Volker Ribitsch, University of Graz, Austria Omnipresent sensor systems - the pros and cons of monitoring almost every aspect of our world – environment, processes, humans http://obc2012.outofthebox.si/

1. JOANNE M
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RESEARCH
Omnipresent sensor systems –
the pros and cons of monitoring almost
every aspect of our world – environment,
processes, humans
Out of the Box conference, Maribor 2012
Volker Ribitsch
Physical Chemistry
University Graz, Institute of Chemistry
Joanneum Research Graz, Institute Materials, Sensor Systems
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2. JOANNE M
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Omnipresent sensor systems RESEARCH
• Many innovative aspects to improve the quality of
living
- Health, environment, technology
• Also aspects reducing the quality and culture of
living
- Sociological aspects
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3. JOANNE M
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Overview RESEARCH
• Sensors – their technology
• Technical vs. biological
sensors
• Sensor applications
– Industry
– Environment
– Health care
• Positive aspects
• Questionable aspects
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4. JOANNE M
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What is a sensor ? RESEARCH
• SENSORS are devices transforming non-electrical signals –
biological, chemical, physical - into electrical signals.
Myriad of them in everyday devices surrounds us in our daily live.
• Sensors are little devices embedded in a wide range of products
and often overlooked in our IT centered world.
• They provide manufacturer, sales organisation, consumer,
environment control organs, health care organisations with a
permanent flow of data.
• They provide due to wireless intelligence and capabilities
on one side safety, flexibility, mobility and ease of use
on the other side information about our whereabouts, health and
fitness conditions to organizations, persons we do not know.
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5. JOANNE M
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Sensor applications RESEARCH
• Industrial process / products control and management
• Energy management and efficiency
• Automotive technology
• Consumer device control
• Control of public places
• Home and commercial building control and
automation
• Food production - quality (and pathogens) control
• Health care
• Many more
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What do they sense?
RESEARCH
Physical Chemical Biological
Temperature pH (acidic, basic) Heart beat
Pressure Conductivity Blood pressure
Length Concentration ?? Glucose
Distance Redox potential Oxygenation
Revolution
Sound Antibodies
Time span Proteins
Optical signals DNA
Colour
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7. JOANNE M
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Sensors – basic principles
RESEARCH
Transfer a chemical, physical, biological
signal into an electrical signal:
Electrical
Transducer
Processing
Input Output
signal A/ D signal
Non electrical / Converter
electrical signal Amplification
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8. JOANNE M
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Working principle RESEARCH
Input Transformation Signal processing
Transducer
Technical sensors
non electrical signal electrical signals microprocessor
physical, chemical resistance, voltage storage
current
Biological sensors
biological compounds signal molecules nerve cells
nerve cells brain
electrical signals
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9. JOANNE M
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Technical sensors RESEARCH
Magnetic field temperature light Typical industrial sensor systems
Size: 0.5 – 2 mm diameter
Development trend: electrical replaced by optical sensors
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10. JOANNE M
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Optochemical Sensors for
Industrial Process Control RESEARCH
(~2003)
(~2008) O2, CO2, pH, …
In-line sensor for process systems´and
vessels
Present Implementation:
Oxygen process sensor for
the beverage industry (
breweries)
(~2010) Particular Challenge:
Must withstand CiP („Cleaning in
Place“)
•NaOH
•HCl
•HNO3
•HOOAc
•H3PO4
•HClO
•Temperatures >90dC 10

11. JOANNE M
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RFID Radio Frequency
Identification RESEARCH
• Passive sensor
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12. JOANNE M
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Biological sensors RESEARCH
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13. JOANNE M
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Biosensors RESEARCH
Biosensors combine the excellent selectivity of biology with the
processing power of modern microelectronics and optoelectronics.
They offer powerful new analytical tools with major applications in medicine,
environmental diagnostics and the food and processing industries.
Biosensors consist of bio-recognition systems, typically enzymes or binding
proteins (antibodies), nucleic acids immobilised onto the surface of physico-
chemical transducers.
Specific interactions between the target analyte and the complementary bio-
recognition layer produces physico-chemical changes which are measured
by the transducer.
Lab on a Chip
several hundred processes on one micro-chip
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14. JOANNE M
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Biosensors RESEARCH
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15. JOANNE M
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Biological sensor vs. technical sensor
systems RESEARCH
Technical Biological
systems systems
Digital camera Temperature Eye
sensor system
Resolution: 10 million pixels 1 out of 1000 7 million cones
(maximum 80*106) 120 million rods
Signal transfer: digital digital digital
Transfer: 16 bit 16 bit 106 fibres
Transfer rate 460 kHz 500 pulses /
neuron / sec
1,4 GBit/sec 15 MBit /sec 500 MBit / sec
Pre-processing no no yes
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16. JOANNE M
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Sensor market
RESEARCH
Annual growth:
Active sensor systems:
Technological sensor systems: > 10%
Biosensor sensor systems: > 20%
Passive sensor systems:
(Radio Frequency Identification RFID tags): > 50%
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17. JOANNE M
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Application
RESEARCH
Food industry: Control of beer production
• Oxygen in beverage - deteriorates the taste of beer!!
• Chemical parameter: pH, conductivity
• Hygienic aspects – O2 in closed food packages
Environmental control:
• Parameter monitored continuously:
– Dissolved oxygen, ionic strength, (pH)
• Demand: Heavy metals, hazardous substances, nitrate
Cars:
• Lambda sensor determines the O2 in the exhaust gas
• Distances
• Pressure, temperature, current …..
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Remote environmental
sensing system RESEARCH
DATA ACQUISITION
GPRS NETWORK
(GES) Central
Monitoring
Station
(CMS)
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Health application RESEARCH
Application in chronic disease monitoring, personal wellness
monitoring and personal fitness
1. Chronic Disease Monitoring
Episodic Patient Monitoring partially
Continuous Patient Monitoring classical parameter
Patient Alarm Monitoring yes
2. Personal Wellness Monitoring
Senior Activity Monitoring partially
Safety Monitoring partially
3. Personal Fitness Monitoring
Monitoring and Tracking Fitness Level partially
Personalized Fitness Schedule no
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20. JOANNE M
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O2, CO2, pH in organs RESEARCH
Optochemical glas fibre
sensor, 0.2 mm diameter
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21. JOANNE M
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Health application RESEARCH
Products available / under development for Health Care
Non stationary
• Glucose sensors invasive!
• Pulse oximeter
• Electrocardiograph (ECG)
• Heart beat detector
• Social alarm devices
Urgent need of wireless sensor devices communicating
with services. Very few devices available
This will allow safe, healthy and independent living
conditions for the disabled or elderly.
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22. JOANNE M
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Controlled situation RESEARCH
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23. JOANNE M
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Positive aspects – summary RESEARCH
Health related sensing systems:
• Change in medical treatment strategies – reshaping of health care:
– Now: post - incidents actions – reactive health care
– Future: pre – incident treatments – proactive health care
– Continuous monitoring to reduce hospitalization days and
health care costs
• Point-of-care medical device
• Wireless sensors for better health care and patient monitoring to
provide healthy and independent living conditions
Food control related systems:
• Better and constant quality
• Reduced risk of non food components (cleaning chemicals, broken
glass …)
• Reduced risk of deteriorated food
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24. JOANNE M
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Positive aspects – summary RESEARCH
Environmental monitoring:
• Better quality of life
• Control of release of harmful substances
• Early warning
Technological process monitoring
• Reduction of deficient products
• Increased product quality
• Reduced costs
• Improved sustainability
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25. JOANNE M
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Questionable aspects
RESEARCH
Past & Present Present & Future
Device 1 Device 2 Device 1 Device 2
Human Human – recording device
Manufacturer controlled device
communication – not
transparent
what, whom, when
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26. JOANNE M
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Questionable aspects RESEARCH
• There already exists and is under rapid development
a network of connected objects:
– Vehicles, machine components - intelligent machines
– Domestic consumable durables – smart home
– The clothes we ware – smart clothes
• All items are hooked up via identification and
tracking technologies - wireless sensors, actuators,
RFID (radio frequency identification) - to a network
with a speed most of us have yet to comprehend.
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27. JOANNE M
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The internet of things RESEARCH
This network of connected objects is the
"Internet of Things IoT“
first mentioned by Kevin Ashton in 1999
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Statements RESEARCH
Kevin Kelly executive editor of Wired Magazine (2004):
“Before 2030 everything will become connected and the web will be
the environment.
A pair of sneakers will become a “chip with heels”
A car will become an “assembly of sensors” and a “chip on wheels”
Kevin Kelly (2007)
"In 5000 days, since the start of the internet, less time than it takes
for a child to progress through the school system, the world has
been transformed. Online social networking through applications like
Myspace and Facebook are changing the nature of social
interactions”
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29. JOANNE M
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The next 5000 days of the web
RESEARCH
• “The speed in which the web transforms the industrialised world
shows no signs of slowing.
Every item, every artefact will become part of the web."
• CISCO predicts 50 billion connected active and passive sensors
by 2020!
• The IoT and the number of devices connected to the internet will
exceed in 2015 the number of people populating the entire planet.
• http://blogs.cisco.com/news/the-internet-of-things-infographic
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30. JOANNE M
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The situation 5000 days ago
RESEARCH
• No newspaper producer considered that the computer will shake the
power of the printing press!
• Which record company executive disbelieved its companies progress
and increased revenue?
• Who imagined that one can carry an entire library in a briefcase?
• Who had an idea that all our movements are tracked and recorded?
• It is evidenced by the increasing low cost of technologies as sensors
and radio-frequency identification (RFID) that almost any physical
artefact, any animal – any human ? - can be identified and tracked
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31. JOANNE M
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The situation now
RESEARCH
Now we have already the interconnection of many things:
• It is also an integral part of your / my life.
• Most of us carry RFID in our wallets without even knowing that we
are engaging with network technology.
We hold the cards we use to get into the office to the RFID reader
embedded in the wall near the door. This reader pushes a
constant wave of energy. The antenna in the chip picks up the
energy, then moves it on to the chip that says "hello".
The number appears in a database and any action can be attached
to that number: accept as OK and allow to pass.
• The computer is in our pocket and yet it has disappeared from our
consciousness
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32. JOANNE M
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The situation in 1000 days
RESEARCH
Consumables will tell us what has to be done:
• The refrigerator and the storage cabinet will let you know what
you have to cook because this is available in your household
• The vacuum cleaner or air cleaner will send text messages to
remind you that the filter is clogged
• Your flowers at the office will send SMS if they have to be
watered
• You might receive this messages every hour
• We will loose our personal responsibility !
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33. JOANNE M
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Statements
RESEARCH
Maria Karyda, Stefan Gritzalis, Jong Hyuk Park; Springer 2007
Two major society trends:
• There is a shift in the perception of privacy protection, which is
increasingly considered as a responsibility of the individual, instead of
an individuals right protected by a central authority, such as a state
and its laws.
• It appears that current IT research is largely based on the assumption
that personal privacy is quantifiable and bargainable.
There is a need for public awareness and discussion
and input from other related disciplines such as law
sociology and psychology!
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34. JOANNE M
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RESEARCH
Joke on a web site:
The consumer yells:
“Where are my damned keys?”
The keys answer:
"On top of the refrigerator you idiot!”
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35. JOANNE M
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RESEARCH
Thank you for your attention !
Thanks to the organizers for this
interesting conference!
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36. JOANNE M
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Eye – way of operation
RESEARCH
• Light sensitive photoreceptor cells transfer light signals into nerve
impulses
• Photoreceptor cells - 120 million rods and 7 million cones - in the retina
contain photosensitive rhodopsin molecules. An incoming light quant –
photon – changes rhodopsins conformation.
One rhodopsin molecule activated by one photon activates up to 2000
transducing molecules.
• Initiates an enzyme cascade – the visual signal transduction cascade
causing changes of the nerve cells activity
(noble price medicine biochemist Georg Wald 1967)
• Bipolar cells in the retina are activated – generating an ON and OFF bipolar
signal – a digitized signal. First signal processing – signal enhancement.
• Visual nerve – one million nerve fibres – signal transfer via electrical
signals. This is a membrane potential caused by active ion transport
through membranes
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37. JOANNE M
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Working principle
RESEARCH
• A SENSOR is a device transforming non-electrical signals –
biological, chemical, physical - into electrical signals
non electrical space electrical space
Measurement
value
Input value Transformer Transducer
Data
processing
Display
Transducer have many forms depending upon the parameters being measured –
electrochemical, optical, mass and thermal changes are the most common
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38. JOANNE M
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Application health care RESEARCH
• The US chronic disease device market:
– US $3.8 billion in 2010
– US $26 billion by 2015
• 2.3 million nodes (internet connections) used in 2010
– 5 % of the elderly population in North America and Japan.
• Netherlands: 50 percent of seniors are interested in smart-home
applications to aid in health, first responders’ reaction times and
security improvement.
(Forrester Research, Inc. 2004 and 2011)
• The European Community sponsored the SOPRANO Study
Results: Urgent need of wireless low-power sensors
communicating with services. This allows safe, healthy and
independent living conditions for the disabled or elderly.
Point-of-care medical devices - Wireless sensors for better health
care 38