A low-cost fiber-optic strain gage system for biologicalapplications

A new low-cost strain measurement system has been developed for the mechanical testing of biological soft tissues. The technique creates four spots of light on a tissue sample surface by piercing the tissue sample with two pairs of small light-conducting optical fibers (one pair for each axis of a biaxial stretch), terminated by high intensity infrared emitters. A large-area photodiode, located below the tissue sample, detects the light emitted from the two pairs of light-spots. Analog and digital circuitry analyze the current signal from the photodiode to determine the position of a light-spot in real time. Each infrared emitter is sequentially cycled "on" at a rate of 3 kHz and the resulting photodiode current signal, after being converted to a voltage signal, is held by an integrated circuit sample and hold amplifier. Analog differencing of pairs of light-spot voltage signals provides a final output proportional to the separation between coaxial light-spots.     

Asymmetric fiber-optic coupler for LAN applications

This paper presents experimental results of an asymmetric, effectively nonreciprocal fiber-optic coupler fabricated from unequal core diameters multimode fibers. It is shown that the nonreciprocity is due to modal dependent coupling.     

A high-efficiency in-plane splitting coupler for planar photonic Crystal self-collimation devices

In this letter, we present the design, fabrication, and characterization of a high-efficiency in-plane splitting coupler for planar photonic crystal self-collimation devices. This splitting coupler consists of multiple concatenated in-plane reflective lenses and is capable of efficiently splitting and coupling a wide input beam into multiple narrow self-collimated beams. As an example, a one-to-two splitting coupler is simulated using the two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method with an effective index used to account for the third dimension. The simulation shows a total coupling efficiency of 86% and a splitting ratio of two channels is 0.51 to 0.49. This device is also experimentally validated and the measured splitting ratio is 0.57 to 0.43.     

A novel low-cost, high-efficiency micromachined silicon solar cell

This letter presents a new process for the fabrication of solar cells and modules from single crystal silicon wafers with substantially reduced silicon consumption and processing effort compared to conventional wafer-based cells. The technique of narrow trench etching in an alkaline solution is used to create a series of thin silicon strips extending vertically through the wafer. By turning the silicon strips on their side, a large increase in surface area is achieved. Individual cells fabricated using the new process have reached efficiencies up to 18.5% while a 575 cm/sup 2/ module incorporating a rear reflector and a cell surface coverage of 50% has displayed an efficiency of 12.3% under standard rating conditions. The technique has the potential to reduce silicon consumption by a factor of 10 compared to standard wafer-based silicon solar cells and, therefore, to dramatically reduce the dependence to the expensive silicon feedstock.     

A high-efficiency grating coupler between single-mode fiber and silicon-on-insulator waveguide

We present the design of a diffractive grating structure and get the optimal parameters which can achieve more than 75% coupling efficiency (CE) between single-mode fiber and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide through 2D finite-different time-domain (FDTD) simulation. The proposed architecture has a uniform structure with no bottom reflection element or silicon overlay. The structure, including grating couplers, adiabatic tapers and interconnection waveguides can be fabricated on the SOI waveguide with only a single electron-beam lithography (ICP) step, which is CMOS-compatible. A relatively high coupling efficiency of 47.2% was obtained at a wavelength of 1562 nm.     

A low-cost fiber-optic instrument to colorimetrically detect patients with Barrett's esophagus for early detection of esophageal adenocarcinoma

In Barrett's esophagus, the precursor to esophageal adenocarcinoma, the squamocolumnar junction (SCJ) between the normal esophagus and the stomach like mucosa is proximally displaced. Currently it can be detected only by an expensive upper GI endoscopic procedure. We have developed a minimally invasive and easy to operate colorimetric instrument for the low-cost detection of Barrett's esophagus. The instrument is based on a flexible, narrow diameter, fiber-optic probe that performs a colorimetric scan of the esophageal lumen. The instrument was clinically evaluated in 50 subjects. The instrument could identify both symmetric and asymmetric SCJ's. The SCJ locations determined by the colorimetric instrument correlated strongly (R2 = 0.89) with those determined by endoscopy. The instrument identified the SCJ locations accurately (Mean of difference +/- SEM: 0.97 +/- 1.72 cm) and reproducibly (Mean of absolute difference +/- SEM: 1.33 +/- 1.40 cm). The instrument has a 90% sensitivity of identifying patients with Barrett's esophagus, based on the clinical algorithm that if the SCJ is located at a distance less than 37 cm from the teeth, then the subject has Barrett's esophagus, otherwise the subject does not have Barrett's esophagus. In conclusion, the colorimetric instrument has the potential of being a cost-effective way of determining patients likely to have Barrett's esophagus in the population.     

用于Nd:YAG激光医疗系统的插入式光纤光束耦合器的机械设计

本文介绍一种用于Nd:YAG激光医疗系统的插入式光纤光束耦合器,就该耦合器机械设计及装调中一些问题进行一定的探讨。     

A genetic algorithm for the resolution of superimposed motor unit action potentials

This paper presents a novel method, which aims at resolving difficult superimpositions of motor unit action potentials (MUAPs) obtained from single-channel intramuscular electromyographic recordings. Resolution is achieved by means of a genetic algorithm (GA) combined with a gradient descent method. This dual optimization scheme has been tested by means of simulations of isolated superimpositions involving two to six MUAPs, along with simulated extended signals of 10-s duration where the density reached 300 MUAPs/s. Of the hundreds of isolated superimpositions tested, more than 90% of the MUAPs were positively identified. With extended signals, identification rates of better than 85% were obtained. The GA alone accounted for up to an 8% improvement over the decomposition conducted using only template matching.     

A high-efficiency carrier estimator for OFDM communications

While multipath induced phase rotations can be dealt with by differential encoding in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communications, the loss of orthogonality due to the carrier offset must be compensated before discrete Fourier transform (DFT)-based demodulation can be performed. In this letter, we present a high-performance/low-complexity blind carrier offset estimation algorithm by exploiting intrinsic structure information of OFDM signals. The algorithm offers the accuracy of a super resolution subspace method, viz. MUSIC, without involving computationally intensive subspace decompositions     

WPT中高效E类功率放大器的研究

作为无线电能传输(WPT)系统的核心部件之一,E类功率放大器的理论效率可达100%,具有很好的研究前景。本文对E类功率放大器进行理论分析与设计建模,运用电磁仿真软件ADS进行仿真,通过源牵引和负载牵引进行最佳阻抗匹配以优化效率,基于仿真结果进行了硬件电路设计制作。结果表明,设计制作的E类功放在27~29MHz输出的最大功率附加效率(PAE)为91.3%,同时获得17.5 d B的功率增益,验证了设计的正确性与可行性。     

A simple fiber-optic vehicle axle detector for roadways

This paper presents a fiber-optic vehicle axle detector for roadways. It is based on a fiber-optic Michelson interferometer that is mounted directly into the road surface. The fully dielectric design allows for remote operation of the sensor via a long section of optical fiber. A simple signal-processing scheme of the output signals has been adopted that allows for reliable detection of commercial and personal vehicles.     

A wavelet-like filter based on neuron action potentials for analysis of human scalp electroencephalographs

This paper describes the development and testing of a wavelet-like filter, named the SNAP, created from a neural activity simulation and used, in place of a wavelet, in a wavelet transform for improving EEG wavelet analysis, intended for brain-computer interfaces. The hypothesis is that an optimal wavelet can be approximated by deriving it from underlying components of the EEG. The SNAP was compared to standard wavelets by measuring Support Vector Machine-based EEG classification accuracy when using different wavelets/filters for EEG analysis. When classifying P300 evoked potentials, the error, as a function of the wavelet/filter used, ranged from 6.92% to 11.99%, almost twofold. Classification using the SNAP was more accurate than that with any of the six standard wavelets tested. Similarly, when differentiating between preparation for left- or right-hand movements, classification using the SNAP was more accurate (10.03% error) than for four out of five of the standard wavelets (9.54% to 12.00% error) and internationally competitive (7% error) on the 2001 NIPS competition test set. Phenomena shown only in maps of discriminatory EEG activity may explain why the SNAP appears to have promise for improving EEG wavelet analysis. It represents the initial exploration of a potential family of EEG-specific wavelets.     

A wavelet-based method for action potential detection from extracellular neural signal recording with low signal-to-noise ratio

We present a method for the detection of action potentials, an essential first step in the analysis of extracellular neural signals. The low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and similarity of spectral characteristic between the target signal and background noise are obstacles to solving this problem and, thus, in previous studies on experimental neurophysiology, only action potentials with sufficiently large amplitude have been detected and analyzed. In order to lower the level of SNR required for successful detection, we propose an action potential detector based on a prudent combination of wavelet coefficients of multiple scales and demonstrate its performance for neural signal recording with varying degrees of similarity between signal and noise. The experimental data include recordings from the rat somatosensory cortex, the giant medial nerve of crayfish, and the cutaneous nerve of bullfrog. The proposed method was tested for various SNR values and degrees of spectral similarity. The method was superior to the Teager energy operator and even comparable to or better than the optimal linear detector. A detection ratio higher than 80% at a false alarm ratio lower than 10% was achieved, under an SNR of 2.35 for the rat cortex data where the spectral similarity was very high.     

A modified GaAs IMPATT structure for high-efficiency operation

A p⁺-n⁽⁺⁾-n-n⁺just punchthrough IMPATT structure is proposed and analyzed. This high-low junction structure differs from the Read structure in that the carrier concentration in the n-layer is high enough that the breakdown and punchthrough occur at the same time; yet it differs with the regular p⁺-n junction structure in that an additional n⁽⁺⁾-layer with prescribed carrier concentration and layer thickness is present. Tradeoffs between the efficiency and noise of this high-low junction IMPATT are presented and compared to the case of a conventional p-n junction IMPATT. It is shown that either the efficiency or noise performance can be improved, although one at the expense of the other. As an example, the maximum efficiency of a high-low junction IMPATT is improved from about 23 to 30 percent at the expense of a degradation in noise performance of 7 dB. On the other hand, the noise of an X-band diode can be improved by 6 dB with a degradation in efficiency from 23 to 12 percent. This structure should be useful for high-efficiency high-power applications where the noise specifications can be relaxed, or as local oscillators where the noise performance is important.     

Linear electrode arrays for stimulation and recording within cardiac tissue space constants

In this paper, we document a fabrication process that yields linear arrays of rectangular platinum black electrodes spaced 25 mum apart with edge-to-edge separation of 20 microm. The spatial arrangement is therefore sufficiently fine to insure stimulation and recording within cardiac tissue space constants, as six electrodes with dimensions of either 5 x 100 microm2, 5 x 250 microm2, or 5 x 500 microm2 were positioned in a 130-microm2 span in the arrays. Despite the small electrode sizes and available surface areas, favorable impedance characteristics were identifed. Averages ranged from 111 kOmega to 146 kOmega at 0.5 Hz and from 14 kOmega 39 kOmega at 500 Hz. Differences in impedances between the electrode sizes tested were small. Potential differences (deltaphis) recorded using the two central electrodes during stimulation with combinations at separations of only 75 microm, 100 microm, and 125 microm had low signal noise. As a preliminary test of the use of these arrays for possible application to impedance measurements in cardiac tissue, the deltaphis recorded during stimulation were compared to deltaphis obtained from finite-difference simulations using an isotropic volume conductor model. Anticipated decays in deltaphi with widening electrode separation identified in those simulations matched the decays in the recorded deltaphis closely. These findings are significant because they suggest intracellular and interstitial microimpedance mesurements in heart experiments will be straightforward.     

A low-cost test solution for wireless phone RFICs

This article describes an IBM approach for testing high-volume, complex RFICs at a fraction of the cost of the integrated circuit. This approach uses a personal computer, a fast benchtop dc parametric analyzer, and RF-to-analog circuits to test an RFIC during the manufacturing process. The described system and methodology are specifically designed for high-volume test, where test cost is extremely important; they are not recommended for lower-volume products (less than 1 million per month). This article describes the system architecture and discusses design, maintenance, and implementation considerations. The system is designed to reduce the cost of a complex RFIC manufacturing test to equal that of a discrete component, such as a resistor or capacitor. Given the relatively easy implementation and the drastic cost reduction associated with the test solution, this architecture establishes a new standard for the future of RF test. In fact, this architecture may result in the fastest RF tester currently available.     

A novel rat race coupler design for dual-band applications

This letter presents a novel and compact rat-race coupler design that can operate at two widely separated frequency bands. It is accomplished by modifying the length and impedance of the branch lines in the conventional structure, and the insertion of two additional shunt stubs. The proposed circuit also features planar structure and low insertion loss. For verification, the measured performance of a microstrip coupler operating at 900/2000MHz are shown.     

A low-cost multichannel optical transmission system for videosignals

A novel low-cost multichannel optical transmission system for video signals is described. The system uses time-division multiplex pulse-position modulation (TDPPM). The transmitter and receiver are realized in a standard bipolar process while an external low-cost laser and PIN photodiode are used. A maximum of 16 channels can be multiplexed, while achieving a weighted signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 54 dB, a differential gain of 1% and a differential phase of 0.5°. For a launched power of 0 dBm (pulse amplitude), the optical budget for a 45 dB weighted SNR exceeds 20 dB. Besides video signals the system is also capable of handling other signals such as digital coded audio signals or computer data. The feasibility of a four-channel system has been confirmed by measurements