Felicito S. Caluyo

Wireless system for pregnancy detection in cows by monitoring temperature changes in body

Wireless system was designed to measure body temperature remotely and detect early stage of pregnancy in multiple cows which consists of Personal computer (PC), Xbee modules and MATLAB program. The Xbee transmitters with the LM35 temperature sensors were attached under the tail head of the cows. The study investigated whether body temperature increases in cows after 5th to 12th day after insemination as suggested by previous study that an increase in milk or body temperature could be an indicator of an immune response of the mother to the entry of embryo into the uterus. A significant increase in body temperature was noted after insemination in the pregnant cow and otherwise in the non-pregnant cow. The results obtained in the study could suggest that low cost, commercially available electronic components and materials could be used as non-invasive pregnancy detection in cows with range of up to 40 m without human intervention.

Antenna Characterization and Determination of Path Loss Exponents for 677 MHz Channel Using Fixed and Portable Digital Terrestrial Television

This paper presents propagation measurements results using Integrated Services Digital Broadcast-Terrestrial (ISDB-T) to investigate the characteristics of 6MHz wideband Digital Terrestrial Television channel at 677MHz for flxed and portable reception. Empirical measurements were done at predetermined measurement points consisting of 21 radials for a total of 92 locations extending to 20 kilometers around the National Broadcasting Network (NBN) digital transmitter. Characterizations were conducted using antenna heights of 9m (flxed reception), 3m (flxed reception), and 1.5m (portable reception). Modulation Error Rate (MER), power received, fleld strength and delay proflles were captured to help characterize the channel in an urban area in and around Metro Manila at day time for temperatures ranging from 26 - C to 32 - C. Measured fleld strength was compared to NTC F(50;90) curves. Polynomial flt using least square errors was used to plot the fleld strength coverage of NBN. For large-scale fading, it is observed that signal power conforms to Log Normal distribution. The study helped identify problem sites within the coverage. These are locations within the coverage area or at the outskirts of the coverage area where DTV signal is not received at all. A more accurate description of the DTT channel will lead to a better design of the parts of the Digital Television system from the network to transmitting system and receiving equipment. Path loss exponents computed for the three antenna heights can be helpful in developing empirical prediction models.

Microcontroller-Implemented Artificial Neural Network for Electrooculography-Based Wearable Drowsiness Detection System

Various methods have been explored to develop an effective drowsiness detection system to give drivers a warning of impending drowsiness. The present work has successfully developed an electrooculagraphy-based wearable drowsiness detection system in the form of a visor cap by implementing an artificial neural network (ANN) into an Arduino LilyPadUSB microcontroller. As a result, a stand-alone and wearable system that does not require a computer was achieved. The performance of the system for drowsiness detection has an overall accuracy of 90.00 %, precision of 88.00 %, sensitivity of 91.67 % and a training mean squared error (MSE) of 2.70 × 10−3.

Effect of charging methods on self-discharge and leakage current of supercapacitors

In this paper, two different charging methods were discussed and experimental test using potentiostat were done. Self-discharge behavior were observed in each test applications in an open circuit for 24 hours. Supercapacitors were charge in a constant-current (CC) and constant-current, constant-voltage (CCCV) and both discharge in an open circuit (OC). Equivalent series resistance (ESR) and leakage current were extracted. Finally, a proposed mathematical formula to compute the self-discharge time of supercapacitor was presented. A two commercial supercapacitors with 4.7F and 3.3F capacitance and 2.5V were set-up in potentiostat using two-electrode mode.

Parameter extraction method for fractional order supercapacitor system model

Accuracy, as one of the major concerns in control systems, can be better achieved by considering the system to be of fractional order than of integer order, since not all physical relationships are ideal in nature. The large internal capacitance of supercapacitor, which causes longer time constant, leads to a complex internal behavior. This study proposed an equivalent circuit of a supercapacitor with parameters consisting of ohmic loss, leakage resistance, capacitance in fractional order, and inductance for high frequency applications. Riemann-Lioville definition of fractional calculus was used in formulating the equivalent mathematical model and in solving the order of the system for varying frequency. The Panasonics 10F and 30F gold capacitors were subjected to charge and discharge tests as well as in current-frequency test, and the resulting time responses and frequency responses were used in the parameter extraction.

Background change detection using wavelet transform

Detecting stationary objects in a scene has become a significant factor in image processing for the past few years due to its many applications in the field of safety and security. In most image surveillance systems, subtraction of images is the key to perform detection of objects in a scene. In this paper, the subtraction process will be utilizing the capabilities of Haar wavelet family. The wavelet transform will be employed in separating the foreground from the background as well as other operations and processes in order to come up with only the stationary objects in the scene. The study has three main processes namely: background modeling, subtraction and detection. The median function was used to model the background, Haar wavelet family for the subtraction process, and AND operation and Canny method for the edge detection process. The methods used resulted to satisfactory outputs giving the system a success rate of 95.11% with a confidence level of 100% in detecting 70% of the stationary objects added to or removed from the scene.

Simulation and modeling of charging and discharging of supercapacitors

Supercapacitors is the new technology that can be used to replace the battery or in parallel with battery with its fast charge-discharge characteristics. Possible applications of supercapacitors are in renewable energy as sustainable energy storage and hybrid electric vehicle (HEV). This study focus on charging and discharging of supercapacitors and its behavior. Mathematical models of charging and discharging with the proposed equivalent circuits were simulated and compared with actual experiment simulation using potentiostat. The equation for approximated full discharge time of supercapacitors was also presented. Two commercially available supercapacitors with 4.7F and 3.3F capacitance and 2.5V were set-up in potentiostat using two-electrode mode.

ZigBee and Power Line Communications interconnectivity applied to fuzzy logic controlled automated lighting system

The ongoing trend in technology made home appliances and electronic devices connect to the Internet. However, an issue on energy efficiency is still a big problem to different countries although these technologies were used. Recently, the European Commission introduced the use of Power Line Communications (PLC) in which data is being transmitted through power lines as a preparation for transition from the Electric Grid to a new concept Smart Grid. PLC being a new wired protocol is still under development to communicate with other protocols including wireless protocol for seamless connection. The study focuses on interconnecting ZigBee wireless protocol to the said wired protocol by developing a gateway to convert their protocols into one common protocol. A method used in converting protocols includes varying the PLCs Programmable System on Chip (PSoC) into a computer architecture which enables Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitted (UART) communication to successfully interconnect with ZigBee. The said interconnection is applied on a fuzzy logic controlled light system in which transmission test and power consumption was evaluated. The results of the analysis were presented to which they can be used as a guide for interconnecting other protocols with PLC.

Sign language word translator using Neural Networks for the Aurally Impaired as a tool for communication

Kohonen Self Organizing Maps are a type of Neural Networks which learn to recognize patterns and classify data sets in unsupervised manner. This research aimed to develop a system which converts hand gestures into Filipino words using algorithm such as Kohonen Self-Organizing Map. The system uses a webcam to capture hand images which can be processed to serve as input for Self-Organizing Map. Image processing techniques such as: color segmentation, visual-hand tracking, pre-processing, and feature extraction are used to achieve the objective. The system was developed using neural network toolbox and graphical user interface in MATLAB. The results show that the system can achieve 97.6% of recognition rate for 5 persons. It can be concluded that the system can be used by different users while generating high recognition rate.

Heuristic modelling of path loss inside residences at 677MHz

This study is based on the previous works conducted for the purpose of determining the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) coverage of National Broadcasting Network (NBN). It is also based on the results of indoor measurements conducted at 28 residential sites using live broadcast at 677 MHz. Penetration loss and path loss were investigated and a great contributor of indoor signal reduction in the four residential classifications considered, namely Class A, B, C and D. The focus of this study is to develop a statistical path loss model by measuring indoor losses caused by penetration and path loss inside residences using fixed and portable indoor antenna at 1.5m. The indoor path loss models developed for four residential classes were further calibrated for improved accuracy using heuristic approach.