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Advanced Electromagnetic Sensors in Environmental, Industrial and Medical Applications

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A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Physical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2021) | Viewed by 33174

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Tomasz Rymarczyk

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Guest Editor

Institute of Computer Science and Innovative Technologies, WSEI University, Lublin, Poland
Interests: electromagnetism; energy efficiency; tomography; artificial intelligence; machine learning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Ewa Korzeniewska

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Guest Editor

Vice-President of Polish Society of Applied Electromagnetism, Faculty of Electrical, Electronic, Computer and Control Engineering, Lodz University of Technology, Stefanowskiego 18/22, 90-924 Łódź, Poland
Interests: materials science; textronics; wearable electronics; thin films; electromagnetic field applications; electrical engineering systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive overview of current changes in the use of electromagnetism in new solutions and computational methods in environmental, industrial, medical, tomographic and IT applications, including mathematical aspects. In this Special Issue, full research articles, reviews and highly-rated manuscripts will be published. The main focus will be on interdisciplinary work and the gathering of research fields, which include experimental, theoretical and computational work, artificial intelligence, analysis and interpretation of data.

Prof. Dr. Tomasz Rymarczyk
Dr. Ewa Korzeniewska
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Smart Sensors
Transducers
Sensing Technologies
Electromagnetic Sensing
Soft Sensor
RFID Sensors
Wearable Sensors
Nondestructive Testing
Inverse Problems
Tomography
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Deep Learning
Medical Imaging
Image Analysis
Data Analysis
Numerical Calculation
Internet of Things
Industry 4.0

Published Papers (12 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 4571 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Microwave Non-Destructive Testing for Delamination Detection in Layered Composite Pipelines

by Przemysław Sobkiewicz, Paweł Bieńkowski and Wojciech Błażejewski

Sensors 2021, 21(12), 4168; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21124168 - 17 Jun 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3032

Abstract

Microwave imaging and defectoscopy are promising techniques for dielectric composite evaluation. Their most significant advantage is their relatively high penetration depth. Another feature worth noting is that traditional methods could not acquire an internal content with such a low impact on both the sample and surrounding environment, including the test operator, compared to other techniques. This paper presents microwave non-destructive and noninvasive methods for quality evaluation of layered composite materials using an open-ended waveguide probe. Pure |S₁₁| parameters only exceptionally give a clear answer about the location of material cracks. Therefore, this makes it necessary to analyze these parameters simultaneously along with several other factors, such as stand-off distance, probe type or wave polarization. The purpose of the work was to find the dependency between the physical state of a layered composite powerplant pipeline and the S-matrix parameters response (reflection and transmission parameters) in a Ku frequency band that has not yet been extensively researched. Lower-frequency measurements broaden the application possibility for thicker composites, mainly because of a higher penetration depth and measurement setup availability. Different methods have been shown, including reflection and transmission/reflection methods, both in close proximity and in stand-off distance. The measurements are based on a low-complexity experimental setup. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Electromagnetic Sensors in Environmental, Industrial and Medical Applications)

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16 pages, 24565 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Short-Time Fourier Transform Based on Metaprogramming and the Stockham Optimization Method

by Grzegorz Rybak and Krzysztof Strzecha

Sensors 2021, 21(12), 4123; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21124123 - 15 Jun 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2678

Abstract

The extension for high-performance STFT (Short-Time Fourier Transform) algorithm written entirely in Java language for non-parallel computations is presented in the current paper. This solution could compete with the best available and most common algorithms supplied by libraries such as FFTW or JTransform. The main idea was to move complex computations and expensive functions to the program generation phase. Thus, only core and essential operations were executed during the runtime phase. Furthermore, new approach allows to eliminate the necessity for a rearrangement operation that uses the bit-reversal permutation technique. This article presents a brief description of the STFT solution that was worked out as an extension for the original application, in order to increase its efficiency. The solution remains a Stockham algorithm adapted using metaprogramming techniques and entails an additional reduction its execution time. Performance tests and experiments were conducted using a Java Platform and JMH library, which allowed for accurate execution time measurements. Major aspects of the Java VM like warm-up effects were also taken into consideration. Solution was applied into Electrical Capacitance Tomography measurement system in order to measure the material changes during the silo discharging industrial process. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Electromagnetic Sensors in Environmental, Industrial and Medical Applications)

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20 pages, 4232 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Electrical Tomography Reconstruction Using Reconfigurable Waveforms in a FPGA

by Andres Vejar and Tomasz Rymarczyk

Sensors 2021, 21(9), 3272; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21093272 - 10 May 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2008

Abstract

The principal objective of this research is to conceive a mobile system based on electrical tomography for subsurface imaging and monitoring in order to enable simultaneous recording of electrical potentials of cardiac and pulmonary activity. For an exploration of excitation waveforms in electrical tomography, specialized hardware is required. As the main principle of tomography is the measurement of electrical perturbations on an unknown object, it is crucial to synchronize excitation and sensing processes in a very precise way for the purpose of acquiring meaningful data. To cope with this problem, an FPGA device is used, with an architecture that allows us to trigger excitation signals and to read sensed data simultaneously via independent processes that share the same clock. In this way, waveform reconfiguration on frequency and shape can be provided and studied. The system is connected to a standard microcontroller SoC with a simple API that allows for IoT capabilities for on-line operation and tracking, given that the design is targeted for in vivo medical monitoring. As a result of the research work, a measuring device was developed, the surface data analyzed and the image was reconstructed using the selected configuration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Electromagnetic Sensors in Environmental, Industrial and Medical Applications)

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20 pages, 7003 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Measurement-Based Domain Parameter Optimization in Electrical Impedance Tomography Imaging

by Jan Dusek and Jan Mikulka

Sensors 2021, 21(7), 2507; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21072507 - 03 Apr 2021

Cited by 32 | Viewed by 3442

Abstract

This paper discusses the optimization of domain parameters in electrical impedance tomography-based imaging. Precise image reconstruction requires accurate, well-correlated physical and numerical finite element method (FEM) models; thus, we employed the Nelder–Mead algorithm and a complete electrode model to evaluate the individual parameters, including the initial conductivity, electrode misplacement, and shape deformation. The optimization process was designed to calculate the parameters of the numerical model before the image reconstruction. The models were verified via simulation and experimental measurement with single source current patterns. The impact of the optimization on the above parameters was reflected in the applied image reconstruction process, where the conductivity error dropped by 6.16% and 11.58% in adjacent and opposite driving, respectively. In the shape deformation, the inhomogeneity area ratio increased by 11.0% and 48.9%; the imprecise placement of the 6th electrode was successfully optimized with adjacent driving; the conductivity error dropped by 12.69%; and the inhomogeneity localization exhibited a rise of 66.7%. The opposite driving option produces undesired duality resulting from the measurement pattern. The designed optimization process proved to be suitable for correlating the numerical and the physical models, and it also enabled us to eliminate imaging uncertainties and artifacts. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Electromagnetic Sensors in Environmental, Industrial and Medical Applications)

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13 pages, 2895 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Plug Regime Flow Velocity Measurement Problem Based on Correlability Notion and Twin Plane Electrical Capacitance Tomography: Use Case

by Volodymyr Mosorov, Grzegorz Rybak and Dominik Sankowski

Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2189; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21062189 - 21 Mar 2021

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 2221

Abstract

In this paper, the authors present the flow velocity measurement based on twin plane sensor electrical capacitance tomography and the cross-correlation method. It is shown that such a technique has a significant restriction for its use, particularly for the plug regime of a flow. The major issue is with the irregular regime of the flow when portions of propagated material appear in different time moments. Thus, the requirement of correlability of analyzed input signal patterns should be met. Therefore, the checking of the correlability should be considered by such a technique. The article presents a study of the efficiency of the original algorithm of automatic extraction of the suitable signal patterns which has been recently proposed, to calculate flow velocity. The obtained results allow for choosing in practice the required parameters of the algorithm to correct the extraction of signal patterns in a proper and accurate way. Various examples of the application of the discussed algorithm were presented, along with the analysis of the influence of the parameters used on the quality of plugs identification and determination of material flow. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Electromagnetic Sensors in Environmental, Industrial and Medical Applications)

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19 pages, 2023 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Design of High Performance Scroll Microcoils for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of Nanoliter and Subnanoliter Samples

by Meriam Khelifa, Denis Mounier and Nourdin Yaakoubi

Sensors 2021, 21(1), 170; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21010170 - 29 Dec 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2582

Abstract

The electromagnetic properties of scroll microcoils are investigated with finite element modelling (FEM) and the design of experiment (DOE) approach. The design of scroll microcoils was optimized for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of nanoliter and subnanoliter sample volumes. The unusual proximity effect favours optimised scroll microcoils with a large number of turns rolled up in close proximity. Scroll microcoils have many advantages over microsolenoids: such as ease of fabrication and better

B_{1}

-homogeneity for comparable intrinsic signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Scroll coils are suitable for broadband multinuclei NMR spectroscopy of subnanoliter sample. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Electromagnetic Sensors in Environmental, Industrial and Medical Applications)

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17 pages, 1573 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hybrid Method of Automated EEG Signals’ Selection Using Reversed Correlation Algorithm for Improved Classification of Emotions

by Agnieszka Wosiak and Aleksandra Dura

Sensors 2020, 20(24), 7083; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s20247083 - 10 Dec 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3138

Abstract

Based on the growing interest in encephalography to enhance human–computer interaction (HCI) and develop brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) for control and monitoring applications, efficient information retrieval from EEG sensors is of great importance. It is difficult due to noise from the internal and external artifacts and physiological interferences. The enhancement of the EEG-based emotion recognition processes can be achieved by selecting features that should be taken into account in further analysis. Therefore, the automatic feature selection of EEG signals is an important research area. We propose a multistep hybrid approach incorporating the Reversed Correlation Algorithm for automated frequency band—electrode combinations selection. Our method is simple to use and significantly reduces the number of sensors to only three channels. The proposed method has been verified by experiments performed on the DEAP dataset. The obtained effects have been evaluated regarding the accuracy of two emotions—valence and arousal. In comparison to other research studies, our method achieved classification results that were 4.20–8.44% greater. Moreover, it can be perceived as a universal EEG signal classification technique, as it belongs to unsupervised methods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Electromagnetic Sensors in Environmental, Industrial and Medical Applications)

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16 pages, 4050 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Changes in Fabric Surface Pilling under Laser Ablation

by Ewa Korzeniewska, Jarosław Gocławski, Joanna Sekulska-Nalewajko, Maria Walczak and Bożena Wilbik-Hałgas

Sensors 2020, 20(20), 5832; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s20205832 - 15 Oct 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2842

Abstract

Textiles require finishing to improve their usability and functionality but in the first place, to reduce of pilling tendency, which affects all kinds of synthetic and natural fabrics. Several laser ablation tests have been applied to the selected fabrics with different chemical composition to reveal the impact of this process on the pilling behavior. To reflect the pilling changes, two textural descriptors have been proposed to textile images obtained with optical coherence tomography (OCT). They showed the trend to reduce values with increasing laser power applied to the tested fabrics. It has been demonstrated, that in the case of textiles based on polyester threads, laser modification of the product surface led to a significant reduction in their tendency for pilling. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Electromagnetic Sensors in Environmental, Industrial and Medical Applications)

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19 pages, 21935 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A New Label-Free and Contactless Bio-Tomographic Imaging with Miniaturized Capacitively-Coupled Spectroscopy Measurements

by Gege Ma and Manuchehr Soleimani

Sensors 2020, 20(11), 3327; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s20113327 - 11 Jun 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2937

Abstract

A new bio-imaging method has been developed by introducing an experimental verification of capacitively coupled resistivity imaging in a small scale. This paper focuses on the 2D circular array imaging sensor as well as a 3D planar array imaging sensor with spectroscopic measurements in a wide range from low frequency to radiofrequency. Both these two setups are well suited for standard containers used in cell and culture biological studies, allowing for fully non-invasive testing. This is true as the capacitive based imaging sensor can extract dielectric spectroscopic images from the sample without direct contact with the medium. The paper shows the concept by deriving a wide range of spectroscopic information from biological test samples. We drive both spectra of electrical conductivity and the change rate of electrical conductivity with frequency as a piece of fundamentally important information. The high-frequency excitation allows the interrogation of critical properties that arise from the cell nucleus. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Electromagnetic Sensors in Environmental, Industrial and Medical Applications)

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19 pages, 5907 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quality Assessment of the Neural Algorithms on the Example of EIT-UST Hybrid Tomography

by Grzegorz Kłosowski, Tomasz Rymarczyk, Tomasz Cieplak, Konrad Niderla and Łukasz Skowron

Sensors 2020, 20(11), 3324; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s20113324 - 11 Jun 2020

Cited by 48 | Viewed by 2804

Abstract

The paper presents the results of research on the hybrid industrial tomograph electrical impedance tomography (EIT) and ultrasonic tomography (UST) (EIT-UST), operating on the basis of electrical and ultrasonic data. The emphasis of the research was placed on the algorithmic domain. However, it should be emphasized that all hardware components of the hybrid tomograph, including electronics, sensors and transducers, have been designed and mostly made in the Netrix S.A. laboratory. The test object was a tank filled with water with several dozen percent concentration. As part of the study, the original multiple neural networks system was trained, the characteristic feature of which is the generation of each of the individual pixels of the tomographic image, using an independent artificial neural network (ANN), with the input vector for all ANNs being the same. Despite the same measurement vector, each of the ANNs generates its own independent output value for a given tomogram pixel, because, during training, the networks get their respective weights and biases. During the tests, the results of three tomographic methods were compared: EIT, UST and EIT-UST hybrid. The results confirm that the use of heterogeneous tomographic systems (hybrids) increases the reliability of reconstruction in various measuring cases, which is used to solve quality problems in managing production processes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Electromagnetic Sensors in Environmental, Industrial and Medical Applications)

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Other

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10 pages, 6415 KiB

Open AccessLetter

Using Geiger Dosimetry EKO-C Device to Detect Ionizing Radiation Emissions from Building Materials

by Maciej Gliniak, Tomasz Dróżdż, Sławomir Kurpaska and Anna Lis

Sensors 2021, 21(2), 645; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21020645 - 18 Jan 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2120

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to check and assess what radiation is emitted by particular building materials with the passage of time. The analysis was performed with the EKO-C dosimetry device from Polon-Ekolab. The scope of the work included research on sixteen selected construction materials, divided into five groups. The analysis of the results showed that samples such as bricks (first group) and hollow blocks (second group) emit the highest radiation in the tested objects. When comparing these materials, the highest value was recorded when measuring the ceramic block of 15.76 mSv·yr⁻¹. Taking into account the bricks, the highest value of radiation was shown by a full clinker brick, 11.3 mSv·yr⁻¹. Insulation materials and finishing boards are two other groups of building materials that have been measured. They are characterised by a low level of radiation. In the case of materials for thermal insulation, the highest condition was demonstrated by graphite polystyrene of 4.463 mSv·yr⁻¹, while among finishing boards, the highest value of radiation was recorded for the measurement of gypsum board of 3.76 mSv·yr⁻¹. Comparing the obtained test results to the requirements of the Regulation of the Council of Ministers on ionizing radiation dose limits applicable in Poland, it can be noted that the samples examined individually do not pose a radiation risk to humans. When working with all types of samples, the radiation doses are added up. According to the guidelines of the regulation, the total radiation dose does not exceed 50 mSv·yr⁻¹ and does not constitute a threat to human health. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Electromagnetic Sensors in Environmental, Industrial and Medical Applications)

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12 pages, 6810 KiB

Open AccessLetter

Prototype of a Textronic Sensor Created with a Physical Vacuum Deposition Process for Staphylococcus aureus Detection

by Ewa Korzeniewska, Artur Szczęsny, Piotr Lipiński, Tomasz Dróżdż, Paweł Kiełbasa and Anna Miernik

Sensors 2021, 21(1), 183; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21010183 - 29 Dec 2020

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 2241

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus is a bacterium which people have been in contact with for thousands of years. Its presence often leads to severe disorders of the respiratory and circulatory systems. The authors of this article present a prototype of a textronic sensor enabling the detection of this bacterium. This sensor was created using a process of physical vacuum deposition on a flexible textile substrate which can be implemented on clothing. With increasing numbers of bacterial colonies, changes in the sensor’s electrical parameters were observed. The sensor’s resistance reduced by 50% and the capacitance more than doubled within the first two days of starting bacterial cultures. Extensive changes in electrical parameters were observed at 100 Hz and 120 Hz of the measurement signal. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Electromagnetic Sensors in Environmental, Industrial and Medical Applications)

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