11.5 Ultra-low Power Devices for Health and Rehabilitation
Date: Thursday 12 March 2015
Time: 14:00 - 15:30
Location / Room: Meije
Chair:
Georgios Karakonstantis, Queen's University, GB
Co-Chair:
José M. Moya, Technical University of Madrid, ES
The session addresses scientific contribution in the field of ultra-low power devices and communication for medical, health and rehabilitation application. The first paper presents an innovative wearable device to assist writing rehabilitation. The next two papers cover different key aspects related to signal processing approaches for wireless compression and low-power coding for future Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices.
| Time | Label | Presentation Title Authors |
|---|---|---|
| 14:00 | 11.5.1 | PAPER, PEN AND INK: AN INNOVATIVE SYSTEM AND SOFTWARE FRAMEWORK TO ASSIST WRITING REHABILITATION Speakers: Leonardo Guardati1, Filippo Casamassima1, Elisabetta Farella2 and Luca Benini3 1Università di Bologna, IT; 2Fondazione Bruno Kessler, IT; 3Università di Bologna / Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ), Abstract Handwriting analysis and rehabilitation is an actively explored area in the diagnosis and treatment of Parkinson's disease, which is usually performed in an ambulatory setting under direct supervision of a clinician. Technology enhanced handwriting is actively explored to reduce the need of physical co-presence of clinician and patient and to enhance diagnostic precision through the computation of non-subjective handwriting quality metrics. This paper introduces an innovative handwriting rehabilitation system for PD patients which ensures a natural writing experience as it is based on pen and paper (as opposed to tablet and stylus). The system is designed for human-in-the loop operation and it can analyze handwriting in real-time and provide vocal feedback to guide the patient during the execution of exercises. We present a detailed comparative characterization of the key components of the system, namely wireless smart pens. In addition, in-field test assessed the system usability regarding its ease of use, calibration precision and vocal feedback effectiveness. Download Paper (PDF; Only available from the DATE venue WiFi) |
| 14:30 | 11.5.2 | AN ALL-DIGITAL SPIKE-BASED ULTRA-LOW-POWER IR-UWB DYNAMIC AVERAGE THRESHOLD CROSSING SCHEME FOR MUSCLE FORCE WIRELESS TRANSMISSION Speakers: Amirhossein Shahshahani1, Masoud Shahshahani1, Maurizio Martina1, Guido Masera1, Danilo Demarchi2, Marco Crepaldi3, Paolo Motto Ros3 and Alberto Bonanno3 1Politecnico di Torino, IT; 2Politecnico di Torino / Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia@PoliTo, IT; 3Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia@PoliTo, IT Abstract We introduce an Impulse Radio Ultra-Wide Band (IR-UWB) radio transmission scheme for miniaturized biomedical applications based on a dynamic and adaptive voltage thresholding of surface Electro Myo Graphy (sEMG) signals. The amplified sEMG signal is compared to a DAC-generated threshold computed from the previous 1-bit history by custom digital control logic running at 2kHz clock and implementing an ad-hoc algorithm (Dynamic Average Threshold Crossing, D-ATC). The resulting events and the associated digitized voltage level can be both asynchronously radiated through IR-UWB. Analyzes show that the scheme is robust w.r.t. the sEMG signal variability and correlates by 96% with regard to raw muscle force information after signal is recomputed at the RX. This paper compares DATC with regard to a fixed threshold system and an Average Threshold Crossing (ATC) demonstrating improved robustness, and introduces the thresholding algorithm verified on a dataset of 190 sEMG recorded signals. The applied threshold resolution has been optimized to both minimize the size of transmitted data and to guarantee good correlation performance. The paper concludes with post-synthesis results of the D-ATC compact digital control logic in a 0.18μm CMOS process, demonstrating an extremely low power consumption at very low active area expenses. Download Paper (PDF; Only available from the DATE venue WiFi) |
| 15:00 | 11.5.3 | A PULSED-INDEX TECHNIQUE FOR SINGLE-CHANNEL, LOW-POWER, DYNAMIC SIGNALING Speakers: Shahzad Muzaffar, Jerald Yoo, Ayman Shabra and Ibrahim (Abe) Elfadel, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, AE Abstract The most common operation of an IoT sensor is that of short activity bursts separated by long time intervals in sleep or listen modes. During the data bursts, sensed information has to be reliably communicated in real time without draining the energy resources of the sensor node. One way to save such resources is to efficiently code the data burst, use single-channel communication, and adopt ultra-low-power communication circuit techniques. Clock-data recovery (CDR) circuits are typically significant consumers of energy on traditional single-channel communication protocols. In this paper, we present a novel single-channel protocol that does not require any CDR circuitry. The protocol is based on the novel concept of a pulsed index where data is encoded to minimize the number of ON bits, move them to the LSB end of the packet, and transmit the ON bit indices in the form of a pulse stream. The pulse count is equal to the index of the ON bit. We call this protocol Pulsed Index Communication (PIC). Beside the elimination of CDR, we show that the implementation of PIC is very area-efficient, low-power and highly tolerant of clocking differences between transmitter and receiver. We present both an FPGA and an ASIC implementation of the protocol and use them to illustrate the performance, reliability and power consumption features of PIC signaling. In particular, we show that for an ASIC implementation on 65nm technology, PIC can reduce area by more than 80% and power by more than 70% in comparison with a CDR-based serial bit transfer protocol. Download Paper (PDF; Only available from the DATE venue WiFi) |
| 15:30 | End of session Coffee Break in Exhibition Area Coffee Break in Exhibition AreaOn all conference days (Tuesday to Thursday), coffee and tea will be served during the coffee breaks at the below-mentioned times in the exhibition area. Lunch BreakOn Tuesday and Wednesday, lunch boxes will be served in front of the session room Salle Oisans and in the exhibition area for fully registered delegates (a voucher will be given upon registration on-site). On Thursday, lunch will be served in Room Les Ecrins (for fully registered conference delegates only). Tuesday, March 10, 2015Coffee Break 10:30 - 11:30 Lunch Break 13:00 - 14:30; Keynote session from 13:20 - 14:20 (Room Oisans) sponsored by Mentor Graphics Coffee Break 16:00 - 17:00 Wednesday, March 11, 2015Coffee Break 10:00 - 11:00 Lunch Break 12:30 - 14:30, Keynote lectures from 12:50 - 14:20 (Room Oisans) Coffee Break 16:00 - 17:00 Thursday, March 12, 2015Coffee Break 10:00 - 11:00 Lunch Break 12:30 - 14:00, Keynote lecture from 13:20 - 13:50 Coffee Break 15:30 - 16:00 |
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