, and a kappa of 0.491. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low-Power Electronic Circuits for Monolithic Smart Wireless Sensors)
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4666 KiB  
Article
A Low-Power Active Self-Interference Cancellation Technique for SAW-Less FDD and Full-Duplex Receivers
by Saheed Tijani and Danilo Manstretta
J. Low Power Electron. Appl. 2017, 7(4), 27; https://doi.org/10.3390/jlpea7040027 - 13 Nov 2017
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 8262
Abstract
An active self-interference (SI) cancellation technique for SAW-less receiver linearity improvement is proposed. The active canceler combines programmable gain and phase in a single stage and is co-designed with a highly-linear LNA, achieving low noise and low power. A cross-modulation mechanism of the [...] Read more.
An active self-interference (SI) cancellation technique for SAW-less receiver linearity improvement is proposed. The active canceler combines programmable gain and phase in a single stage and is co-designed with a highly-linear LNA, achieving low noise and low power. A cross-modulation mechanism of the SI canceler is identified and strongly suppressed thanks to the introduction of an internal resistive feedback, enabling high effective receiver IIP3. TX leakage of up to −4 dBm of power is suppressed by over 30 dB at the input of the LNA, with benefits for the entire receiver in terms of IIP3, IIP2, and reciprocal mixing. The design was done in a 40 nm CMOS technology. The system, including receiver and active SI canceler, consumes less than 25 mW of power. When the canceler is enabled, it has an NF of 3.9–4.6 dB between 1.7 and 2.4 GHz and an effective IIP3 greater than 35 dBm. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low-Power Electronic Circuits for Monolithic Smart Wireless Sensors)
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9683 KiB  
Article
Inkjet Printed Fully-Passive Body-Worn Wireless Sensors for Smart and Connected Community (SCC)
by Bashir I. Morshed, Brook Harmon, Md Sabbir Zaman, Md Juber Rahman, Sharmin Afroz and Mamunur Rahman
J. Low Power Electron. Appl. 2017, 7(4), 26; https://doi.org/10.3390/jlpea7040026 - 9 Nov 2017
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 12691
Abstract
Future Smart and Connected Communities (SCC) will utilize distributed sensors and embedded computing to seamlessly generate meaningful data that can assist individuals, communities, and society with interlocking physical, social, behavioral, economic, and infrastructural interaction. SCC will require newer technologies for seamless and unobtrusive [...] Read more.
Future Smart and Connected Communities (SCC) will utilize distributed sensors and embedded computing to seamlessly generate meaningful data that can assist individuals, communities, and society with interlocking physical, social, behavioral, economic, and infrastructural interaction. SCC will require newer technologies for seamless and unobtrusive sensing and computation in natural settings. This work presents a new technology for health monitoring with low-cost body-worn disposable fully passive electronic sensors, along with a scanner, smartphone app, and web-server for a complete smart sensor system framework. The novel wireless resistive analog passive (WRAP) sensors are printed using an inkjet printing (IJP) technique on paper with silver inks (Novacentrix Ag B40, sheet resistance of 21 mΩ/sq) and incorporate a few discrete surface mounted electronic components (overall thickness of <1 mm). These zero-power flexible sensors are powered through a wireless inductive link from a low-power scanner (500 mW during scanning burst of 100 ms) by amplitude modulation at the carrier signal of 13.56 MHz. While development of various WRAP sensors is ongoing, this paper describes development of a WRAP temperature sensor in detail as an illustration. The prototypes were functionally verified at various temperatures with energy consumption of as low as 50 mJ per scan. The data is analyzed with a smartphone app that computes severity (Events-of-Interest, or EoI) using a real-time algorithm. The severity can then be anonymously shared with a custom web-server, and visualized either in temporal or spatial domains. This research aims to reduce ER visits of patients by enabling self-monitoring, thereby improving community health for SSC. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Low-Power Electronic Circuits for Monolithic Smart Wireless Sensors)
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