Custom-made dynamometry was shown to objectively analyze human muscle strength around the ankle joint with accuracy, easy portability and low costs. This paper describes the full method of calibration and measurement setup and the measurement procedure when capturing ankle torque for establishing reliability of a portable custom-built electronic dynamometer. After considering the load cell offset voltage, the pivotal position was determined, and calibration with loads followed. Linear regression was used for calculating the proportionality constant between torque and measured voltage. Digital means were used for data collection and processing. Four healthy consenting participants were enrolled in the study. Three consecutive maximum voluntary isometric contractions of five seconds each were registered for both feet during plantar flexion/dorsiflexion, and ankle torque was then calculated for three ankle inclinations. A calibration procedure resulted, comprising determination of the pivotal axis and pedal constant. Using the obtained data, a measurement procedure was proposed. Obtained contraction time graphs led to easier filtering of the results. When calculating the interclass correlation, the portable apparatus demonstrated to be reliable when measuring ankle torque. When a custom-made dynamometer was used for capturing ankle torque, accuracy of the method was assured by a rigorous calibration and measurement protocol elaboration.
The development of autonomous battery powered systems which can be deployed in inaccessible locations for sensing applications has determined the development of various energy harvesting systems. Such an energy harvester is the one developed by Powercast which can convert the energy of radio frequency signals into useful power. A model of the harvested power can prove to be a useful tool for simulation purposes as it can provide, to some extent, prior knowledge of available energy resources when optimally deploying sensor networks. To obtain an accurate model of the harvested energy we have developed an experimental setup which has been used to determine the harvested power in two different environments, a hallway and a parking lot. We have developed the experimental setup to determine the amount of power available at the output of the radio frequency harvester which consists of a current measurement system and a data acquisition system. We have also modeled through simulations the harvested power based on the characteristics of the transmitter and receiver antennas and those of the environment. We have compared the results obtained through in field measurement with the ones obtained through simulation and we have shown that within certain margins of error of maximum 2 dBm one can successfully predict the amount of energy the system can harvest. However the RF-DC and Boost converter efficiency are also key factors in the quantity of harvested energy
This paper deals with a notable absence of in the signal processing libraries of MATLAB/GNU Octave computer algebra systems (CAS): the Schmitt Trigger. As far as we are aware, MATLAB lacks an implementation of a Schmitt Trigger function. GNU Octave has a function built in signal package that implements a multi signal Schmitt trigger with levels, with inconstant results in our trials. We have implemented a compiled function in both suites, which solves the problem of the implementation and likewise the processing speed. Also, we are proposing a compiled implementation of this functionality compatible with both software suites. Compared to a script for loop implementation our function performs in average 10x faster in MATLAB and up to 2000x faster in GNU Octave, processing a 10^9 random vector in about less then 10s on a reference computer configuration.
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