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This paper describes the Sweaty II humanoid adult size robot trying to qualify for the RoboCup 2017 adult size humanoid competition. Sweaty came 2nd in RoboCup 2016 adult size league. The paper describes the main characteristics of Sweaty that made this success possible, and improvements that have been made or are planned to be implemented for RoboCup 2017.
In this TDP we describe a new tool created for testing the strategy layer of our soccer playing agents. It is a complete 2D simulator that simulates the games based on the decisions of 22 agents. With this tool, debugging the decision and strategy layer of our agents is much more efficient than before due to various interaction methods and complete control over the simulation.
In the future, the tool could also serve as a measure to run simulations of game series much faster than with the 3D simulator. This way, the impact of different play strategies could be evaluated much faster than before.
Am Buffet des Lebens
(2017)
Message co chairmen
(2017)
In this study, a high-performance controller is proposed for single-phase grid-tied energy storage systems (ESSs). To control power factor and current harmonics and manage time-shifting of energy, the ESS is required to have low steady-state error and fast transient response. It is well known that fast controllers often lack the required steady-state accuracy and trade-off is inevitable. A hybrid control system is therefore presented that combines a simple yet fast proportional derivative controller with a repetitive controller which is a type of learning controller with small steady-state error, suitable for applications with periodic grid current harmonic waveforms. This results in an improved system with distortion-free, high power factor grid current. The proposed controller model is developed and design parameters are presented. The stability analysis for the proposed system is provided and the theoretical analysis is verified through stability, transient and steady-state simulations.
Exploiting Dissent: Towards Fuzzing-based Differential Black Box Testing of TLS Implementations
(2017)
The Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol is one of the most widely used security protocols on the internet. Yet do implementations of TLS keep on suffering from bugs and security vulnerabilities. In large part is this due to the protocol's complexity which makes implementing and testing TLS notoriously difficult. In this paper, we present our work on using differential testing as effective means to detect issues in black-box implementations of the TLS handshake protocol. We introduce a novel fuzzing algorithm for generating large and diverse corpuses of mostly-valid TLS handshake messages. Stimulating TLS servers when expecting a ClientHello message, we find messages generated with our algorithm to induce more response discrepancies and to achieve a higher code coverage than those generated with American Fuzzy Lop, TLS-Attacker, or NEZHA. In particular, we apply our approach to OpenssL, BoringSSL, WolfSSL, mbedTLS, and MatrixSSL, and find several real implementation bugs; among them a serious vulnerability in MatrixSSL 3.8.4. Besides do our findings point to imprecision in the TLS specification. We see our approach as present in this paper as the first step towards fully interactive differential testing of black-box TLS protocol implementations. Our software tools are publicly available as open source projects.
The Bluetooth community is in the process to develop mesh technology. This is highly promising as Bluetooth is widely available in Smart Phones and Tablet PCs, allowing an easy access to the Internet of Things. In this paper work, we investigate the performance of Bluetooth enabled mesh networking that we performed to identify the strengths and weaknesses. A demonstrator for this protocol has been implemented by using the Fruity Mesh protocol implementation. Extensive test cases have been executed to measure the performance, the reliability, the power consumption and the delay. For this, an Automated Physical Testbed (APTB), which emulates the physical channels has been used. The results of these measurements are considered useful for the real implementation of Bluetooth; not only for home and building automation, but also for industrial automation.
Background: R-wave synchronised atrial pacing is an effective temporary pacing
therapy in infants with postoperative junctional ectopic tachycardia. In the technique
currently used, adverse short or long intervals between atrial pacing and ventricular
sensing (AP–VS) may be observed during routine clinical practice.
Objectives: The aim of the study was to analyse outcomes of R-wave synchronised
atrial pacing and the relationship between maximum tracking rates and AP–VS
intervals.
Methods: Calculated AP–VS intervals were compared with those predicted by experienced
pediatric cardiologist.
Results: A maximum tracking rate (MTR) set 10 bpm higher than the heart rate (HR)
may result in undesirable short AP–VS intervals (minimum 83 ms). A MTR set 20 bpm
above the HR is the hemodynamically better choice (minimum 96 ms). Effects of either
setting on the AP–VS interval could not be predicted by experienced observers. In our
newly proposed technique the AP–VS interval approaches 95 ms for HR > 210 bpm
and 130 ms for HR < 130 bpm. The progression is linear and decreases strictly
(− 0.4 ms/bpm) between the two extreme levels.
Conclusions: Adjusting the AP–VS interval in the currently used technique is complex
and may imply unfavorable pacemaker settings. A new pacemaker design is advisable
to allow direct control of the AP–VS interval.
With increasing flexible AC transmission system (FACTS) devices in operation, like the most versatile unified power flow controller (UPFC), the AC/DC transmission flexibility and power system stability have been suffering unprecedented challenge. This paper introduces the user-defined modeling (UDM) method into the UPFC dynamic modeling process, to deal with the challenging requirements of power system operation. This has also been verified using a leading-edge stability analysis software named DSATools TM in the IEEE-39 bus benchmark system. The characteristics of steady-state and dynamic responses are compared and analyzed under different conditions. Furthermore, simulation results prove the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed UPFC in terms of both the independent regulation of power flow and the improvement of transient stability.
Comparison of Time Warping Algorithms for Rail Vehicle Velocity Estimation in Low Speed Scenarios
(2017)
Cellular phone antennas are generally designed to have radiation patterns that are as omnidirectional as possible. Omnidirectional antennas allow a phone’s radio to work well for many orientations of the phone with respect to the cellular base station. Recent studies, however, are generating uncertainty about the health effects of prolonged exposure to electromagnetic (EM) radiation from cellular phones. In this paper, an antenna array is designed primarily to minimize users’ exposure to EM radiation. The antenna comprises a beamforming 4 by 3 array of microstrip patch antennas that is controlled by an accelerometer-only inertial navigation system. The proposed design reduces radiated power directed toward the user to below 10% of the total in the worst case.
Background: The electrical field (E-field) of the biventricular (BV) stimulation is important for the success of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in patients with cardiac insufficiency and widened QRS complex. The 3D modeling allows the simulation of CRT and high frequency (HF) ablation.
Purpose: The aim of the study was to model different pacing and ablation electrodes and to integrate them into a heart model for the static and dynamic simulation of atrial and BV stimulation and high frequency (HF) ablation in atrial fibrillation (AF).
Methods: The modeling and simulation was carried out using the electromagnetic simulation software CST (CST Darmstadt). Five multipolar left ventricular (LV) electrodes, one epicardial LV electrode, four bipolar right atrial (RA) electrodes, two right ventricular (RV) electrodes and one HF ablation catheter were modeled. Selected electrodes were integrated into the Offenburg heart rhythm model for the electrical field simulation. The simulation of an AV node ablation at CRT was performed with RA, RV and LV electrodes and integrated ablation catheter with an 8 mm gold tip.
Results: The right atrial stimulation was performed with an amplitude of 1.5 V with a pulse width of 0.5. The far-field potentials generated by the atrial stimulation were perceived by the right and left ventricular electrode. The far-field potential at a distance of 1 mm from the right ventricular electrode tip was 36.1 mV. The far-field potential at a distance of 1 mm from the left ventricular electrode tip was measured with 37.1 mV. The RV and LV stimulation were performed simultaneously at amplitude of 3 V at the LV electrode and 1 V at the RV electrode with a pulse width of 0.5 ms each. The far-field potentials generated by the BV stimulations could be perceived by the RA electrode. The far-field potential at the RA electrode tip was 32.86 mV. AV node ablation was simulated with an applied power of 5 W at 420 kHz and 10 W at 500 kHz at the distal 8 mm ablation electrode.
Conclusions: Virtual heart and electrode models as well as the simulations of electrical fields and temperature profiles allow the static and dynamic simulation of atrial synchronous BV stimulation and HF ablation at AF. The 3D simulation of the electrical field and temperature profile may be used to optimize the CRT and AF ablation.
Im Jahr 1504 verlor der deutsche Ritter Gottfried („Götz“) von Berlichingen seine
rechte Hand. Schon während seiner Genesung dachte er daran, die Hand zu ersetzen,
und beauftragte bald darauf die erste Handprothese, die sogenannte „Eiserne Hand“.
Jahre später wurde die aufwändigere zweite „Eiserne Hand“ gebaut. Wir haben die erste
Prothese auf der Basis früherer Literaturdaten von
Quasigroch (1982) mit Hilfe von 3-D
Computer-Aided Design (CAD) rekonstruiert. Dazu mussten einige Abmessungen angepasst
und ein paar Annahmen für das CAD-Modell gemacht werden. Die historische passive
Prothese des Götz von Berlichingen ist für die moderne Neuroprothetik interessant, da sie
eine Alternative zu komplexen invasiven Brain-Machine-Interface-Konzepten darstellen
könnte, wo diese Konzepte nicht notwendig, möglich oder vom Patienten gewünscht sind.
Streustrahlung in der Ultraschall-Computertomographie zur Verifizierung der Echtheit von Perlen
(2017)
This paper describes a new analysis method developed to distinguish real from fake
pearls using non-ionizing, non-destructive ultrasound computed tomography (USCT): In the USCT Shepp-Logan-filtered time-of-flight image, a fake pearl shows irregular, asymmetric
scattering of ultrasound, whereas the pattern in a natural pearl is regular and symmetric.
We strongly assume that pattern recognition of the scattering of ultrasound cannot only
play an important role in verifying pearls, but also in testing other materials and tissues in
(bio-)medical engineering. Furthermore, and most importantly, this new approach could
be helpful for a variety of clinical diagnoses using high-resolution 3D-USCT, such as the
detection of X-ray-negative micro-calcifications in early breast cancer. Moreover looking
at scattering patterns in dedicated positron emission tomography systems may promote
new developments in nuclear medicine diagnostics.
eLetter zum Artikel "How hair can reveal a history" von Hanae Armitage & Nala Rogers, veröffentlicht in Science, Vol. 351, Issue 6278, Seite 1134 (doi.org/10.1126/science.351.6278.1134)
eLetter zum Artikel "Hybrid EEG/EOG-based brain/neural hand exoskeleton restores fully independent daily living activities after quadriplegia" von Surjo R. Soekadar et al., veröffentlicht in Science Robotics, Vol. 1, No. 1 (DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.aag3296)
The electrical field (E-field) of the biventricular (BV) stimulation is important for the success of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in patients with cardiac insufficiency and widened QRS complex.
The aim of the study was to model different pacing and ablation electrodes and to integrate them into a heart model for the static and dynamic simulation of BV stimulation and HF ablation in atrial fibrillation (AF).
The modeling and simulation was carried out using the electromagnetic simulation software CST. Five multipolar left ventricular (LV) electrodes, four bipolar right atrial (RA) electrodes, two right ventricular (RV) electrodes and one HF ablation catheter were modelled. A selection were integrated into the heart rhythm model (Schalk, Offenburg) for the electrical field simulation. The simulation of an AV node ablation at CRT was performed with RA, RV and LV electrodes and integrated ablation catheter with an 8 mm gold tip.
The BV stimulation were performed simultaneously at amplitude of 3 V at the LV electrode and 1 V at the RV electrode with a pulse width of 0.5 ms each. The far-field potential at the RA electrode tip was 32.86 mV and 185.97 mV at a distance of 1 mm from the RA electrode tip. AV node ablation was simulated with an applied power of 5 W at 420 kHz at the distal ablation electrode. The temperature at the catheter tip was 103.87 °C after 5 s ablation time and 37.61 °C at a distance of 2 mm inside the myocardium. After 15 s, the temperature was 118.42 °C and 42.13 °C.
Virtual heart and electrode models as well as the simulations of electrical fields and temperature profiles allow the static and dynamic simulation of atrial synchronous BV stimulation and HF ablation at AF and could be used to optimize the CRT and AF ablation.
Spectral analysis of signal averaging electrocardiography in atrial and ventricular tachyarrhythmias
(2017)
Background: Targeting complex fractionated atrial electrograms detected by automated algorithms during ablation of persistent atrial fibrillation has produced conflicting outcomes in previous electrophysiological studies. The aim of the investigation was to evaluate atrial and ventricular high frequency fractionated electrical signals with signal averaging technique.
Methods: Signal averaging electrocardiography (ECG) allows high resolution ECG technique to eliminate interference noise signals in the recorded ECG. The algorithm uses automatic ECG trigger function for signal averaged transthoracic, transesophageal and intracardiac ECG signals with novel LabVIEW software (National Instruments, Austin, Texas, USA). For spectral analysis we used fast fourier transformation in combination with spectro-temporal mapping and wavelet transformation for evaluation of detailed information about the frequency and intensity of high frequency atrial and ventricular signals.
Results: Spectral-temporal mapping and wavelet transformation of the signal averaged ECG allowed the evaluation of high frequency fractionated atrial signals in patients with atrial fibrillation and high frequency ventricular signals in patients with ventricular tachycardia. 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. 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. The combination of analysis in the time and frequency domain allowed the evaluation of fractionated signals during atrial and ventricular conduction.
Conclusions: Spectral analysis of signal averaging electrocardiography with novel LabVIEW software can utilized to evaluate atrial and ventricular conduction delays in patients with atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. Complex fractionated atrial electrograms may be useful parameters to evaluate electrical cardiac arrhythmogenic signals in atrial fibrillation ablation.
Heart rhythm model and simulation of electrophysiological studies and high-frequency ablations
(2017)
Background: Target of the study was to create an accurate anatomic CAD heart rhythm model, and to show its usefulness for cardiac electrophysiological studies and high-frequency ablations. The method is more careful for the patients’ health and has the potential to replace clinical studies due to its high efficiency regarding time and costs.
Methods: All natural heart components of the new HRM were based on MRI records, which guaranteed electronic functionality. The software CST was used for the construction, while CST’s material library assured genuine tissue properties. It should be applicable to simulate different heart rhythm diseases as well as various diffusions of electromagnetic fields, caused by electrophysiological conduction, inside the heart tissue.
Results: It was achievable to simulate sinus rhythm and fourteen different heart rhythm disturbance with different atrial and ventricular conduction delays. The simulated biological excitation of healthy and sick HRM were plotted by simulated electrodes of four polar right atrial catheter, six polar His bundle catheter, ten polar coronary sinus catheter, four polar ablation catheter and eight polar transesophageal left cardiac catheter. Accordingly, six variables were rebuilt and inserted into the anatomic HRM in order to establish heart catheters for ECG monitoring and HF ablation. The HF ablation catheters made it possible to simulate various types of heart rhythm disturbance ablations with different HF ablation catheters and also showed a functional visualisation of tissue heating. The use of tetrahedral meshing HRM made it attainable to store the results faster accompanied by a higher degree of space saving. The smart meshing function reduced unnecessary high resolutions for coarse structures.
Conclusions: The new HRM for EPS simulation may be additional useful for simulation of heart rhythm disturbance, cardiac pacing, HF ablation and for locating and identification of complex fractioned signals within the atrium during atrial fibrillation HF ablation.
In this paper we present the implementation of a model-predictive controller (MPC) for real-time control of a cable-robot-based motion simulator. The controller computes control inputs such that a desired acceleration and angular velocity at a defined point in simulator’s cabin are tracked while satisfying constraints imposed by working space and allowed cable forces of the robot. In order to fully use the simulator capabilities, we propose an approach that includes the motion platform actuation in the MPC model. The tracking performance and computation time of the algorithm are investigated in computer simulations. Furthermore, for motion simulation scenarios where the reference trajectories are not known beforehand, we derive an estimate on how much motion simulation fidelity can maximally be improved by any reference prediction scheme compared to the case when no prediction scheme is applied.
Musik und Neurophysiologie
(2017)
The need to measure basic aerosol parameters has increased dramatically in the last decade. This is due mainly to their harmful effect on the environment and on public health. Legislation requires that particle emissions and ambient levels, workplace particle concentrations and exposure to them are measured to confirm that the defined limits are met and the public is not exposed to harmful concentrations of aerosols.
Die in dieser Arbeit vorgestellte Vorgehensweise erlaubt die Ortung von Schienenfahrzeugen in topologischen Karten allein mit Hilfe eines Wirbelstromsensorsystems (WSS). Zur Ortung primär erforderlich ist die Identifizierung des befahrenen Gleises selbst, wofür unterschiedliche in einer Karte gespeicherte Merkmale herangezogen werden sowie der zurückgelegte Weg, der durch Zählen der passierten Schwellen ermittelt wird. Diese Merkmale werden mittels eigens definierter, virtueller Sensoren aus dem Signal des WSS gewonnen und mittels einem Bayes’schen Formalismus mit den Referenzdaten aus der vorliegenden topologischen Karte abgeglichen. Diese auf virtuellen Sensoren basierende Vorgehensweise erlaubt eine Parallelisierung der Sensorsignalverarbeitung und eine flexible Einbindung von Sensoren in das Ortungssystem. Die Möglichkeit, Weichen mit einer Trefferquote von 99% zu detektieren, erlaubt die Verfolgung der Fahrzeugposition über die gesamte Fahrstrecke hinweg, unter alleiniger Verwendung der vom WSS gelieferten Messdaten.
Für die genaue Positionsbestimmung in Innenräumen, beispielsweise in Bahnhöfen oder Einkaufszentren, soll in dem beschriebenen Projekt untersucht werden, inwiefern lokale Magnetfelder genutzt werden können, um Genauigkeit und Robustheit zu erhöhen. Hierzu wird untersucht, ob und wie kostengünstige Magnetfeldsensoren und mobile Roboterplattformen genutzt werden können, um Karten zu erstellen, die eine spätere Navigation, beispielsweise mit Smartphones oder mit anderen mobilen Geräten.
Climate change and resultant scarcity of water are becoming major challenges for countries around the world. With the advent of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) in the last decade and a relatively new concept of Internet of Things (IoT), embedded systems developers are now working on designing control and automation systems that are lower in cost and more sustainable than the existing telemetry systems for monitoring. The Indus river basin in Pakistan has one of the world's largest irrigation systems and it is extremely challenging to design a low-cost embedded system for monitoring and control of waterways that can last for decades. In this paper, we present a hardware design and performance evaluation of a smart water metering solution that is IEEE 802.15.4-compliant. The results show that our hardware design is as powerful as the reference design, but allows for additional flexibility both in hardware and in firmware. The indigenously designed solution has a power added efficiency (PAE) of 24.7% that is expected to last for 351 and 814 days for nodes with and without a power amplifier (PA). Similarly, the results show that a broadband communication (434 MHz) over more than 3km can be supported, which is an important stepping stone for designing a complete coverage solution of large-scale waterways.
The IEEE 1588 precision time protocol (PTP) is a time synchronization protocol with sub-microsecond precision primarily designed for wired networks. In this letter, we propose wireless precision time protocol (WPTP) as an extension to PTP for multi-hop wireless networks. WPTP significantly reduces the convergence time and the number of packets required for synchronization without compromising on the synchronization accuracy.
Due to climate change and scarcity of water reservoirs, monitoring and control of irrigation systems is now becoming a major focal area for researchers in Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are rapidly finding their way in the field of irrigation and play the key role as data gathering technology in the domain of IoT and CPS. They are efficient for reliable monitoring, giving farmers an edge to take precautionary measures. However, designing an energy-efficient WSN system requires a cross-layer effort and energy-aware routing protocols play a vital role in the overall energy optimization of a WSN. In this paper, we propose a new hierarchical routing protocol suitable for large area environmental monitoring such as large-scale irrigation network existing in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The proposed protocol resolves the issues faced by traditional multi-hop routing protocols such as LEACH, M-LEACH and I-LEACH, and enhances the lifespan of each WSN node that results in an increased lifespan of the whole network. We used the open-source NS3 simulator for simulation purposes and results indicate that our proposed modifications result in an average 27.8% increase in lifespan of the overall WSN when compared to the existing protocols.
Dieses Buch beschreibt die regelungstechnische Modellbildung und die darauf basierende Regelung der gebräuchlichsten, in industriellen Anwendungen eingesetzten elektrischen Maschinen.
Hinsichtlich des Reglerentwurfs wird eine sehr leistungsfähige Methodik angewendet, mit der alle analysierten Beispiele einheitlich behandelt werden können. Sie basiert auf der zeitdiskreten Zustandsraumbeschreibung stromrichtergespeister elektrischer Antriebe. Durch die leicht verständliche einführende Beschreibung der Methodik wird es auch Lesern, denen die Zustandsraummethodik nicht geläufig ist, möglich, dynamisch sehr hochwertige Regelungen zu implementieren.
Eine weitere Besonderheit ist die Einbeziehung von rückspeisefähigen Netzstromrichtern in die Betrachtungen.
Neben einigen Umgestaltungen und Erweiterungen wurden für die Neuauflage auch zahlreiche interessante Ergänzungen vorgenommen, etwa hinsichtlich Rückschlussmöglichkeiten aus Typenschildangaben einer Drehstrommaschine auf die in den zugehörigen Differentialgleichungen verwendeten Maschinenparameter sowie auf Möglichkeiten zu deren Identifikation im Betrieb.
Nachweise für die Stabilität von Regelkreisen, deren Stellgrößen an ihre Begrenzungen gelangen können und bei denen die Regler Integratoren oder andere dynamische Glieder sowie Anti-Windup-Maßnahmen enthalten, sind gewöhnlich sehr aufwändig zu führen. Bei PI-Zustandsreglern, die mittels der in [1] vorgestellten Methode in einem mehrstufigen Verfahren für Regelstrecken entworfen wurden, die bis auf die Stellgrößenbegrenzungen linear sind, lassen sich jedoch äußerst hilfreiche allgemeine Stabilitätsaussagen treffen, die den konkreten Stabilitätsnachweis für das Gesamtsystem– selbst unter Einbeziehung von Beobachtern – erheblich vereinfachen. Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden die diesbezüglichen, auf Steuerbarkeitsbetrachtungen beruhenden, Zusammenhänge für zeitdiskrete Regelkreise aufgezeigt sowie daraus exemplarisch mittels Ljapunow-Funktionen eine einfache Reglerformel für Zustandsregler abgeleitet, die auch im Begrenzungsfall stabil arbeiten. Ein Beispielaus der elektrischen Antriebstechnik illustriert die Anwendbarkeit der vorgestellten Methode.
eTPL: An Enhanced Version of the TLS Presentation Language Suitable for Automated Parser Generation
(2017)
The specification of the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol defines its own presentation language used for the purpose of semi-formally describing the structure and on-the-wire format of TLS protocol messages. This TLS Presentation Language (TPL) is more expressive and concise than natural language or tabular descriptions, but as a result of its limited objective has a number of deficiencies. We present eTPL, an enhanced version of TPL that improves its expressiveness, flexibility, and applicability to non-TLS scenarios. We first define a generic model that describes the parsing of binary data. Based on this, we propose language constructs for TPL that capture important information which would otherwise have to be picked manually from informal protocol descriptions. Finally, we briefly introduce our software tool etpl-tool which reads eTPL definitions and automatically generates corresponding message parsers in C++. We see our work as a contribution supporting sniffing, debugging, and rapid-prototyping of wired and wireless communication systems.
The paper describes the hardware and software architecture of the developed multi MEMS sensor prototype module, consisting of ARM Cortex M4 STM32F446 microcontroller unit, five 9-axis inertial measurement units MPU9255 (3D accelerometer, 3D gyroscope, 3D magnetometer and temperature sensor) and a BMP280 barometer. The module is also equipped with WiFi wireless interface (Espressif ESP8266 chip). The module is constructed in the form of a truncated pyramid. Inertial sensors are mounted on a special basement at different angles to each other to eliminate hardware sensors drifts and to provide the capability for self-calibration. The module fuses information obtained from all types of inertial sensors (acceleration, rotation rate, magnetic field and air pressure) in order to calculate orientation and trajectory. It might be used as an Inertial Measurement Unit, Vertical Reference Unit or Attitude and Heading Reference System.
The low cost and small size of MEMS inertial sensors allows their combination into a multi sensor module in order to improve performance. However the different linear accelerations measured on different places on a rotating rigid body have to be considered for the proper fusion of the measurements. The errors in measurement of MEMS inertial sensors include deterministic imperfection, but also random noise. The gain in accuracy of using multiple sensors depends strongly on the correlation between these errors from the different sensors. Although for sensor fusion it usually assumed that the measurement errors of different sensors are uncorrelated, estimation theory shows that for the combination of the same type of sensors actually a negative correlation will be more beneficial. Therefore we describe some important and often neglected considerations for the combination of several sensors and also present some preliminary results with regard to the correlation of measurements from a simple multi sensor setup.
Die Entwicklung von neuartigen Elektrodentypen und die Weiterentwicklung bestehender Produkten machen einen großen Teil der entstehenden Kosten für ein Unternehmen aus. Mithilfe geeigneter Software können Änderungen der Konstruktionen erfasst und bestimmte Simulationen, bspw. das Auftreten von Wechselwirkungen im elektrischen Feld, vor der eigentlichen Prototypenerstellung durchgeführt werden. Das Ziel der Studie besteht in der Modellierung unterschiedlicher Schrittmacher- und Ablationselektroden und deren Integration in das Offenburger Herzrhythmusmodell (HRM) zur statischen und dynamischen Simulation der biventrikulären Stimulation und HF Ablation bei Vorhofflimmern (AF).
A novel approach of a test environment for embedded networking nodes has been conceptualized and implemented. Its basis is the use of virtual nodes in a PC environment, where each node executes the original embedded code. Different nodes run in parallel, connected via so-called virtual channels. The environment allows to modifying the behavior of the virtual channels as well as the overall topology during runtime to virtualize real-life networking scenarios. The presented approach is very efficient and allows a simple description of test cases without the need of a network simulator. Furthermore, it speeds up the process of developing new features as well as it supports the identification of bugs in wireless communication stacks. In combination with powerful test execution systems, it is possible to create a continuous development and integration flow.
Heart rhythm model and simulation of electrophysiological studies and high-frequency ablations
(2017)
Background: The simulation of complex cardiologic structures has the potential to replace clinical studies due to its high efficiency regarding time and costs. Furthermore, the method is more careful for the patients’ health than the conventional ways. The aim of the study was to create an anatomic CAD heart rhythm model (HRM) as accurate as possible, and to show its usefulness for cardiac electrophysiological studies (EPS) and high-frequency (HF) ablations.
Methods: All natural heart components of the new HRM were based on MRI records, which guaranteed electronic functionality. The software CST (Computer Simulation Technology, Darmstadt) was used for the construction, while CST’s material library assured genuine tissue properties. It should be applicable to simulate different heart rhythm diseases as well as various diffusions of electromagnetic fields, caused by electrophysiological conduction, inside the heart tissue.
Results: It was achievable to simulate normal sinus rhythm and fourteen different heart rhythm disturbance with different atrial and ventricular conduction delays. The simulated biological excitation of healthy and sick HRM were plotted by simulated electrodes of four polar right atrial catheter, six polar His bundle catheter, ten polar coronary sinus catheter, four polar ablation catheter and eight polar transesophageal left cardiac catheter (Fig.). Accordingly, six variables were rebuilt and inserted into the anatomic HRM in order to establish heart catheters for ECG monitoring and HF ablation. The HF ablation catheters made it possible to simulate various types of heart rhythm disturbance ablations with different HF ablation catheters and also showed a functional visualisation of tissue heating. The use of tetrahedral meshing HRM made it attainable to store the results faster accompanied by a higher degree of space saving. The smart meshing function reduced unnecessary high resolutions for coarse structures.
Conclusions: The new HRM for EPS simulation may be additional useful for simulation of heart rhythm disturbance, cardiac pacing, HF ablation and for locating and identification of complex fractioned signals within the atrium during atrial fibrillation HF ablation.