Respiratory function monitoring using a real-time three-dimensional fiber-optic shaping sensing scheme based upon fiber Bragg gratings

An array of in-line curvature sensors on a garment is used to monitor the thoracic and abdominal movements of a human during respiration. The results are used to obtain volumetric changes of the human torso in agreement with a spirometer used simultaneously at the mouth. The array of 40 in-line fiber Bragg gratings is used to produce 20 curvature sensors at different locations, each sensor consisting of two fiber Bragg gratings. The 20 curvature sensors and adjoining fiber are encapsulated into a low-temperature-cured synthetic silicone. The sensors are wavelength interrogated by a commercially available system from Moog Insensys, and the wavelength changes are calibrated to recover curvature. A three-dimensional algorithm is used to generate shape changes during respiration that allow the measurement of absolute volume changes at various sections of the torso. It is shown that the sensing scheme yields a volumetric error of 6%. Comparing the volume data obtained from the spirometer with the volume estimated with the synchronous data from the shape-sensing array yielded a correlation value 0.86 with a Pearson's correlation coefficient p <0.01.

Appraisal of the Karnalí Employment Programme as a regional social protection scheme

The Karnali Employment Programme (KEP) is a public works based social protection scheme in one of the poorest parts of Nepal attempting to address the regional dimension of poverty and vulnerability.

Student input in the development of a marking scheme for improved engineering logbooks

Engineers logbooks are an important part of the CDIO process, as a prequel to the logooks they will be expected to keep when in industry. Previously however, students logbooks were insufficient and students did not appear to appreciate the importance of the logbooks or how they would be assessed. In an attempt to improve the students understanding and quality of logbooks, a group of ~100 1st year CDIO students were asked to collaboratively develop a marking matrix with the tutors. The anticipated outcome was that students would have more ownership in, and a deeper understanding of, the logbook and what is expected from the student during assessment. A revised marking matrix was developed in class and a short questionnaire was implemented on delivery of the adapted matrix to gauge the students response to the process. Marks from the logbooks were collected twice during teaching period one and two and compared to marks from previous years. This poster will deliver the methodology and outcomes for this venture.

A hierarchical localization scheme for large scale underwater wireless sensor networks

In this paper, we study the localization problem in large-scale Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs). Unlike in the terrestrial positioning, the global positioning system (GPS) can not work efficiently underwater. The limited bandwidth, the severely impaired channel and the cost of underwater equipment all makes the localization problem very challenging. Most current localization schemes are not well suitable for deep underwater environment. We propose a hierarchical localization scheme to address the challenging problems. The new scheme mainly consists of four types of nodes, which are surface buoys, Detachable Elevator Transceivers (DETs), anchor nodes and ordinary nodes. Surface buoy is assumed to be equipped with GPS on the water surface. A DET is attached to a surface buoy and can rise and down to broadcast its position. The anchor nodes can compute their positions based on the position information from the DETs and the measurements of distance to the DETs. The hierarchical localization scheme is scalable, and can be used to make balances on the cost and localization accuracy. Initial simulation results show the advantages of our proposed scheme. © 2009 IEEE.

An area localization scheme for large scale underwater wireless sensor networks

In this paper, we study an area localization problem in large scale Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs). The limited bandwidth, the severely impaired channel and the cost of underwater equipment all makes the underwater localization problem very challenging. Exact localization is very difficult for UWSNs in deep underwater environment. We propose a Mobile DETs based efficient 3D multi-power Area Localization Scheme (3D-MALS) to address the challenging problem. In the proposed scheme, the ideas of 2D multi-power Area Localization Scheme(2D-ALS) [6] and utilizing Detachable Elevator Transceiver (DET) are used to achieve the simplicity, location accuracy, scalability and low cost performances. The DET can rise and down to broadcast its position. And it is assumed that all the underwater nodes underwater have pressure sensors and know their z coordinates. The simulation results show that our proposed scheme is very efficient. © 2009 IEEE.

An adaptive IEEE 802.15.4 data transmission scheme for smart grid applications

IEEE 802.15.4 networks (also known as ZigBee networks) has the features of low data rate and low power consumption. In this paper we propose an adaptive data transmission scheme which is based on CSMA/CA access control scheme, for applications which may have heavy traffic loads such as smart grids. In the proposed scheme, the personal area network (PAN) coordinator will adaptively broadcast a frame length threshold, which is used by the sensors to make decision whether a data frame should be transmitted directly to the target destinations, or follow a short data request frame. If the data frame is long and prone to collision, use of a short data request frame can efficiently reduce the costs of the potential collision on the energy and bandwidth. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme with largely improve bandwidth and power efficiency. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.

A simulation study of service differentiation for the bandwidth request scheme in fixed IEEE 802.16 network

Various flexible mechanisms related to quality of service (QoS) provisioning have been specified for uplink traffic at the medium access control (MAC) layer in the IEEE 802.16 standards. Among the mechanisms, contention based bandwidth request scheme can be used to indicate bandwidth demands to the base station for the non-real-time polling and best-effort services. These two services are used for most applications with unknown traffic characteristics. Due to the diverse QoS requirements of those applications, service differentiation (SD) is anticipated over the contention based bandwidth request scheme. In this paper we investigate the SD with the bandwidth request scheme by means of assigning different channel access parameters and bandwidth allocation priorities at different packets arrival probability. The effectiveness of the differentiation schemes is evaluated by simulations. It is observed that the initial backoff window can be efficient in SD, and if combined with the bandwidth allocation priority, the SD performances will be better.

An adaptive scheduling scheme for fair bandwidth allocation

Class-based service differentiation is provided in DiffServ networks. However, this differentiation will be disordered under dynamic traffic loads due to the fixed weighted scheduling. An adaptive weighted scheduling scheme is proposed in this paper to achieve fair bandwidth allocation among different service classes. In this scheme, the number of active flows and the subscribed bandwidth are estimated based on the measurement of local queue metrics, then the scheduling weights of each service class are adjusted for the per-flow fairness of excess bandwidth allocation. This adaptive scheme can be combined with any weighted scheduling algorithm. Simulation results show that, comparing with fixed weighted scheduling, it effectively improve the fairness of excess bandwidth allocation.

Vetting and barring scheme

This factsheet for CIPD members was last updated in June 2013. Background to the Vetting and Barring Scheme The Vetting and Barring Scheme was introduced on 12 October 2009 following the Soham case which concerned the murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman by Ian Huntley. The Bichard Report into the case made a series of recommendations which were implemented in England, Wales and Northern Ireland by the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. It was also implemented in Scotland by the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007. Login or register for a free account to continue reading this factsheet and to learn about: •Background to the Vetting and Barring Scheme •Changes under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 •Filtering of of old and minor cautions and convictions •Barred lists •Criminal offences •Action points •Useful contacts •Further reading

Adaptive modulation scaling scheme for wireless sensor networks

Limited energy is a big challenge for large scale wireless sensor networks (WSN). Previous research works show that modulation scaling is an efficient technique to reduce energy consumption. However, the impacts of using modulation scaling on packet delivery latency and loss are not considered, which may have adverse effects on the application qualities. In this paper, we study this problem and propose control schemes to minimize energy consumption while ensuring application qualities. We first analyze the relationships of modulation scaling and energy consumption, end-to-end delivery latency and packet loss ratio. With the analytical model, we develop a centralized control scheme to adaptively adjust the modulation levels, in order to minimize energy consumption and ensure the application qualities. To improve the scalability of the centralized control scheme, we also propose a distributed control scheme. In this scheme, the sink will send the differences between the required and measured application qualities to the sensors. The sensors will update their modulation levels with the local information and feedback from the sink. Experimental results show the effectiveness of energy saving and QoS guarantee of the control schemes. The control schemes can adapt efficiently to the time-varying requirements on application qualities. Copyright © 2005 The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers.

An adaptive code position modulation scheme for wireless sensor networks

In this letter, an energy-efficient adaptive code position modulation scheme is proposed for wireless sensor networks to provide the relatively stable bit error ratio (BER) performance expected by the upper layers. The system is designed with focus on the adaptive control of transmission power, which is adjusted based on the measured power density of background noise. Interfaces among the modulation module, packet scheduling module and upper layer are provided for flexible adjustments to adapt to the background noise and deliver expected application quality. Simulations with Signal Processing Worksystem (SPW) validate the effectiveness of the scheme. © 2005 IEEE.

An enhanced scalable probe-based multicast admission control scheme

To guarantee QoS for multicast transmission, admission control for multicast sessions is expected. Probe-based multicast admission control (PBMAC) scheme is a scalable and simple approach. However, PBMAC suffers from the subsequent request problem which can significantly reduce the maximum number of multicast sessions that a network can admit. In this letter, we describe the subsequent request problem and propose an enhanced PBMAC scheme to solve this problem. The enhanced scheme makes use of complementary probing and remarking which require only minor modification to the original scheme. By using a fluid-based analytical model, we are able to prove that the enhanced scheme can always admit a higher number of multicast sessions. Furthermore, we present validation of the analytical model using packet based simulation. Copyright © 2005 The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers.

Modeling contention based bandwidth request scheme for IEEE 802.16 networks

IEEE 802.16 standard specifies a contention based bandwidth request scheme for best-effort and non-real time polling services in Point-to-MultiPoint (PMP) architecture. In this letter we propose an analytical model for the scheme and study how the performances of bandwidth efficiency and channel access delay change with the contention window size, the number of contending subscriber stations, the number of slots allocated for bandwidth request and data transmission. Simulations validate its high accuracy. © 2007 IEEE.

Real-time 3D shape sensing and reconstruction scheme based upon fibre optic bragg gratings

An array of FBG curvature sensors are wavelength-interrogated and the recovered data combined with a three-dimensional algorithm to reconstruct in real time the enveloped object with a 1% to 9% volumetric error. © 2012 OSA.

Cardiac induced localised motion of the human torso detected by a long period grating fibre optic sensing scheme

Cardiovascular health of the human population is a major concern for medical clinicians, with cardiovascular diseases responsible for 48% of all deaths worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation. Therefore the development of new practicable and economical diagnostic tools to scrutinise the cardiovascular health of humans is a major driver for clinicians. We offer a new technique to obtain seismocardiographic signals covering both ballistocardiography (below 20Hz) and audible heart sounds (20Hz upwards). The detection scheme is based upon an array of curvature/displacement sensors using fibre optic long period gratings interrogated using a variation of the derivative spectroscopy interrogation technique. © 2014 SPIE.