Domenico Luca Carnì

Wireless Distributed Measurement System by Using Mobile Devices

The innovative architecture of distributed measurement systems (DMS) is proposed in order to increase the adaptability characteristic to the new necessity of the industrial applications. This architecture is based on (i) the wireless technology to realize the communication structure and (ii) the personal digital assistant to manage and control the measurement instrumentations. The wireless protocol IEEE 802.11 is used to realize the local area network. The aspects concerning both the software and the hardware to realize the wireless DMS are discussed. In order to evidence innovative features, two applicative examples are shown and discussed.

Pre-Processing Correction for Micro Nucleus Image Detection Affected by Contemporaneous Alterations

This paper presents a method that detects and corrects alterations of 1, exposure; 2, out-of-focus; and 3, Gaussian noise affecting, contemporaneously, the images that are acquired in flow cytometer measurement devices. These alterations reduce image quality and interfere with correct micronucleus (MN) detection in a lymphocyte. The objectives of the proposed correction are given as follows: 1, to correctly process the image with the pattern-matching algorithm in order to detect the MN in human lymphocytes; 2, to minimize doubtful detections; and 3, to enhance the confidence that, in rejected images, MNs cannot be detected. Numerical and experimental tests confirm the validity of the proposed correction method and permit the evaluation of the upper and lower bounds of the admissible variation range of each alteration.

Synchronization of Measurement Instruments Co-operating into the W-DMS

On the basis of the IEEE 1588, the PC in the distributed measurement system can work on synchronized modality. Nevertheless, the hardware and software architecture of the path involved in the communication PC-measurement instrument (MI) can delay the commands. The research aims to investigate about the time delay occurring in the communication between the PC and the Ml. Two different aspects are taken into account: (i) the characterization of the hardware connection PC-MI offering the minimum delay, and (it) the criteria to modify and to set up the software to reduce the delay occurring in the processing steps performed into the PC. In particular, the preliminary experimental results furnished in the paper concern with (i) different hardware connections PC-digital storage oscilloscope (DSO), and (it) different setting up of the Linux operating system (OS). The experimental results obtained on the basis of the selected connection PC-DSO and the set-up of the OS highlight that delay characterized by mean value equal to 4.19 mus and standard deviation of 93.5 ns can be achieved.

A smart control to operate the lighting system in the road tunnels

The external luminance, the climatic conditions as limpid sky or haze, the road surface wet or dry, the traffic speed and the related safe driver stopping distance, strongly influence the quantity of artificial support light necessary at the entrance of the tunnel. The design of the support lighting system in the road tunnel takes into account the critical conditions for these parameters that determine very high demand of electric power. With the aims to improve the safety and comfort for the drivers, avoiding the excesses of luminance and mitigating the cost and the energetic impact, in the paper is proposed a smart control able to operate and tune automatically the luminous flux emitted by the lighting system according to the input signals of the external luminance, the climatic condition and the traffic intensity.

Image Pre-processing for Micro Nucleuses Detection in Lymphocyte

The paper presents a method pointed out to detect and to correct the alterations of(i) under-exposure, (ii) over-exposure, (iii) out of focus, (iv) Gaussian noise, affecting the images acquired into the flow cytometer. These alterations reduce the image quality and interfere with the correct micro nucleus detection in lymphocyte. The objective of the proposed correction is to make the image able to be correctly processed by the pattern matching algorithm (i) to detect the micronucleus into human lymphocytes, (ii) to minimize the doubtful detections, and (iii) to enhance the confidence that in the rejected images are not including the micro nucleuses. The results of numerical tests confirm the validity of the proposed correction method.

Static Characterization of High Resolution DAC Based on Over Sampling and Low Resolution ADC

A new method is presented for the static characterization of high resolution digital to analog converters (DAC). The method is based on the comparison of the DAC output voltage signal with a reference one furnished by a calibrator instrument. The zero crossing sequence of the resulting signal is detected by over sampling in order to avoid the amplitude measurement. The variation in the time domain of the zero crossing sequence distribution respect to that occurring in the sinusoidal reference signal is used to evaluate the DAC transfer characteristic, the INL and the DNL. The advantage of the method consists in the fact that the analog to digital converter to be used to acquire the resulting signal can be characterized by a lower resolution respect to the DAC under test. The numerical and experimental tests confirm the potentiality of the method and the advantages in term of time reduction.

Measurement of the exponential signal distortion

In the ADC test is convenient to use as stimulus the real exponential voltage than the sinusoidal one. Indeed, the real exponential voltage is much more similarity to the theoretical one than the sinusoidal signal. For the estimation of the final uncertainty in the ADC test, the knowledge of the distortion of the exponential stimulus needs. The distortion is caused by the exponential signals superimposed to the waited one. With this aim, in the paper is pointed out (i) the stand for the accurate acquisition of the real exponential voltage generated by capacitor discharge, and (ii) the numerical procedure to evaluate the parameters of the assigned number nP of exponential functions that best fit the acquired samples. Results of tests assess that the reconstruction error is lower than the resolution of the acquisition stand.

Continuous, real-time monitoring of assisted livings through wireless body sensor networks

The aim of this paper is to propose the wireless body sensor networks (WBSNs) as an enabling technology for a rich variety of application domains, from e-Health to e-Factory. In particular, the paper will describe reference network architectures, effective programming frameworks and novel applications in important application domains for WBSNs. Finally, a WBSN-based system in the e-Health application domain concerning anytime and anywhere remote monitoring of assisted livings is described and analyzed.

Characterization of high resolution DAC by DFT and sine fitting

The research concerns with the evaluation of the dynamic performances of the DAC by analysing, in the frequency domain, the estimated output signal characterised by non uniform sampling. The non uniform sampling is caused by the method used to acquire the signal with both high resolution and linearity. On the basis of this characteristic, the signal processing in the frequency domain by tradition procedures brings non correct information. In order to overcome this problem two different analysis procedures are taken into account able to correctly process the non uniformly sampled signal. One is based on the discrete Fourier transform modified to be used in the case of non uniformly sampled signal. Another one is based on the multi-sine fitting algorithm modified according to the procedure presented in the paper. The performances of both the two analysis procedures are evaluated and highlighted. In particular, the accuracy of two analysis procedures is compared to evaluate the total harmonic distortion and the spurious free dynamic range in various experimental conditions.

A Novel Wireless Accelerometer Board for Measuring Low-Frequency and Low-Amplitude Structural Vibration

Structural health monitoring (SHM) plays an important role in maintaining system integrity of aging structures and machinery parts. Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) accelerometers, because of their low cost and small dimensions, have emerged as attractive sensing tools for monitoring structural condition based on changes in structural vibration characteristics. For SHM applications, these sensors need to detect low-amplitude and low-frequency vibrations (microvibrations). Those are not always feasible with the conventional low-cost digital sensor boards. In this paper, a novel accelerometer board, named acceleration evaluator (ALE), is developed to achieve more accurate wireless vibration measurements using the full bandwidth of the installed MEMS accelerometer by a voltage-to-frequency converter, instead of the conventional analog-to-digital converter. The effectiveness of the prototype is evaluated through laboratory tests, demonstrating its measurement accuracy comparable to that of wire-based integral electronics piezoelectric accelerometers. Furthermore, ALE performance for SHM purposes is validated by carrying out shaking table tests on the real-size model of a stone pinnacle of the Washington D.C. National Cathedral.