Sensor array

Real-time source localization is crucial for high-end automation and artificial intelligence (AI) products. However, a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and limited processing time can reduce localization accuracy. This work proposes a new architecture for a time-domain feedback-based beamformer that meets real-time processing demands. The main objective of this design is to locate reflective sources by estimating their direction of arrival (DOA) and signal range. Incorporating a feedback mechanism in this architecture refines localization precision, a unique aspect of this approach...

Originating in the early 20th century, ultrasonic testing has found increasingly extensive applications in medicine, industry, and materials science. Achieving both a high signal-to-noise ratio and high efficiency is crucial in ultrasonic testing. The former means an increase in imaging clarity as well as the detection depth, while the latter facilitates a faster refresh of the image. It is difficult to balance these two indicators with a conventional short pulse to excite the probe, so in general handling methods, these two factors have a trade-off...

The build-up of lactate in solid tumors stands as a crucial and early occurrence in malignancy development, and the concentration of lactate in the tumor microenvironment may be a more sensitive indicator for analyzing primary tumors. In this study, we designed a self-powered lactate sensor for the rapid analysis of tumor samples, utilizing the coupling between the piezoelectric effect and enzymatic reaction. This lactate sensor is fabricated using a ZnO nanowire array modified with lactate oxidase (LOx). The sensing process does not require an external power source or batteries...

A comprehensive analysis and simulation of two memristor-based neuromorphic architectures for nuclear radiation detection is presented. Both scalable architectures retrofit a locally competitive algorithm to solve overcomplete sparse approximation problems by harnessing memristor crossbar execution of vector-matrix multiplications. The proposed systems demonstrate excellent accuracy and throughput while consuming minimal energy for radionuclide detection. To ensure that the simulation results of our proposed hardware are realistic, the memristor parameters are chosen from our own fabricated memristor devices...

Proton radiography is a promising development in proton therapy, and researchers are currently exploring optimal detector materials to construct proton radiography detector arrays. High-density glass scintillators may improve integrating-mode proton radiography detectors by increasing spatial resolution and decreasing detector thickness. We evaluated several new scintillators, activated with europium or terbium, with proton response measurements and Monte Carlo simulations, characterizing relative luminosity, ionization quenching, and proton radiograph spatial resolution...

In satellite remote sensing (SRS), there is a demand for large-power microwave components. A Butler matrix is essential to a transmitting antenna array in SRS. This article illustrates the electrical and mechanical design, simulation, and test results of a large-power planar beamforming network for SRS at C-band. It is a 4 × 4 Butler matrix based on square coaxial lines. Short-ended stubs are used in the Butler matrix to broaden its bandwidth by 10%, support inner conductors, and enhance heat transfer in vacuum environments...

Acoustic imaging technology has the advantages of non-contact and intuitive positioning. It is suitable for the rapid positioning of defects such as the mechanical loosening, discharge, and DC bias of power equipment. However, the existing research lacks the optimization design of microphone array topology. The acoustic frequency domain characteristics of typical power equipment are elaborately sorted out. After that, the cut-off frequencies of acoustic imaging instruments are determined, to meet the needs of the full bandwidth test requirements...

Current real-time direction judgment systems are inaccurate and insensitive, as well as limited by the sampling rate of analog-to-digital converters. To address this problem, we propose a dynamic real-time direction judgment system based on an integral dual-frequency laser interferometer and field-programmable gate array technology. The optoelectronic signals resulting from the introduction of a phase subdivision method based on the amplitude resolution of the laser interferometer when measuring displacement are analyzed...

The development of sensitive and efficient cell sensing strategies to detect circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in peripheral blood is crucial for the early diagnosis and prognostic assessment of cancer clinical treatment. Herein, an array of hierarchical flower-like gold microstructures (HFGMs) with anisotropic nanotips was synthesized by a simple electrodeposition method and used as a capture substrate to construct an ECL cytosensor based on the specific recognition of target cells by aptamers. The complex topography of the HFGMs array not only catalyzed the enhancement of ECL signals, but also induced the cells to generate more filopodia, improving the capture efficiency and shortening the capture time...

Sugar signaling forms the basis of metabolic activities crucial for an organism to perform essential life activities. In plants, sugars like glucose, mediate a wide range of physiological responses ranging from seed germination to cell senescence. This has led to the elucidation of cell signaling pathways involving glucose and its counterparts and the mechanism of how these sugars take control over major hormonal pathways such as auxin, ethylene, abscisic acid and cytokinin in Arabidopsis. Plants use HXK1(Hexokinase) as a glucose sensor to modulate changes in photosynthetic gene expression in response to high glucose levels...

Population aging trend is taking place in our country, and low back pain is a symptom of neuromuscular diseases of concern in the elderly. Accurately analyzing the disease of low back pain is important for both timely intervention and rehabilitation of patients. As a kind of bioelectrical signal, the acquisition and analysis of lumbar electromyography (EMG) signal is an important direction for the study of low back pain. The study reviews the acquisition of lumbar EMG by different types of sensors, introduces the signal characteristics of needle electrodes, surface electromyography electrodes and array electrodes, describes the use of signal algorithms, points out that wireless sensors and the use of deep learning algorithms are the direction of development, and puts forward prospects for its further development...

Large-scale stretchable strain sensor arrays capable of mapping two-dimensional strain distributions have gained interest for applications as wearable devices and relating to the Internet of Things. However, existing strain sensor arrays are usually unable to achieve accurate directional recognition and experience a trade-off between high sensing resolution and large area detection. Here, based on classical Mie resonance, we report a flexible meta-sensor array that can detect the in-plane direction and magnitude of preloaded strains by referencing a dynamically transmitted terahertz (THz) signal...

Monitoring biomarkers in human interstitial fluids (ISF) using microneedle sensors has been extensively studied. However, most of the previous studies were limited to simple in vitro demonstrations and lacked system integration and analytical performance. Here we report a miniaturized, high-precision, fully integrated wearable electrochemical microneedle sensing device that works with a customized smartphone application to wirelessly and in real-time monitor glucose in human ISF. A microneedle array fabrication method is proposed which enables multiple individually addressable, regionally separated sensing electrodes on a single microneedle system...

This paper presents an electronic skin (e-skin) taxel array readout chip in 0.18μm CMOS technology, achieving the highest reported spatial resolution of 200μm, comparable to human fingertips. A key innovation is the integration on chip of a 12×16 polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-based piezoelectric sensor array with per-taxel signal conditioning frontend and spiking readout combined with local embedded neuromorphic first-order processing through Complex Receptive Fields (CRFs). Experimental results show that Spiking Neural Network (SNN)-based classification of the chip's spatiotemporal spiking output for input tactile stimuli such as texture and flutter frequency achieves excellent accuracies up to 97...

Mimicking the function of human skin is highly desired for electronic skins (e-skins) to perceive the tactile stimuli by both their intensity and spatial location. The common strategy using pixelated pressure sensor arrays and display panels greatly increases the device complexity and compromises the portability of e-skins. Herein, we tackled this challenge by developing a user-interactive iontronic skin that simultaneously achieves electrical pressure sensing and on-site, nonpixelated pressure mapping visualization...

Epidermal electrophysiology is a non-invasive method used in research and clinical practices to study the electrical activity of the brain, heart, nerves, and muscles. However, electrode/tissue interlayer materials such as ionically conducting pastes can negatively affect recordings by introducing lateral electrode-to-electrode ionic crosstalk and reducing spatial resolution. To overcome this issue, biocompatible, anisotropic-conducting interlayer composites (ACI) that establish an electrically anisotropic interface with the skin are developed, enabling the application of dense cutaneous sensor arrays...

The accurate perception of multiple flight parameters, such as the angle of attack, angle of sideslip, and airflow velocity, is essential for the flight control of micro air vehicles, which conventionally rely on arrays of pressure or airflow velocity sensors. Here, we present the estimation of multiple flight parameters using a single flexible calorimetric flow sensor featuring a sophisticated structural design with a suspended array of highly sensitive vanadium oxide thermistors. The proposed sensor achieves an unprecedented velocity resolution of 0...

Arrays of cross-reactive sensors, combined with statistical or machine learning analysis of their multivariate outputs, have enabled the holistic analysis of complex samples in biomedicine, environmental science, and consumer products. Comparisons are frequently made to the mammalian nose or tongue and this perspective examines the role of sensing arrays in analyzing food and beverages for quality, veracity, and safety. I focus on optical sensor arrays as low-cost, easy-to-measure tools for use in the field, on the factory floor, or even by the consumer...

Insects, bats, and small birds show outstanding flight performance even under complex atmospheric conditions, which is partially due to the ability of these natural fliers to sense and react to disturbances quickly. These biological systems often use large numbers of sensors arrayed across their bodies to detect disturbances, but previous efforts to use large arrays of sensors in engineered fliers have typically resulted in slow responses due to the need to scan and process data from the large number of sensors...

Flexible foam-based sensors have attracted substantial interest due to their high specific surface area, light weight, superior deformability, and ease of manufacture. However, it is still a challenge to integrate multimodal stimuli-responsiveness, high sensitivity, reliable stability, and good biocompatibility into a single foam sensor. To achieve this, a magnetoresistive foam sensor was fabricated by an in situ freezing-polymerization strategy based on the interpenetrating networks of sodium alginate, poly(vinyl alcohol) in conjunction with glycerol, and physical reinforcement of core-shell bidisperse magnetic particles...