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2018 | Book

Sensors

Proceedings of the Third National Conference on Sensors, February 23-25, 2016, Rome, Italy

Editors: Prof. Bruno Andò, Dr. Francesco Baldini, Prof. Corrado Di Natale, Prof. Giovanna Marrazza, Dr. Pietro Siciliano

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Book Series : Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering

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About this book

This book gathers the best papers presented at the Third Italian National Conference on Sensors, held in Rome, Italy, from 23 to 25 February 2016. The book represents an invaluable and up-to-the-minute tool, providing an essential overview of recent findings, strategies and new directions in the area of sensor research. Further, it addresses various aspects based on the development of new chemical, physical or biological sensors, assembling and characterization, signal treatment and data handling. Lastly, the book applies electrochemical, optical and other detection strategies to relevant issues in the food and clinical environmental areas, as well as industry-oriented applications.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter

Physical Sensors

Frontmatter
Integrated Thermal Flow Sensors with Programmable Power-Sensitivity Trade-Off

A thermal flow sensor integrated with a programmable electronic interface into the same chip is proposed. The sensing structure is a micro-calorimeter with a double heater configuration fabricated with a simple post-processing technique applied to chip designed with a commercial CMOS process. The electronic interface is based on a low-noise, low-power instrumentation amplifier and a configurable heater current driver. The device characterization in nitrogen confirms the possibility to manage the trade-off between the sensitivity and the power delivered to the device by means of the programmable interface.

Massimo Piotto, Filippo Dell’Agnello, Simone Del Cesta, Paolo Bruschi
Single-Chip CMOS Capacitive Sensor for Ubiquitous Dust Detection and Granulometry with Sub-micrometric Resolution

A monolithic CMOS chip able to count single airborne particles down to a diameter of 1 µm is presented. This mm-sized ASIC addresses the growing need for portable and miniaturized solid-state sensors monitoring air quality to be disseminated in the environment within pervasive wireless sensors networks. Particle counting and sizing are based on high-resolution capacitive detection. State-of-the-art performances (65 zF resolution with 40 Hz bandwidth) are enabled by the combination on the same chip of interdigitated microelectrodes (separated by 1 µm distance, matched with the particle size), and ultra-low-noise electronics connected to them achieving the lowest possible parasitic input capacitance. Chip design and characterization are illustrated.

Marco Carminati, Pietro Ciccarella, Marco Sampietro, Giorgio Ferrari
PDMS Template Generator for Wearable Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting Applications

Thermoelectric pastes based on Sb, Bi, Te powders were prepared, characterized and used to fabricate a flexible thermoelectric generator (TEG) for wearable harvesting applications. By Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations, the TEG design was finalized to optimize electrical model and match typical thermal resistances of human body skin, in order to maximize its thermoelectric performance. The thermopile is composed by 450 couples of p-Sb2Te3 and n-Bi2Te3 deposited by blade coating into vertical parallel cavities of a patterned polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) through-holes layer. Each leg has diameter of 1.5 mm and height of 2.5 mm. The p-n couples were electrically connected by printed silver contact. By preliminary functional tests, a Seebeck coefficient of about 75 µV/K for p-n couple on best conditions was measured.

L. Francioso, C. De Pascali, A. Grazioli, V. Sglavo, L. Lorenzelli
Nanostructured Superconductive Sensors Based on Quantum Interference Effect for High Sensitive Nanoscale Applications

Recently it has been proven that the magnetic response of magnetic nano-objects such as nanoparticles, nanobeads, and small cluster of molecules can be effectively measured by using a Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) with a small sensitive area. Here, we present a high sensitivity nanoSQUID based on deep submicrometer Josephson tunnel junctions fabricated by a Focused Ion Beam (FIB) sculpting method. The nanosensor consists of a niobium superconducting loop (0.4 × 1.0 μm2) interrupted by two sandwich nanojunctions (Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb) having an area of about (300 × 300) nm2. An experimental investigation of the main characteristics of such nanodevice as a function of the temperature is presented.

C. Granata, B. Ruggiero, O. Talamo, M. Fretto, N. De Leo, V. Lacquaniti, D. Massarotti, F. Tafuri, P. Silbestrini, A. Vettoliere
A Sensor for the Measurement of Liquids Density

Density is one of the characteristic properties of a substance, that can be used to understand other physical and chemical properties. On-line density sensors are of interest in many applications: the radioactive monitoring in waste storage tanks, in pipelines for process control in the petrochemical industry, in the production of chemical reagents, in food processing, in the production of paper and textiles and so on. In this paper, a piezoelectric density sensor is proposed and analyzed with FE methods. The idea at the base of the present work relies in the well-known property of piezoelectric structures to vary their resonant behavior depending on load conditions. The active element of the proposed density sensor is a cheap piezoceramic bimorph, widely used in buzzers and telephone receivers. The bimorph is clamped all around by tightening its border to the edge of a rigid open chamber in which the liquid is poured; the flexural resonance frequency of the membrane is modified by the liquid mass. The liquid volume is the volume of the chamber and therefore the membrane resonance frequency can be related to the liquid mass density. We analyze the proposed sensor by a FEM commercial code (ANSYS®) to test the device capability and to design the chamber in which the liquid is poured, in order to maximize the device sensitivity; we computed the sensor resonance frequency by varying the chamber height and for three different values of the chamber radius. The obtained results demonstrate that best sensitivity is obtained with smaller values of both height and radius.

Nicola A. Lamberti, Monica La Mura, Valerio Apuzzo, Nicola Greco, Pasquale D’Uva
Temperature Sensing Properties of High Density Polyethylene Loaded with Oxidized Multi Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Good temperature sensing properties from room temperature up to 100 °C have been obtained, with high density polyethylene/carbon nanotube composites even for nanotube concentrations slightly above the percolation threshold in the case that oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes have been used. Due to the low conductivity no Joule heating has to be considered.

Heinz-Christoph Neitzert, Giovanni Landi, Maria Rossella Nobile
RF Rectifier Toward Terahertz Integrated Image Detector

We present a new CMOS compatible direct conversion terahertz detector operating at room temperature. The rectenna consists of an integrated antenna, realized on the surface of the integrated circuit and connected to a nanometric metallic whisker at one of its edges. The whisker reaches the semiconductor substrate that constitutes the antenna ground plane. The rectifying device can be obtained introducing some simple modifications of the charge storage well in conventional CMOS APS devices, making the proposed solution easy to integrate with existing imaging systems. No need of scaling toward very scaled and costly technological node is required, since the CMOS only provides the necessary integrated readout electronics. On-wafer measurements of RF characteristics of the designed rectifying junction are reported and discussed.

Volha Varlamava, Giovanni De Amicis, Andrea Del Monte, Rosario Rao, Fabrizio Palma

Chemical Sensors

Frontmatter
A New Chemical Sensing Material for Ethanol Detection: Graphene-Like Film

The development of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) sensor, operating at room temperature (RT), is a challenge for the research community. In this framework, we present a device based on a graphene-like (GL) material suitably tested as sensing layer for the ethanol detection. GL material was obtained through a two steps oxidation/reduction method starting from a nanostructured carbon black. GL material combines a defect-free basal plane graphenic structure with the presence of oxygen functional groups, mainly carboxylic, located on the layer edges. A GL-based device was realized and investigated for the detection of ethanol. The experiments were performed under atmospheric pressure, in a dry air and at RT. Results showed that GL material is a promising candidate for the detection of low concentration of ethanol at RT.

B. Alfano, M. Alfè, V. Gargiulo, T. Polichetti, E. Massera, M. L. Miglietta, G. Di Francia
Iron Oxides Nanoparticles Langmuir-Schaeffer Multilayers for Chemoresistive Gas Sensing

Gas sensors based on mixtures of iron oxides nanoparticles (NPs) modified with Pd NPs at the different NPs Pd: Fe3O4/γ-Fe2O3 proportions were prepared and characterized. Nanoparticles diameter was 6–7 nm. NPs films were deposited from the mixtures of Fe3O4/γ-Fe2O3 and Pd NPs colloidal solutions by modified Langmuir-Schaeffer technique onto alumina substrates. Samples were composed from 4 Fe3O4/γ-Fe2O3 NP monolayers (MLs). Sensors were tested toward acetone vapors and NO2 at concentration range of 5–200 and 0.5–12 ppm respectively in dry air, and at different working temperatures. Pd-doped Fe3O4/γ-Fe2O3 sensors showed p-type gas response, higher conductance and higher conduction activation energies compared to pure Fe3O4/γ-Fe2O3 sensor that gives n-type gas response. Results were tentatively explained in terms of surface interactions with oxidizing and reducing species, and Nearest Neighbor Hopping conduction model (NNH).

S. Capone, M. Benkovicova, A. Forleo, M. Jergela, M. G. Manera, P. Siffalovic, A. Taurino, E. Majkova, P. Siciliano, I. Vavra, S. Luby, R. Rella
Multianalyte Biosensor Patch Based on Polymeric Microneedles

Multianalyte biosensor patch based on polymeric microneedles (MNs) have been fabricated by photolithography of poly (ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) and have been dynamically characterized by means of quartz crystal microbalance and electrochemical measurements. The resulting flexible device acts as multianalyte working electrodes detecting glucose and lactic acid into interstitial liquid by means of redox reaction with glucose oxidase (GOx) and lactose oxidase (LOx) enzymes. Sensitivities of the order of nA mM−1 in the mM range are revealed in both case, after five minutes of swelling time and ten second of interaction.

P. Dardano, A. Caliò, V. Di Palma, M. F. Bevilacqua, A. Di Matteo, L. De Stefano
Effective Tuning of Silver Decorated Graphene Sensing Properties by Adjusting the Ag NPs Coverage Density

Noble-metal decorated graphene nanohybrids are expected to be a new type of sensing material with high sensitivity and excellent selectivity, since the metal nanoparticles can act as a mediator in the interaction between analytes and graphene, determining peculiar mechanisms of charge transfer according to chemical or electronic sensitization. In particular, the decoration by silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) can improve the sensing behavior of carbon nanostructures towards ammonia. In this work, graphene/Ag nanoparticles (GR/AgNPs) hybrids were prepared by a one-step microwave-assisted reduction method by irradiating a water/isopropyl alcohol solution of pristine graphene and AgNO3. Two different concentrations of silver precursor were tested obtaining graphene hybrids with different surface coverage. The effect of the metal decoration was investigated by probing the sensing properties of the chemiresistive layers towards NO2 and NH3 at concentrations, respectively, of sub-ppm and hundreds of ppm in air, which are considered as standard marker levels of environmental pollution. The results show that the high specificity of bare graphene towards NO2 in ppb levels was reversed towards NH3 by addition of Ag NPs. Noteworthy, a low areal density of Ag NPs allowed the material to gain sensitivity towards ammonia while still retaining sensitivity to NO2. At higher surface coverage an almost complete reversal of the sensitivity occurred and the silver decorated material appeared highly sensitive towards ammonia.

Maria Lucia Miglietta, Brigida Alfano, Tiziana Polichetti, Ettore Massera, Chiara Schiattarella, Girolamo Di Francia
CuO-Modified Cu Electrodes for Glucose Sensing

Electrochemical sensors are largely used for rapid, sensitive and accurate measurement of glucose in many applications such as clinical diagnostics, ecological field, biotechnology and food industry. Among the various methods, the amperometric one is the most popular due to its simplicity and high sensitivity. Furthermore, due to their higher intrinsic stability, electrochemical glucose sensors based on inorganic materials are preferred with respect to enzymatic ones for applications in severe conditions. Herein, we present a simple method to prepare an electrochemical sensor for the determination of glucose by modification of planar copper electrodes in order to obtain a high sensitive copper oxide-modified electrode. In particular, we show the versatility of the preparation method comparing the electrochemical sensing properties towards glucose of two modified copper electrodes, commercial and homemade, respectively.

C. Espro, S. G. Leonardi, A. Bonavita, S. Galvagno, G. Neri
Stable Aqueous Solution for the Fabrication of α-Fe2O3 Thin Film-Based Chemoresistive Sensors

In this paper, stable water solution using a Pechini sol-gel process was prepared. The solution was used for the direct printing of iron oxide precursor on alumina substrates. To convert the precursor to the desired iron oxide phase, an annealing step was carried out at elevated temperatures (>450 °C). In this work a α-Fe2O3 thin film-based chemoresistive sensors for ethanol detection in air were fabricated. The device developed was investigated for evaluate the sensing characteristics such sensitivity, selectivity and stability.

A. Mirzaei, M. Bonyani, S. G. Leonardi, N. Donato, G. Neri
Optimization of Cyclic Voltammetric Curve Parameters to Measure Lactate Concentration in Urine Samples

In this work, veal urine dilutions in Hepes-buffered Ringer’s solution (HBRS) are tested by both UV-visible absorption spectroscopy and Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) to assess their viability as mediums for the detection of lactate, through the Lactate Dehydrogenase enzyme (LDH) reaction which involves the formation of NADH. Several data analysis algorithms for the recorded CV data are proposed and compared, in order to optimize the NADH detection in the urine samples dilutions. UV-visible spectroscopy was adopted as reference for NADH quantification.

Giulio Rosati, Matteo Scaramuzza, Elisabetta Pasqualotto, Alessandro De Toni, Alessandro Paccagnella
Inkjet Printed Graphene-Based Chemiresistive Sensors to NO2

In this work, the possibility of manufacturing chemiresistive gas sensing devices by inkjet printing different LPE (Liquid Phase Exfoliation) graphene suspensions, formulated in standard organic solvents or aqueous mixtures, on rigid and flexible substrates has been studied. The sensing film has been obtained by printing a different number of graphene layers, depending on the specific ink/substrate system. The device performances have been investigated upon exposure to different concentrations of NO2 at ambient pressure and temperature, addressing the device-to-device variation as function of the number of printed layers and the base conductance.

C. Schiattarella, T. Polichetti, F. Villani, F. Loffredo, B. Alfano, E. Massera, M. L. Miglietta, G. Di Francia

Optical Sensors

Frontmatter
Integration of Amorphous Silicon Photosensors with Thin Film Interferential Filter for Biomolecule Detection

This work presents a thin film device, combining, on the same glass substrate, photosensors and long-pass interferential filter to achieve a compact and efficient sensor for biomolecule detection. The photosensors are amorphous silicon stacked structures, while the interferential filter is fabricated alternating layers of silicon dioxide and titanium dioxide, directly grown over the photosensors. The system has been optimized to effectively detect the natural fluorescence of Ochratoxin A, a highly toxic mycotoxin present in different food commodities. In particular, the long-pass interferential filter has been designed to reject the wavelengths arising from the excitation source (centered at 330 nm) thus transmitting the OTA emission spectrum (centered at 470 nm). Experimental results show that the filter strongly reduces the photosensors quantum efficiency below 420 nm, while keeps it nearly constant at higher wavelength.

Domenico Caputo, Emanuele Parisi, Augusto Nascetti, Mario Tucci, Giampiero de Cesare
Chemical Sensors Based on Surface Plasmon Resonance in a Plastic Optical Fiber for Multianalyte Detection in Oil-Filled Power Transformer

The combination of a D-shaped plastic optical fiber (POF) and a Molecularly Imprinted Polymer (MIP) receptor is an effective way to obtain a highly selective and sensitive surface plasmon resonance (SPR) optical platform, especially suitable for the detection of chemical marker in the oil of Power Transformers. In this work Authors present the preliminary results for determination of two important analytes, dibenzyl disulfide (DBDS) and furfural (2-FAL), whose presence in the transformer oil is an indication of underway corrosive or ageing process, respectively, in power transformers. The low cost of the POF-MIP platforms and the simple and modular scheme of the optical interrogation layout make this system a potentially suitable on-line diagnostic tool for power transformers.

Nunzio Cennamo, Maria Pesavento, Antonella Profumo, Daniele Merli, Letizia De Maria, Cristina Chemelli, Luigi Zeni
Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor in Plastic Optical Fibers. Influence of the Mechanical Support Geometry on the Performances

A performance analysis on Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) sensor based on D-shaped Plastic Optical Fibers (POFs) is reported. It is a very low cost sensor for determining refractive index variations at the interface between a metallic layer and a dielectric medium. This POF-SPR optical platform can be used in many bio and chemical applications. The advantage of using POFs is that the sensor platforms based on POF are simpler to manufacture than those made using silica optical fibers. For low-cost sensing systems, POFs are especially advantageous due to their excellent flexibility, easy manipulation, great numerical aperture, large diameter, and the fact that plastic is able to withstand smaller bend radii than glass. In this work the authors investigate the role of the geometric shape of the resin block, used to obtain a D-shaped POF. In fact, different resin blocks can produce different performances. Two different POF-SPR sensors, based on two different geometric shapes of the resin block, with numerical and experimental results, are presented.

Nunzio Cennamo, Letizia De Maria, Cristina Chemelli, Maria Pesavento, Antonella Profumo, Ramona Galatus, Luigi Zeni
An Integrated Interferometric Sensor for Electromagnetic Field

We propose in this chapter an integrated optical electromagnetic field sensor suitable for sensing in the Fresnel region over a wide frequency range. This device, based on a coherent symmetric interferometer implemented on LiNbO3 substrate, yields minimal coupling with critical radiating structures and enables their near-field monitoring. The principle and technologies of this optical sensor are described and applications of more complex platforms based on the optical device are discussed.

Mario Medugno
Moisture Measurement in Masonry Materials Using Active Distributed Optical Fiber Sensors

A Brillouin Optical time-domain analysis (BOTDA) sensor has been used to perform distributed temperature measurements along a fiber optic cable with an electrically conductive armoring heated via electrical resistance. The thermal response of a fibre-optic probe put in contact with yellow tuff samples at different moisture content is measured by the BOTDA sensor, paving the way to distributed measurements of moisture content in masonry materials.

Aldo Minardo, Ester Catalano, Luigi Mollo, Roberto Greco, Luigi Zeni

Biosensors

Frontmatter
Electrochemical Preparation of a MIP-Glassy Carbon Electrode for the Determination of Dimethoate

In this work a dimethoate-polypyrrole (dim-PPy) MIP films were electropolymerized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) on the surface of glassy carbon electrode (GCE), using pyrrole (Py) as the monomer and dimethoate (dim) as the template. Dimethoate is electro-inactive, therefore an electroactive K3[Fe(CN)6] solution was used as probe in the CV and square wave voltammetry (SWV) for the evaluation of the performance of the imprinted (MIP) and non-imprinted (NIP) films. To investigate the analytical performance of the MIP system in the dimethoate detection, the dim-free MIP films electrode, obtained after the removal of the dimethoate, was placed in solutions containing dimethoate at different concentrations for the analyte rebinding. After the rebinding step, for the MIP films there was a decrease of the response and the current was lower than that for the dim-free MIP films. The decrease of the response could thus be used to indirectly detect the analyte quantitatively. For the NIP films, the response of K3[Fe(CN)6] was very small and showed no obvious difference with different dimethoate concentrations in the rebinding step. These results illustrated that the dim-PPy MIP film system is simple to construct and easy to operate and could be used to recognize dimethoate.

Denise Capoferri, Michele Del Carlo, Nomaphelo Ntshongontshi, Emmanuel I. Iwuoha, Dario Compagnone
Self Assembled and Electrochemically Deposed Layers of Thiols on Gold Compared with Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy

Self-Assembling is based on a spontaneous process in which organic molecules (alkanethiols, silanes) are adsorbed on a substrate (gold, glass, silicon). Although the implementation is extremely easy, it shows a big disadvantage in timing, because the solution has to be in contact overnight with the substrate under mild shaking. An alternative method of molecular deposition is the Electrochemically Deposed Multilayers commonly used in our laboratory for further immobilization of biological molecules in order to obtain specific biosensors for several analytes. It consists in applying a constant potential on gold working electrode (1.3 V vs. Ag/AgCl) for driving molecules in proximity of the electrode and allow them to react on the surface and form a layer similar to self assembled ones. Both the layers, self assembled and electrochemically deposed ones, were tested with Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy. The substrate electrochemically covered shows a higher and a more homogeneous deposition than self assembled one and the deposition time is extremely reduced from several hours to a few of seconds (50 s).

J. Castagna, F. Malvano, D. Albanese, R. Pilloton
Hybrid Hydrophobin/Gold Nanoparticles: Synthesis and Characterization of New Synthetic Probes for Biological Applications

We report a simple and original method to synthesize gold nanoparticles in which a fungal protein, the hydrophobin Vmh2 from Pleurotus ostreatus, mixed to cetyltetrammonium bromide (CTAB) has been used as additional component in a one-step synthesis, leading to shell-like hybrid protein-metal nanoparticles (NPs). The nanoparticles have been characterized by ultra-violet/visible and infrared spectroscopies, and also by electron microscopy imaging. The results of these analytical techniques highlight nanometric sized, stable, hybrid complexes of about 10 nm, with a micelles-like hydrophobins rearrangement.

Jane Politi, Luca De Stefano, Paola Giardina, Sandra Casale, Ilaria Rea, Jolanda Spadavecchia
Real Time Flow-Through Biosensor

An all polymeric platform based on planar microring resonator employing a microfluidic flow-through approach is presented and exploited for biosensing applications. A micromilled hole in the center of the microring resonator drives the analyte flow towards the sensing surface, so optimizing the transport kinetic. A simulated and experimental evaluation of the improved performances in terms of kinetic transport and response time is also presented. Biosensing experiments with bovine serum albumin (BSA) based solutions at different concentrations are performed. Optical characterizations by resonance peak shift show a linear behaviour up to 200 nM and a saturation condition at higher concentrations in SU-8 based microring resonators. A reduction of more than 4 times of the response times, as compared with the standard flow-over approach, is obtained with the proposed flow-through approach. The proposed sensing architecture, allowing the single addressing of ring resonator, gives numerous advantages related to time responses and multiplexing of different analytes for a label-free biosensing.

Immacolata Angelica Grimaldi, Genni Testa, Gianluca Persichetti, Romeo Bernini
Amorphous Silicon Temperature Sensors Integrated with Thin Film Heaters for Thermal Treatments of Biomolecules

This work combines a lab-on-chip device with an electronic system for the achievement of a small-scale and low-cost thermal treatment of biomolecules. The lab-on-chip is a 1.2 mm-thick glass substrate hosting thin film resistor acting as heater and, on the other glass side, amorphous silicon diodes acting as temperature sensors. The electronic system controls the lab-on-chip temperature through a Proportional-Integral-Derivative algorithm. In particular, an electronic board infers the temperature measuring the voltage across the amorphous silicon diodes, which are biased with a constant forward current of 50 nA, and drives the heater to achieve the set-point temperature. The characterization of the whole system has been carried out implementing the thermal cycles necessary in the polymerase chain reaction technique for amplification of DNA. To this purpose, the lab-on-chip has been thermally coupled with another glass hosting a microfluidic network made in polydimethilsiloxane, and the time evolution of temperature has been carefully monitored. The measured performances in terms of heating rate, cooling rate and settling time demonstrate that the proposed system completely fulfills the requirements of the investigated biological application.

Nicola Lovecchio, Domenico Caputo, Giulia Petrucci, Augusto Nascetti, Marco Nardecchia, Francesca Costantini, Giampiero de Cesare
Opto-Plasmonic Biosensors for Monitoring Wheat End-Products Quality

The aspect of food quality is of increasing interest for both consumers and food industry. Detection of chemical contaminants and specific quality-related components are required. In this sense, biosensors can play a prime role, because these devices allow cheap and continuous monitoring of contaminants along the pasta production chain and are also useful to identify allelic variants of genes coding for protein associated to bad or good quality of wheat end-products. In this work we report the production of a whole-cell biosensor based on bacterial cells genetically modified to respond to the presence of metal ions by fluorescence or luminescence emission, and of a biosensor based on Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR), that is able to detect nucleic acid sequences characterizing different allelic variants.

C. Galati, M. G. Manera, A. Colombelli, M. De Pascali, P. Rampino, C. Perrotta, R. Rella
Design, Fabrication and Testing of a Capillary Microfluidic System with Stop-and-Go Valves Using EWOD Technology

This article presents the successful design, fabrication and testing of a miniaturized system integrating capillarity and electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) technology in a microfluidic network. In particular, the change in hydrophobicity occurring at the interphase between a capillary channel and a hydrophobic layer has been exploited using EWOD as a stop-go fluid valve. The combination of capillary forces and EWOD technology to control the fluid movement opens the possibility to implement a wide variety of microfluidic configurations to perform different biomedical assays with a low-power consumption process. These assays could be easily and inexpensively integrated in lab-on-chip systems featuring small size and high-throughput characteristics.

M. Nardecchia, P. Rodríguez Llorca, G. de Cesare, D. Caputo, N. Lovecchio, A. Nascetti
Electrochemical and Photoelectrochemical Biosensors for Biomarker Detection

A rapid and accurate medical diagnosis is essential in order to determine the health status of a patient. Nowadays, most of the clinical analyses are performed in specialized laboratory, which required specific instrumentation and trained personal, resulting in an increase of analysis costs and time. In this context, biosensors represent ideal tools capable to provide a specific and fast response together with low cost, easy use and portable size features. This work attempts to provide a review of the research progresses of electrochemical and photoelectrochemical biosensor platforms in clinical applications that have been published in recent years. Special emphasis will be devoted to discuss examples for breast cancer biomarker detection, because breast cancer, is considered the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide in women, representing 15% of all cancer related amongst women, with a 6% mortality rate (based on overall cancer deaths). The manuscript is focused on aptamer-based biosensors, because, due to their stability and their relatively low cost, they have been successfully applied in many biosensor formats for breast cancer biomarker detection.

Andrea Ravalli, Francesca Bettazzi, Diego Voccia, Giovanna Marrazza, Ilaria Palchetti
Impedance Sensors Embedded in Culture Media for Early Detection of Bacteria Growth

In this work, the ability of an impedance sensor to rapidly detect bacteria growth in a culture medium has been investigated. A test configuration with two electrodes embedded in a Petri dish has been proposed. Impedances corresponding to a sterile medium and one inoculated with bacteria have been measured and compared during the growth process. Remarkable differences have been observed in the time evolutions of the two behaviors. In particular, impedance behavior measured at 100 Hz allows such achievement after only 1 h. An equivalent circuit of the measured impedances have been proposed. Considerations regarding the effects of the bacteria growth on the components describing the electrode-medium interface have been reported. The variations of these elements have been identified as the more significant for the early detection. From these promising results, improved configurations consisting of a matrix of electrodes can be proposed for localized and rapid detection by means of automated analysis systems.

Michela Borghetti, Marco Demori, Marco Ferrari, Vittorio Ferrari, Emilio Sardini, Mauro Serpelloni
Ampicillin Measurement Using Flow SPR Immunosensor and Comparison with Classical Amperometric Immunosensor

An analytical comparison of a flow SPR immunosensor method and a conventional amperometric immunosensor has been carried out. Different formats were used, respectively, main analytical data have been checked and affinity constant values evaluated and compared.

Mauro Tomassetti, Giovanni Merola, Elisabetta Martini, Luigi Campanella, Maria Pia Sammartino, Gabriella Sanzò, Gabriele Favero, Franco Mazzei
Looking If Any Correlation Exists Between the Total Antioxidant Capacity and Polyphenol Concentration (Measured Using Two Different Enzyme Sensors) in Several Food or Feed Based Vegetables and Pharmaceutical Integrators

The principal aim of the present research has been to check if any correlation exists between the total antioxidant capacity (TAOC) value and the total polyphenols content (TPC) of several food, or beverages and feed samples based vegetables. The research was also extended to several food supplements currently sold as pharmaceutical integrators.

Mauro Tomassetti, Riccardo Angeloni, Elisabetta Martini, Mauro Castrucci, Luigi Campanella, Maria Pia Sammartino
Preliminary Study of a Low-Cost Point-of-Care Testing System Using Screen-Printed Biosensors for Early Biomarkers Detection Related to Alzheimer Disease

Among neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer Disease (AD) represents one of the most widespread pathologies, for which an early diagnosis is still missing. A peculiar expression of an altered conformational isoform of p53 protein was reported to be a potential biomarker able to distinguish AD subjects from healthy population, quantifiable using a blood-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In order to overcome ELISA limitations, related to reliability and to improve sensitivity, this study aimed to realize a low cost highly sensitive portable point-of-care (PoC) testing system based on screen printed electrochemical sensors (SPES). The development of the platform specifically included both the design of the sensing probe and of the electronic circuit devoted to the conditioning and acquisition of the transduced electric signal. Preliminary testing of the circuit were performed recording changes in the conductivity of NaCl solution and quantifying electrodes coating with antibodies using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) principle. Results obtained with saline solution, showed the ability of the circuit to give the best response corresponding to low changes in NaCl concentration (sensitivity 0.2 mA/(mg/ml)), suggesting a good sensitivity of the platform. Findings obtained from EIS showed the ability of the circuit to discriminate between different concentrations of antibodies coatings (sensitivity 80 µA/µg). Preliminary calibration of the sensor using interleukin IL-8 showed an increase in the maximum peak of current proportional to the increase of protein concentration, achieving a sensitivity of 35 µA/ng and reporting also a good value of reproducibility, really promising in the perspective of lower values of proteins concentrations.

Sarah Tonello, Mauro Serpelloni, Nicola Francesco Lopomo, Giulia Abate, Daniela Letizia Uberti, Emilio Sardini

Multisensorial Systems

Frontmatter
Modeling Investigation of a Nonlinear Vibrational Energy Harvester

In last years the authors have investigated nonlinear systems for vibrational energy harvesting. Nonlinear configurations have been demonstrated that, under the proper conditions, can provide better performance, compared to linear resonant oscillators, in terms of the amount of energy extracted from environmental wide spectrum mechanical vibrations. In particular, the authors presented the results of investigations on a system exploiting the advantages of a nonlinear bistable Snap-Through-Buckling (STB) configuration and two piezoelectric transducers placed at the locations of the two stable states (the position of the two minima of the bistable potential underpinning the dynamics of the system). The device investigated was shown to be capable of providing sufficient electrical energy to power an RF transmitter. However, in order to properly design the harvester an analytical model is necessary. The authors are investigating different nonlinear models. In this work, a comparison between two different theoretical models for the STB beam is discussed.

Bruno Andò, Salvatore Baglio, Adi Bulsara, Vincenzo Marletta, Antonio Pistorio
Study on Impedance Behavior of a Telemetric System Operating with an Inkjet-Printed Resistive Strain Gauge

Devices that measure the strain applied to a body can find several applications in many fields, especially if they are able to satisfy precise specifications about power supply and transmission of information. Telemetric systems offer a viable solution, since they rely on the inductive coupling between the coils connected to a passive sensor and a readout unit. Therefore, they require neither batteries nor wired connections. The present work illustrates a preliminary analysis on a telemetric device made of Printed Circuit Board (PCB) planar inductors and a resistive strain gauge fabricated through inkjet printing on a flexible substrate. We carried out experimental tests to evaluate system frequency behaviour. Firstly, we measured its impedance phase at readout inductor terminals while varying sensor resistance, with the inductors put at a fixed relative distance. Then, we repeated the same operation when that distance changed, with strain gauge at rest position. Obtained results report a total variation of phase most sensitive point of about 0.12° for a strain equal to 1% of sensor length at rest, suggesting that measuring strain with such a structure is feasible. On the other hand, they highlight that distance variation has a strong influence on that result; thus, it has to be taken into account during measurement process.

M. Bona, E. Sardini, M. Serpelloni, B. Andò, C. O. Lombardo
Breath Analysis by a GC/MS Coupled to a Gas Sensor Detector

A peculiar experimental configuration of a gas chromatograph (GC) coupled, by a splitter, to two detectors, i.e. a mass spectrometer (MS) and a semiconducting gas sensor (SGS), operating in dual mode, was arranged. A suitable breath sampling system was used to sample the alveolar air volume in a bag from the air volume of a single expiration by discarding the dead volume. Breath volatiles (VOCs) were isolated and preconcentrated by solid-phase microextraction (SPME). Breath tests on alveolar air sampled by a sample of smokers volunteers were carried out. Statistical analysis techniques (descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney test, PCA, Probit nonlinear regression model) applied to GC-MS data and sensor data showed good results in discriminating the subset of smokers sampled in resting condition (“blank” smokers) and after the action of smoking a cigarette.

S. Capone, M. Tufariello, A. Forleo, F. Casino, P. Siciliano
Multi-sensor Platform for Detection of Anomalies in Human Sleep Patterns

This work describes a multi-sensor platform for anomalies detection in human sleep patterns. The inputs of the platform are sequences of human postures, extensively used for analysis of activities of daily living and, more in general, for human behaviour understanding. The postures are acquired by using both ambient and wearable sensors that are time-of-flight 3D vision sensor, ultra-wideband radar sensor, and three-axial accelerometer. The suggested platform aims to provide an abstraction layer with respect to the underlying sensing technologies, exploiting the postural information in common to all involved sensors (i.e., Standing, Bending, Sitting, Lying down). Furthermore, in order to fill the lack of datasets containing long-term postural sequences, which are required in human sleep analysis, a simulator of activities of daily living/postures has been proposed. The capability of the platform in providing a sensing invariant interface (i.e., abstracted from any specific sensing technology) was demonstrated by preliminary results, exhibiting high accuracy in sleep anomalies detection using the three aforementioned sensors.

Andrea Caroppo, Alessandro Leone, Gabriele Rescio, Giovanni Diraco, Pietro Siciliano
Bioimpedance Measurement in Dentistry: Detection of Inflamed Tissues

This work aims at determining if bioimpedance measurements are able to provide information about the inflammatory state of the tissues; if the presence of an inflamed tissue can be located by means of bioimpedance measure, it would be possible to focus a potential treatment in this site. Different numerical 3D models have been realized to simulate the measurement conditions present in the event of inflamed gingiva around a dental implant. A premolar has been represented and different inflammation volumes have been considered; both geometric and electrical properties have been taken from the literature. In addition, some preliminary measurements have been conducted in three patients with dental implants in different conditions: healthy tissues, inflammation and peri-implantitis. The percentage difference of impedance (∆Z) between healthy and inflamed tissues has been considered. In addition, also three numerical models of healthy teeth have been realized (i.e. incisor, canine and premolar roots), in order to evaluate the normal range of teeth bioimpedance values. The results obtained from the numerical simulations show ∆Z values of 6–20% for the dental implant, depending on the inflamed volume. The bioimpedance values experimentally measured are in agreement with the ones obtained from the simulations and ∆Z values are also more marked (34% for inflammation, 55% for peri-implantitis), suggesting that in real inflamed tissues not only electrical properties but also dimensions are different with respect to the normal case. As regards the healthy teeth, the modulus of the measured impedance is higher than that of the implant; this was predictable and is due to the presence of bone instead of the implant. In conclusion, it is possible to state that bioimpedance measurements allow the clinician to detect inflamed tissues, so that the therapy can be focused on the impaired zone, limiting the influence in the surrounding healthy tissues and personalizing the therapy according to the inflammation severity.

Gloria Cosoli, Lorenzo Scalise, Graziano Cerri, Gerardo Tricarico, Enrico Primo Tomasini
Stochastic Comparison of Machine Learning Approaches to Calibration of Mobile Air Quality Monitors

Recently, the interest in the development of new pervasive or mobile implementations of air quality multisensor devices has significantly grown. New application opportunities appeared together with new challenges due to limitations in dealing with rapid pollutants concentrations transients both for static and mobile deployments. Sensors dynamic is one of the primary factor in limiting the capability of the device of estimating true concentration when it is rapidly changing. Researchers have proposed several approaches to these issues but none have been tested in real conditions. Furthermore, no performance comparison is currently available. In this contribution, we propose and compare different approaches to the calibration problem of novel fast air quality multisensing devices, using two datasets recorded in field. Machine learning architectures have been designed, optimized and tested in order to tackle the cross sensitivities issues and sensors inherent dynamic limitations to perform accurate prediction and uncertainty estimation. Comparison results shows the advantage of dynamic non linear architectures versus static linear ones with support vector regressors scoring best results.

E. Esposito, S. De Vito, M. Salvato, G. Fattoruso, V. Bright, R. L. Jones, O. Popoola
A Distributed Sensor Network for Waste Water Management Plant Protection

Waste water management process has a significant role in guarantee sea and surface water bodies water quality with direct impact on tourism based economy and public health. Protection of this critical infrastructure form illicit discharges is hence paramount for the whole society. Here, We propose a pervasive monitoring centered approach to the protection of wastewater management plant. An hybrid sensor network is actually deployed along the wastewater network including several different transducers. Incepted data are harmonized and processed with an integrated SWMM model and machine learning based approach in order to forecast water qualitative and quantitative aspects, detect and localize anomalies. An advanced WEBGIS-SOS based interface conveys relevant information to the management entity allowing it to take appropriate actions in a timely way, reducing and mitigating the impacts of illicit discharges.

S. De Vito, G. Fattoruso, E. Esposito, M. Salvato, A. Agresta, M. Panico, A. Leopardi, F. Formisano, A. Buonanno, P. Delli Veneri, G. Di Francia
Virtual Olfactory Device In EEG And Olfactory Conditioning Task: an OERP Study

Aim of this study is to investigate innovative olfactory applications of cognitive neuroscience in order to improve basic knowledge as well as to develop novel devices for enhancing synaesthetic experiences through olfactory stimulation. We arranged an experiment of olfactive conditioned evoked potentials by analyzing Event Related Potential (ERP) of adult safe volunteers during the conditioning perception of 2 odor stimuli, in an experiment of emotional face recognition task. Specifically, it was developed a paradigm of classical conditioning in which the three types of odors (pleasant, unpleasant, neuter) were conditioned on images of neuter face expression and these results were compared with direct results of olfactory stimulation. The main experimental evidence of our study consists in significant values in ERPs components in direction of a greater amplitude and slower latency in unpleasant condition. On the basis of these results one might assume that an unpleasant odor can modulate, in a cross modal way, the perceptions of emotional and neutral face expressions, and it’s highlighted in an early ERPs component (P1) in conditioning way only for neutral expressions.

S. Invitto, S. Capone, G. Montagna, P. Siciliano
Wireless Electromyography Technology for Fall Risk Evaluation

The chapter presents a study on an electromyography-based wearable system for fall risk assessment. It has been focused especially on the electrical activity analysis of the user’s lower limb muscles in relation to his body movement. For that purpose four wireless electromyography probes (sEMG) have been placed on the Gastrocnemius/Tibialis muscles and an accelerometer-equipped t-shirt has been worn during the Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) and fall events simulations. The results obtained have shown that the simultaneous contraction of the muscles considered appear relevant immediately after the starting of the imbalance condition, when the vertical velocity of the user’s body is too low for the commonly used inertial-based pre-fall detection systems. So an sEMG-based platform should be suitable to realize a more efficient platform to prevent the injures due to the fall. The mean lead-time measured, in controlled condition, is more than 750 ms with performance in terms of sensitivity and specificity more than 75%.

A. Leone, G. Rescio, A. Caroppo, P. Siciliano
A Multisensorial Thermal Anemometer System

This work deals on the design of a multisensorial anemometer able to provide an accurate measurement of both wind speed and direction. The system is based on thermal anemometry that is, probably, the preferable way to measure instantaneous wind velocity in any weather condition and surrounding. The application here proposed is based on a commercial flow probe, the IST FS5 that shows a robust design without moving parts, small dimensions and is suitable to operate up to 150 °C and a wind speed of 100 m/s. In addition, the sensor is organized as a pattern of probes. In this way, being the analysis based on differential measurements, analyzing the signal provided by each sensor is possible to perform an accurate evaluation of both the wind speed and direction. A microcontroller realizes the data management and wind flow identification process.

L. Pantoli, R. Paolucci, M. Muttillo, P. Fusacchia, A. Leoni
Remotely Controlled Terrestrial Vehicle Integrated Sensory System for Environmental Monitoring

In this paper we show the developing and the applications of a remotely controlled terrestrial vehicle (or Unmanned Ground Vehicles—UGV) provided with an integrated sensory system for environmental monitoring. The developed system is aimed to monitor some of the key air pollutants and harmful compounds, usable in contaminated sites at high risk to human health. The system is a 4WD radio-controlled vehicle, with small dimensions and low weight, complemented by a sensory system based on hybrid sensors technology (e.g. optic, electrochemical, gravimetric, etc…). These features allow this system to be easily used when inspection missions are required, before or after any environmental disaster. It is able to measure, in few minutes, the atmospheric particulate matter (PM1, PM2.5, PM10), CO2 and CO, H2S, SO2, NO2 in the range between 15 and 5000 ppb. Moreover, it is equipped with a telemetry system for the remote-controlled navigation, including a high-resolution camera, a GPS antenna, an anemometer and proximity sensors. The core of the device is a microprocessor board able to assist the navigation, acquiring values from sensors, transfer/record data and control tens input/outputs up to a distance of 1 km. In this work we report some information regarding the integration, the calibration and the data related to the monitoring of a waste landfill in the closing phase, during the construction of the extractor for generated biogas.

Emiliano Zampetti, Paolo Papa, Francesco Di Flaviano, Lucia Paciucci, Francesco Petracchini, Nicola Pirrone, Andrea Bearzotti, Antonella Macagnano

Micro-nano Technologies, Electronic Systems for Sensors

Frontmatter
A Compact Low-Offset Instrumentation Amplifier with Wide Input and Output Ranges

In this work, a new architecture for the design of very compact instrumentation amplifiers is proposed. The amplifier has been specifically developed for use as a versatile block for sensor interfacing. The most innovative feature of the proposed cell is the wide input common mode range, which has a margin to both power rails as small as 200 mV. The circuit, which has been implemented with the 3.3 V CMOS devices of the UMC 0.18 μm process, operates with supply voltage in the 1.4–3.6 V range. An input offset voltage standard deviation of 8 μV has been obtained using chopper modulation combined with gain enhancement of the output current mirrors. The amplifier performances are estimated by means of accurate electrical simulations.

Massimo Piotto, Simone Del Cesta, Giovanni Argenio, Roberto Simmarano, Paolo Bruschi
Improving the Performance of an AMR-Based Current Transducer for Metering Applications

In Medium Voltage (MV) applications, innovative solutions for voltage and current measurements are investigated in this last years. In particular, technical solutions characterized by proper metrological performance and at the same time small size, low cost, and simple integrability with communication networks are followed with the aim of operating within the modern industrial context and in the smart grid. In these scenarios, the paper describes a current transducer thought for industrial applications and based on a cheap commercial AMR sensor. A deep experimental analysis is carried out to verify the metrological performance of the proposed system for both Direct and Alternate Current operating, and to verify the influence of the environmental temperature on the input-output characteristic. The obtained results have shown that the proposed system allows reaching metrological performance suitable for typical MV applications if the temperature compensation is carried out.

G. Betta, D. Capriglione, L. Ferrigno, A. Rasile
Derived Non-contact Continuous Recording of Blood Pressure Pulse Waveform by Means of Vibrocardiography

Blood Pressure (BP) is considered a significant indicator of cardiac risk. By providing information about the hemodynamic load on the heart, BP detected in a central site may have added value with respect to the more familiar peripheral arterial pressure (i.e. measured on the brachial artery). Laser Doppler Vibrometry (LDV) has been demonstrated to be a reliable non-contact technique to measure the cardiovascular signals and parameters. LDV has a high sensitivity of acquisition and it is able to measure the skin vibrations related to cardiac activity when the laser beam is pointed in correspondence of the carotid artery. The obtainable vibrational signal (i.e. a velocity signal), VibroCardioGram (VCG), can provide relevant physiological parameters, including Heart Rate (HR) as well as more advanced features encoded in the contour of the pulse waveform. In this work, the authors aim to discuss the possibility of deriving the blood pressure signal from the vibrations of the carotid artery detected by LDV. 6 healthy participants were tested; the VCG was calibrated by means of diastolic and mean arterial pressure values measured by means of an oscillometric cuff. An exponential model was applied to the VCG signal of each participant in order to derive the pressure waveform from the displacement of the investigated vessel. Results show an average difference of around 20% between systolic pressure measured at brachial level (i.e. peripheral pressure value) and systolic pressure derived from VCG signal measured over the carotid artery (i.e. central pressure). This is consistent with the literature describing the physiological increase of Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) and Pressure Pulse (PP) at increased distances from the heart (because of the presence of reflected waves). Moreover, the average measured displacements of the carotid artery are physiologically reliable (i.e. hundreds of micrometers). LDV seems to have the potential of correctly detecting the pressure waveform without contact. However, a comparison with a reference method is required to validate the proposed measurement technique.

Luigi Casacanditella, Gloria Cosoli, Sara Casaccia, Lorenzo Scalise, Enrico Primo Tomasini
A Fall Detector Based on Ultra-Wideband Radar Sensing

Falls in the elderly have been recognized worldwide as a major public health problem. Nevertheless, falls cannot be detected efficiently yet, due to open issues on both sensing and processing sides. The most promising sensing approaches raise concerns for privacy issues (e.g., video-based approaches) or low acceptability rate (e.g., wearable approaches); whereas on the processing side, the commonly used methodologies are based on supervised techniques trained with both positive (falls) and negative (ADL-Activity of Daily Living) samples, both simulated by healthy young subjects. As a result of such a training protocol, fall detectors inevitably exhibit lower performance when used in real-world situations, in which monitored subjects are older adults. The aim of this study is to investigate a fully privacy-preserving and high-acceptance sensing technology, i.e. ultra-wideband radar sensor, together with a novelty detection methodology based exclusively on real ADL data from monitored elderly subject. The use of the UWB novelty detection methodology allowed to significantly improve detection performance in comparison to traditional supervised approaches.

Giovanni Diraco, Alessandro Leone, Pietro Siciliano
Capacitance Humidity Micro-sensor with Temperature Controller and Heater Integrated in CMOS Technology

This paper wants to study the possibility of generating predictable relative humidity variations with temperature on a capacitive humidity sensor. Software and a circuit temperature control will be analyzed. The precision of both systems is remarkable. A possible application is in the field of self-diagnostics for humidity sensors.

M. Elkhayat, S. Mangiarotti, M. Grassi, P. Malcovati, A. Fornasari
Voltage-Mode Analog Interfaces for Differential Capacitance Position Transducers

A fully-analog integrated electronic interface for the detection and measurement of differential capacitive position sensors is shown. The read-out circuit, performing a differential capacitive to voltage conversion, has been developed in a standard 0.35 μm CMOS technology with low-voltage/low-power characteristics. The interface has shown a good accuracy, in particular the relative percentage error is lower than 0.8% for the simulations of the integrated solution. When compared to other solutions in the literature, sensitivity (S) and resolution (res) data on a practical case-study of position sensor are satisfactory so validating the architecture to be a good candidate as first stage in analog front-ends for differential capacitive sensor data measurements.

G. Ferri, F. R. Parente, V. Stornelli, G. Barile, G. Pennazza, M. Santonico
CCII-Based Linear Ratiometric Capacitive Sensing by Analog Read-Out Circuits

Two electronic interfaces performing a differential (or ratiometric) sensor capacitance to voltage conversion are here presented. The output signal is proportional to the measurand variation x. The two read-out circuits differ themselves in their input stage: the first has an input current-to-voltage conversion, while the second one employs an input voltage source. Both of the solutions utilize commercial second generation current conveyors (CCIIs) as active blocks, in particular AD844. Theoretical analysis, simulated and experimental results have shown a good accuracy. Considering a capacitance variation due to the relative distance change, interface sensitivity (S) and resolution (res) values are constant and satisfactory: for the first solution, S = 8.54 V/μm and res = 674 pm (capacitance resolution value is 89.85 fF, that is −79 dB), while, for the second one, S = 8.13 V/μm and res = 814 pm (capacitance resolution value is 108.5 fF, that is −77 dB).

G. Ferri, F. R. Parente, V. Stornelli, G. Barile, G. Pennazza, M. Santonico
Integrable Autonomous Devices for WSNs

We here present an energy harvesting system for low power sensor applications. The system is a dual band architecture able to capture the largest amount of EM radiation available in the urban environment and to provide an autonomous device potentially with infinitive cycle of use. The device is tuned to receive both GSM and Wi-Fi frequencies and a power battery loading circuitry is available on board to guarantee the required energy for the autonomous sensor to work. The whole system, designed using a discrete board, has been also conceived in order to be completely integrated in a standard CMOS technology.

L. Pantoli, A. Leoni, F. R. Parente, V. Stornelli, G. Ferri
A Low Cost Flexible Power Line Communication System

The present work focuses its attention on the definition of a home automation system based on power line communication. A low cost and non invasive system has been developed and tested with successful results. It is based on the Cypress CY8CPLC10, an integrated power line communication chip which embeds both a PHY modem and a network protocol stack. The information management and data generation processes are demanded to a microcontroller, in this first prototype, being implemented with a standard Arduino board. Combining the use of a microcontroller with a power line modem makes possible to manage sensors and actuators in the neighbors through the power grid and without modifying the electrical and network systems.

L. Pantoli, M. Muttillo, V. Stornelli, G. Ferri, T. Gabriele
MEMS-Based Transducers (CMUT) and Integrated Electronics for Medical Ultrasound Imaging

Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (CMUTs) are MEMS transducers fabricated on silicon that have reached technological maturity, representing today a valid alternative to piezoelectric transducers in medical ultrasound imaging applications, offering larger bandwidth and better thermal efficiency. The growing interest for this new technology is based in the increased compatibility with 3D electronics integration methods that allow integrating, on the same chip, the transducers and the electronics, thereby enabling the realization of high-performance and low-cost devices. This paper summarizes the research activity carried out at the Acoustoelectronics Laboratory (ACULAB) of Roma Tre University on the integration of CMUTs and analog front-end electronics in ultrasound medical imaging probes for volumetric imaging applications.

Alessandro S. Savoia, Giosuè Caliano
Metadata
Title
Sensors
Editors
Prof. Bruno Andò
Dr. Francesco Baldini
Prof. Corrado Di Natale
Prof. Giovanna Marrazza
Dr. Pietro Siciliano
Copyright Year
2018
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-55077-0
Print ISBN
978-3-319-55076-3
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55077-0