A Graphene-Based THz Wave Duplexer and Filter: Switching via Gate Biasing

This work introduces a Graphene-based multi-layer reconfigurable device as a wave duplexer in the THz frequency range. Adjusting transmitting and reflecting parts of incident waves alongside controlling absorption provides the interesting capability to select target waves in different frequencies. The proposed device includes periodic graphene patterns on both sides of silicon dioxide as substrate. Additionally, the patterns are biased differently compared to conventional patterns which makes it possible to achieve two distinct behaviors versus frequency. Exploiting equivalent circuit models (ECM) for graphene and dielectric, the whole device is modeled by passive RLC circuits. According to simulation results, the proposed device can transmit and reflect incident THz waves at desired frequencies in 0.1 THz to 30 THz which makes it an ideal candidate for manipulating THz waves in terms of transmission and reflection.

Reconfigurable electronics by disassembling and reassembling van der Waals heterostructures

Van der Waals heterostructures (vdWHs) have attracted tremendous interest owing to the ability to assemble diverse building blocks without the constraints of lattice matching and processing compatibility. However, once assembled, the fabricated vdWHs can hardly be separated into individual building blocks for further manipulation, mainly due to technical difficulties in the disassembling process. Here, we show a method to disassemble the as-fabricated vdWHs into individual building blocks, which can be further reassembled into new vdWHs with different device functionalities. With this technique, we demonstrate reconfigurable transistors from n-type to p-type and back-gate to dual-gate structures through re-stacking. Furthermore, reconfigurable device behaviors from floating gate memory to Schottky diode and reconfigurable anisotropic Raman behaviors have been obtained through layer re-sequencing and re-twisting, respectively. Our results could lead to a reverse engineering concept of disassembled vdWHs electronics in parallel with state-of-the-art vdWHs electronics, offering a general method for multi-functional pluggable electronics and optoelectronics with limited material building blocks.

DWT Based Image Steganography with Seven Segment Display Pattern as a Key

Steganography is one of the commanding and commonly used methods for embedding data. Realizing steganography in hardware supports to speed up steganography. This work realizesthe novel approach for generation of Key, for hiding and encoding processes of image steganography using LSB and HAAR DWT.The data embedding process is realized with seven segment display pattern as a secret key with various sizes using HAAR DWT and LSB. Maximum hiding effectiveness is also attained from this work. The same is implemented in hardware using reconfigurable device Field programmable gate array to improve the speed, area and power. The proposed work is also evaluated improved PSNR using MATLAB.

Design and Benchmark Testing for Open Architecture Reconfigurable Mobile Spirometer and Exhaled Breath Monitor with GPS and Data Telemetry

Portable and wearable medical instruments are poised to play an increasingly important role in health monitoring. Mobile spirometers are available commercially, and are used to monitor patients with advanced lung disease. However, these commercial monitors have a fixed product architecture determined by the manufacturer, and researchers cannot easily experiment with new configurations or add additional novel sensors over time. Spirometry combined with exhaled breath metabolite monitoring has the potential to transform healthcare and improve clinical management strategies. This research provides an updated design and benchmark testing for a flexible, portable, open access architecture to measure lung function, using common Arduino/Android microcontroller technologies. To demonstrate the feasibility and the proof-of-concept of this easily-adaptable platform technology, we had 43 subjects (healthy, and those with lung diseases) perform three spirometry maneuvers using our reconfigurable device and an office-based commercial spirometer. We found that our system compared favorably with the traditional spirometer, with high accuracy and agreement for forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC), and gas measurements were feasible. This provides an adaptable/reconfigurable open access “personalized medicine” platform for researchers and patients, and new chemical sensors and other modular instrumentation can extend the flexibility of the device in the future.

Wearable System for Biosignal Acquisition and Monitoring Based on Reconfigurable Technologies

Wearable monitoring devices are now a usual commodity in the market, especially for the monitoring of sports and physical activity. However, specialized wearable devices remain an open field for high-risk professionals, such as military personnel, fire and rescue, law enforcement, etc. In this work, a prototype wearable instrument, based on reconfigurable technologies and capable of monitoring electrocardiogram, oxygen saturation, and motion, is presented. This reconfigurable device allows a wide range of applications in conjunction with mobile devices. As a proof-of-concept, the reconfigurable instrument was been integrated into ad hoc glasses, in order to illustrate the non-invasive monitoring of the user. The performance of the presented prototype was validated against a commercial pulse oximeter, while several alternatives for QRS-complex detection were tested. For this type of scenario, clustering-based classification was found to be a very robust option.

A Complete Routing Simulator for Digital Microfluidic Biochip

Microfluidic technology, as well as digital microfluidic biochips (DMFBs), have had a very significant contribution in the field of medical bio-chemistry such as point-of-care diagnostics, environmental monitoring, DNA sequencing, etc. DMFBs are low cost, highly flexible and reconfigurable device that makes it so advantageous in clinical applications. The routing of a nano-liter volume of droplets is very important and is a critical operation in DMFB. Complex heuristic algorithms have been developed for droplet routing. Proper simulation is very essential to measure the effectiveness of these algorithms. In this work, the authors develop a complete routing simulator for both homogeneous and heterogeneous type droplets. The proposed routing simulator graphically represents the routing operation of droplets in DMFB and display the measurement of all parameters of routing algorithms such as latest arrival time, average arrival time, number of cells used, and the total number of contaminations. The proposed simulator was executed on suit I and III benchmark testbenches.