Ioan Lita

A New Approach of Automobile Localization System Using GPS and GSM/GPRS Transmission

This paper presents a low cost automotive localization system using GPS and GSM-SMS services. The system permits localization of the automobile and transmitting the position to the owner on his mobile phone as a short message (SMS) at his request. The system can be interconnected with the car alarm system and alert the owner, on his mobile phone, about the events that occurs with his car when it is parked. The system is composed by a GPS receiver, a microcontroller and a GSM phone. Additional, the system can be settled for acquiring and transmitting of information, when requested, about automobile status and parameters (engine status, speed, direction, etc.) or alert when it started engine, exceed a given speed limit or if leave a specific area. By using the PC connection, the system can be used as navigation system. Optional, the system can be used as car tracking system if connected with GSM/GPRS phone. The presented application is a low cost solution for automobile position localizing and status, very useful in case of car theft situations (alarm alert, engine starting, localizing), for adolescent drivers watching and monitoring by their parents (speed limit exceeding, leaving a specific area), as well as in car tracking system application. The proposed solution can be used in other types of application, where the information needed are requested rarely and at irregular period of time (when requested).

Wireless measurement system based on ZigBee transmission technology

In this paper we present a new application that use ZigBee radio modules for implementation of an distributed system intended for continuous measurement and monitoring of radiation level in an surveillance area. Wireless measurement system is realized around JN5139-EK010 ZigBee development board which was programmed for this specific application. The system can be used for radiation level measurement and surveillance in the customs supervising offices, frontiers, nuclear plants, or other industrial or civil areas etc. Besides the development board, the hardware configuration of the proposed system comprises also the sensors mounted on remote modules. The development board is connected to PC through the serial interface. The remote modules periodically read the signals from sensors and send the result to the controller board that display the received data on a LCD panel. The analog signal processing from radiation sensors is realized with dynamically reconfigurable Field Programmable Analog Arrays AN221E04 from Anadigm. From the point of view of ZigBee protocol, in the proposed application the controller board is programmed to operate as Coordinator and the remote board act as End Device. If the system must be extended, some of the supplementary added ZigBee nodes will be necessary to be configured as Routers. The use of JN5139 ZigBee wireless microcontroller ensures a robust and secure communication between systems modules with very low power consumption. For obtaining a further reduction of the power consumption, the system has also the possibility to configure remote board thus to transmit data only when are interrogated by the controller board.

Digital image processing applied in drugs industry for detection of broken aspirin tablets

Interest in digital image processing methods stems from two principal areas: improvement of pictorial information for human interpretation and processing of image data for storage, transmission, and representation for autonomous machine perception. Today, there is no area of technical endeavor that is not impacted in same way by digital image processing. A major area of imaging is in automated visual inspection of manufactured goods. A typical image processing task with products like this is to inspect them for missing or wrong parts. Detecting some anomalies is a major theme of industrial inspection that includes a large area of products. The proposed paper presents an application for detection of broken aspirin tablets using image processing techniques. The application was implemented in an object oriented image processing software. The processing scheme can be adapted for other practical applications from other domains.

LabVIEW application for movement detection using image acquisition and processing

This paper presents a LabVIEW application and a hardware module used for movement detection of objects in a surveillance area (nuclear plant perimeters, frontiers, etc.) The system use as sensor a single video camera connected to the PC on the USB interface. An external module connected to the parallel interface of PC is used to drive a stepper motor that provides the proper orientation of the video camera. The extension to spherical coordinate orientation can be achieved using two similar electronic modules. The image acquisition and processing is realized in LabVIEW graphical programming environment. This confers to the application all the advantages of this software: modularity, simple implementation, attractive user interface, flexibility and possibility to develop very easy new features. The presented implementation can be also used in machine vision, robotics but also in equipments for automatic inspection of electronic modules.

Image processing techniques used for dental x-ray image analysis

Classification of dental caries is important for the diagnosis and treatment planning of the dental disease, which has been affecting a very large population throughout the globe. It is also helpful for conducting detailed study and investigations about the nature of the dental disease. Classification of dental diseases is decided on the basis of certain criteria, such as based on whether the lesion is within the enamel, dentin or whether it touches the pulp. Dental caries are, clearly visible in the X-ray changes and it can be detected from the caries lesion present in the radiographs. In this paper we propose to show how image processing techniques will help check the X-ray and examine the extent to which the caries lesion is present and then classify the type of caries present in the dental radiograph.

FPAA based PID controller with applications in the nuclear domain

This paper presents a new approach for implementation of PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) controller using reconfigurable analogical circuits (FPAA — Field Programmable Analog Array) with application in temperature control in nuclear domain. Using the dynamically reconfigurable FPAA circuits, implementation of the PID controller became more easily than classical analogical design, with the possibility of adapting the controller to deal with different signals levels and changing the controller constants on-the-fly during operation. Also, implementation of self-tuning Analog PID controller it is possible with FPAA. Different configuration for PID controller was implemented and compared.

Technologies for Remote Data Acquisition Systems in Environmental Monitoring

This paper presents a data acquisition module for remote measurements and monitoring. As an application, the system can be used for measuring and monitoring of indoor or outdoor environmental parameters (temperature, humidity, illumination, etc). The system permits connection to a PC USB port directly, by cable, or through radio link using radio transmitting/receiving modules. The radio modules work on 433 MHz frequency, are very stable and are realized in hybrid technology. Also, the presented data acquisition and monitoring system can be easily adapted for Bluetooth or Irda link. To increase the distance for remote monitoring, the application transmits measured data over Internet, using DataSocket technology. The software interface for PC is implemented in LabVIEW. The proposed implementation represents a versatile and low cost solution for remote data acquisition, because it uses generally purpose components.

Simulation and implementation of adaptive and matched filters using FPAA technology

This paper presents the results obtained in the simulation and implementation of adaptive and matched filters using the new technology of FPAA (Field Programmable Analog Arrays). The proposed filter structures are intended to be used in conditioning of signals from radiation sensors but can be also used in any application that necessitates signal extraction from noise. For the implementation of the filter were used configurable analog blocks (CABs) from Anadigm AN221E04 dynamically reconfigurable chip. The most important advantage of the proposed design is represented by the possibility to reconfigure the filter characteristics in order to meet application specific requirements.

FPAA implementation of signal processing circuits for radiation sensors

In this paper we present new application of FPAA (Field Programmable Analog Array) circuits for analog signal processing from radiation sensors. We used the dynamically reconfigurable FPAA AN221E04 from Anadigm for implementation of analog circuits like programmable filters and amplifiers suitable for interfacing with radiation sensors. The introductory part of the paper contains aspects regarding radiation sensors, analogue circuits for sensors interfacing and signal processing and reconfigurable analog circuits. The last part of the paper presents the implementation of filters and amplifiers with field programmable analog circuits.

FPGA-based system for data acquisition and remote communication

In this paper we present a system that we made for acquisition and processing of data on multiple channels (8 in total) and transmitting the remote results through the Ethernet interface. The solution chosen by us involves the system implementing in FPGA where any processes running in parallel can be described - the acquisition processes from the AD sensors and possibly data processing processes. Our solution is a fully integrated system in an FPGA, which is composed of two main parts: the acquisition and processing of data part, made of modules (IP core) working in parallel and the communication part that consists of an architect of RISC processor, which takes the data processed by the parallel modules and can transmit them by running libraries for the TCPIP communication, just like a stand-alone processor. The solution was basically made on a Xilinx Spartan 6 FPGA circuit to which eight AD converters are connected, each taking data from one sensor. The model has an Ethernet interface which was used for remote data communication. On the processor implemented by us in FPGA we ran a TCP server, which through a client-server session allows the communication of the data.