scholarly journals Investigation on Stray-Capacitance Influences of Coaxial Cables in Capacitive Transducers for a Space Inertial Sensor

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (11) ◽  
pp. 3233
Author(s):  
Jianbo Yu ◽  
Chengrui Wang ◽  
Ying Wang ◽  
Yanzheng Bai ◽  
Ming Hu ◽  
...  

Ultra-sensitive inertial sensors are one of the key components in satellite Earth’s gravity field recovery missions and space gravitational wave detection missions. Low-noise capacitive position transducers are crucial to these missions to achieve the scientific goal. However, in actual engineering applications, the sensor head and electronics unit usually place separately in the satellite platform where a connecting cable is needed. In this paper, we focus on the stray-capacitance influences of coaxial cables which are used to connect the mechanical core and the electronics. Specially, for the capacitive transducer with a differential transformer bridge structure usually used in high-precision space inertial sensors, a connecting method of a coaxial cable between the transformer’s secondary winding and front-end circuit’s preamplifier is proposed to transmit the AC modulated analog voltage signal. The measurement and noise models including the stray-capacitance of the coaxial cable under this configuration is analyzed. A prototype system is set up to investigate the influences of the cables experimentally. Three different types and lengths of coaxial cables are chosen in our experiments to compare their performances. The analysis shows that the stray-capacitance will alter the circuit’s resonant frequency which could be adjusted by additional tuning capacitance, then under the optimal resonant condition, the output voltage noises of the preamplifier are measured and the sensitivity coefficients are also calibrated. Meanwhile, the stray-capacitance of the cables is estimated. Finally, the experimental results show that the noise level of this circuit with the selected cables could all achieve 1–2 × 10−7 pF/Hz1/2 at 0.1 Hz.

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ive Weygers ◽  
Manon Kok ◽  
Thomas Seel ◽  
Darshan Shah ◽  
Orçun Taylan ◽  
...  

AbstractSkin-attached inertial sensors are increasingly used for kinematic analysis. However, their ability to measure outside-lab can only be exploited after correctly aligning the sensor axes with the underlying anatomical axes. Emerging model-based inertial-sensor-to-bone alignment methods relate inertial measurements with a model of the joint to overcome calibration movements and sensor placement assumptions. It is unclear how good such alignment methods can identify the anatomical axes. Any misalignment results in kinematic cross-talk errors, which makes model validation and the interpretation of the resulting kinematics measurements challenging. This study provides an anatomically correct ground-truth reference dataset from dynamic motions on a cadaver. In contrast with existing references, this enables a true model evaluation that overcomes influences from soft-tissue artifacts, orientation and manual palpation errors. This dataset comprises extensive dynamic movements that are recorded with multimodal measurements including trajectories of optical and virtual (via computed tomography) anatomical markers, reference kinematics, inertial measurements, transformation matrices and visualization tools. The dataset can be used either as a ground-truth reference or to advance research in inertial-sensor-to-bone-alignment.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 4033
Author(s):  
Peng Ren ◽  
Fatemeh Elyasi ◽  
Roberto Manduchi

Pedestrian tracking systems implemented in regular smartphones may provide a convenient mechanism for wayfinding and backtracking for people who are blind. However, virtually all existing studies only considered sighted participants, whose gait pattern may be different from that of blind walkers using a long cane or a dog guide. In this contribution, we present a comparative assessment of several algorithms using inertial sensors for pedestrian tracking, as applied to data from WeAllWalk, the only published inertial sensor dataset collected indoors from blind walkers. We consider two situations of interest. In the first situation, a map of the building is not available, in which case we assume that users walk in a network of corridors intersecting at 45° or 90°. We propose a new two-stage turn detector that, combined with an LSTM-based step counter, can robustly reconstruct the path traversed. We compare this with RoNIN, a state-of-the-art algorithm based on deep learning. In the second situation, a map is available, which provides a strong prior on the possible trajectories. For these situations, we experiment with particle filtering, with an additional clustering stage based on mean shift. Our results highlight the importance of training and testing inertial odometry systems for assisted navigation with data from blind walkers.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (15) ◽  
pp. 5167
Author(s):  
Nicky Baker ◽  
Claire Gough ◽  
Susan J. Gordon

Compared to laboratory equipment inertial sensors are inexpensive and portable, permitting the measurement of postural sway and balance to be conducted in any setting. This systematic review investigated the inter-sensor and test-retest reliability, and concurrent and discriminant validity to measure static and dynamic balance in healthy adults. Medline, PubMed, Embase, Scopus, CINAHL, and Web of Science were searched to January 2021. Nineteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis was possible for reliability studies only and it was found that inertial sensors are reliable to measure static standing eyes open. A synthesis of the included studies shows moderate to good reliability for dynamic balance. Concurrent validity is moderate for both static and dynamic balance. Sensors discriminate old from young adults by amplitude of mediolateral sway, gait velocity, step length, and turn speed. Fallers are discriminated from non-fallers by sensor measures during walking, stepping, and sit to stand. The accuracy of discrimination is unable to be determined conclusively. Using inertial sensors to measure postural sway in healthy adults provides real-time data collected in the natural environment and enables discrimination between fallers and non-fallers. The ability of inertial sensors to identify differences in postural sway components related to altered performance in clinical tests can inform targeted interventions for the prevention of falls and near falls.


2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milica Djuric-Jovicic ◽  
Nenad Jovicic ◽  
Sasa Radovanovic ◽  
Milica Jecmenica-Lukic ◽  
Minja Belic ◽  
...  

Background/Aim. Finger tapping test is commonly used in neurological examinations as a test of motor performance. The new system comprising inertial and force sensors and custom proprietary software was developed for quantitative estimation and assessment of finger and foot tapping tests. The aim of this system was to provide diagnosis support and objective assessment of motor function. Methods. Miniature inertial sensors were placed on fingertips and used for measuring finger movements. A force sensor was placed on the fingertip of one finger, in order to measure the force during tapping. For foot tapping assessment, an inertial sensor was mounted on the subject?s foot, which was placed above a force platform. By using this system, various parameters such as a number of taps, tapping duration, rhythm, open and close speed, the applied force and tapping angle, can be extracted for detailed analysis of a patient?s motor performance. The system was tested on 13 patients with Parkinson?s disease and 14 healthy controls. Results. The system allowed easy measurement of listed parameters, and additional graphical representation showed quantitative differences in these parameters between neurological patient and healthy subjects. Conclusion. The novel system for finger and foot tapping test is compact, simple to use and efficiently collects patient data. Parameters measured in patients can be compared to those measured in healthy subjects, or among groups of patients, or used to monitor progress of the disease, or therapy effects. Created data and scores could be used together with the scores from clinical tests, providing the possibility for better insight into the diagnosis.


10.2196/13961 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. e13961
Author(s):  
Kim Sarah Sczuka ◽  
Lars Schwickert ◽  
Clemens Becker ◽  
Jochen Klenk

Background Falls are a common health problem, which in the worst cases can lead to death. To develop reliable fall detection algorithms as well as suitable prevention interventions, it is important to understand circumstances and characteristics of real-world fall events. Although falls are common, they are seldom observed, and reports are often biased. Wearable inertial sensors provide an objective approach to capture real-world fall signals. However, it is difficult to directly derive visualization and interpretation of body movements from the fall signals, and corresponding video data is rarely available. Objective The re-enactment method uses available information from inertial sensors to simulate fall events, replicate the data, validate the simulation, and thereby enable a more precise description of the fall event. The aim of this paper is to describe this method and demonstrate the validity of the re-enactment approach. Methods Real-world fall data, measured by inertial sensors attached to the lower back, were selected from the Fall Repository for the Design of Smart and Self-Adaptive Environments Prolonging Independent Living (FARSEEING) database. We focused on well-described fall events such as stumbling to be re-enacted under safe conditions in a laboratory setting. For the purposes of exemplification, we selected the acceleration signal of one fall event to establish a detailed simulation protocol based on identified postures and trunk movement sequences. The subsequent re-enactment experiments were recorded with comparable inertial sensor configurations as well as synchronized video cameras to analyze the movement behavior in detail. The re-enacted sensor signals were then compared with the real-world signals to adapt the protocol and repeat the re-enactment method if necessary. The similarity between the simulated and the real-world fall signals was analyzed with a dynamic time warping algorithm, which enables the comparison of two temporal sequences varying in speed and timing. Results A fall example from the FARSEEING database was used to show the feasibility of producing a similar sensor signal with the re-enactment method. Although fall events were heterogeneous concerning chronological sequence and curve progression, it was possible to reproduce a good approximation of the motion of a person’s center of mass during fall events based on the available sensor information. Conclusions Re-enactment is a promising method to understand and visualize the biomechanics of inertial sensor-recorded real-world falls when performed in a suitable setup, especially if video data is not available.


2013 ◽  
Vol 117 (1188) ◽  
pp. 111-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. L. Grigorie ◽  
R. M. Botez

Abstract This paper presents a new adaptive algorithm for the statistical filtering of miniaturised inertial sensor noise. The algorithm uses the minimum variance method to perform a best estimate calculation of the accelerations or angular speeds on each of the three axes of an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) by using the information from some accelerometers and gyros arrays placed along the IMU axes. Also, the proposed algorithm allows the reduction of both components of the sensors’ noise (long term and short term) by using redundant linear configurations for the sensors dispositions. A numerical simulation is performed to illustrate how the algorithm works, using an accelerometer sensor model and a four-sensor array (unbiased and with different noise densities). Three cases of ideal input acceleration are considered: 1) a null signal; 2) a step signal with a no-null time step; and 3) a low frequency sinusoidal signal. To experimentally validate the proposed algorithm, some bench tests are performed. In this way, two sensors configurations are used: 1) one accelerometers array with four miniaturised sensors (n = 4); and 2) one accelerometers array with nine miniaturised sensors (n = 9). Each of the two configurations are tested for three cases of input accelerations: 0ms−1, 9·80655m/s2 and 9·80655m/s2.


Author(s):  
Sol Lim ◽  
Andrea Case ◽  
Clive D’Souza

This study examined interactions between inertial sensor (IS) performance and physical task demand on posture kinematics in a two-handed force exertion task. Fifteen male individuals participated in a laboratory experiment that involved exerting a two-handed isometric horizontal force on an instrumented height-adjustable handle. Physical task demand was operationalized by manipulating vertical handle height, target force magnitude, and force direction. These factors were hypothesized to influence average estimates of torso flexion angle measured using inertial sensors and an optical motion capture (MC) system, as well as the root mean squared errors (RMSE) between instrumentation computed over a 3s interval of the force exertion task. Results indicate that lower handle heights and higher target force levels were associated with increased torso and pelvic flexion in both, push and pull exertions. Torso flexion angle estimates obtained from IS and MC did not differ significantly. However, RMSE increased with target force intensity suggesting potential interactive effects between measurement error and physical task demand.


Author(s):  
Tong Gao ◽  
Wei Sheng ◽  
Mingliang Zhou ◽  
Bin Fang ◽  
Liping Zheng

In this paper, we propose a novel fault diagnosis (FD) approach for micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) inertial sensors that recognize the fault patterns of MEMS inertial sensors in an end-to-end manner. We use a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based data-driven method to classify the temperature-related sensor faults in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). First, we formulate the FD problem for MEMS inertial sensors into a deep learning framework. Second, we design a multi-scale CNN which uses the raw data of MEMS inertial sensors as input and which outputs classification results indicating faults. Then we extract fault features in the temperature domain to solve the non-uniform sampling problem. Finally, we propose an improved adaptive learning rate optimization method which accelerates the loss convergence by using the Kalman filter (KF) to train the network efficiently with a small dataset. Our experimental results show that our method achieved high fault recognition accuracy and that our proposed adaptive learning rate method improved performance in terms of loss convergence and robustness on a small training batch.


Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (19) ◽  
pp. 4268
Author(s):  
Benoît Sijobert ◽  
Ronan Le Guillou ◽  
Charles Fattal ◽  
Christine Azevedo Coste

This article introduces a novel approach for a functional electrical stimulation (FES) controller intended for FES-induced cycling based on inertial measurement units (IMUs). This study aims at simplifying the design of electrical stimulation timing patterns while providing a method that can be adapted to different users and devices. In most of studies and commercial devices, the crank angle is used as an input to trigger stimulation onset. We propose instead to use thigh inclination as the reference information to build stimulation timing patterns. The tilting angles of both thighs are estimated from one inertial sensor located above each knee. An IF–THEN rule algorithm detects, online and automatically, the thigh peak angles in order to start and stop the stimulation of quadriceps muscles, depending on these events. One participant with complete paraplegia was included and was able to propel a recumbent trike using the proposed approach after a very short setting time. This new modality opens the way for a simpler and user-friendly method to automatically design FES-induced cycling stimulation patterns, adapted to clinical use, for multiple bike geometries and user morphologies.


Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Sam Gleadhill ◽  
Daniel James ◽  
Raymond Leadbetter ◽  
Tomohito Wada ◽  
Ryu Nagahara ◽  
...  

There are currently no evidence-based practical automated injury risk factor estimation tools to monitor low back compressive force in ambulatory or sporting environments. For this purpose, inertial sensors may potentially replace laboratory-based systems with comparable results. The objective was to investigate inertial sensor validity to monitor low back compression force. Thirty participants completed a series of lifting tasks from the floor. Back compression force was estimated using a hand calculated method, an inertial sensor method and a three-dimensional motion capture method. Results demonstrated that semi-automation with a sensor had a higher agreement with motion capture compared to the hand calculated method, with angle errors of less than six degrees and back compression force errors of less than 200 Newtons. It was concluded that inertial sensors are valid to implement for static low back compression force estimations.


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