Mark Leach

Tuning of Kalman Filter Parameters via Genetic Algorithm for State-of-Charge Estimation in Battery Management System

In this work, a state-space battery model is derived mathematically to estimate the state-of-charge (SoC) of a battery system. Subsequently, Kalman filter (KF) is applied to predict the dynamical behavior of the battery model. Results show an accurate prediction as the accumulated error, in terms of root-mean-square (RMS), is a very small value. From this work, it is found that different sets of Q and R values (KFs parameters) can be applied for better performance and hence lower RMS error. This is the motivation for the application of a metaheuristic algorithm. Hence, the result is further improved by applying a genetic algorithm (GA) to tune Q and R parameters of the KF. In an online application, a GA can be applied to obtain the optimal parameters of the KF before its application to a real plant (system). This simply means that the instantaneous response of the KF is not affected by the time consuming GA as this approach is applied only once to obtain the optimal parameters. The relevant workable MATLAB source codes are given in the appendix to ease future work and analysis in this area.

Medical Applications of Microwave Imaging

Ultrawide band (UWB) microwave imaging is a promising method for the detection of early stage breast cancer, based on the large contrast in electrical parameters between malignant tumour tissue and the surrounding normal breast-tissue. In this paper, the detection and imaging of a malignant tumour are performed through a tomographic based microwave system and signal processing. Simulations of the proposed system are performed and postimage processing is presented. Signal processing involves the extraction of tumour information from background information and then image reconstruction through the confocal method delay-and-sum algorithms. Ultimately, the revision of time-delay and the superposition of more tumour signals are applied to improve accuracy.

Wireless body area network and its applications

Recent interest and advancements in Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) has increased significantly, in no small part due to the demand for health monitoring devices, not only for use in professional healthcare institutions, but also from an ever increasing number of health conscious individuals. This paper focuses on providing an overview of WBAN applications, spanning the medical and non-medical fields. Furthermore, the challenges and issues needing to be addressed for various applications are highlighted for future work.

Design of an arduino-based smart car

Remote-controlled cars are one of the most popular toy products currently on the mass market. Each series of car has a specific remote-control unit. This presents the consumer with a critical problem; obtaining a substitution controller where the original control unit has broken down. In this work a robot based on an external Arduino microcontroller, controllable by an Android application via Bluetooth, which can be recommended as a prototype for the combination of embedded systems with Android mobile devices is investigated.

Radio frequency energy harvesting technology

Radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting is a promising technique to energize low power electronic devices due to the sustainability it could offer resulting from the surge in ambient wireless signals it could utilize. In this paper, a concise literature survey on this technique is presented. Firstly, the architecture of a RF energy harvesting network is briefly introduced. Secondly, background relating to the antenna and rectifier designs is provided. Finally, some state-of-the-art designs from recent years are presented.

Wearable antenna design for bioinformation

This paper is a study of wearable antenna design for medical applications. A literature review of existing wearable systems is performed, with specific attention paid to the antenna element. Two antennas working at 2.4 GHz were simulated using a software tool; firstly a basic rectangular patch on FR4 substrate and the other on soft textile material. The bending performance of the soft textile antenna was investigated.

Rectanna design for energy harvesting

Research is increasingly focusing on energy harvesting as energy demands continue to rise and natural resources begin to deplete. This paper briefly introduces a basic framework of the rectifying antenna (rectenna) system and three different examples of rectennas for RF energy harvesting and wireless power transmission.

State-of-the-art of 60 GHz antennas in wireless body area network

Many state-of-the-art applications exploiting high data rates have been developed in recent years for the civilian arena. One frequency that has been adopted for use in these applications is 60 GHz and so a variety of small size antennas have been designed operating at this frequency. A review of 60 GHz antennas is presented in this paper. This paper also illustrates some of the advantages and disadvantages of operating in this region such as decreased cross-system interference.

The new wrappable wireless capsule antennas

A general introduction to wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) and WCE antennas are firstly presented. The most important part of this paper lies in the investigation of the inductively loaded wrappable patch antenna. The original design is 18.5 mm in width and 31 mm in the length. The substrate material is LCP and the antenna radiates at 433 MHZ. In total 39 pairs of notches are averagely subtracted from the patch. Software-based simulation and optimization is performed in accordance with Rogers Duroid 5870 as a substrate material. The 5870-based study model is focused on theoretically exploring the properties of the structure. Additionally, some innovative structures are designed, including a log-periodic structure and miniaturised antenna for WCE applications for children.