Sensors

22 pages, 7445 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluating the Effects of Environmental Conditions on Sensed Parameters for Green Areas Monitoring and Smart Irrigation Systems

by Pedro V. Mauri, Lorena Parra, Salima Yousfi, Jaime Lloret and Jose F. Marin

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2255; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062255 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2275

Abstract

The irrigation of green areas in cities should be managed appropriately to ensure its sustainability. In large cities, not all green areas might be monitored simultaneously, and the data acquisition time can skew the gathered value. Our purpose is to evaluate which parameter [...] Read more.

The irrigation of green areas in cities should be managed appropriately to ensure its sustainability. In large cities, not all green areas might be monitored simultaneously, and the data acquisition time can skew the gathered value. Our purpose is to evaluate which parameter has a lower hourly variation. We included soil parameters (soil temperature and moisture) and plant parameters (canopy temperature and vegetation indexes). Data were gathered at 5 different hours in 11 different experimental plots with variable irrigation and with different grass composition. The results indicate that soil moisture and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index are the sole parameters not affected by the data acquisition time. For soil moisture, the maximum difference was in experimental plot 4, with values of 21% at 10:45 AM and 27% at 8:45 AM. On the other hand, canopy temperature is the most affected parameter with a mean variation of 15 °C in the morning. The maximum variation was in experimental plot 8 with a 19 °C at 8:45 AM and 39 °C at 12:45 PM. Data acquisition time affected the correlation between soil moisture and canopy temperature. We can affirm that data acquisition time has to be included as a variability source. Finally, our conclusion indicates that it is vital to consider data acquisition time to ensure water distribution for irrigation in cities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from 6th International Conference on Sensors and Electronic Instrumentation Advances (SEIA’ 2020))

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21 pages, 2133 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Feasibility Study of the Use of Smartwatches in Wearable Fall Detection Systems

by Francisco Javier González-Cañete and Eduardo Casilari

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2254; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062254 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 8289

Abstract

Over the last few years, the use of smartwatches in automatic Fall Detection Systems (FDSs) has aroused great interest in the research of new wearable telemonitoring systems for the elderly. In contrast with other approaches to the problem of fall detection, smartwatch-based FDSs [...] Read more.

Over the last few years, the use of smartwatches in automatic Fall Detection Systems (FDSs) has aroused great interest in the research of new wearable telemonitoring systems for the elderly. In contrast with other approaches to the problem of fall detection, smartwatch-based FDSs can benefit from the widespread acceptance, ergonomics, low cost, networking interfaces, and sensors that these devices provide. However, the scientific literature has shown that, due to the freedom of movement of the arms, the wrist is usually not the most appropriate position to unambiguously characterize the dynamics of the human body during falls, as many conventional activities of daily living that involve a vigorous motion of the hands may be easily misinterpreted as falls. As also stated by the literature, sensor-fusion and multi-point measurements are required to define a robust and reliable method for a wearable FDS. Thus, to avoid false alarms, it may be necessary to combine the analysis of the signals captured by the smartwatch with those collected by some other low-power sensor placed at a point closer to the body’s center of gravity (e.g., on the waist). Under this architecture of Body Area Network (BAN), these external sensing nodes must be wirelessly connected to the smartwatch to transmit their measurements. Nonetheless, the deployment of this networking solution, in which the smartwatch is in charge of processing the sensed data and generating the alarm in case of detecting a fall, may severely impact on the performance of the wearable. Unlike many other works (which often neglect the operational aspects of real fall detectors), this paper analyzes the actual feasibility of putting into effect a BAN intended for fall detection on present commercial smartwatches. In particular, the study is focused on evaluating the reduction of the battery life may cause in the watch that works as the core of the BAN. To this end, we thoroughly assess the energy drain in a prototype of an FDS consisting of a smartwatch and several external Bluetooth-enabled sensing units. In order to identify those scenarios in which the use of the smartwatch could be viable from a practical point of view, the testbed is studied with diverse commercial devices and under different configurations of those elements that may significantly hamper the battery lifetime. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wearable and Unobtrusive Technologies for Healthcare Monitoring)

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18 pages, 5840 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evidence of Negative Capacitance and Capacitance Modulation by Light and Mechanical Stimuli in Pt/ZnO/Pt Schottky Junctions

by Raoul Joly, Stéphanie Girod, Noureddine Adjeroud, Patrick Grysan and Jérôme Polesel-Maris

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2253; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062253 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2677

Abstract

We report on the evidence of negative capacitance values in a system consisting of metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) structures, with Schottky junctions made of zinc oxide thin films deposited by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) on top of platinum interdigitated electrodes (IDE). The MSM structures were [...] Read more.

We report on the evidence of negative capacitance values in a system consisting of metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) structures, with Schottky junctions made of zinc oxide thin films deposited by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) on top of platinum interdigitated electrodes (IDE). The MSM structures were studied over a wide frequency range, between 20 Hz and 1 MHz. Light and mechanical strain applied to the device modulate positive or negative capacitance and conductance characteristics by tuning the flow of electrons involved in the conduction mechanisms. A complete study was carried out by measuring the capacitance and conductance characteristics under the influence of both dark and light conditions, over an extended range of applied bias voltage and frequency. An impact-loss process linked to the injection of hot electrons at the interface trap states of the metal-semiconductor junction is proposed to be at the origin of the apparition of the negative capacitance values. These negative values are preceded by a local increase of the capacitance associated with the accumulation of trapped electrons at the interface trap states. Thus, we propose a simple device where the capacitance values can be modulated over a wide frequency range via the action of light and strain, while using cleanroom-compatible materials for fabrication. These results open up new perspectives and applications for the miniaturization of highly sensitive and low power consumption environmental sensors, as well as for broadband impedance matching in radio frequency applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Physical Sensors)

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37 pages, 2333 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Double-Scale Adaptive Transmission in Time-Varying Channel for Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks

by Yi Cen, Mingliu Liu, Deshi Li, Kaitao Meng and Huihui Xu

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2252; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062252 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2471

Abstract

The communication channel in underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs) is time-varying due to the dynamic environmental factors, such as ocean current, wind speed, and temperature profile. Generally, these phenomena occur with a certain regularity, resulting in a similar variation pattern inherited in the [...] Read more.

The communication channel in underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs) is time-varying due to the dynamic environmental factors, such as ocean current, wind speed, and temperature profile. Generally, these phenomena occur with a certain regularity, resulting in a similar variation pattern inherited in the communication channels. Based on these observations, the energy efficiency of data transmission can be improved by controlling the modulation method, coding rate, and transmission power according to the channel dynamics. Given the limited computational capacity and energy in underwater nodes, we propose a double-scale adaptive transmission mechanism for the UASNs, where the transmission configuration will be determined by the predicted channel states adaptively. In particular, the historical channel state series will first be decomposed into large-scale and small-scale series and then be predicted by a novel k-nearest neighbor search algorithm with sliding window. Next, an energy-efficient transmission algorithm is designed to solve the problem of long-term modulation and coding optimization. In particular, a quantitative model is constructed to describe the relationship between data transmission and the buffer threshold used in this mechanism, which can then analyze the influence of buffer threshold under different channel states or data arrival rates theoretically. Finally, numerical simulations are conducted to verify the proposed schemes, and results show that they can achieve good performance in terms of channel prediction and energy consumption with moderate buffer length. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks)

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14 pages, 6779 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development of Nationwide Road Quality Map: Remote Sensing Meets Field Sensing

by Sadra Karimzadeh and Masashi Matsuoka

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2251; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062251 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2922

Abstract

In this study, we measured the in situ international roughness index (IRI) for first-degree roads spanning more than 1300 km in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran, using a quarter car (QC). Since road quality mapping with in situ measurements is a costly and time-consuming [...] Read more.

In this study, we measured the in situ international roughness index (IRI) for first-degree roads spanning more than 1300 km in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran, using a quarter car (QC). Since road quality mapping with in situ measurements is a costly and time-consuming task, we also developed new equations for constructing a road quality proxy map (RQPM) using discriminant analysis and multispectral information from high-resolution Sentinel-2 images, which we calibrated using the in situ data on the basis of geographic information system (GIS) data. The developed equations using optimum index factor (OIF) and norm R provide a valuable tool for creating proxy maps and mitigating hazards at the network scale, not only for primary roads but also for secondary roads, and for reducing the costs of road quality monitoring. The overall accuracy and kappa coefficient of the norm R equation for road classification in East Azerbaijan province are 65.0% and 0.59, respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue On-Board and Remote Sensors in Intelligent Vehicles)

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18 pages, 1545 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Self-Difference Convolutional Neural Network for Facial Expression Recognition

by Leyuan Liu, Rubin Jiang, Jiao Huo and Jingying Chen

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2250; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062250 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2540

Abstract

Facial expression recognition (FER) is a challenging problem due to the intra-class variation caused by subject identities. In this paper, a self-difference convolutional network (SD-CNN) is proposed to address the intra-class variation issue in FER. First, the SD-CNN uses a conditional generative adversarial [...] Read more.

Facial expression recognition (FER) is a challenging problem due to the intra-class variation caused by subject identities. In this paper, a self-difference convolutional network (SD-CNN) is proposed to address the intra-class variation issue in FER. First, the SD-CNN uses a conditional generative adversarial network to generate the six typical facial expressions for the same subject in the testing image. Second, six compact and light-weighted difference-based CNNs, called DiffNets, are designed for classifying facial expressions. Each DiffNet extracts a pair of deep features from the testing image and one of the six synthesized expression images, and compares the difference between the deep feature pair. In this way, any potential facial expression in the testing image has an opportunity to be compared with the synthesized “Self”—an image of the same subject with the same facial expression as the testing image. As most of the self-difference features of the images with the same facial expression gather tightly in the feature space, the intra-class variation issue is significantly alleviated. The proposed SD-CNN is extensively evaluated on two widely-used facial expression datasets: CK+ and Oulu-CASIA. Experimental results demonstrate that the SD-CNN achieves state-of-the-art performance with accuracies of 99.7% on CK+ and 91.3% on Oulu-CASIA, respectively. Moreover, the model size of the online processing part of the SD-CNN is only 9.54 MB (1.59 MB

\times 6

), which enables the SD-CNN to run on low-cost hardware. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Intelligent Sensors)

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18 pages, 6224 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Advantages of IoT-Based Geotechnical Monitoring Systems Integrating Automatic Procedures for Data Acquisition and Elaboration

by Andrea Carri, Alessandro Valletta, Edoardo Cavalca, Roberto Savi and Andrea Segalini

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2249; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062249 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3430

Abstract

Monitoring instrumentation plays a major role in the study of natural phenomena and analysis for risk prevention purposes, especially when facing the management of critical events. Within the geotechnical field, data collection has traditionally been performed with a manual approach characterized by time-expensive [...] Read more.

Monitoring instrumentation plays a major role in the study of natural phenomena and analysis for risk prevention purposes, especially when facing the management of critical events. Within the geotechnical field, data collection has traditionally been performed with a manual approach characterized by time-expensive on-site investigations and monitoring devices activated by an operator. Due to these reasons, innovative instruments have been developed in recent years in order to provide a complete and more efficient system thanks to technological improvements. This paper aims to illustrate the advantages deriving from the application of a monitoring approach, named Internet of natural hazards, relying on the Internet of things principles applied to monitoring technologies. One of the main features of the system is the ability of automatic tools to acquire and elaborate data independently, which has led to the development of dedicated software and web-based visualization platforms for faster, more efficient and accessible data management. Additionally, automatic procedures play a key role in the implementation of early warning systems with a near-real-time approach, providing a valuable tool to the decision-makers and authorities responsible for emergency management. Moreover, the possibility of recording a large number of different parameters and physical quantities with high sampling frequency allows to perform meaningful statistical analyses and identify cause–effect relationships. A series of examples deriving from different case studies are reported in this paper in order to present the practical implications of the IoNH approach application to geotechnical monitoring. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors and Measurements in Geotechnical Engineering)

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22 pages, 7904 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Automatic Measurement of Morphological Traits of Typical Leaf Samples

by Xia Huang, Shunyi Zheng and Li Gui

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2247; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062247 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2061

Abstract

It is still a challenging task to automatically measure plants. A novel method for automatic plant measurement based on a hand-held three-dimensional (3D) laser scanner is proposed. The objective of this method is to automatically select typical leaf samples and estimate their morphological [...] Read more.

It is still a challenging task to automatically measure plants. A novel method for automatic plant measurement based on a hand-held three-dimensional (3D) laser scanner is proposed. The objective of this method is to automatically select typical leaf samples and estimate their morphological traits from different occluded live plants. The method mainly includes data acquisition and processing. Data acquisition is to obtain the high-precision 3D mesh model of the plant that is reconstructed in real-time during data scanning by a hand-held 3D laser scanner (ZGScan 717, made in Zhongguan Automation Technology, Wuhan, China). Data processing mainly includes typical leaf sample extraction and morphological trait estimation based on a multi-level region growing segmentation method using two leaf shape models. Four scale-related traits and six corresponding scale-invariant traits can be automatically estimated. Experiments on four groups of different canopy-occluded plants are conducted. Experiment results show that for plants with different canopy occlusions, 94.02% of typical leaf samples can be scanned well and 87.61% of typical leaf samples can be automatically extracted. The automatically estimated morphological traits are correlated with the manually measured values EF (the modeling efficiency) above 0.8919 for scale-related traits and EF above 0.7434 for scale-invariant traits). It takes an average of 196.37 seconds (186.08 seconds for data scanning, 5.95 seconds for 3D plant model output, and 4.36 seconds for data processing) for a plant measurement. The robustness and low time cost of the proposed method for different canopy-occluded plants show potential applications for real-time plant measurement and high-throughput plant phenotype. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Sensing and Imaging)

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14 pages, 1156 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Early Detection of Freezing of Gait during Walking Using Inertial Measurement Unit and Plantar Pressure Distribution Data

by Scott Pardoel, Gaurav Shalin, Julie Nantel, Edward D. Lemaire and Jonathan Kofman

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2246; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062246 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 29 | Viewed by 4000

Abstract

Freezing of gait (FOG) is a sudden and highly disruptive gait dysfunction that appears in mid to late-stage Parkinson’s disease (PD) and can lead to falling and injury. A system that predicts freezing before it occurs or detects freezing immediately after onset would [...] Read more.

Freezing of gait (FOG) is a sudden and highly disruptive gait dysfunction that appears in mid to late-stage Parkinson’s disease (PD) and can lead to falling and injury. A system that predicts freezing before it occurs or detects freezing immediately after onset would generate an opportunity for FOG prevention or mitigation and thus enhance safe mobility and quality of life. This research used accelerometer, gyroscope, and plantar pressure sensors to extract 861 features from walking data collected from 11 people with FOG. Minimum-redundancy maximum-relevance and Relief-F feature selection were performed prior to training boosted ensembles of decision trees. The binary classification models identified Total-FOG or No FOG states, wherein the Total-FOG class included data windows from 2 s before the FOG onset until the end of the FOG episode. Three feature sets were compared: plantar pressure, inertial measurement unit (IMU), and both plantar pressure and IMU features. The plantar-pressure-only model had the greatest sensitivity and the IMU-only model had the greatest specificity. The best overall model used the combination of plantar pressure and IMU features, achieving 76.4% sensitivity and 86.2% specificity. Next, the Total-FOG class components were evaluated individually (i.e., Pre-FOG windows, Freeze windows, transition windows between Pre-FOG and Freeze). The best model detected windows that contained both Pre-FOG and FOG data with 85.2% sensitivity, which is equivalent to detecting FOG less than 1 s after the freeze began. Windows of FOG data were detected with 93.4% sensitivity. The IMU and plantar pressure feature-based model slightly outperformed models that used data from a single sensor type. The model achieved early detection by identifying the transition from Pre-FOG to FOG while maintaining excellent FOG detection performance (93.4% sensitivity). Therefore, if used as part of an intelligent, real-time FOG identification and cueing system, even if the Pre-FOG state were missed, the model would perform well as a freeze detection and cueing system that could improve the mobility and independence of people with PD during their daily activities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors and Sensing Technology Applied in Parkinson Disease)

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16 pages, 7229 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Bearing Fault Diagnosis Based on Energy Spectrum Statistics and Modified Mayfly Optimization Algorithm

by Yuhu Liu, Yi Chai, Bowen Liu and Yiming Wang

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2245; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062245 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 2237

Abstract

This study proposes a novel resonance demodulation frequency band selection method named the initial center frequency-guided filter (ICFGF) to diagnose the bearing fault. The proposed technology has a better performance on resisting the interference from the random impulses. More explicitly, the ICFGF can [...] Read more.

This study proposes a novel resonance demodulation frequency band selection method named the initial center frequency-guided filter (ICFGF) to diagnose the bearing fault. The proposed technology has a better performance on resisting the interference from the random impulses. More explicitly, the ICFGF can be summarized as two steps. In the first step, a variance statistic index is applied to evaluate the energy spectrum distribution, which can adaptively determine the center frequency of the fault impulse and suppress the interference from random impulse effectively. In the second step, a modified mayfly optimization algorithm (MMA) is applied to search the optimal resonance demodulation frequency band based on the center frequency from the first step, which has faster convergence. Finally, the filtered signal is processed by the squared envelope spectrum technology. Results of the proposed method for signals from an outer fault bearing and a ball fault bearing indicate that the ICFGF works well to extract bearing fault feature. Furthermore, compared with some other methods, including fast kurtogram, ensemble empirical mode decomposition, and conditional variance-based selector technology, the ICFGF can extract the fault characteristic more accurately. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Fault Diagnosis & Sensors)

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14 pages, 2278 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Development of an Improved Rapidly Exploring Random Trees Algorithm for Static Obstacle Avoidance in Autonomous Vehicles

by S. M. Yang and Y. A. Lin

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2244; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062244 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3276

Abstract

Safe path planning for obstacle avoidance in autonomous vehicles has been developed. Based on the Rapidly Exploring Random Trees (RRT) algorithm, an improved algorithm integrating path pruning, smoothing, and optimization with geometric collision detection is shown to improve planning efficiency. Path pruning, a [...] Read more.

Safe path planning for obstacle avoidance in autonomous vehicles has been developed. Based on the Rapidly Exploring Random Trees (RRT) algorithm, an improved algorithm integrating path pruning, smoothing, and optimization with geometric collision detection is shown to improve planning efficiency. Path pruning, a prerequisite to path smoothing, is performed to remove the redundant points generated by the random trees for a new path, without colliding with the obstacles. Path smoothing is performed to modify the path so that it becomes continuously differentiable with curvature implementable by the vehicle. Optimization is performed to select a “near”-optimal path of the shortest distance among the feasible paths for motion efficiency. In the experimental verification, both a pure pursuit steering controller and a proportional–integral speed controller are applied to keep an autonomous vehicle tracking the planned path predicted by the improved RRT algorithm. It is shown that the vehicle can successfully track the path efficiently and reach the destination safely, with an average tracking control deviation of 5.2% of the vehicle width. The path planning is also applied to lane changes, and the average deviation from the lane during and after lane changes remains within 8.3% of the vehicle width. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Sensing and Imaging)

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18 pages, 1549 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Recovery of Distal Arm Movements in Spinal Cord Injured Patients with a Body-Machine Interface: A Proof-of-Concept Study

by Camilla Pierella, Elisa Galofaro, Alice De Luca, Luca Losio, Simona Gamba, Antonino Massone, Ferdinando A. Mussa-Ivaldi and Maura Casadio

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2243; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062243 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2737

Abstract

Background: The recovery of upper limb mobility and functions is essential for people with cervical spinal cord injuries (cSCI) to maximize independence in daily activities and ensure a successful return to normality. The rehabilitative path should include a thorough neuromotor evaluation and personalized [...] Read more.

Background: The recovery of upper limb mobility and functions is essential for people with cervical spinal cord injuries (cSCI) to maximize independence in daily activities and ensure a successful return to normality. The rehabilitative path should include a thorough neuromotor evaluation and personalized treatments aimed at recovering motor functions. Body-machine interfaces (BoMI) have been proven to be capable of harnessing residual joint motions to control objects like computer cursors and virtual or physical wheelchairs and to promote motor recovery. However, their therapeutic application has still been limited to shoulder movements. Here, we expanded the use of BoMI to promote the whole arm’s mobility, with a special focus on elbow movements. We also developed an instrumented evaluation test and a set of kinematic indicators for assessing residual abilities and recovery. Methods: Five inpatient cSCI subjects (four acute, one chronic) participated in a BoMI treatment complementary to their standard rehabilitative routine. The subjects wore a BoMI with sensors placed on both proximal and distal arm districts and practiced for 5 weeks. The BoMI was programmed to promote symmetry between right and left arms use and the forearms’ mobility while playing games. To evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment, the subjects’ kinematics were recorded while performing an evaluation test that involved functional bilateral arms movements, before, at the end, and three months after training. Results: At the end of the training, all subjects learned to efficiently use the interface despite being compelled by it to engage their most impaired movements. The subjects completed the training with bilateral symmetry in body recruitment, already present at the end of the familiarization, and they increased the forearm activity. The instrumental evaluation confirmed this. The elbow motion’s angular amplitude improved for all subjects, and other kinematic parameters showed a trend towards the normality range. Conclusion: The outcomes are preliminary evidence supporting the efficacy of the proposed BoMI as a rehabilitation tool to be considered for clinical practice. It also suggests an instrumental evaluation protocol and a set of indicators to assess and evaluate motor impairment and recovery in cSCI. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Sensors in Biomechanics, Health Disease and Rehabilitation)

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19 pages, 464 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Keystroke Dynamics-Based Authentication Using Unique Keypad

by Maro Choi, Shincheol Lee, Minjae Jo and Ji Sun Shin

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2242; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062242 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3915

Abstract

Authentication methods using personal identification number (PIN) and unlock patterns are widely used in smartphone user authentication. However, these authentication methods are vulnerable to shoulder-surfing attacks, and PIN authentication, in particular, is poor in terms of security because PINs are short in length [...] Read more.

Authentication methods using personal identification number (PIN) and unlock patterns are widely used in smartphone user authentication. However, these authentication methods are vulnerable to shoulder-surfing attacks, and PIN authentication, in particular, is poor in terms of security because PINs are short in length with just four to six digits. A wide range of research is currently underway to examine various biometric authentication methods, for example, using the user’s face, fingerprint, or iris information. However, such authentication methods provide PIN-based authentication as a type of backup authentication to prepare for when the maximum set number of authentication failures is exceeded during the authentication process such that the security of biometric authentication equates to the security of PIN-based authentication. In order to overcome this limitation, research has been conducted on keystroke dynamics-based authentication, where users are classified by analyzing their typing patterns while they are entering their PIN. As a result, a wide range of methods for improving the ability to distinguish the normal user from abnormal ones have been proposed, using the typing patterns captured during the user’s PIN input. In this paper, we propose unique keypads that are assigned to and used by only normal users of smartphones to improve the user classification performance capabilities of existing keypads. The proposed keypads are formed by randomly generated numbers based on the Mersenne Twister algorithm. In an attempt to demonstrate the superior classification performance of the proposed unique keypad compared to existing keypads, all tests except for the keypad type were conducted under the same conditions in earlier work, including collection-related features and feature selection methods. Our experimental results show that when the filtering rates are 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50%, the corresponding equal error rates (EERs) for the proposed keypads are improved by 4.15%, 3.11%, 2.77%, 3.37% and 3.53% on average compared to the classification performance outcomes in earlier work. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Data Security and Privacy in the IoT)

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18 pages, 8437 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Energy-Efficient Ultrasonic Water Level Detection System with Dual-Target Monitoring

by Sanggoo Kang, Dafnik Saril Kumar David, Muil Yang, Yin Chao Yu and Suyun Ham

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2241; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062241 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3978

Abstract

This study presents a developed ultrasonic water level detection (UWLD) system with an energy-efficient design and dual-target monitoring. The water level monitoring system with a non-contact sensor is one of the suitable methods since it is not directly exposed to water. In addition, [...] Read more.

This study presents a developed ultrasonic water level detection (UWLD) system with an energy-efficient design and dual-target monitoring. The water level monitoring system with a non-contact sensor is one of the suitable methods since it is not directly exposed to water. In addition, a web-based monitoring system using a cloud computing platform is a well-known technique to provide real-time water level monitoring. However, the long-term stable operation of remotely communicating units is an issue for real-time water level monitoring. Therefore, this paper proposes a UWLD unit using a low-power consumption design for renewable energy harvesting (e.g., solar) by controlling the unit with dual microcontrollers (MCUs) to improve the energy efficiency of the system. In addition, dual targeting to the pavement and streamside is uniquely designed to monitor both the urban inundation and stream overflow. The real-time water level monitoring data obtained from the proposed UWLD system is analyzed with water level changing rate (WLCR) and water level index. The quantified WLCR and water level index with various sampling rates present a different sensitivity to heavy rain. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Remote Sensors)

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16 pages, 10246 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Autonomous Learning of New Environments with a Robotic Team Employing Hyper-Spectral Remote Sensing, Comprehensive In-Situ Sensing and Machine Learning

by David J. Lary, David Schaefer, John Waczak, Adam Aker, Aaron Barbosa, Lakitha O. H. Wijeratne, Shawhin Talebi, Bharana Fernando, John Sadler, Tatiana Lary and Matthew D. Lary

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2240; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062240 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4461

Abstract

This paper describes and demonstrates an autonomous robotic team that can rapidly learn the characteristics of environments that it has never seen before. The flexible paradigm is easily scalable to multi-robot, multi-sensor autonomous teams, and it is relevant to satellite calibration/validation and the [...] Read more.

This paper describes and demonstrates an autonomous robotic team that can rapidly learn the characteristics of environments that it has never seen before. The flexible paradigm is easily scalable to multi-robot, multi-sensor autonomous teams, and it is relevant to satellite calibration/validation and the creation of new remote sensing data products. A case study is described for the rapid characterisation of the aquatic environment, over a period of just a few minutes we acquired thousands of training data points. This training data allowed for our machine learning algorithms to rapidly learn by example and provide wide area maps of the composition of the environment. Along side these larger autonomous robots two smaller robots that can be deployed by a single individual were also deployed (a walking robot and a robotic hover-board), observing significant small scale spatial variability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors: 20th Anniversary)

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25 pages, 525 KiB

Open AccessArticle

IoT Data Qualification for a Logistic Chain Traceability Smart Contract

by Mohamed Ahmed, Chantal Taconet, Mohamed Ould, Sophie Chabridon and Amel Bouzeghoub

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2239; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062239 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2979

Abstract

In the logistic chain domain, the traceability of shipments in their entire delivery process from the shipper to the consignee involves many stakeholders. From the traceability data, contractual decisions may be taken such as incident detection, validation of the delivery or billing. The [...] Read more.

In the logistic chain domain, the traceability of shipments in their entire delivery process from the shipper to the consignee involves many stakeholders. From the traceability data, contractual decisions may be taken such as incident detection, validation of the delivery or billing. The stakeholders require transparency in the whole process. The combination of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the blockchain paradigms helps in the development of automated and trusted systems. In this context, ensuring the quality of the IoT data is an absolute requirement for the adoption of those technologies. In this article, we propose an approach to assess the data quality (DQ) of IoT data sources using a logistic traceability smart contract developed on top of a blockchain. We select the quality dimensions relevant to our context, namely accuracy, completeness, consistency and currentness, with a proposition of their corresponding measurement methods. We also propose a data quality model specific to the logistic chain domain and a distributed traceability architecture. The evaluation of the proposal shows the capacity of the proposed method to assess the IoT data quality and ensure the user agreement on the data qualification rules. The proposed solution opens new opportunities in the development of automated logistic traceability systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Blockchain Technologies towards Identity Management and Its Applications in ICT and IoT)

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14 pages, 4563 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

The Experimental Registration of the Evanescent Acoustic Wave in YX LiNbO₃ Plate

by Andrey Smirnov, Boris Zaitsev, Andrey Teplykh, Ilya Nedospasov, Egor Golovanov, Zheng-hua Qian, Bin Wang and Iren Kuznetsova

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2238; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062238 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2106

Abstract

Evanescent acoustic waves are characterized by purely imaginary or complex wavenumbers. Earlier, in 2019 by using a three dimensional (3D) finite element method (FEM) the possibility of the excitation and registration of such waves in the piezoelectric plates was theoretically shown. In this [...] Read more.

Evanescent acoustic waves are characterized by purely imaginary or complex wavenumbers. Earlier, in 2019 by using a three dimensional (3D) finite element method (FEM) the possibility of the excitation and registration of such waves in the piezoelectric plates was theoretically shown. In this paper the set of the acoustically isolated interdigital transducers (IDTs) with the different spatial periods for excitation and registration of the evanescent acoustic wave in Y-cut X-propagation direction of lithium niobate (LiNbO₃) plate was specifically calculated and produced. As a result, the possibility to excite and register the evanescent acoustic wave in the piezoelectric plates was experimentally proved for the first time. The evanescent nature of the registered wave has been established. The theoretical results turned out to be in a good agreement with the experimental ones. The influence of an infinitely thin layer with arbitrary conductivity placed on a plate surface was also investigated. It has been shown that the frequency region of an evanescent acoustic wave existence is very sensitive to the changes of the electrical boundary conditions. The results obtained may be used for the development of the method of the analysis of thin films electric properties based on the study of evanescent waves. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development, Investigation and Application of Acoustic Sensors)

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15 pages, 6757 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Camera-Based Monitoring of Neck Movements for Cervical Rehabilitation Mobile Applications

by Iosune Salinas-Bueno, Maria Francesca Roig-Maimó, Pau Martínez-Bueso, Katia San-Sebastián-Fernández, Javier Varona and Ramon Mas-Sansó

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2237; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062237 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3928

Abstract

Vision-based interfaces are used for monitoring human motion. In particular, camera-based head-trackers interpret the movement of the user’s head for interacting with devices. Neck pain is one of the most important musculoskeletal conditions in prevalence and years lived with disability. A common treatment [...] Read more.

Vision-based interfaces are used for monitoring human motion. In particular, camera-based head-trackers interpret the movement of the user’s head for interacting with devices. Neck pain is one of the most important musculoskeletal conditions in prevalence and years lived with disability. A common treatment is therapeutic exercise, which requires high motivation and adherence to treatment. In this work, we conduct an exploratory experiment to validate the use of a non-invasive camera-based head-tracker monitoring neck movements. We do it by means of an exergame for performing the rehabilitation exercises using a mobile device. The experiments performed in order to explore its feasibility were: (1) validate neck’s range of motion (ROM) that the camera-based head-tracker was able to detect; (2) ensure safety application in terms of neck ROM solicitation by the mobile application. Results not only confirmed safety, in terms of ROM requirements for different preset patient profiles, according with the safety parameters previously established, but also determined the effectiveness of the camera-based head-tracker to monitor the neck movements for rehabilitation purposes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mobile Sensors for Healthcare)

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18 pages, 1308 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Unscented Particle Filter Algorithm Based on Divide-and-Conquer Sampling for Target Tracking

by Sichun Du and Qing Deng

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2236; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062236 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2802

Abstract

Unscented particle filter (UPF) struggles to completely cover the target state space when handling the maneuvering target tracing problem, and the tracking performance can be affected by the low sample diversity and algorithm redundancy. In order to solve this problem, the method of [...] Read more.

Unscented particle filter (UPF) struggles to completely cover the target state space when handling the maneuvering target tracing problem, and the tracking performance can be affected by the low sample diversity and algorithm redundancy. In order to solve this problem, the method of divide-and-conquer sampling is applied to the UPF tracking algorithm. By decomposing the state space, the descending dimension processing of the target maneuver is realized. When dealing with the maneuvering target, particles are sampled separately in each subspace, which directly prevents particles from degeneracy. Experiments and a comparative analysis were carried out to comprehensively analyze the performance of the divide-and-conquer sampling unscented particle filter (DCS-UPF). The simulation result demonstrates that the proposed algorithm can improve the diversity of particles and obtain higher tracking accuracy in less time than the particle swarm algorithm and intelligent adaptive filtering algorithm. This algorithm can be used in complex maneuvering conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Sensor Fusion for Object Detection and Tracking)

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8 pages, 206 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Intelligent Transportation Related Complex Systems and Sensors

by Kyandoghere Kyamakya, Jean Chamberlain Chedjou, Fadi Al-Machot, Ahmad Haj Mosa and Antoine Bagula

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2235; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062235 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2306

Abstract

Building around innovative services related to different modes of transport and traffic management, intelligent transport systems (ITSs) are being widely adopted worldwide to improve the efficiency and safety of the transportation system [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Transportation Related Complex Systems and Sensors)

18 pages, 2185 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

ARETT: Augmented Reality Eye Tracking Toolkit for Head Mounted Displays

by Sebastian Kapp, Michael Barz, Sergey Mukhametov, Daniel Sonntag and Jochen Kuhn

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2234; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062234 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 51 | Viewed by 8335

Abstract

Currently an increasing number of head mounted displays (HMD) for virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) are equipped with integrated eye trackers. Use cases of these integrated eye trackers include rendering optimization and gaze-based user interaction. In addition, visual attention in VR and AR [...] Read more.

Currently an increasing number of head mounted displays (HMD) for virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) are equipped with integrated eye trackers. Use cases of these integrated eye trackers include rendering optimization and gaze-based user interaction. In addition, visual attention in VR and AR is interesting for applied research based on eye tracking in cognitive or educational sciences for example. While some research toolkits for VR already exist, only a few target AR scenarios. In this work, we present an open-source eye tracking toolkit for reliable gaze data acquisition in AR based on Unity 3D and the Microsoft HoloLens 2, as well as an R package for seamless data analysis. Furthermore, we evaluate the spatial accuracy and precision of the integrated eye tracker for fixation targets with different distances and angles to the user (

n = 21

). On average, we found that gaze estimates are reported with an angular accuracy of

0.83

degrees and a precision of

0.27

degrees while the user is resting, which is on par with state-of-the-art mobile eye trackers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wearable Technologies and Applications for Eye Tracking)

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25 pages, 6548 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A UAV Maneuver Decision-Making Algorithm for Autonomous Airdrop Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning

by Ke Li, Kun Zhang, Zhenchong Zhang, Zekun Liu, Shuai Hua and Jianliang He

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2233; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062233 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2884

Abstract

How to operate an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) safely and efficiently in an interactive environment is challenging. A large amount of research has been devoted to improve the intelligence of a UAV while performing a mission, where finding an optimal maneuver decision-making policy [...] Read more.

How to operate an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) safely and efficiently in an interactive environment is challenging. A large amount of research has been devoted to improve the intelligence of a UAV while performing a mission, where finding an optimal maneuver decision-making policy of the UAV has become one of the key issues when we attempt to enable the UAV autonomy. In this paper, we propose a maneuver decision-making algorithm based on deep reinforcement learning, which generates efficient maneuvers for a UAV agent to execute the airdrop mission autonomously in an interactive environment. Particularly, the training set of the learning algorithm by the Prioritized Experience Replay is constructed, that can accelerate the convergence speed of decision network training in the algorithm. It is shown that a desirable and effective maneuver decision-making policy can be found by extensive experimental results. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Control, Networks, System and Application)

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24 pages, 14217 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fast 3D Rotation Estimation of Fruits Using Spheroid Models

by Antonio Albiol, Alberto Albiol and Carlos Sánchez de Merás

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2232; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062232 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3265

Abstract

Automated fruit inspection using cameras involves the analysis of a collection of views of the same fruit obtained by rotating a fruit while it is transported. Conventionally, each view is analyzed independently. However, in order to get a global score of the fruit [...] Read more.

Automated fruit inspection using cameras involves the analysis of a collection of views of the same fruit obtained by rotating a fruit while it is transported. Conventionally, each view is analyzed independently. However, in order to get a global score of the fruit quality, it is necessary to match the defects between adjacent views to prevent counting them more than once and assert that the whole surface has been examined. To accomplish this goal, this paper estimates the 3D rotation undergone by the fruit using a single camera. A 3D model of the fruit geometry is needed to estimate the rotation. This paper proposes to model the fruit shape as a 3D spheroid. The spheroid size and pose in each view is estimated from the silhouettes of all views. Once the geometric model has been fitted, a single 3D rotation for each view transition is estimated. Once all rotations have been estimated, it is possible to use them to propagate defects to neighbor views or to even build a topographic map of the whole fruit surface, thus opening the possibility to analyze a single image (the map) instead of a collection of individual views. A large effort was made to make this method as fast as possible. Execution times are under 0.5 ms to estimate each 3D rotation on a standard I7 CPU using a single core. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Sensing and Imaging)

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23 pages, 4666 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

A Smart and Secure Logistics System Based on IoT and Cloud Technologies

by Ilaria Sergi, Teodoro Montanaro, Fabrizio Luca Benvenuto and Luigi Patrono

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2231; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062231 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 5653

Abstract

Recently, one of the hottest topics in the logistics sector has been the traceability of goods and the monitoring of their condition during transportation. Perishable goods, such as fresh goods, have specifically attracted attention of the researchers that have already proposed different solutions [...] Read more.

Recently, one of the hottest topics in the logistics sector has been the traceability of goods and the monitoring of their condition during transportation. Perishable goods, such as fresh goods, have specifically attracted attention of the researchers that have already proposed different solutions to guarantee quality and freshness of food through the whole cold chain. In this regard, the use of Internet of Things (IoT)-enabling technologies and its specific branch called edge computing is bringing different enhancements thereby achieving easy remote and real-time monitoring of transported goods. Due to the fast changes of the requirements and the difficulties that researchers can encounter in proposing new solutions, the fast prototype approach could contribute to rapidly enhance both the research and the commercial sector. In order to make easy the fast prototyping of solutions, different platforms and tools have been proposed in the last years, however it is difficult to guarantee end-to-end security at all the levels through such platforms. For this reason, based on the experiments reported in literature and aiming at providing support for fast-prototyping, end-to-end security in the logistics sector, the current work presents a solution that demonstrates how the advantages offered by the Azure Sphere platform, a dedicated hardware (i.e., microcontroller unit, the MT3620) device and Azure Sphere Security Service can be used to realize a fast prototype to trace fresh food conditions through its transportation. The proposed solution guarantees end-to-end security and can be exploited by future similar works also in other sectors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Internet of Things)

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13 pages, 4273 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

A Miniature Bio-Photonics Companion Diagnostics Platform for Reliable Cancer Treatment Monitoring in Blood Fluids

by Marianneza Chatzipetrou, Lefteris Gounaridis, George Tsekenis, Maria Dimadi, Rachel Vestering-Stenger, Erik F. Schreuder, Anke Trilling, Geert Besselink, Luc Scheres, Adriaan van der Meer, Ernst Lindhout, Rene G. Heideman, Henk Leeuwis, Siegfried Graf, Tormod Volden, Michael Ningler, Christos Kouloumentas, Claudia Strehle, Vincent Revol, Apostolos Klinakis, Hercules Avramopoulos and Ioanna Zergioti Show full author list Hide full author list

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2230; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062230 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5188

Abstract

In this paper, we present the development of a photonic biosensor device for cancer treatment monitoring as a complementary diagnostics tool. The proposed device combines multidisciplinary concepts from the photonic, nano-biochemical, micro-fluidic and reader/packaging platforms aiming to overcome limitations related to detection reliability, [...] Read more.

In this paper, we present the development of a photonic biosensor device for cancer treatment monitoring as a complementary diagnostics tool. The proposed device combines multidisciplinary concepts from the photonic, nano-biochemical, micro-fluidic and reader/packaging platforms aiming to overcome limitations related to detection reliability, sensitivity, specificity, compactness and cost issues. The photonic sensor is based on an array of six asymmetric Mach Zender Interferometer (aMZI) waveguides on silicon nitride substrates and the sensing is performed by measuring the phase shift of the output signal, caused by the binding of the analyte on the functionalized aMZI surface. According to the morphological design of the waveguides, an improved sensitivity is achieved in comparison to the current technologies (<5000 nm/RIU). This platform is combined with a novel biofunctionalization methodology that involves material-selective surface chemistries and the high-resolution laser printing of biomaterials resulting in the development of an integrated photonics biosensor device that employs disposable microfluidics cartridges. The device is tested with cancer patient blood serum samples. The detection of periostin (POSTN) and transforming growth factor beta-induced protein (TGFBI), two circulating biomarkers overexpressed by cancer stem cells, is achieved in cancer patient serum with the use of the device. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanosensors for Biomedical Applications)

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22 pages, 1003 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Behaviour Classification on Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) Using Machine Learning Algorithms on Triaxial Acceleration Data of Two Commonly Used GPS Devices and Its Possible Application for Their Management and Conservation

by Stefanie Brandes, Florian Sicks and Anne Berger

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2229; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062229 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 8214

Abstract

Averting today’s loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services can be achieved through conservation efforts, especially of keystone species. Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) play an important role in sustaining Africa’s ecosystems, but are ‘vulnerable’ according to the IUCN Red List since 2016. Monitoring [...] Read more.

Averting today’s loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services can be achieved through conservation efforts, especially of keystone species. Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) play an important role in sustaining Africa’s ecosystems, but are ‘vulnerable’ according to the IUCN Red List since 2016. Monitoring an animal’s behavior in the wild helps to develop and assess their conservation management. One mechanism for remote tracking of wildlife behavior is to attach accelerometers to animals to record their body movement. We tested two different commercially available high-resolution accelerometers, e-obs and Africa Wildlife Tracking (AWT), attached to the top of the heads of three captive giraffes and analyzed the accuracy of automatic behavior classifications, focused on the Random Forests algorithm. For both accelerometers, behaviors of lower variety in head and neck movements could be better predicted (i.e., feeding above eye level, mean prediction accuracy e-obs/AWT: 97.6%/99.7%; drinking: 96.7%/97.0%) than those with a higher variety of body postures (such as standing: 90.7–91.0%/75.2–76.7%; rumination: 89.6–91.6%/53.5–86.5%). Nonetheless both devices come with limitations and especially the AWT needs technological adaptations before applying it on animals in the wild. Nevertheless, looking at the prediction results, both are promising accelerometers for behavioral classification of giraffes. Therefore, these devices when applied to free-ranging animals, in combination with GPS tracking, can contribute greatly to the conservation of giraffes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors and Artificial Intelligence for Wildlife Conservation)

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22 pages, 6062 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Wind Turbine Main Bearing Fault Prognosis Based Solely on SCADA Data

by Ángel Encalada-Dávila, Bryan Puruncajas, Christian Tutivén and Yolanda Vidal

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2228; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062228 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 46 | Viewed by 8610

Abstract

As stated by the European Academy of Wind Energy (EAWE), the wind industry has identified main bearing failures as a critical issue in terms of increasing wind turbine reliability and availability. This is owing to major repairs with high replacement costs and long [...] Read more.

As stated by the European Academy of Wind Energy (EAWE), the wind industry has identified main bearing failures as a critical issue in terms of increasing wind turbine reliability and availability. This is owing to major repairs with high replacement costs and long downtime periods associated with main bearing failures. Thus, the main bearing fault prognosis has become an economically relevant topic and is a technical challenge. In this work, a data-based methodology for fault prognosis is presented. The main contributions of this work are as follows: (i) Prognosis is achieved by using only supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) data, which is already available in all industrial-sized wind turbines; thus, no extra sensors that are designed for a specific purpose need to be installed. (ii) The proposed method only requires healthy data to be collected; thus, it can be applied to any wind farm even when no faulty data has been recorded. (iii) The proposed algorithm works under different and varying operating and environmental conditions. (iv) The validity and performance of the established methodology is demonstrated on a real underproduction wind farm consisting of 12 wind turbines. The obtained results show that advanced prognostic systems based solely on SCADA data can predict failures several months prior to their occurrence and allow wind turbine operators to plan their operations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors for Wind Turbine Fault Diagnosis and Prognosis)

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20 pages, 2881 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Deep Learning Framework for Recognizing Both Static and Dynamic Gestures

by Osama Mazhar, Sofiane Ramdani and Andrea Cherubini

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2227; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062227 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3760

Abstract

Intuitive user interfaces are indispensable to interact with the human centric smart environments. In this paper, we propose a unified framework that recognizes both static and dynamic gestures, using simple RGB vision (without depth sensing). This feature makes it suitable for inexpensive human-robot [...] Read more.

Intuitive user interfaces are indispensable to interact with the human centric smart environments. In this paper, we propose a unified framework that recognizes both static and dynamic gestures, using simple RGB vision (without depth sensing). This feature makes it suitable for inexpensive human-robot interaction in social or industrial settings. We employ a pose-driven spatial attention strategy, which guides our proposed Static and Dynamic gestures Network—StaDNet. From the image of the human upper body, we estimate his/her depth, along with the region-of-interest around his/her hands. The Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) in StaDNet is fine-tuned on a background-substituted hand gestures dataset. It is utilized to detect 10 static gestures for each hand as well as to obtain the hand image-embeddings. These are subsequently fused with the augmented pose vector and then passed to the stacked Long Short-Term Memory blocks. Thus, human-centred frame-wise information from the augmented pose vector and from the left/right hands image-embeddings are aggregated in time to predict the dynamic gestures of the performing person. In a number of experiments, we show that the proposed approach surpasses the state-of-the-art results on the large-scale Chalearn 2016 dataset. Moreover, we transfer the knowledge learned through the proposed methodology to the Praxis gestures dataset, and the obtained results also outscore the state-of-the-art on this dataset. Full article

(This article belongs to the Collection Sensors and Data Processing in Robotics)

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3 pages, 179 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Electronics for Sensors

by Giuseppe Ferri, Gianluca Barile and Alfiero Leoni

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2226; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062226 - 23 Mar 2021

Viewed by 1645

Abstract

Research on systems and circuits for interfacing sensors has always been, and will surely be, a highly prioritized, widespread, and lively topic [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electronics for Sensors)

17 pages, 7531 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Characterization of Pelvic Floor Activity in Healthy Subjects and with Chronic Pelvic Pain: Diagnostic Potential of Surface Electromyography

by Monica Albaladejo-Belmonte, Marta Tarazona-Motes, Francisco J. Nohales-Alfonso, Maria De-Arriba, Jose Alberola-Rubio and Javier Garcia-Casado

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2225; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21062225 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 5671

Abstract

Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is a highly disabling disorder in women usually associated with hypertonic dysfunction of the pelvic floor musculature (PFM). The literature on the subject is not conclusive about the diagnostic potential of surface electromyography (sEMG), which could be due to [...] Read more.

Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is a highly disabling disorder in women usually associated with hypertonic dysfunction of the pelvic floor musculature (PFM). The literature on the subject is not conclusive about the diagnostic potential of surface electromyography (sEMG), which could be due to poor signal characterization. In this study, we characterized the PFM activity of three groups of 24 subjects each: CPP patients with deep dyspareunia associated with a myofascial syndrome (CPP group), healthy women over 35 and/or parous (>35/P group, i.e., CPP counterparts) and under 35 and nulliparous (<35&NP). sEMG signals of the right and left PFM were recorded during contractions and relaxations. The signals were characterized by their root mean square (RMS), median frequency (MDF), Dimitrov index (DI), sample entropy (SampEn), and cross-correlation (CC). The PFM activity showed a higher power (>RMS), a predominance of low-frequency components (<MDF, >DI), greater complexity (>SampEn) and lower synchronization on the same side (<CC) in CPP patients, with more significant differences in the >35/P group. The same trend in differences was found between healthy women (<35&NP vs. >35/P) associated with aging and parity. These results show that sEMG can reveal alterations in PFM electrophysiology and provide clinicians with objective information for CPP diagnosis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biosignal Sensing and Processing for Clinical Diagnosis)

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