Sensors, Volume 14, Issue 2

The editors of Sensors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the following reviewers for assessing manuscripts in 2013. [...]

A chronoamperometric method for vanadium ion determination, based on the inhibition of the enzyme alkaline phosphatase, is reported. Screen-printed carbon electrodes modified with gold nanoparticles were used as transducers for the immobilization of...

The use of global navigation satellite system receivers for navigation still presents many challenges in urban canyon and indoor environments, where satellite availability is typically reduced and received signals are attenuated. To improve the navig...

The collision avoidance warning system is an emerging technology designed to assist drivers in avoiding red-light running (RLR) collisions at intersections. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effect of auditory warning information on collision...

Visual sensor networks (VSNs) usually generate a low-resolution (LR) frame-sequence due to energy and processing constraints. These LR-frames are not very appropriate for use in certain surveillance applications. It is very important to enhance the...

In this article we report a new, simple, and reliable optical read-out detection method able to assess Rotavirus present in human sera as well as in the viral pollution sources. It is based on the interference of two interferometers used as biophoton...

This manuscript evaluates the behavior of classical feature point descriptors when they are used in images from long-wave infrared spectral band and compare them with the results obtained in the visible spectrum. Robustness to changes in rotation, sc...

We present the results of an evaluation of the performance of the Leap Motion Controller with the aid of a professional, high-precision, fast motion tracking system. A set of static and dynamic measurements was performed with different numbers of tra...

In the current open society and with the growth of human rights, people are more and more concerned about the privacy of their information and other important data. This study makes use of electrocardiography (ECG) data in order to protect individual...

Aptamers are short, single stranded DNA or RNA oligonucleotides that are able to bind specifically and with high affinity to their non-nucleic acid target molecules. This binding reaction enables their application as biorecognition elements in biosen...

Collecting webpage messages can serve as a sensor for investigating the energy-saving potential of buildings. Focusing on stores, a cloud sensor system is developed to collect data and determine their energy-saving potential. The owner of a store und...

The development of novel sensing materials provides good opportunities to realize previously unachievable sensor performance. In this review, conducting polymer-based nanohybrids are highlighted as innovative transducers for high-performance chemical...

This paper proposes a new omni-directional electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) for the ultrasonic Lamb wave (ULW) tomography imaging (TI) of defects in metallic plates. The proposed EMAT is composed of a permanent magnet and a coil with a cont...

An efficient spectral element (SE) with electric potential degrees of freedom (DOF) is proposed to investigate the static electromechanical responses of a piezoelectric bimorph for its actuator and sensor functions. A sublayer model based on the piec...

We report the RF-to-DC characteristics of the integrated AlGaAs/GaAs Schottky diode and antenna under the direct injection and irradiation condition. The conversion efficiency up to 80% under direct injection of 1 GHz signal to the diode was achieved...

Wireless Visual Sensor Networks (WVSNs) where camera-equipped sensor nodes can capture, process and transmit image/video information have become an important new research area. As compared to the traditional wireless sensor networks (WSNs) that can o...

This study assessed the potential of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy as a non-destructive method for characterizing Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) “Vinagres de Montilla-Moriles” wine vinegars and for classifying them as a function of the manu...

The study compared the biosensing properties of laccase biosensors based on carbon nanofibers (CNFs) and copper/carbon composite nanofibers (Cu/CNFs). The two kinds of nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning and carbonization under the same condi...

Anomalies such as leakage and bursts in water pipelines have severe consequences for the environment and the economy. To ensure the reliability of water pipelines, they must be monitored effectively. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have emerged as an...

This work presents the modelling of impulsional pH variations in microvolume related to water-based electrolysis and hydrogen peroxide electrochemical oxidation using an Electrochemical Field Effect Transistor (ElecFET) microdevice. This ElecFET devi...

The simplicity and sensitivity of the bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) assay make it a powerful tool to investigate protein-protein interactions (PPIs) in living cells. However, non-specific association of the fluorescent protein fragm...

The Microsoft Kinect is arguably the most popular RGB-D camera currently on the market, partially due to its low cost. It offers many advantages for the measurement of dynamic phenomena since it can directly measure three-dimensional coordinates of o...

Campylobacter has developed resistance to several antimicrobial agents over the years, including macrolides, quinolones and fluoroquinolones, becoming a significant public health hazard. A total of 145 strains derived from raw milk, chicken faeces, c...

This paper presents a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) piezoelectric power generator array for vibration energy harvesting. A complete design flow of the vibration-based energy harvester using the finite element method (FEM) is proposed. The mo...

This paper introduces a feature optimization method for robot long-range feature-based visual homing in changing environments. To cope with the changing environmental appearance, the optimization procedure is introduced to distinguish the most releva...

This article presents a review of the methods used in recognition and analysis of the human gait from three different approaches: image processing, floor sensors and sensors placed on the body. Progress in new technologies has led the development of...

To realize the efficient data capture and accurate analysis of pitting corrosion of the reinforced concrete (RC) structures, we first design and implement a wireless sensor and network (WSN) to monitor the pitting corrosion of RC panels, and then, we...

Partial discharge (PD) detection is a standardized technique to qualify electrical insulation in machines and power cables. Several techniques that analyze the waveform of the pulses have been proposed to discriminate noise from PD activity. Among th...

A model-free hybrid fault diagnosis technique is proposed to improve the performance of single and double fault detection and isolation. This is a model-free hybrid method which combines the extended parity space approach (EPSA) with a multi-resoluti...

The paper presents a set of tests carried out in order to evaluate the design characteristics and the operating performance of a set of six X-ray extrinsic optical fiber sensors. The extrinsic sensor we developed is intended to be used as a low energ...

“Smart” materials are an emerging category of multifunctional materials with physical or chemical properties that can be controllably altered in response to an external stimulus. By combining the standard properties of the advanced material with the...

Indoor localization of persons and objects poses a great engineering challenge. Previously developed localization systems demonstrate the use of wideband techniques in ultrasound ranging systems. Direct sequence and frequency hopping spread spectrum...

Accelerometer-based activity monitors are popular for monitoring physical activity. In this study, we investigated optimal sensor placement for increasing the quality of studies that utilize accelerometer data to assess physical activity. We performe...

In this paper, an Urban Light Index (ULI) is constructed to facilitate analysis and quantitative evaluation of the process of urbanization and expansion rate by using DMSP/OLS Nighttime Light Data during the years from 1992 to 2010. A unit circle urb...

Tactile sensors, because of their intrinsic insensitivity to lighting conditions and water turbidity, provide promising opportunities for augmenting the capabilities of vision sensors in applications involving object recognition and localization. Thi...

This paper will discuss the results obtained with a first prototype of a completely passive and wireless low pressure sensor. The device is a heat conductivity gauge, based on a wireless and passive SAW temperature sensor. The required heating energy...

Copper and zinc are elements commonly used in industrial applications as aqueous solutions. Before the solutions can be discharged into civil or native waterways, waste treatment processes must be undertaken to ensure compliance with government guide...

Because of the advantages of finger-vein recognition systems such as live detection and usage as bio-cryptography systems, they can be used to authenticate individual people. However, images of finger-vein patterns are typically unclear because of li...

To tackle robust object tracking for video sensor-based applications, an online discriminative algorithm based on incremental discriminative structured dictionary learning (IDSDL-VT) is presented. In our framework, a discriminative dictionary combini...

Large-scale wireless sensor networks have not achieved market impact, so far. Nevertheless, this technology may be applied successfully to small-scale niche markets. Shipyards are hazardous working environments with many potential risks to worker saf...

Over the last few years, 3D imaging of plant geometry has become of significant importance for phenotyping and plant breeding. Several sensing techniques, like 3D reconstruction from multiple images and laser scanning, are the methods of choice in di...

This work presents the design, development and implementation of a smart sensor to monitor the respiratory rate. This sensor is aimed at overcoming the drawbacks of other systems currently available in market, namely, devices that are costly, uncomfo...

Map building and localization are two crucial abilities that autonomous robots must develop. Vision sensors have become a widespread option to solve these problems. When using this kind of sensors, the robot must extract the necessary information fro...

Recent advancements in the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Web of Things (WoT) accompany a smart life where real world objects, including sensing devices, are interconnected with each other. The Web representation of smart objects empowers innovativ...

Microfluidic systems based on fluorescence detection have been developed and applied for many biological and chemical applications. Because of the tiny amount of sample in the system; the induced fluorescence can be weak. Therefore, most microfluidic...

Wireless visual sensor networks have been considered for a large set of monitoring applications related with surveillance, tracking and multipurpose visual monitoring. When sensors are deployed over a monitored field, permanent faults may happen duri...

Sensing of the application environment is the main purpose of a wireless sensor network. Most existing energy management strategies and compression techniques assume that the sensing operation consumes significantly less energy than radio transmissio...

This article presents an efficient hardware implementation of the Horn-Schunck algorithm that can be used in an embedded optical flow sensor. An architecture is proposed, that realises the iterative Horn-Schunck algorithm in a pipelined manner. This...

This paper presents a method for using a dual roadside seismic sensor to detect moving vehicles on roadway by installing them on a road shoulder. Seismic signals are split into fixed time intervals in recording. In each interval, the time delay of ar...

The detection and tracking of mobile objects (DATMO) is progressively gaining importance for security and surveillance applications. This article proposes a set of new algorithms and procedures for detecting and tracking mobile objects by robots that...