Future Wearable and Implants

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "E:Engineering and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 August 2020) | Viewed by 35010

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK
Interests: nano communication; biomedical applications of millimeter and terahertz communication; wearable and flexible sensors; compact antenna design; RF design and radio propagation; antenna interaction with human body; implants; body centric wireless communication issues; wireless body sensor networks; non-invasive health care solutions; physical layer security for wearable/implant communication and multiple-input–multiple-output systems
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Guest Editor
James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK
Interests: compact antenna design; radiowave propagation and channel characterization; satellite navigation system antennas in cluttered environments; electromagnetic wave interaction with the human body; body-centric wireless networks and sensors; remote healthcare technology; mmWave and nanocommunications for body-centric networks and D2D/H2H communications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
Interests: basics of antennae and electromagnetism, from megastructures and metasurfaces to novel applications in telerobotics, cognitive radio, wearable electronics, nanoscale networks, healthcare, and bioengineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
ElectroScience Laboratory, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Interests: bioelectromagnetics; wearable sensors; implantable sensors; antennas for body area applications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sensors, antennas, circuit design methods, and communications systems are anticipated to drive the development of new technologies in the coming years. Colossal advances in next-generation sensing systems have already shown the potential of this unique class of platforms with applications in the areas of wearable consumer electronics, remote healthcare monitoring, wireless implants, and soft robotics. The ever-growing evolution of low-power electronics, wireless sensor networks, wearable circuit behavior, security, real-time monitoring, and the connectivity of sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) has accelerated and expanded this development by manifolds. Current research focuses on new processing methods; materials; and on–off devices such as diodes and transistors, rendering existing progress insufficient to meet the demand of future electronics, particularly wearables and implants. Growing complexities in form-factor, working environment, and operational requirements necessitate thorough and exhaustive efforts towards design, simulation, and modelling techniques of electronics while keeping sensing system integration, power management, and sensors network in deliberation.

This Special Issue will invite novel contributions of leading experts from academia and industry to not only identify the requirements and challenges but also set the tone and direction of progress in the thriving field of electronic circuits and systems for future wearable and implantable systems. This multifaceted discussion will include aspects from electronics to communications and biocompatibility to exposure.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

  • Antennas and sensor design for wearables and implants;
  • Energy efficiency in wearable and implantable sensing systems;
  • Implantable and wearable diagnostic and therapeutic systems;
  • Channel modelling for wearables and implants;
  • Numerical and computational modelling techniques for wearables and implants;
  • Sensor interfaces and A/D converters;
  • Material characterization for wearables and implants;
  • Biocompatible operation of implants;
  • Exposure of biological tissues to wearables and implants;
  • Wireless power transfer for body-centric operation;
  • Security and privacy in body-centric nano-communications.

Dr. Qammer H. Abbasi
Dr. Masood Ur Rehman
Dr. Akram Alomainy
Dr. Asimina Kiourti
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • wearables
  • wireless implants
  • biocompatibility
  • body-centric communications
  • electromagnetic exposure
  • energy efficiency
  • implant communication

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Related Special Issues

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 5346 KiB  
Article
Wireless E-Nose Sensors to Detect Volatile Organic Gases through Multivariate Analysis
by Saifur Rahman, Abdullah S. Alwadie, Muhammed Irfan, Rabia Nawaz, Mohsin Raza, Ehtasham Javed and Muhammad Awais
Micromachines 2020, 11(6), 597; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11060597 - 18 Jun 2020
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 6348
Abstract
Gas sensors are critical components when adhering to health safety and environmental policies in various manufacturing industries, such as the petroleum and oil industry; scent and makeup production; food and beverage manufacturing; chemical engineering; pollution monitoring. In recent times, gas sensors have been [...] Read more.
Gas sensors are critical components when adhering to health safety and environmental policies in various manufacturing industries, such as the petroleum and oil industry; scent and makeup production; food and beverage manufacturing; chemical engineering; pollution monitoring. In recent times, gas sensors have been introduced to medical diagnostics, bioprocesses, and plant disease diagnosis processes. There could be an adverse impact on human health due to the mixture of various gases (e.g., acetone (A), ethanol (E), propane (P)) that vent out from industrial areas. Therefore, it is important to accurately detect and differentiate such gases. Towards this goal, this paper presents a novel electronic nose (e-nose) detection method to classify various explosive gases. To detect explosive gases, metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) sensors are used as reliable tools to detect such volatile gases. The data received from MOS sensors are processed through a multivariate analysis technique to classify different categories of gases. Multivariate analysis was done using three variants—differential, relative, and fractional analyses—in principal components analysis (PCA). The MOS sensors also have three different designs: loading design, notch design, and Bi design. The proposed MOS sensor-based e-nose accurately detects and classifies three different gases, which indicates the reliability and practicality of the developed system. The developed system enables discrimination of these gases from the mixture. Based on the results from the proposed system, authorities can take preventive measures to deal with these gases to avoid their potential adverse impacts on employee health. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Wearable and Implants)
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11 pages, 3255 KiB  
Article
Design and Investigation of Modern UWB-MIMO Antenna with Optimized Isolation
by Muhammad Irshad Khan, Muhammad Irfan Khattak, Saeed Ur Rahman, Abdul Baseer Qazi, Ahmad Abdeltawab Telba and Abdelrazik Sebak
Micromachines 2020, 11(4), 432; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11040432 - 20 Apr 2020
Cited by 48 | Viewed by 4121
Abstract
This paper proposes a compact, semi-circular shaped multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna design with high isolation and enhanced bandwidth for ultrawide band (UWB) applications. A decoupling stub is used for high isolation reaching up to −55 dB over the entire bandwidth. The [...] Read more.
This paper proposes a compact, semi-circular shaped multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna design with high isolation and enhanced bandwidth for ultrawide band (UWB) applications. A decoupling stub is used for high isolation reaching up to −55 dB over the entire bandwidth. The proposed antenna is used for UWB as well as super wide band (SWB) applications. The overall size of the proposed antenna is 18 × 36 × 1.6   mm3. The | S 11 |   and voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) of the proposed antenna are less than −10 dB and 2, respectively, in the range of 3–40 GHz. The total impedance bandwidth of the proposed design is 37 GHz. The VSWR, | S 11 | , | S 22 | , | S 21 | , | S 12 | , gain, envelope correlation coefficient (ECC), radiation pattern, and various other characteristic parameters are discussed in detail. The proposed antenna is optimized and simulated in a computer simulation technology (CST) studio, and printed on a FR4 substrate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Wearable and Implants)
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15 pages, 8135 KiB  
Article
Privacy-Preserving Non-Wearable Occupancy Monitoring System Exploiting Wi-Fi Imaging for Next-Generation Body Centric Communication
by Syed Aziz Shah, Jawad Ahmad, Ahsen Tahir, Fawad Ahmed, Gordon Russell, Syed Yaseen Shah, William J. Buchanan and Qammer H. Abbasi
Micromachines 2020, 11(4), 379; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11040379 - 3 Apr 2020
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 4442
Abstract
Nano-scaled structures, wireless sensing, wearable devices, and wireless communications systems are anticipated to support the development of new next-generation technologies in the near future. Exponential rise in future Radio-Frequency (RF) sensing systems have demonstrated its applications in areas such as wearable consumer electronics, [...] Read more.
Nano-scaled structures, wireless sensing, wearable devices, and wireless communications systems are anticipated to support the development of new next-generation technologies in the near future. Exponential rise in future Radio-Frequency (RF) sensing systems have demonstrated its applications in areas such as wearable consumer electronics, remote healthcare monitoring, wireless implants, and smart buildings. In this paper, we propose a novel, non-wearable, device-free, privacy-preserving Wi-Fi imaging-based occupancy detection system for future smart buildings. The proposed system is developed using off-the-shelf non-wearable devices such as Wi-Fi router, network interface card, and an omnidirectional antenna for future body centric communication. The core idea is to detect presence of person along its activities of daily living without deploying a device on person’s body. The Wi-Fi signals received using non-wearable devices are converted into time–frequency scalograms. The occupancy is detected by classifying the scalogram images using an auto-encoder neural network. In addition to occupancy detection, the deep neural network also identifies the activity performed by the occupant. Moreover, a novel encryption algorithm using Chirikov and Intertwining map-based is also proposed to encrypt the scalogram images. This feature enables secure storage of scalogram images in a database for future analysis. The classification accuracy of the proposed scheme is 91.1%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Wearable and Implants)
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16 pages, 4630 KiB  
Article
Reliability and Remaining Life Assessment of an Electronic Fuze Using Accelerated Life Testing
by Noor Muhammad, Zhigeng Fang, Syed Yaseen Shah and Daniyal Haider
Micromachines 2020, 11(3), 272; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11030272 - 6 Mar 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 5310
Abstract
An electronic fuze is a one-shot system that has a long storage life and high mission criticality. Fuzes are designed, developed, and tested for high reliability (over 99%) with a confidence level of more than 95%. The electronic circuit of a fuze is [...] Read more.
An electronic fuze is a one-shot system that has a long storage life and high mission criticality. Fuzes are designed, developed, and tested for high reliability (over 99%) with a confidence level of more than 95%. The electronic circuit of a fuze is embedded in the fuze assembly, and thus is not visible. Go/NoGo fuze assembly mission critical testing does not provide prognostic information about electrical and electronic circuits and subtle causes of failure. Longer storage times and harsh conditions cause degradation at the component level. In order to calculate accrued damage due to storage and operational stresses, it is necessary to perform sample-based accelerated life testing after a certain time and estimate the remaining useful life of mission critical parts. Reliability studies of mechanical parts of such systems using nondestructive testing (NDT) have been performed, but a thorough investigation is missing with regards to the electronic parts. The objective of this study is to identify weak links and estimate the reliability and remaining useful life of electronic and detonating parts. Three critical components are identified in an electronic fuze circuit (1) a diode, (2) a capacitor, and (3) a squib or detonator. The accelerated test results reveal that after ten years of storage life, there is no significant degradation in active components while passive components need to be replaced. The squib has a remaining useful life (RUL) of more than ten years with reliability over 99%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Wearable and Implants)
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Review

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23 pages, 2061 KiB  
Review
A Systematic Review of Non-Contact Sensing for Developing a Platform to Contain COVID-19
by Muhammad Bilal Khan, Zhiya Zhang, Lin Li, Wei Zhao, Mohammed Ali Mohammed Al Hababi, Xiaodong Yang and Qammer H. Abbasi
Micromachines 2020, 11(10), 912; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11100912 - 30 Sep 2020
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 4308
Abstract
The rapid spread of the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, and its resulting situation has garnered much effort to contain the virus through scientific research. The tragedy has not yet fully run its course, but it is already clear that the crisis is thoroughly [...] Read more.
The rapid spread of the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, and its resulting situation has garnered much effort to contain the virus through scientific research. The tragedy has not yet fully run its course, but it is already clear that the crisis is thoroughly global, and science is at the forefront in the fight against the virus. This includes medical professionals trying to cure the sick at risk to their own health; public health management tracking the virus and guardedly calling on such measures as social distancing to curb its spread; and researchers now engaged in the development of diagnostics, monitoring methods, treatments and vaccines. Recent advances in non-contact sensing to improve health care is the motivation of this study in order to contribute to the containment of the COVID-19 outbreak. The objective of this study is to articulate an innovative solution for early diagnosis of COVID-19 symptoms such as abnormal breathing rate, coughing and other vital health problems. To obtain an effective and feasible solution from existing platforms, this study identifies the existing methods used for human activity and health monitoring in a non-contact manner. This systematic review presents the data collection technology, data preprocessing, data preparation, features extraction, classification algorithms and performance achieved by the various non-contact sensing platforms. This study proposes a non-contact sensing platform for the early diagnosis of COVID-19 symptoms and monitoring of the human activities and health during the isolation or quarantine period. Finally, we highlight challenges in developing non-contact sensing platforms to effectively control the COVID-19 situation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Wearable and Implants)
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41 pages, 4549 KiB  
Review
Recent Advances of Wearable Antennas in Materials, Fabrication Methods, Designs, and Their Applications: State-of-the-Art
by Shahid M. Ali, Cheab Sovuthy, Muhammad A. Imran, Soeung Socheatra, Qammer H. Abbasi and Zuhairiah Zainal Abidin
Micromachines 2020, 11(10), 888; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11100888 - 24 Sep 2020
Cited by 81 | Viewed by 9175
Abstract
The demand for wearable technologies has grown tremendously in recent years. Wearable antennas are used for various applications, in many cases within the context of wireless body area networks (WBAN). In WBAN, the presence of the human body poses a significant challenge to [...] Read more.
The demand for wearable technologies has grown tremendously in recent years. Wearable antennas are used for various applications, in many cases within the context of wireless body area networks (WBAN). In WBAN, the presence of the human body poses a significant challenge to the wearable antennas. Specifically, such requirements are required to be considered on a priority basis in the wearable antennas, such as structural deformation, precision, and accuracy in fabrication methods and their size. Various researchers are active in this field and, accordingly, some significant progress has been achieved recently. This article attempts to critically review the wearable antennas especially in light of new materials and fabrication methods, and novel designs, such as miniaturized button antennas and miniaturized single and multi-band antennas, and their unique smart applications in WBAN. Finally, the conclusion has been drawn with respect to some future directions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Future Wearable and Implants)
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