RESUMEN
Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) represents an effective approach for the conversion of mechanical energy into electrical energy and has been explored to combine multiple technologies in past years. Self-powered sensors are not only free from the constraints of mechanical energy in the environment but also capable of efficiently harvesting ambient energy to sustain continuous operation. In this review, the remarkable development of TENG-based human body sensing achieved in recent years is presented, with a specific focus on human health sensing solutions, such as body motion and physiological signal detection. The movements originating from different parts of the body, such as body, touch, sound, and eyes, are systematically classified, and a thorough review of sensor structures and materials is conducted. Physiological signal sensors are categorized into non-implantable and implantable biomedical sensors for discussion. Suggestions for future applications of TENG-based biomedical sensors are also indicated, highlighting the associated challenges.
Asunto(s)
Nanotecnología , Nanotecnología/métodos , Humanos , Suministros de Energía Eléctrica , Movimiento (Física) , Técnicas Biosensibles/métodos , Técnicas Biosensibles/instrumentación , Monitoreo Fisiológico/instrumentación , Monitoreo Fisiológico/métodosRESUMEN
Chronic wounds have emerged as a significant healthcare burden, affecting millions of patients worldwide and presenting a substantial challenge to healthcare systems. The diagnosis and management of chronic wounds are notably intricate, with inappropriate management contributing significantly to the amputation of limbs. In this work, we propose a compact, wireless, battery-free, and multimodal wound monitoring system to facilitate timely and effective wound treatment. The design of this monitoring system draws on the principles of higher-order parity-time symmetry, which incorporates spatially balanced gain, neutral, and loss, embodied by an active -RLC reader, an LC intermediator, and a passive RLC sensor, respectively. Our experimental results demonstrate that this wireless wound sensor can detect temperature (T), relative humidity (RH), pressure (P), and pH with exceptional sensitivity and robustness, which are critical biomarkers for assessing wound healing status. Our in vitro experiments further validate the reliable sensing performance of the wound sensor on human skin and fish. This multifunctional monitoring system may provide a promising solution for the development of futuristic wearable sensors and integrated biomedical microsystems.
RESUMEN
This study aims to demonstrate the feasibility of using a new wireless electroencephalography (EEG)-electromyography (EMG) wearable approach to generate characteristic EEG-EMG mixed patterns with mouth movements in order to detect distinct movement patterns for severe speech impairments. This paper describes a method for detecting mouth movement based on a new signal processing technology suitable for sensor integration and machine learning applications. This paper examines the relationship between the mouth motion and the brainwave in an effort to develop nonverbal interfacing for people who have lost the ability to communicate, such as people with paralysis. A set of experiments were conducted to assess the efficacy of the proposed method for feature selection. It was determined that the classification of mouth movements was meaningful. EEG-EMG signals were also collected during silent mouthing of phonemes. A few-shot neural network was trained to classify the phonemes from the EEG-EMG signals, yielding classification accuracy of 95%. This technique in data collection and processing bioelectrical signals for phoneme recognition proves a promising avenue for future communication aids.
Asunto(s)
Electroencefalografía , Electromiografía , Procesamiento de Señales Asistido por Computador , Tecnología Inalámbrica , Humanos , Electroencefalografía/métodos , Electroencefalografía/instrumentación , Electromiografía/métodos , Electromiografía/instrumentación , Tecnología Inalámbrica/instrumentación , Boca/fisiopatología , Boca/fisiología , Adulto , Masculino , Movimiento/fisiología , Redes Neurales de la Computación , Trastornos del Habla/diagnóstico , Trastornos del Habla/fisiopatología , Femenino , Dispositivos Electrónicos Vestibles , Aprendizaje AutomáticoRESUMEN
Ensuring precise angle measurement during surgical correction of orientation-related deformities is crucial for optimal postoperative outcomes, yet there is a lack of an ideal commercial solution. Current measurement sensors and instrumentation have limitations that make their use context-specific, demanding a methodical evaluation of the field. A systematic review was carried out in March 2023. Studies reporting technologies and validation methods for intraoperative angular measurement of anatomical structures were analyzed. A total of 32 studies were included, 17 focused on image-based technologies (6 fluoroscopy, 4 camera-based tracking, and 7 CT-based), while 15 explored non-image-based technologies (6 manual instruments and 9 inertial sensor-based instruments). Image-based technologies offer better accuracy and 3D capabilities but pose challenges like additional equipment, increased radiation exposure, time, and cost. Non-image-based technologies are cost-effective but may be influenced by the surgeon's perception and require careful calibration. Nevertheless, the choice of the proper technology should take into consideration the influence of the expected error in the surgery, surgery type, and radiation dose limit. This comprehensive review serves as a valuable guide for surgeons seeking precise angle measurements intraoperatively. It not only explores the performance and application of existing technologies but also aids in the future development of innovative solutions.
Asunto(s)
Imagenología Tridimensional , Humanos , Imagenología Tridimensional/métodos , Fluoroscopía/métodos , Cirugía Asistida por Computador/métodos , Tomografía Computarizada por Rayos X/métodosRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Data loss in wearable sensors is an inevitable problem that leads to misrepresentation during diabetes health monitoring. We systematically investigated missing wearable sensors data to get causal insight into the mechanisms leading to missing data. METHODS: Two-week-long data from a continuous glucose monitor and a Fitbit activity tracker recording heart rate (HR) and step count in free-living patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were used. The gap size distribution was fitted with a Planck distribution to test for missing not at random (MNAR) and a difference between distributions was tested with a Chi-squared test. Significant missing data dispersion over time was tested with the Kruskal-Wallis test and Dunn post hoc analysis. RESULTS: Data from 77 subjects resulted in 73 cleaned glucose, 70 HR and 68 step count recordings. The glucose gap sizes followed a Planck distribution. HR and step count gap frequency differed significantly (p < 0.001), and the missing data were therefore MNAR. In glucose, more missing data were found in the night (23:00-01:00), and in step count, more at measurement days 6 and 7 (p < 0.001). In both cases, missing data were caused by insufficient frequency of data synchronization. CONCLUSIONS: Our novel approach of investigating missing data statistics revealed the mechanisms for missing data in Fitbit and CGM data.
Asunto(s)
Diabetes Mellitus Tipo 2 , Humanos , Monitores de Ejercicio , Glucosa , Glucemia , Frecuencia CardíacaRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Several wearable, medical-grade consumer ECG devices are now available and integrated into consumer electronics like multi sensor fitness watches and scales. Specific consumer ECGs can also come in the form of patches or thin sensor plates in credit card or other shapes. Watches with ECG capabilities are often multi vital sign sensor devices. The majority of these devices are usually connected to a mobile smartphone. However, there are pros and cons to their use. METHODS: We review here an exemplary selection of modern consumer ECG devices based on device type, recording method and the number of standard ECG channels derived. RESULTS: Single-channel consumer ECG devices such as Smart Watches can be useful for detecting and monitoring atrial fibrillation and flutter and other arrhythmias, as well as ectopic complexes. However, they are currently limited with respect to recording duration and information content (a single-channel or limblead ECG having less diagnostic information than a 12lead ECG). While some non watch-based consumer ECG devices can now record all 6 limb leads to yield increased information, no consumer ECG devices can currently reliably detect ST-segment deviations, potentially indicating myocardial infarction or ischemic episodes. Moreover, barriers to use still exist for at-risk elderly people. Finally, there currently is no universal data exchange format. CONCLUSION: Consumer ECG devices, whether in fitness or fashionable design, allow for reliable detection of atrial fibrillation. Timely detection of atrial fibrillation and subsequent treatment might protect against stroke, especially in high-risk groups, yet prospective evidence is still lacking. Six-channel consumer ECG and longer data collection capabilities extend potential functionality, including for the monitoring of ST-segments and QT intervals. However, no currently available devices are sufficiently suitable for the detection of myocardial infarction or ischemia, which is why portable 12-channel technologies are desirable. For the reliable detection of a myocardial infarction, the determination of specific myocardial infarction blood markers and evaluation of patient medical history still is indispensable in addition to the 12 lead ECG.
Asunto(s)
Fibrilación Atrial , Infarto del Miocardio , Dispositivos Electrónicos Vestibles , Anciano , Humanos , Fibrilación Atrial/diagnóstico , Electrocardiografía , Estudios ProspectivosRESUMEN
Wireless sensing systems are required for continuous health monitoring and data collection. It allows for patient data collection in real time rather than through time-consuming and expensive hospital or lab visits. This technology employs wearable sensors, signal processing, and wireless data transfer to remotely monitor patients' health. The research offers a novel approach to providing primary diagnostics remotely with a digital health system for monitoring pulmonary health status using a multimodal wireless sensor device. The technology uses a compact wearable with new integration of acoustics and biopotentials sensors to monitor cardiovascular and respiratory activity to provide comprehensive and fast health status monitoring. Furthermore, the small wearable sensor size may stick to human skin and record heart and lung activities to monitor respiratory health. This paper proposes a sensor data fusion method of lung sounds and cardiograms for potential real-time respiration pattern diagnostics, including respiratory episodes like low tidal volume and coughing. With a p-value of 0.003 for sound signals and 0.004 for electrocardiogram (ECG), preliminary tests demonstrated that it was possible to detect shallow breathing and coughing at a meaningful level.
Asunto(s)
Procesamiento de Señales Asistido por Computador , Dispositivos Electrónicos Vestibles , Humanos , Monitoreo Fisiológico , Electrocardiografía , Frecuencia Respiratoria , Tecnología InalámbricaRESUMEN
High-density electroencephalography (HD-EEG) is currently limited to laboratory environments since state-of-the-art electrode caps require skilled staff and extensive preparation. We propose and evaluate a 256-channel cap with dry multipin electrodes for HD-EEG. We describe the designs of the dry electrodes made from polyurethane and coated with Ag/AgCl. We compare in a study with 30 volunteers the novel dry HD-EEG cap to a conventional gel-based cap for electrode-skin impedances, resting state EEG, and visual evoked potentials (VEP). We perform wearing tests with eight electrodes mimicking cap applications on real human and artificial skin. Average impedances below 900 kΩ for 252 out of 256 dry electrodes enables recording with state-of-the-art EEG amplifiers. For the dry EEG cap, we obtained a channel reliability of 84% and a reduction of the preparation time of 69%. After exclusion of an average of 16% (dry) and 3% (gel-based) bad channels, resting state EEG, alpha activity, and pattern reversal VEP can be recorded with less than 5% significant differences in all compared signal characteristics metrics. Volunteers reported wearing comfort of 3.6 ± 1.5 and 4.0 ± 1.8 for the dry and 2.5 ± 1.0 and 3.0 ± 1.1 for the gel-based cap prior and after the EEG recordings, respectively (scale 1-10). Wearing tests indicated that up to 3,200 applications are possible for the dry electrodes. The 256-channel HD-EEG dry electrode cap overcomes the principal limitations of HD-EEG regarding preparation complexity and allows rapid application by not medically trained persons, enabling new use cases for HD-EEG.
Asunto(s)
Corteza Cerebral/fisiología , Electrodos , Electroencefalografía/instrumentación , Potenciales Evocados Visuales/fisiología , Adulto , Impedancia Eléctrica , Electroencefalografía/métodos , Electromiografía , Humanos , Monitoreo Ambulatorio , Dispositivos Electrónicos VestiblesRESUMEN
Obtaining the exact position of accumulated calcium on the inner walls of coronary arteries is critical for successful angioplasty procedures. For the first time to our knowledge, in this work, we present a high accuracy imaging of the inner coronary artery using microwaves for precise calcium identification. Specifically, a cylindrical catheter radiating microwave signals is designed. The catheter has multiple dipole-like antennas placed around it to enable a 360° field-of-view around the catheter. In addition, to resolve image ambiguity, a metallic rod is inserted along the axis of the plastic catheter. The reconstructed images using data obtained from simulations show successful detection and 3D localization of the accumulated calcium on the inner walls of the coronary artery in the presence of blood flow. Considering the space and shape limitations, and the highly lossy biological tissue environment, the presented imaging approach is promising and offers a potential solution for accurate localization of coronary atherosclerosis during angioplasty or other related procedures.
Asunto(s)
Enfermedad de la Arteria Coronaria , Imágenes de Microonda , Humanos , Calcio , Simulación por ComputadorRESUMEN
COVID-19 occurs due to infection through respiratory droplets containing the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which are released when someone sneezes, coughs, or talks. The gold-standard exam to detect the virus is Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR); however, this is an expensive test and may require up to 3 days after infection for a reliable result, and if there is high demand, the labs could be overwhelmed, which can cause significant delays in providing results. Biomedical data (oxygen saturation level-SpO2, body temperature, heart rate, and cough) are acquired from individuals and are used to help infer infection by COVID-19, using machine learning algorithms. The goal of this study is to introduce the Integrated Portable Medical Assistant (IPMA), which is a multimodal piece of equipment that can collect biomedical data, such as oxygen saturation level, body temperature, heart rate, and cough sound, and helps infer the diagnosis of COVID-19 through machine learning algorithms. The IPMA has the capacity to store the biomedical data for continuous studies and can be used to infer other respiratory diseases. Quadratic kernel-free non-linear Support Vector Machine (QSVM) and Decision Tree (DT) were applied on three datasets with data of cough, speech, body temperature, heart rate, and SpO2, obtaining an Accuracy rate (ACC) and Area Under the Curve (AUC) of approximately up to 88.0% and 0.85, respectively, as well as an ACC up to 99% and AUC = 0.94, respectively, for COVID-19 infection inference. When applied to the data acquired with the IMPA, these algorithms achieved 100% accuracy. Regarding the easiness of using the equipment, 36 volunteers reported that the IPMA has a high usability, according to results from two metrics used for evaluation: System Usability Scale (SUS) and Post Study System Usability Questionnaire (PSSUQ), with scores of 85.5 and 1.41, respectively. In light of the worldwide needs for smart equipment to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic, this new equipment may help with the screening of COVID-19 through data collected from biomedical signals and cough sounds, as well as the use of machine learning algorithms.
Asunto(s)
COVID-19 , Algoritmos , COVID-19/diagnóstico , Tos/diagnóstico , Humanos , Aprendizaje Automático , Pandemias , SARS-CoV-2RESUMEN
The stomatognathic system represents an important element of human physiology, constituting a part of the digestive, respiratory, and sensory systems. One of the signs of temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD) can be the formation of vibroacoustic and electromyographic (sEMG) phenomena. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of temporomandibular joint rehabilitation in patients suffering from locking of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) articular disc by analysis of vibrations, sEMG registration of masseter muscles, and hypertension of masticatory muscles. In this paper, a new system for the diagnosis of TMD during rehabilitation is proposed, based on the use of vibration and sEMG signals. The operation of the system was illustrated in a case study, a 27-year-old woman with articular dysfunction of the TMJ. The first results of TMD diagnostics using the k-nearest neighbors method are also presented on a group of fifteen people (ten women and five men). Vibroacoustic registration of temporomandibular joints, sEMG registration of masseter muscles, and functional manual analysis of the TMJ were simultaneously assessed before employing splint therapy with stomatognathic physiotherapy. Analysis of vibrations with the monitoring of sEMG in dysfunctions of the TMJ can lead to improve differential diagnosis and can be an objective way of monitoring the rehabilitation process of TMD.
Asunto(s)
Trastornos de la Articulación Temporomandibular , Vibración , Adulto , Diagnóstico Diferencial , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Músculos Masticadores , Modalidades de Fisioterapia , Trastornos de la Articulación Temporomandibular/diagnósticoRESUMEN
Spine movement is a daily activity that can indicate health status changes, including low back pain (LBP) problems. Repetitious and continuous movement on the spine and incorrect postures during daily functional activities may lead to the potential development and persistence of LBP problems. Therefore, monitoring of posture and movement is essential when designing LBP interventions. Typically, LBP diagnosis is facilitated by monitoring upper body posture and movement impairments, particularly during functional activities using body motion sensors. This study presents a fully wireless multi-sensor cluster system to monitor spine movements. The study suggests an attempt to develop a new method to monitor the lumbopelvic movements of interest selectively. In addition, the research employs a custom-designed robotic lumbar spine simulator to generate the ideal lumbopelvic posture and movements for reference sensor data. The mechanical motion templates provide an automated sensor pattern recognition mechanism for diagnosing the LBP.
Asunto(s)
Dolor de la Región Lumbar , Dispositivos Electrónicos Vestibles , Humanos , Fenómenos Biomecánicos , Rango del Movimiento Articular , Vértebras Lumbares , Movimiento , Dolor de la Región Lumbar/diagnósticoRESUMEN
Today COVID-19 pandemic articulates high stress on clinical resources around the world. At present, physical and viral tests are slowly emerging, and there is a need for robust pandemic detection that biomedical sensors can aid. The utility of biomedical sensors is correlated with the medical instruments with physiological metrics. These Biomedical sensors are integrated with the systematic device to track the target analytes with a biomedical component. The COVID-19 patients' samples are collected, and biomarkers are detected using four sensors: blood pressure sensor, G-FET based biosensor, electrochemical sensor, and potentiometric sensor with different quantifiable measures. The imputed data is then profiled with chest X-ray images from the Covid-19 patients.Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), an AI model, is deployed to identify the hidden signatures with biomarkers. The performance of the biosensor is measured with three parameters such as sensitivity, specificity and detection limit by generating the calibration plots that accurately fits the model.
RESUMEN
Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) is an advanced and multidisciplinary active research domain based on neuroscience, signal processing, biomedical sensors, hardware, etc. Since the last decades, several groundbreaking research has been conducted in this domain. Still, no comprehensive review that covers the BCI domain completely has been conducted yet. Hence, a comprehensive overview of the BCI domain is presented in this study. This study covers several applications of BCI and upholds the significance of this domain. Then, each element of BCI systems, including techniques, datasets, feature extraction methods, evaluation measurement matrices, existing BCI algorithms, and classifiers, are explained concisely. In addition, a brief overview of the technologies or hardware, mostly sensors used in BCI, is appended. Finally, the paper investigates several unsolved challenges of the BCI and explains them with possible solutions.
Asunto(s)
Interfaces Cerebro-Computador , Algoritmos , Encéfalo , Electroencefalografía , Procesamiento de Señales Asistido por Computador , Interfaz Usuario-ComputadorRESUMEN
Frailty and falls are a major public health problem in older adults. Muscle weakness of the lower and upper extremities are risk factors for any, as well as recurrent falls including injuries and fractures. While the Timed Up-and-Go (TUG) test is often used to identify frail members and fallers, tensiomyography (TMG) can be used as a non-invasive tool to assess the function of skeletal muscles. In a clinical study, we evaluated the correlation between the TMG parameters of the skeletal muscle contraction of 23 elderly participants (22 f, age 86.74 ± 7.88) and distance-based TUG test subtask times. TUG tests were recorded with an ultrasonic-based device. The sit-up and walking phases were significantly correlated to the contraction and delay time of the muscle vastus medialis (ρ = 0.55-0.80, p < 0.01). In addition, the delay time of the muscles vastus medialis (ρ = 0.45, p = 0.03) and gastrocnemius medialis (ρ = -0.44, p = 0.04) correlated to the sit-down phase. The maximal radial displacements of the biceps femoris showed significant correlations with the walk-forward times (ρ = -0.47, p = 0.021) and back (ρ = -0.43, p = 0.04). The association of TUG subtasks to muscle contractile parameters, therefore, could be utilized as a measure to improve the monitoring of elderly people's physical ability in general and during rehabilitation after a fall in particular. TUG test subtask measurements may be used as a proxy to monitor muscle properties in rehabilitation after long hospital stays and injuries or for fall prevention.
Asunto(s)
Fragilidad , Contracción Muscular , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Humanos , Músculo Esquelético , Músculo Cuádriceps , CaminataRESUMEN
Respiratory activity is an important vital sign of life that can indicate health status. Diseases such as bronchitis, emphysema, pneumonia and coronavirus cause respiratory disorders that affect the respiratory systems. Typically, the diagnosis of these diseases is facilitated by pulmonary auscultation using a stethoscope. We present a new attempt to develop a lightweight, comprehensive wearable sensor system to monitor respiration using a multi-sensor approach. We employed new wearable sensor technology using a novel integration of acoustics and biopotentials to monitor various vital signs on two volunteers. In this study, a new method to monitor lung function, such as respiration rate and tidal volume, is presented using the multi-sensor approach. Using the new sensor, we obtained lung sound, electrocardiogram (ECG), and electromyogram (EMG) measurements at the external intercostal muscles (EIM) and at the diaphragm during breathing cycles with 500 mL, 625 mL, 750 mL, 875 mL, and 1000 mL tidal volume. The tidal volumes were controlled with a spirometer. The duration of each breathing cycle was 8 s and was timed using a metronome. For each of the different tidal volumes, the EMG data was plotted against time and the area under the curve (AUC) was calculated. The AUC calculated from EMG data obtained at the diaphragm and EIM represent the expansion of the diaphragm and EIM respectively. AUC obtained from EMG data collected at the diaphragm had a lower variance between samples per tidal volume compared to those monitored at the EIM. Using cubic spline interpolation, we built a model for computing tidal volume from EMG data at the diaphragm. Our findings show that the new sensor can be used to measure respiration rate and variations thereof and holds potential to estimate tidal lung volume from EMG measurements obtained from the diaphragm.
Asunto(s)
Diafragma , Respiración , Volumen de Ventilación Pulmonar , Dispositivos Electrónicos Vestibles , Acústica , Electrocardiografía , Humanos , Ruidos RespiratoriosRESUMEN
Despite the increasing role of machine learning in various fields, very few works considered artificial intelligence for frequency estimation (FE). This work presents comprehensive analysis of a deep-learning (DL) approach for frequency estimation of single tones. A DL network with two layers having a few nodes can estimate frequency more accurately than well-known classical techniques can. While filling the gap in the existing literature, the study is comprehensive, analyzing errors under different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), numbers of nodes, and numbers of input samples under missing SNR information. DL-based FE is not significantly affected by SNR bias or number of nodes. A DL-based approach can properly work using a minimal number of input nodes N at which classical methods fail. DL could use as few as two layers while having two or three nodes for each, with the complexity of O{N} compared with discrete Fourier transform (DFT)-based FE with O{Nlog2 (N)} complexity. Furthermore, less N is required for DL. Therefore, DL can significantly reduce FE complexity, memory cost, and power consumption, which is attractive for resource-limited systems such as some Internet of Things (IoT) sensor applications. Reduced complexity also opens the door for hardware-efficient implementation using short-word-length (SWL) or time-efficient software-defined radio (SDR) communications.
RESUMEN
There are several pathologies attacking the central nervous system and diverse therapies for each specific disease. These therapies seek as far as possible to minimize or offset the consequences caused by these types of pathologies and disorders in the patient. Therefore, comprehensive neurological care has been performed by neurorehabilitation therapies, to improve the patients' life quality and facilitating their performance in society. One way to know how the neurorehabilitation therapies contribute to help patients is by measuring changes in their brain activity by means of electroencephalograms (EEG). EEG data-processing applications have been used in neuroscience research to be highly computing- and data-intensive. Our proposal is an integrated system of Electroencephalographic, Electrocardiographic, Bioacoustic, and Digital Image Acquisition Analysis to provide neuroscience experts with tools to estimate the efficiency of a great variety of therapies. The three main axes of this proposal are: parallel or distributed capture, filtering and adaptation of biomedical signals, and synchronization in real epochs of sampling. Thus, the present proposal underlies a general system, whose main objective is to be a wireless benchmark in the field. In this way, this proposal could acquire and give some analysis tools for biomedical signals used for measuring brain interactions when it is stimulated by an external system during therapies, for example. Therefore, this system supports extreme environmental conditions, when necessary, which broadens the spectrum of its applications. In addition, in this proposal sensors could be added or eliminated depending on the needs of the research, generating a wide range of configuration limited by the number of CPU cores, i.e., the more biosensors, the more CPU cores will be required. To validate the proposed integrated system, it is used in a Dolphin-Assisted Therapy in patients with Infantile Cerebral Palsy and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, as well as with a neurotypical one. Event synchronization of sample periods helped isolate the same therapy stimulus and allowed it to be analyzed by tools such as the Power Spectrum or the Fractal Geometry.
Asunto(s)
Encéfalo , Electroencefalografía , Computadores , HumanosRESUMEN
This paper proposes a compact, high-linearity, and reconfigurable continuous-time filter with a wide frequency-tuning capability for biopotential conditioning. It uses an active filter topology and a new operational-transconductance-amplifier (OTA)-based current-steering (CS) integrator. Consequently, a large time constant τ , good linearity, and linear bandwidth tuning could be achieved in the presented filter with a small silicon area. The proposed filter has a reconfigurable structure that can be operated as a low-pass filter (LPF) or a notch filter (NF) for different purposes. Based on the novel topology, the filter can be readily implemented monolithically and a prototype circuit was fabricated in the 0.18 µm standard complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process. It occupied a small area of 0.068 mm2 and consumed 25 µW from a 1.8 V supply. Measurement results show that the cutoff frequency of the LPF could be linearly tuned from 0.05 Hz to 300 Hz and the total-harmonic-distortion (THD) was less than -76 dB for a 2 Hz, 200 mVpp sine input. The input-referred noises were 5.5 µVrms and 6.4 µVrms for the LPF and NF, respectively. A comparison with conventional designs reveals that the proposed design achieved the lowest harmonic distortion and smallest on-chip capacitor. Moreover, its ultra-low cutoff frequency and relatively linear frequency tuning capability make it an attractive solution as an analog front-end for biopotential acquisitions.
Asunto(s)
Técnicas Biosensibles/métodos , Semiconductores , Amplificadores Electrónicos , Técnicas Biosensibles/instrumentación , Electrocardiografía , Diseño de Equipo , Metales/química , Óxidos/química , Relación Señal-RuidoRESUMEN
Tears are exceptionally rich sources of information on the health status of the eyes, as well as of whole body functionality, due to the presence of a large variety of salts and organic components whose concentration can be altered by pathologies, eye diseases and/or inflammatory processes. Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) provides a unique method for analyzing low concentrations of organic fluids such as tears. In this work, a home-made colloid of gold nanoparticles has been used for preparing glass substrates able to efficiently induce an SERS effect in fluid samples excited by a Heâ»Ne laser ( λ = 633 nm). The method has been preliminary tested on Rhodamine 6G aqueous solutions at different concentrations, proving the possibility to sense substance concentrations as low as few µ M, i.e., of the order of the main tear organic components. A clear SERS response has been obtained for human tear samples, allowing an interesting insight into tear composition. In particular, aspartic acid and glutamic acid have been shown to be possible markers for two important human tear components, i.e., lactoferrin and lysozyme.