Development of a compact rectenna for wireless powering of a head-mountable deep brain stimulation device

Design of a rectangular spiral planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) at 915 MHz for wireless power transmission applications is proposed. The antenna and rectifying circuitry form a rectenna, which can produce dc power from a distant radio frequency energy transmitter. The generated dc power is used to operate a low-power deep brain stimulation pulse generator. The proposed antenna has the dimensions of 10 mm × 12.5 mm × 1.5 mm and resonance frequency of 915 MHz with a measured bandwidth of 15 MHz at return loss of -10 dB. A dielectric substrate of FR-4 of εr = 4.8 and δ = 0.015 with thickness of 1.5 mm is used for both antenna and rectifier circuit simulation and fabrication because of its availability and low cost. An L-section impedance matching circuit is used between the PIFA and voltage doubler rectifier. The impedance matching circuit also works as a low-pass filter for elimination of higher order harmonics. Maximum dc voltage at the rectenna output is 7.5 V in free space and this rectenna can drive a deep brain stimulation pulse generator at a distance of 30 cm from a radio frequency energy transmitter, which transmits power of 26.77 dBm.

Rectenna circuits for RF energy harvesting in miniature DBS devices.

 Development of an optimum rectenna for radio frequency energy harvesting in miniature head-mountable deep brain stimulation (DBS) devices. The designed miniature rectenna can operate a DBS device without battery for murine preclinical research. The battery-less operation of the device eliminates battery related difficulties.

Comparison of various NMR methods for the indirect detection of nitrogen-14 nuclei via protons in solids

We present an experimental comparison of several through-space Hetero-nuclear Multiple-Quantum Correlation experiments, which allow the indirect observation of homo-nuclear single- (SQ) or double-quantum (DQ) ¹⁴N coherences via spy ¹H nuclei. These ¹H-{¹⁴N} D-HMQC sequences differ not only by the order of ¹⁴N coherences evolving during the indirect evolution, t1, but also by the radio-frequency (rf) scheme used to excite and reconvert these coherences under Magic-Angle Spinning (MAS). Here, the SQ coherences are created by the application of center-band frequency-selective pulses, i.e. long and low-power rectangular pulses at the ¹⁴N Larmor frequency, ν0(¹⁴N), whereas the DQ coherences are excited and reconverted using rf irradiation either at ν0(¹⁴N) or at the ¹⁴N overtone frequency, 2ν0(¹⁴N). The overtone excitation is achieved either by constant frequency rectangular pulses or by frequency-swept pulses, specifically Wide-band, Uniform-Rate, and Smooth-Truncation (WURST) pulse shapes. The present article compares the performances of four different ¹H-{¹⁴N} D-HMQC sequences, including those with ¹⁴N rectangular pulses at ν0(¹⁴N) for the indirect detection of homo-nuclear (i) ¹⁴N SQ or (ii) DQ coherences, as well as their overtone variants using (iii) rectangular or (iv) WURST pulses. The compared properties include: (i) the sensitivity, (ii) the spectral resolution in the ¹⁴N dimension, (iii) the rf requirements (power and pulse length), as well as the robustness to (iv) rf offset and (v) MAS frequency instabilities. Such experimental comparisons are carried out for γ-glycine and l-histidine.HCl monohydrate, which contain ¹⁴N sites subject to moderate quadrupole interactions. We demonstrate that the optimum choice of the ¹H-{¹⁴N} D-HMQC method depends on the experimental goal. When the sensitivity and/or the robustness to offset are the major concerns, the D-HMQC sequence allowing the indirect detection of ¹⁴N SQ coherences should be employed. Conversely, when the highest resolution and/or adjusted indirect spectral width are needed, overtone experiments are the method of choice. The overtone scheme using WURST pulses results in broader excitation bandwidths than that using rectangular pulses, at the expense of reduced sensitivity. Numerically exact simulations also show that the sensitivity of the overtone ¹H-{¹⁴N} D-HMQC experiment increases for larger quadrupole interactions.

Development of a low actuation voltage electrostatic RF MEMS switch

The research focused on the design, fabrication and measurement of a low actuation voltage micro electro mechanical high frequency switch. The fabricated micro switch offers outstanding radio frequency parameters for a very large frequency band, with actuation voltage and switching time less than 20 volts and 3 micro seconds, respectively.

Securing sensor networks by moderating frequencies

Security of Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is a key issue in information security. Most existing security protocols exploit various Mathematical tools to strengthen their security. Some protocols use the details of the geographical location of the nodes. However, to the best authors’ knowledge, none of the existing works exploit the constraints faced by the adversary, specifically, tracing a particular frequency from a large range of unknown frequency channels. The current work uses positional details of the individual nodes. Then the aim is to exploit this weakness of tracing frequencies by assigning a wide range of frequency channels to each node. Experiments using Magneto Optic Sensors reveal that any change of the parametric Faraday’s rotational angle affects the frequency of the Optical waves. This idea can perhaps be generalized for practically deployable sensors (having respective parameters) along with a suitable key management scheme.

Avaliação do emprego de microeletrocautério na cirurgia da otite média secretora

Este estudo apresenta os resultados de tratamento em 83 pacientes com Idade entre 2–10 anos, que apresentaram otite média secretora com efusão, bilateral ou unilateral, acompanhada ou não de hipertrofia de adenóides e cornetos, no Hospital Universitário São Francisco de Paula da Universidade Católica de Pelotas – UCPel, no período de julho de 1997 a julho de 1999. Os pacientes foram submetidos a timpanocentese com uso do Microcautério por Rádio-freqüência (modelo Lavinsky – HCPA), uni ou bilateralmente. Na avaliação periódica de 15 dias, um mês e três meses, observamos dois pontos principais: a) a cura dos pacientes (que apresentaram membrana e caixa timpânica normais); b) a relação com a literatura em trabalhos semelhantes com uso do Laser CO2. Relatamos também a incidência em percentuais, com identificação das alterações de imagem da membrana timpânica nestes três períodos cronológicos, e na distribuição conforme cor, sexo e idade, uni/bilateralidade e simultaneidade na presença das duas afecções relatadas. Na avaliação final, percebemos 80,5% de cura da patologia. Na comparação com a literatura existente sobre o uso de Laser CO2, os nossos resultados mostraram-se homogêneos. O tempo de oclusão da membrana timpânica foi de 2,73 meses (desvio – padrão = 1,39 meses), normalizando a secreção da caixa timpânica.

Calibração cega de receptores cinco-portas baseada em separação cega de fontes

The exponential growth in the applications of radio frequency (RF) is accompanied by great challenges as more efficient use of spectrum as in the design of new architectures for multi-standard receivers or software defined radio (SDR) . The key challenge in designing architecture of the software defined radio is the implementation of a wide-band receiver, reconfigurable, low cost, low power consumption, higher level of integration and flexibility. As a new solution of SDR design, a direct demodulator architecture, based on fiveport technology, or multi-port demodulator, has been proposed. However, the use of the five-port as a direct-conversion receiver requires an I/Q calibration (or regeneration) procedure in order to generate the in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of the transmitted baseband signal. In this work, we propose to evaluate the performance of a blind calibration technique without additional knowledge about training or pilot sequences of the transmitted signal based on independent component analysis for the regeneration of I/Q five-port downconversion, by exploiting the information on the statistical properties of the three output signals

Projeto de um Transformador utilizado em uma Planta de Plasma

This work discusses the design of a transformer used in a plant plasma. This plant, which is being developed in UFRN, will be used in the treatment of waste. It consists basically of a radio frequency power supply and a inductive plasma torch. The transformer operates at the nominal frequency of 400 kHz, with 50 kW, allowing the adaptation of impedance between the power supply and torch. To develop the project, a study was done on the fabrication technologies and physical effects on the frequency of operation. This was followed by the modeling of this transformer. Finally, simulations and tests were conducted to validate the design

Deposição de A/N por sputtering não reativo

In this work we deposit via non-reactive magnetron sputtering of radio-frequency nanofilmes of nitreto of aluminum(AlN). The nanofilms aluminum nitride are semiconductors materials with high thermal conductivity, high melting point, piezoelectricity and wide band gap (6, 2 eV) with hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure, belonging to the group of new materials called III-V nitrides in which together with the gallium nitride and indium nitride have attracted much interest because they have physical and chemical properties relevant to new technological applications, mainly in microelectronic and optoelectronic devices. Three groups were deposited with thicknesses nanofilms time dependent on two substrates (glass and silicon) at a temperature of 25 ° C. The nanofilms AlN were characterized using three techniques, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM), examined the morphology of these. Through the analysis of X-rays get the thickness of each sample with its corresponding deposition rate. The analysis of X-rays also revealed that nanofilms are not crystalline, showing the amorphous character of the samples. The results obtained by the technique, atomic force microscopy (AFM) agree with those obtained using the technique of X-rays. Characterization by Raman spectroscopy revealed the existence of active modes characteristic of AlN in the samples

Enhancement of optical absorption by modulation of the oxygen flow of TiO2 films deposited by reactive sputtering

Oxygen-deficient TiO2 films with enhanced visible and near-infrared optical absorption have been deposited by reactive sputtering using a planar diode radio frequency magnetron configuration. It is observed that the increase in the absorption coefficient is more effective when the O-2 gas supply is periodically interrupted rather than by a decrease of the partial O-2 gas pressure in the deposition plasma. The optical absorption coefficient at 1.5 eV increases from about 1 x 10(2) cm(-1) to more than 4 x 10(3) cm(-1) as a result of the gas flow discontinuity. A red-shift of similar to 0.24 eV in the optical absorption edge is also observed. High resolution transmission electron microscopy with composition analysis shows that the films present a dense columnar morphology, with estimated mean column width of 40nm. Moreover, the interruptions of the O-2 gas flow do not produce detectable variations in the film composition along its growing direction. X-ray diffraction and micro-Raman experiments indicate the presence of the TiO2 anatase, rutile, and brookite phases. The anatase phase is dominant, with a slight increment of the rutile and brookite phases in films deposited under discontinued O-2 gas flow. The increase of optical absorption in the visible and near-infrared regions has been attributed to a high density of defects in the TiO2 films, which is consistent with density functional theory calculations that place oxygen-related vacancy states in the upper third of the optical bandgap. The electronic structure calculation results, along with the adopted deposition method and experimental data, have been used to propose a mechanism to explain the formation of the observed oxygen-related defects in TiO2 thin films. The observed increase in sub-bandgap absorption and the modeling of the corresponding changes in the electronic structure are potentially useful concerning the optimization of efficiency of the photocatalytic activity and the magnetic doping of TiO2 films. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4724334]

Surface energy increase of oxygen-plasma-treated PET

Prosthetic composite is a widely used biomaterial that satisfies the criteria for application as an organic implant without adverse reactions. Polyethylene therephthalate (PET) fiber-reinforced composites have been used because of the excellent cell adhesion, biodegradability and biocompatibility. The chemical inertness and low surface energy of PET in general are associated with inadequate bonds for polymer reinforcements. It is recognized that the high strength of composites, which results from the interaction between the constituents, is directly related to the interfacial condition or to the interphase. A radio frequency plasma reactor using oxygen was used to treat PET fibers for 5, 20, 30 and 100 s. The treatment conditions were 13.56 MHz, 50 W, 40 Pa and 3.33 x 10(-7) m(3)/s. A Rame-Hart goniometer was used to measure the contact angle and surface energy variation of fibers treated for different times. The experimental results showed contact angle values from 47degrees to 13degrees and surface energies from 6.4 x 10(-6) to 8.3 x 10(-6) J for the range of 5 to 100 s, respectively. These results were confirmed by the average ultimate tensile strength of the PET fiber/polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) matrix composite tested in tensile mode and by scanning electron microscopy. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Thin films generated by plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition of hexamethyldisilazane mixed with nitrogen in different proportions

In this work, it was used a plasma system composed of a cylindrical stainless steel reactor, a radio-frequency (13.56MHz) power source fixed at either 25 W or 70 W, a power source with a negative bias of 10kV and a 100Hz pulse. The system worked at an operational pressure of 80mTorr which consisted of varying concentrations of the monomer HMDSN and gaseous nitrogen in ratios: HMDSN (mTorr)/nitrogen (mTorr) from 70/10 to 20/60 in terms of operational pressure. The structural characterization of the films was done by FTIR spectroscopy. Absorptions were observed between 3500 cm(-1) to 3200 cm(-1), 3000 cm(-1) to 2900 cm(-1), 2500 cm(-1) to 2000 cm(-1), 1500 cm(-1) to 700 cm(-1), corresponding, respectively, to OH radicals, C-H stretching bonds in CH2 and CH3 molecules, C-N bonds, and finally, strain C-H bonds, Si-CH3 and Si-N groups, for both the 70 W and the 25 W. The contact angle for water was approximately 100 degrees and the surface energy is near 25mJ/m(2) which represents a hydrophobic surface, measured by goniometric method. The aging of the film was also analyzed by measuring the contact angle over a period of time. The stabilization was observed after 4 weeks. The refractive index of these materials presents values from 1.73 to 1.65 measured by ultraviolet-visible technique.

Properties of hydrogenated amorphous carbon films deposited by PECVD and modified by SF6 plasma

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Resistive-Switching Behavior in Polycrystalline CaCu3Ti4O12 Nanorods

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Metodologia para identificação do componente fundamental da tensão da rede baseada no algoritmo recursivo da TDF

Considerando a crescente utilização de técnicas de processamento digital de sinais em aplicações de sistemas eletrônicos e ou de potência, este artigo discute o uso da Transformada Discreta de Fourier Recursiva (TDFR) para identificação do ângulo de fase, da freqüência e da amplitude das tensões fundamentais da rede, independente de distorções na forma de onda ou de transitórios na amplitude. Será discutido que, se a freqüência fundamental das tensões medidas coincide com a freqüência a qual a TDF foi projetada, um simples algoritmo TDFR é completamente capaz de fornecer as informações requeridas de fase, freqüência e amplitude. Dois algoritmos adicionais são propostos para garantir seu desempenho correto quando a freqüência difere do seu valor nominal: um deles para a correção do erro de fase do sinal de saída e outro para identificação da amplitude do componente fundamental. Além disto, destaca-se que através dos algoritmos propostos, independentemente do sinal de entrada, a identificação do componente fundamental pode ser realizada em, no máximo, 2 ciclos da rede. Uma análise dos resultados evidenciados pela TDFR foi desenvolvida através de simulações computacionais. Também serão apresentados resultados experimentais referentes ao sincronismo de um gerador síncrono com a rede elétrica, através dos sinais fornecidos pela TDFR.