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Learning to Walk With Toes
(2020)
This paper explains how a model-free (with respect to the robot model and the behavior to learn) approach can facilitate learning to walk from scratch. It is applied to a simulated Nao robot with toes. Results show an improvement of 30% in speed compared to a model without toes and also compared to our model-based approach, but with less stability.
Oesophageal Electrode Probe and Device for Cardiological Treatment and/or Diagnosis (EP3706626A1)
(2020)
The invention relates to an oesophageal electrode probe (10) for bioimpedance measurement and/or for neurostimulation; a device (100) for transoesophageal cardiological treatment and/or cardiological diagnosis; and a method for the open-loop or closed-loop control of a cardiac catheter ablation device and/or a cardiac, circulatory and/or respiratory support device. The oesophageal electrode probe comprises a bioimpedance measuring device for measuring the bioimpedance of at least one part of the tissue surrounding the oesophageal electrode probe. The bioimpedance device comprises at least one first and one second electrode, wherein the at least one first electrode (12A) is arranged on a side (14) of the oesophageal electrode probe facing towards the heart and the at least one second electrode (12B) is arranged on a side (16) of the oesophageal electrode probe facing away from the heart. The device (100) comprises the oesophageal electrode probe (10) and a control and/or evaluation device (30), which is configured for receiving a first bioimpedance measurement signal from the at least one first electrode (12A) and a second bioimpedance measurement signal from the at least one second electrode (12B), and comparing same, and generating a control signal on the basis of the comparison. The control signal can be a signal for the open-loop or closed-loop control of a cardiac catheter ablation device and/or a cardiac, circulatory and/or respiratory support device.
Verfahren zur Bestimmung von Eigenschaften einer Rohrleitung, insbesondere der Position eines Abzweigs einer Abwasserrohrleitung,(a) bei dem ein Schallwellensendesignal (S, S') an einem vorgegebenen Einspeisepunkt in die Rohrleitung (1) eingespeist wird und sich in axialer Richtung der Rohrleitung (1) ausbreitet,(b) wobei das Frequenzspektrum des Schallwellensendesignals (S, S') eine Frequenzkomponente oder einen Spektralbereich aufweist, dessen maximale Frequenz kleiner ist als die untere Grenzfrequenz (f) für die erste Obermode,(c) bei dem innerhalb der Rohrleitung (1) reflektierte Anteile (S, S, S, S', S', S') des Schallwellensendesignals (S, S') als Schallwellenempfangssignal (E, E') detektiert werden, und(d) bei dem die Rohrleitung (1) durch eine Auswertung des Schallwellenempfangssignal (E, E') in Bezug auf das Schallwellensendesignal (S, S') hinsichtlich des Vorhandenseins von Schallwellenreflexionen (S, S, S, S', S', S') verursachenden Reflexionsorten entlang der Rohrleitung (1) untersucht wird,(e) wobei mittels der Auswertung des Schallwellenempfangssignals (E, E') zumindest jeweils der Abstand (I) eines Reflexionsortes von dem Einspeisepunkt bestimmt wird, dadurch gekennzeichnet,(f) dass die Schallgeschwindigkeit (c) der Grundmode bei der aktuellen Temperatur innerhalb der Rohrleitung (1) unter Verwendung eines Schallwellenmesssignals ermittelt wird, welches eine Frequenz oder ein Frequenzspektrum aufweist, bei dem das Schallwellenmesssignal innerhalb der Rohrleitung (1) mit ausreichender Genauigkeit als ebene Schallwelle behandelt werden kann, wobei hierzu die Laufzeiten des Schallwellenmesssignals über eine vorbekannte Strecke (L) in beiden Richtungen gemessen wird,(g) dass die so ermittelte Schallgeschwindigkeit (c) einer ebenen Schallwelle gleich der tatsächlichen Schallgeschwindigkeit der Grundmode bei der aktuellen Temperatur innerhalb der Rohrleitung (1) gesetzt wird, und(h) dass die so bestimmte Schallgeschwindigkeit zur Bestimmung des Abstand (I) eines Reflexionsortes von dem Einspeisepunkt verwendet wird.
Die Erfindung betrifft eine Ösophaguselektrodensonde bzw. einen Ösophaguskatheter 10 zur Bioimpedanzmessung und/oder zur Neurostimulation, eine Vorrichtung 100 zur transösophagealen kardiologischen Behandlung und/oder kardiologischen Diagnose und ein Verfahren zum Steuern oder Regeln einer Ablationseinrichtung zum Durchführen einer Herzablation. Die Ösophaguselektrodensonde 10 umfasst eine Bioimpedanzmesseinrichtung zur Messung der Bioimpedanz von zumindest einem Teil des die Ösophaguselektrodensonde 10 umgebenden Gewebes. Die Bioimpedanzmesseinrichtung umfasst mindestens eine erste Elektrode 12A und mindestens eine zweite Elektrode 12B, wobei die mindestens eine erste Elektrode 12A auf einer dem Herzen zugewandten Seite 14 der Ösophaguselektrodensonde 10 angeordnet ist, und die mindestens eine zweite Elektrode 12B auf einer vom Herzen abgewandten Seite 16 der Ösophaguselektrodensonde 10 angeordnet ist.Die Vorrichtung 100 umfasst die Ösophaguselektrodensonde 10 und eine Steuer- und/oder Auswerteinrichtung 30. Die Steuer- und/oder Auswerteinrichtung 30 ist eingerichtet, ein erstes Bioimpedanzmesssignal von der mindestens einen ersten Elektrode 12A und ein zweites Bioimpedanzmesssignal von der mindestens einen zweiten Elektrode 12B zu empfangen und zu vergleichen, und ein Kontrollsignal auf Basis des Vergleichs zu generieren. Das Kontrollsignal kann ein Signal zum Steuern oder Regeln einer Ablationseinrichtung zum Durchführen einer Herzablation sein.
Auf Grundlage der Computer-Aided-Design (CAD)-rekonstruierten ersten „Eisernen Hand“ des Götz von Berlichingen wird ein umgebautes, controllergesteuertes sensomotorisches Fingersystem auf seine Funktionalität beim Greifen von unterschiedlichen Gegenständen beschrieben und geprüft. Die elektronischen Finger, die den „Pinzettengriff“ nachahmen und automatisch bei dem zuvor eingestellten Anpressdruck abschalten, bewiesen eine bemerkenswerte Alltagstauglichkeit. Das vorgestellte Grundkonzept könnte eine Alternative bei der Entwicklung einfacher und kostengünstiger, aber dennoch gut einsatzfähiger bionischer Hände sein und zeigt einmal mehr, wie historische Ideen in die Gegenwart transferiert werden können.
The Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) has left us with many puzzles. The well-known oil painting by Elias Gottlob Haußmann is the only painting for which Bach actually posed in person. According to this portrait, Bach must have been quite obese. The cheeks and nose are flushed – possibly as signs of hypertension – and the eye lids are narrow – a sign of myopia. Furthermore, there is a thinning of the lateral third of the right eyebrow, which is known as Hertoghe’s sign, and indicated periorbital edema. Both signs are compatible with hypothyroidism. Bach might have been suffering from type-2 diabetes as the origin of his final illness, and the obituary reports two cataract surgeries by oculist John Taylor in March/April 1750, and, four months later, “apoplexy” followed by a high fever, of which Bach died. It may be speculated, however, that Bach’s entire illness was the result of his presumed obesity, possibly in combination with hypothyroidism.
The growing demand for active medical implantable devices requires data and or power links between the implant and the outside world. Every implant has to be encapsulated from the body by a specific housing and one of the most common materials used is titanium or titanium alloy. Titanium thas the necessary properties in terms of mechanical and chemical stability and biocompatibility. However, its electrical conductivity presents a challenge for the electromagnetic transmission of data and power. The proposed paper presents a fast and practical method to determine the necessary transmission parameters for titanium encapsulated implants. Therefore, the basic transformer-transmission-model is used with measured or calculated key values for the inductances. Those are then expanded with correction factors to determine the behavior with the encapsulation. The correction factors are extracted from finite element method simulations. These also enable the analysis of the magnetic field distribution inside of the housing. The simulated transmission properties are very close to the measured values. Additionally, based on lumped elements and magnetic field distribution, the influential parameters are discussed in the paper. The parameter discussion describes how to enhance the transmitted power, data-rate or distance, or to reduce the size of the necessary coils. Finally, an example application demonstrates the usage of the methods.
In this paper, we present a frame synchronization method which consists of the non-orthogonal superposition of a synchronization sequence and the data. We derive the optimum detection criterion and compare it to the classical sequential concatenation of synchronization and data sequences. Computer simulations confirm the benefits of the non-orthogonal allocation for the case of short frames, which makes this technique particularly suited for the increasingly important regime of low latency and ultra- reliable communication.
Hintergrund: Richtung und Stärke des elektrischen Feldes (E-Feld) der biventrikulären (BV) Stimulation und elektrische interventrikuläre Desynchronisation sind bei Patienten mit Herzinsuffizienz und verbreitertem QRS Komplex von Bedeutung für den Erfolg der kardialen Resynchronisationstherapie (CRT). Das 3D Herzrhythmusmodell (HRM) ermöglicht die
Simulation von CRT und Hochfrequenz (HF) Ablation. Das Ziel der Studie besteht in der Integration von Schrittmacher- und Ablationselektroden in das HRM zur E-Feld Simulation der BV Stimulation und thermischen Feld (T-Feld) Simulation der HF Ablation von Vorhofflimmern (AF).
Methoden: Es wurden fünf multipolare linksventrikuläre (LV) Elektroden, eine epikardiale LV Elektrode, vier bipolare rechtsatriale (RA) Elektroden, zwei rechtsventrikuläre (RV) Elektroden und ein HF Ablationskatheter mit CST (Computer Simulation Technology, Darmstadt) modelliert und das HRM (Schalk et al: Clin Res Cardiol 106, Suppl 1, April 2017, P1812) um den Koronarvenensinus (CS) erweitert (HRM-CS). E-Feld Simulationen bei vorhofsynchroner BV Stimulation und bei RA Stimulation mit RV und LV Ableitung erfolgten mit den Elektroden Select Secure 3830, Capsure VDD-2 5038 und Attain OTW 4194 im HRM+CS (Fig.). F-Feld Simulationen der HF Ablation von AF bei CRT wurden mit integriertem Ablationskatheter AlCath G FullCircle (Biotronik) simuliert.
Ergebnisse: HRM-CS ermöglichte 3D E-Feld Simulationen bei vorhofsynchroner bipolarer BV Stimulation und bei bipolarer RA Stimulation mit bipolarer RV und LV Ableitung. RV und LV Stimulation erfolgten zeitgleich bei einer Amplitude von 3 V an der LV Elektrode und 1 V an der RV Elektrode mit einer Impulsbreite von jeweils 0,5 ms. Die von der BV Stimulationen erzeugten Fernpotentiale konnten von der RA Elektrode wahrgenommen werden. Das Fernpotential an der RA Elektrodenspitze betrug 32,86 mV und in 1 mm Abstand von der RA Elektrodenspitze ergab sich ein Fernpotential von 185,97 mV. HRM-CS ermöglichte 3D T-Feld Simulationen der HF Ablation von AF bei CRT. Das T-Feld bei HF Ablation des AV-Knotens wurde mit einer anliegenden Leistung von 5 W bei 420 kHz an der distalen 8 mm Ablationselektrode simuliert. Die Temperatur an der Katheterspitze betrug nach 5 s Ablationsdauer 88,66 °C, in 1 mm Abstand von der Katheterspitze im Myokard 42,17 °C und in 2 mm Abstand 37,49 °C.
Schlussfolgerungen: HRM-CS und Elektrodenmodelle ermöglichen die 3D Simulationen von E-Feldern bei vorhofsynchroner BV Stimulation, RA Stimulation mit RV und LV Wahrnehmung und von T-Feldern bei HF Ablation. E-Feld Simulationen von RA, RV und LV Stimulation und Sensing können möglicherweise zur Vorhersage von CRT Respondern genutzt werden.
This paper deals with the detection and segmentation of clouds on high-dynamic-range (HDR) images of the sky as well as the calculation of the position of the sun at any time of the year. In order to predict the movement of clouds and the radiation of the sun for a short period of time, the clouds thickness and position have to be known as precisely as possible. Consequently, the segmentation algorithm has to provide satisfactory results regardless of different weather, illumination and climatic conditions. The principle of the segmentation is based on the classification of each pixel as a cloud or as a sky. This classification is usually based on threshold methods, since these are relatively fast to implement and show a low computational burden. In order to predict if and when the sun will be covered by clouds, the position of the sun on the images has to be determined. For this purpose, the zenith and azimuth angles of the sun are determined and converted into XY coordinates.
Solar irradiance prediction is vital for the power management and the cost reduction when integrating solar energy. The study is towards a ground image based solar irradiance prediction which is highly dependent on the cloud coverage. The sky images are collected by using ground based sky imager (fisheye lens). In this work, different algorithms for cloud detection being a preparation step for their segmentation are compared.
The fisheye camera has been widely studied in the field of ground based sky imagery and robot vision since it can capture a wide view of the scene at one time. However, serious image distortion is a major drawback hindering its wider use. To remedy this, this paperproposes a lens calibration and distortion correction method for detecting clouds and forecasting solar radiation. Finally, the radial distortion of the fisheye image can be corrected by incorporating the estimated calibration parameters. Experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Die Hersteller von Cochlea-Implantat (CI)-Systemen sehen für klinische Audiologen die Möglichkeit vor, die Mikrofonleistung der meisten aktuellen CI-Sprachprozessoren mittels anschließbarer Monitorkopfhörer zu prüfen. Nähere Angaben dazu, nach welchem Prozedere diese Prüfung stattfinden soll, z. B. welche Stimuli mit welchen Pegeln verwendet werden sollen, sind nach Wissen der Autoren seitens der CI-Hersteller nicht verfügbar. Auf der Basis dieser subjektiven Prüfung entscheidet dann der Audiologe, ob der betreffende Sprachprozessor an den Hersteller eingeschickt wird oder nicht. Wir haben eine Messbox entwickelt, mit der die Mikrofonleistung aller abhörbaren CI-Sprachprozessoren der Hersteller Advanced Bionics, Cochlear und MED-EL objektiv geprüft werden kann. Die Box wurde im 3-D-Druckverfahren hergestellt. Der zu prüfende Sprachprozessor wird in die Messbox eingehängt und über einen verbauten Lautsprecher mit definierten Prüfsignalen (Sinustönen unterschiedlicher Frequenz) beschallt. Das Signal des Mikronfons bzw. der Mikrofone wird über das in der Audio-/Abhörbuchse des Prozessors eingesteckte Kabel der Monitorkopfhörer herausgeführt und mit einer Shifting and Scaling-Schaltung in einen Spannungsbereich transformiert, der für die A/D-Wandlung mit einem Mikrokontroller (ATmega1280 verbaut auf einem Arduino Mega) geeignet ist. Derselbe Mikrokontroller übernimmt über einen eigens gebauten D/AWandler die Ausgabe der Prüfsignale über den Lautsprecher. Signalaufnahme und –wiedergabe erfolgt jeweils mit einer Samplingrate von 38,5 kHz. Der frequenzspezifische Effektivwert des abgegriffenen Mikrofonsignals wird mit einem Referenzwert verglichen. Die (frequenzspezifischen) Referenzwerte wurden mit einem neuwertigen Sprachprozessor gleichen Typs ermittelt und im Speicher des Mikrokontrollers abgelegt. Das Ergebnis wird nach Abschluss der Messung grafisch auf einem Touchscreen ausgegeben. Derzeit läuft eine erste Datenerhebung mit in der Klinik subjektiv auffällig gewordenen CI-Sprachprozessoren, die anschließend in der Messbox untersucht werden. Längerfristiges Ziel ist es, die hit und false alarm Raten der subjektiven Prüfung zu ermitteln.
Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) with hemodynamic optimized biventricular pacing is an established therapy for heart failure patients with sinus rhythm, reduced left ventricular ejection fraction and wide QRS complex. The aim of the study was to evaluate electrical right and left cardiac atrioventricular delay and left atrial delay in CRT responder and non-responder with sinus rhythm.
Methods: Heart failure patients with New York Heart Association class 3.0 ± 0.3, sinus rhythm and 27.7 ± 6.1% left ventricular ejection fraction were measured by surface ECG and transesophageal bipolar left atrial and left ventricular ECG before implantation of CRT devices. Electrical right cardiac atrioventricular delay was measured between onset of P wave and onset of QRS complex in the surface ECG, left cardiac atrioventricular delay between onset of left atrial signal and onset of left ventricular signal in the transesophageal ECG and left atrial delay between onset and offset of left atrial signal in the transesophageal ECG.
Results: Electrical atrioventricular and left atrial delay were 196.9 ± 38.7 ms right and 194.5 ± 44.9 ms left cardiac atrioventricular delay, and 47.7 ± 13.9 ms left atrial delay. There were positive correlation between right and left cardiac atrioventricular delay (r = 0.803 P < 0.001) and negative correlation between left atrial delay and left ventricular ejection fraction (r = −0.694 P = 0.026) with 67% CRT responder.
Conclusions: Transesophageal electrical left cardiac atrioventricular delay and left atrial delay may be useful preoperative atrial desynchronization parameters to improve CRT optimization.
Targeting complex fractionated atrial electrocardiograms by automated algorithms during ablation of persistent atrial fibrillation has produced conflicting outcomes in previous electrophysiological studies and catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. The aim of the investigation was to evaluate atrial and ventricular high frequency fractionated electrical signals with signal averaging technique.
Methods: Signal averaging electrocardigraphy allows high resolution ECG technique to eliminate interference noise signals in the recorded ECG. The algorithm use automatic ECG trigger function for signal averaged transthoracic, transesophageal and intra-cardiac ECG signals with novel LabVIEW software.
Results: The analysis in the time domain evaluated fractionated atrial signals at the end of the signal averaged P-wave and fractionated ventricular signals at the end of the QRS complex. We evaluated atrial flutter in the time domain with two-to-one atrioventricular conduction, 212.0 ± 4.1 ms atrial cycle length, 426.0 ± 8.2 ms ventricular cycle length, 58.2 ± 1.8 ms P-wave duration, 119.6 ± 6.4 ms PQ duration, 103.0 ± 2.4 ms QRS duration and 296.4 ± 6.8 ms QT duration. The analysis in the frequency domain evaluated high frequency fractionated atrial signals during the P-wave and high frequency fractionated ventricular signals during QRS complex.
Conclusions: Spectral analysis of signal averaging electrocardiography with novel LabVIEW software can be utilized to evaluate atrial and ventricular conduction delays in patients with atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. Complex fractionated atrial and ventricular electrocardiograms may be useful parameters to evaluate electrical cardiac bradycardia and tachycardia signals in atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia ablation.
In einer Vorlesung nicht abgehängt zu werden und die vielen Ergebnisse strukturiert zu sichern, ist für Studienanfänger eine große Herausforderung. Mitschriebe sind sehr oft unvollständig, unstrukturiert oder „zerfläddert“. Mitschreib-Marathon und Mitdenken schließen sich bei vielen aus. Auch aktivierende Lehrmethoden, Medienwechsel, Lehrvideos führen oft dazu, dass eine strukturierte Sicherung der Inhalte des Lehrgesprächs noch erschwert wird.
Es wird ein Best Practice Beispiel gezeigt, Mathematik-Vorlesungen über ein Tablet-basiertes Mitmach-Skript zu gestalten. Dieses dient als Schrittmacher zwischen Input- und Verarbeitungsphasen und unterstützt die strukturierte Verschriftlichung, indem es Vorteile von Tafel, PPT und klassischem Skript vereint. Traditionelle Methoden werden mit technologischen Möglichkeiten kombiniert, um die angesprochenen Herausforderungen bewusster im Lehrstil zu berücksichtigen. Verbindungen zu Virtual Classroom und Video-gestützter Lehre werden aufgezeigt.
This paper describes the use of the single-linkage hierarchical clustering method in outlier detection for manufactured metal work pieces. The main goal of the study is to group defects that occur 5 mm into a work piece from the edge, i.e., the border of the metal work piece. The goal is to remove defects outside the area of interest as outliers. According to the assumptions made for the performance criteria, the single-linkage method has achieved better results compared to other agglomeration methods.
In public transportation, the motor pool often consists of various different vehicles bought over a duration of many years. Sometimes, they even differ within one batch bought at the same time. This poses a considerable challenge in the storage and allocation of spare parts, especially in the event of damage to a vehicle. Correctly assigning these parts before the vehicle reaches the workshop could significantly reduce both the downtime and, therefore, the actual costs for companies. In order to achieve this, the current software uses a simple probability calculation. To improve the performance, the data of specific companies was analysed, preprocessed and used with several modelling techniques to classify and, therefore, predict the spare parts to be used in the event of a faulty vehicle. We summarize our experience running through the steps of the Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining and compare the performance to the previously used probability. Gradient Boosting Trees turned out to be the best modeling technique for this special case.
Data Science gilt als eine der wichtigsten Entwicklungen der letzten
Jahre und viele Unternehmen sehen in Data Science die Möglichkeit,
ihre Daten zusätzlich wertschöpfend zu nutzen. Dabei kann es sich um
die Optimierung von Maintenance-Prozessen handeln, um eine bessere
Steuerung der eigenen Preis- und Lagerhaltungsstrategie oder auch
um völlig neue Services und Produkte, die durch Data Science möglich
werden. Die im Unternehmen vorliegenden Daten, an die so hohe Erwartungen
geknüpft wurden, sollen dazu genutzt werden, um Services
und Prozesse effizienter und passgenauer gestalten zu können. Vielfach
gilt Data Science dabei als Allheilmittel: Daten, die über Jahre hinweg
gesammelt wurden und mit zunehmender Geschwindigkeit und Heterogenität
anfallen, sollen endlich nutzbar gemacht werden. Zwar sind die
eingesetzten Techniken und Algorithmen teilweise schon zehn Jahre und
mehr alt, doch erst jetzt entfalten sie im Zusammenspiel mit Big Data
ihr Potenzial im Unternehmensumfeld. Die Erwartungen sind hoch, doch
der Weg zu den neuen Erkenntnissen ist mit hohem Aufwand verbunden
und wird von einigen Unternehmen noch immer unterschätzt.
Für Unternehmen mit einem traditionellen BI-Ansatz stellt Data Science
ein ergänzendes Set von Methoden und Werkzeugen dar, mit deren Hilfe
die Informationsversorgung der Entscheider auf den verschiedenen
hierarchischen Ebenen noch besser gestaltet werden kann. So zum Beispiel,
wenn man mit Data Science feststellt, dass die Wahrscheinlichkeit
für einen Versicherungsabschluss steigt, wenn bei der Auswahl der
anzusprechenden Kunden zusätzliche Daten herangezogen werden, die
zwar bereits vorliegen, aber noch nicht berücksichtigt worden sind. Im
Extremfall werden auch Entscheidungen vollständig automatisiert, die
bisher von Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeitern getroffen wurden. Ein Algorithmus
legt dann fest, wann Ware nachbestellt oder welcher Preis für
den Endkunden festgesetzt wird.
Im vorliegenden E-Book soll ein Überblick über das Gebiet Data Science
gegeben werden. Dabei wird ein besonderes Augenmerk auf das Zusammenspiel
sowie das Mit- und Nebeneinander von Data Science und vorhandenen
BI-Systemen gelegt.
An Ultra-Low-Power RFID/NFC Frontend IC Using 0.18 μm CMOS Technology for Passive Tag Applications
(2018)
Battery-less passive sensor tags based on RFID or NFC technology have achieved much popularity in recent times. Passive tags are widely used for various applications like inventory control or in biotelemetry. In this paper, we present a new RFID/NFC frontend IC (integrated circuit) for 13.56 MHz passive tag applications. The design of the frontend IC is compatible with the standard ISO 15693/NFC 5. The paper discusses the analog design part in details with a brief overview of the digital interface and some of the critical measured parameters. A novel approach is adopted for the demodulator design, to demodulate the 10% ASK (amplitude shift keying) signal. The demodulator circuit consists of a comparator designed with a preset offset voltage. The comparator circuit design is discussed in detail. The power consumption of the bandgap reference circuit is used as the load for the envelope detection of the ASK modulated signal. The sub-threshold operation and low-supply-voltage are used extensively in the analog design—to keep the power consumption low. The IC was fabricated using 0.18 μm CMOS technology in a die area of 1.5 mm × 1.5 mm and an effective area of 0.7 mm2. The minimum supply voltage desired is 1.2 V, for which the total power consumption is 107 μW. The analog part of the design consumes only 36 μW, which is low in comparison to other contemporary passive tags ICs. Eventually, a passive tag is developed using the frontend IC, a microcontroller, a temperature and a pressure sensor. A smart NFC device is used to readout the sensor data from the tag employing an Android-based application software. The measurement results demonstrate the full passive operational capability. The IC is suitable for low-power and low-cost industrial or biomedical battery-less sensor applications. A figure-of-merit (FOM) is proposed in this paper which is taken as a reference for comparison with other related state-of-the-art researches.
Oxide semiconductors are highly promising candidates for the most awaited, next-generation electronics, namely, printed electronics. As a fabrication route for the solution-processed/printed oxide semiconductors, photonic curing is becoming increasingly popular, as compared to the conventional thermal curing method; the former offers numerous advantages over the latter, such as low process temperatures and short exposure time and thereby, high throughput compatibility. Here, using dissimilar photonic curing concepts (UV–visible light and UV-laser), we demonstrate facile fabrication of high performance In2O3 field-effect transistors (FETs). Beside the processing related issues (temperature, time etc.), the other known limitation of oxide electronics is the lack of high performance p-type semiconductors, which can be bypassed using unipolar logics from high mobility n-type semiconductors alone. Interestingly, here we have found that our chosen distinct photonic curing methods can offer a large variation in threshold voltage, when they are fabricated from the same precursor ink. Consequently, both depletion and enhancement-mode devices have been achieved which can be used as the pull-up and pull-down transistors in unipolar inverters. The present device fabrication recipe demonstrates fast processing of low operation voltage, high performance FETs with large threshold voltage tunability.
A printed electronics technology has the advantage of additive and extremely low-cost fabrication compared with the conventional silicon technology. Specifically, printed electrolyte-gated field-effect transistors (EGFETs) are attractive for low-cost applications in the Internet-of-Things domain as they can operate at low supply voltages. In this paper, we propose an empirical dc model for EGFETs, which can describe the behavior of the EGFETs smoothly and accurately over all regimes. The proposed model, built by extending the Enz-Krummenacher-Vittoz model, can also be used to model process variations, which was not possible previously due to fixed parameters for near threshold regime. It offers a single model for all the operating regions of the transistors with only one equation for the drain current. Additionally, it models the transistors with a less number of parameters but higher accuracy compared with existing techniques. Measurement results from several fabricated EGFETs confirm that the proposed model can predict the I-V more accurately compared with the state-of-the-art models in all operating regions. Additionally, the measurements on the frequency of a fabricated ring oscillator are only 4.7% different from the simulation results based on the proposed model using values for the switching capacitances extracted from measurement data, which shows more than 2× improvement compared with the state-of-the-art model.
Design of a Programmable Passive SoC for Biomedical Applications Using RFID ISO 15693/NFC5 Interface
(2018)
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 µm 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 µW. 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).
Printed Electronics (PE) is a promising technology that provides mechanical flexibility and low-cost fabrication. These features make PE the key enabler for emerging applications, such as smart sensors, wearables, and Internet of Things (IoTs). Since these applications need secure communication and/or authentication, it is vital to utilize security primitives for cryptographic key and identification. Physical Unclonable Functions (PUF) have been adopted widely to provide the secure keys. In this work, we present a weak PUF based on Electrolyte-gated FETs using inorganic inkjet printed electronics. A comprehensive analysis framework including Monte Carlo simulations based on real device measurements is developed to evaluate the proposed PE-PUF. Moreover, a multi-bit PE-PUF design is proposed to optimize area usage. The analysis results show that the PE-PUF has ideal uniqueness, good reliability, and can operates at low voltage which is critical for low-power PE applications. In addition, the proposed multi-bit PE-PUF reduces the area usage around 30%.
This paper evaluates the implementation of Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols suitable for massive access connectivity in 5G multi-service networks. The access protocol extends multi-packet detection receivers based on Physical Layer Network Coding (PLNC) decoding and Coded Random Access protocols considering practical aspects to implement one-stage MAC protocols for short packet communications in mMTC services. Extensions to enhance data delivery phase in two- stage protocols are also proposed. The assessment of the access protocols is extended under system level simulations where a suitable link to system interface characterization has been taken into account.
In this paper, we establish a simple model for the exchange of messages in a vehicular network and we consider fundamental limits on the achievable data rate. For a vehicular network, the exchange of data with other nearby vehicles is particularly important for traffic safety, e.g. for collision avoidance, but also for cooperative applications like platooning. These use cases are currently addressed by standards building on IEEE 802.11p, namely ITS-G5 and DSRC (dedicated short range communication), which encounter saturation problems at high vehicle densities. For this reason, we take a step back and ask for the fundamental limits for the common data rate in a vehicular network. After defining a simple single-lane model and the corresponding capacity limits for some basic multiple- access schemes, we present results for a more realistic setting. For both scenarios, non-orthogonal multiple-access (NOMA) yields the best results.
Online comment on: "Printing ferromagnetic domains for untethered fast-transforming soft materials"
(2018)
A method for determining properties of a pipeline includes feeding a sound wave signal at a predetermined feed point into the pipeline so that the sound wave signal propagates in an axial direction of the pipeline. The frequency spectrum of the transmitted sound wave signal has a frequency component or a spectral range with a maximum frequency that is smaller than the lower limit frequency for the first upper mode. Reflected portions of the transmitted sound wave signal are detected as received sound wave signal and are evaluated with regard to the transmitted sound wave signal to determine at least the distance of each reflection site from the feed point.
Real-Time Ethernet has become the major communication technology for modern automation and industrial control systems. On the one hand, this trend increases the need for an automation-friendly security solution, as such networks can no longer be considered sufficiently isolated. On the other hand, it shows that, despite diverging requirements, the domain of Operational Technology (OT) can derive advantage from high-volume technology of the Information Technology (IT) domain. Based on these two sides of the same coin, we study the challenges and prospects of approaches to communication security in real-time Ethernet automation systems. In order to capitalize the expertise aggregated in decades of research and development, we put a special focus on the reuse of well-established security technology from the IT domain. We argue that enhancing such technology to become automation-friendly is likely to result in more robust and secure designs than greenfield designs. Because of its widespread deployment and the (to this date) nonexistence of a consistent security architecture, we use PROFINET as a showcase of our considerations. Security requirements for this technology are defined and different well-known solutions are examined according their suitability for PROFINET. Based on these findings, we elaborate the necessary adaptions for the deployment on PROFINET.
The Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol is a cornerstone of secure network communication, not only for online banking, e-commerce, and social media, but also for industrial communication and cyber-physical systems. Unfortunately, implementing TLS correctly is very challenging, as becomes evident by considering the high frequency of bugfixes filed for many TLS implementations. Given the high significance of TLS, advancing the quality of implementations is a sustained pursuit. We strive to support these efforts by presenting a novel, response-distribution guided fuzzing algorithm for differential testing of black-box TLS implementations. Our algorithm generates highly diverse and mostly-valid TLS stimulation messages, which evoke more behavioral discrepancies in TLS server implementations than other algorithms. We evaluate our algorithm using 37 different TLS implementations and discuss―by means of a case study―how the resulting data allows to assess and improve not only implementations of TLS but also to identify underspecified corner cases. We introduce suspiciousness as a per-implementation metric of anomalous implementation behavior and find that more recent or bug-fixed implementations tend to have a lower suspiciousness score. Our contribution is complementary to existing tools and approaches in the area, and can help reveal implementation flaws and avoid regression. While being presented for TLS, we expect our algorithm's guidance scheme to be applicable and useful also in other contexts. Source code and data is made available for fellow researchers in order to stimulate discussions and invite others to benefit from and advance our work.
Die Heterogenität der Studienanfänger/innen erleben viele Lehrende unmittelbar in den Anfängerveranstaltungen, Heterogenität nicht nur in Bezug auf fachliche Vorbildung, sondern auch bezüglich verfügbaren Lernstrategien, Fertigkeiten, Motivation und
Selbstdisziplin. Schon allein einer 90-minütigen Vorlesung konzentriert zu folgen und die
Ergebnisse strukturiert zu sichern, ist für viele eine sehr große Herausforderung. In diesem Erfahrungsbericht wird das seit dem WS 2015/16
an der Hochschule Offenburg erprobte Potenzial moderner Tablets untersucht, Vorteile
von klassischem handschriftlichen An- und Mitschreiben mit einer Vorstruktur, wie sie
z.B. PPT-Slides ermöglichen, zu vereinen.
Recently, the demand for scalable, efficient and accurate Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS) has seen a rising trend due to their utility in providing Location Based Services (LBS). Visible Light Communication (VLC) based IPS designs, VLC-IPS, leverage Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) in indoor environments for localization. Among VLC-based designs, Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) based techniques are shown to provide very low errors in the relative position of receivers. Our considered system consists of five LEDs that act as transmitters and a single receiver (photodiode or image sensor in smart phone) whose position coordinates in an indoor environment are to be determined. As a performance criterion, Cramer Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) is derived for range estimations and the impact of various factors, such as, LED transmission frequency, position of reference LED light, and the number of LED lights, on localization accuracy has been studied. Simulation results show that depending on the optimal values of these factors, location estimation on the order of few centimeters can be realistically achieved.
The Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) protocol has been designed to provide end-to-end security over unreliable communication links. Where its connection establishment is concerned, DTLS copes with potential loss of protocol messages by implementing its own loss detection and retransmission scheme. However, the default scheme turns out to be suboptimal for links with high transmission error rates and low data rates, such as wireless links in electromagnetically harsh industrial environments. Therefore, in this paper, as a first step we provide an analysis of the standard DTLS handshake's performance under such adverse transmission conditions. Our studies are based on simulations that model message loss as the result of bit transmission errors. We consider several handshake variants, including endpoint authentication via pre-shared keys or certificates. As a second step, we propose and evaluate modifications to the way message loss is dealt with during the handshake, making DTLS deployable in situations which are prohibitive for default DTLS.
The excessive control signaling in Long Term Evolution networks required for dynamic scheduling impedes the deployment of ultra-reliable low latency applications. Semi-persistent scheduling was originally designed for constant bit-rate voice applications, however, very low control overhead makes it a potential latency reduction technique in Long Term Evolution. In this paper, we investigate resource scheduling in narrowband fourth generation Long Term Evolution networks through Network Simulator (NS3) simulations. The current release of NS3 does not include a semi-persistent scheduler for Long Term Evolution module. Therefore, we developed the semi-persistent scheduling feature in NS3 to evaluate and compare the performance in terms of uplink latency. We evaluate dynamic scheduling and semi-persistent scheduling in order to analyze the impact of resource scheduling methods on up-link latency.