Preterm patients can have an higher risk of fatalities and can be subjected to long-term disability. With many organs still in the phase of development, the earlier the delivery, the higher the risk and they are therefore hospitalized in specialized neonatal intensive care units) where heart rate and lungs activity are continuously assessed. These are mostly monitored by set of electrodes placed in contact with skin (two in thorax area and one in abdominal area). This paper address the problem of preterm cardiac and respiratory monitoring in a patient with severe skin disorders who can not monitored with standard electrodes because of his dry, thickened, scaly skin. As a solution, we propose a fully non-contact measurement method, based on laser Doppler vibrometry, able to continuously record the movements of wall-chest and extract from this signal, the heart rate and the respiratory activity of the patient. The results show a good agreement between the standard contact measurement methods and the proposed one (no statistical difference between data) with a data uncertainty of 2.9% for the heart rate data and of 9.5% for the respiration rate (k=2), in line with the classical measurement methods.
A reliable and noninvasive measurement method for the inspection of naturally birefringent transparent media is presented in this paper. It allows us to achieve a spatially resolved analysis of the stress state of birefringent materials. The developed system is based on photoelasticity and exploits a controlled laser conoscopy technique and a scanning system to perform local measurements in the volume dimensions of the media, which can be displaced over a grid of points. The configuration of the proposed laser conoscopic system is presented, and a dedicated algorithm, designed to perform digital analysis of the fringe patterns, is also described. The design and the realization of the system are discussed, as well as the advantages of the proposed system over the classic diffuse light polariscope technique. The method has been experimentally validated through laboratory tests on birefringent samples with known induced stress. The system has demonstrated its sensitivity to stress and its capability to achieve a spatial resolution on the order of 0.1 mm to resolve stress gradients (uncertainty on the stress amplitude of ±0.1 MPa).
Pulse oximetry (PO) is a non-invasive medical device used for monitoring of the arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) and in
particular of haemoglobin oxygenation in blood. Oxygen saturation is commonly used in any setting where the patient
blood oxygen saturation is unstable, including Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The main factor affecting PO's
output data is the presence of voluntary or involuntary motion artifacts or imperfect skin-sensor contact. Various
methods have been employed to reject motion artifact but have met with little success.
The aim of the present work is to propose a novel measurement procedure for real-time monitoring and validation of the
oxygen saturation data as measured in standard pulse oxymeter. The procedure should be able to individuate and reject
erroneous saturation data due to incorrect transducer-skin contact or motion artifact. In the case of short sequences of
rejected SpO2 data (time duration< 8s), we report on an algorithm able to substitute the sequence of rejected data with
the "most-probable" (rescued) SpO2 data.
In total we have analyzed 14 patient for a total of 310 hr, 43 min and 15s, equivalent to a total number of samples of
1118595. For our study, we were interested to download heart rate measured with the ECG (HRECG), the heart rate as
measured by the pulse oximeter (HRSAT) and the SpO2 value. In order to remove the erroneous SpO2 values reported in
the rough data in coincidence of motion artifact (top, right), we have implemented a specific algorithm which provides at
the output a new sequence of SpO2 data (validated SpO2 data). With the aim to "rescue" SpO2 value rejected by the previously presented algorithm, we have implemented an algorithm able to provide the "most-probable" SpO2 values in
the case of single rejected values or in the case of short sequences of invalidated data (< 8 s).
From these data it is possible to observe how in the 6.8% of the observation time the SpO2 data measured by the pulse
oximeter are not validated by the use of our method (corresponding to a total time of 16 hr, 8min and 40s). The use of the
proposed algorithm aiming to "rescue" data from short sequences of rejected data (< 8s) allows to increase the validated
data of the 2.5%t(equivalent to 8hr, 40 min and 16s), allowing a percent of usable data of the 95.7%. Once implemented
in clinic, it could be used to identify the period of the day in which the percent of rejected data increase or correlate this
data to clinical procedure in order to intensify clinicians and nurses attention.
The use of standard instrumentation for the assessment of the respiration rate as of flow is an important goal in
medicine. Spirometers, textile-based capacitive sensors or photopletismography are standard contact instrumentations
used for such aim; the main drawback in the use of such instrumentations is the necessity to have a direct contact of the
instrument with the patient.
In this paper, we present an optical no-contact method for monitoring of both the respiration rate and flow. This method
is based on the measurement of external chest wall movement by a laser Doppler vibrometer. The measurement
procedure has already been demonstrated to be extremely well performing for what concern the monitoring of the cardiac
activity. The proposed method can be operated at a distance of 1.5 m, on different point of the patient thoracic and
abdominal area.
We have monitored respiration rate and flow on 8 patients with a spirometer and simultaneously with the proposed noncontact
measurement procedure. Bland-Altman analysis of the respiration rate measured with both instruments
demonstrate a mean error on the determination of the respiration rate of < 1% and of the < 4% for the instantaneous flow.
We also report a study on the optimal position on the thoracic area based on quality of the signal measured on the same
population of subject.
In this paper we report experimental data obtained using a novel, non contact and unified approach for the monitoring of
some important vital parameters: Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability, Respiration Rate, Filling Time, Pulse Transit Time.
The measurement approach - named optical vibrocardiography (VCG) - has been recently described by some of the
authors for what concerns the assessment of a single parameter or measurement and technical aspects. Here, we discuss
the experimental setup realized to operate optical VCG in order to measure the previously cited vital parameters. We
present two novel configurations for the assessment of the respiration rate and the pulse transit time. The quantities
measured by optical VCG have been compared with the ones measured with golden standard instrumentations; the
comparison reference instruments has shown differences with no statistical and clinical significance. Optical VCG
therefore can be considered a valid, fully non-contact measurement method for the assessment of vital signs, with the
additional advantage that such parameters can be assessed using one single instrument instead of a set of dedicated
devices.
In this paper we present a novel, non-invasive measurement system for optical monitoring of the cardiac rate. This measurement method, called vibrocardiography (VCG), is based on the use of a laser Doppler vibrometer for the measurement of the velocity of displacement of the skin in correspondence of the chest wall. We report the typical VCG signals measured on 4 healthy subject and in particular, we investigated the effect on the signal of the measurement position respect to the chest wall as well as the effect of the surface characteristics on the measured signal.
A simple fiber optic Michelson interferometer for vibration measurement and analysis is presented in this paper. It has been conceived and realized with the purpose of using it as the basic measuring element of a complete system for multiple point vibration measurements. One of its main features is that it is operated in the homodyne mode allowing the detection of the direction of motion without using Bragg cells or other optical or mechanical frequency shifting devices, which usually present some inconveniences (alignment problems, dimensions, complexity of the signal processing electronic and costs). The capability of the fiber interferometer in detecting periodic signals and a comparison with a commercial laser Doppler vibrometer is reported.
In this paper a measurement method for the analysis of the structural behavior of heart valves is presented by the use of the thermoelasticity and laser Doppler vibrometry. A special experimental test bench has been realized with the purpose to fix the body of the valve and to excite the parts of remarkable importance from the structural point of view by means of a shaker. The vibrational measurements have been adopted as boundary condition for the FEM simulations and the relative maps in terms of stress have subsequently been validate through the employment of the thermoelasticity.
KEYWORDS: Sensors, In vivo imaging, Velocity measurements, Data modeling, Vibrometry, Doppler effect, In vitro testing, Tissues, Transducers, Time metrology
Authors present a new non-intrusive experimental procedure based on laser techniques for the measurement of mechanical proprieties of tendons. In previous works authors described a new methodology based on the measurement of the first resonance frequency of the tendon by laser vibrometry during in-vitro tensile experiments, with the final aim of establishing a measurement procedure to perform the mechanical characterization of tendons by extracting parameters, as the resonance frequency, achievable also during in-vivo investigation. In this work the experimental procedure has been updated with a measurement technique for the non-invasive determination of tendon cross-sectional area during tensile vibration tests at different load levels. Test procedure is based on a tensile machine, which measure tendons longitudinal elongation generated by a known load. Sample cross-section area is measured and stress-strain curve can be obtained. The cross-section area is measured with a new non-contact procedure based on optical displacement sensor, in such a way as to determine its perimeter. From the perimeter, the area can be easily extracted by integration. At each load level, resonance frequency, damping, area and tensile force are measured, allowing thus a complete mechanical characterization of the tendon. Stress —strain relations have been correlated to the first resonance frequency of the tendon measured using a single-point laser Doppler vibrometer.
Electric guitars have received far less attention than acoustical/classical ones from research teams, mainly for the reason that they are essentially considered as mere electro-mechanical transducers and little attention has been paid to their vibrational behavior. However, every guitarist knows from his/her experience how important are typical vibrational parameters such as resonances, damping, construction materials but usually lack the technical knowledge to express it in scientific terms. Also lute-makers usually work only by experience and tacit knowledge and even big companies do not use scientific research to improve their instruments. Following a research line devoted to modem music instruments, in this article we will present some experimental results derived from a series of measurement sessions on two electric guitars, aimed at identifying typical resonance frequencies, modal shapes, and sound characteristics. Experimental set ups have been implemented trying to simulate as much as possible real life situations, in particular excitation has been obtained mainly by acoustical sources and a mechanical device resembling a plastic plectrum. Moreover, in order to better correlate vibrational results with musical properties of electric guitars and traditional making experience, examined guitars have been played in an anechoic chamber and acoustical signals acquired.
Laser Doppler velocimetry uses the Doppler shift of light scattered from moving particles. In self-mixing laser Doppler velocimetry some of the scattered light is allowed to re-enter the laser cavity and here it is mixed with the originally generated cavity mode. This interference results in a fluctuation of the laser intensity with a frequency equal to the Doppler shift (self-mixing interference or back-scattered modulation), according to ?f=2nv(cos?? )/?. Here ?f , n , v, ? and ? stand for the Doppler frequency shift, the refractive index of the medium, the velocity of the scatterer, the angle between the velocity vector and the optical symmetry axis, and the wavelength of the laser light in vacuum. The laser Doppler self-mixing velocimeter has been statically calibrated, using a rotating disk covered with white paper. Authors report about the Doppler signal amplitude of the velocimeter as function of the characteristics and colour of the target surface. Dependence of the Doppler peak amplitude from the target distance and the angle between target and optical axis of the sensor are also reported. Results regarding dynamic characteristics of the sensor are reported and it is shown its capability to be used as a laser Doppler vibrometer.
A measurement system based on a single-mode fiber optic interferometer has been developed to simultaneously measure the vibrations in terms of velocity. The fiber interferometer reported has been realized with the purpose of using it as the basic measuring sensor of the system. One of its main features is that it is operated in the homodyne mode allowing the detection of the direction of motion without using Bragg cells or other optical or mechanical shifting devices, which usually present different inconveniences. The sensor has been calibrated against a commercial laser vibrometer. The first system prototype developed and presented in this work is capable to measure the vibration on two points simultaneously.
Red blood cell damage (hemolysis) and thromboemblism are the main complications associated to the implantation of mechanical artificial heart valves. In the last decades a great number of in vitro studies have been conducted to improve the design and to understand the transvalvular flow patterns under steady state and pulsatile conditions. Steady state tests are useful to study the flow established upstream and downstream the valve prosthesis in the moment of the peak flow rate. In the present study, Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique was employed to visualise the flow patterns in a pre-commercial model of bi-leaflet mechanical heart valve prosthesis in a steady state flow. PIV technique and a convenient test rig have provided good conditions to investigate the whole flowfield upstream and downstream the valve.
A lot of people, overall athletic one suffer from tendinitis or complete rupture of the Achilles tendon. This structure becomes inflamed and damaged mainly from a variety of mechanical forces and sometimes due to metabolic problems, such as diabetes or arthritis. Over the past three decades extensive studies have been performed on the structural and mechanical properties of Achilles tendon trying to explain the constitutive equations to describe and foresee tendon behavior. Among the various mechanical parameters, the vibrational behavior is also of interest. Several investigations are performed in order to study how the Achilles tendon vibrations influence the response of the muscle proprioception and human posture. The present article describes how in vitro tensile experiments can be performed, taking into account the need to simulate physiological condition of Achilles tendon and thus approaching some opened problems in the design of the experimental set-up. A new system for evaluating tendon vibrations by non contact techniques is proposed. Preliminary simple elongation tests are made extracting the main mechanical parameters: stress and strain at different fixed stretches, in order to characterize the tissue. Finally, a vibration study is made at each pretensioned tendon level evaluating the oscillating curves caused by a small hammer.
In this paper an experimental test bench for mechanical heart valve and the procedure for non-invasive optical measurement are reported. Fluidynamic behaviour of a bileafleat mechanical valve in steady state and pulsed flow conditions has been studied. Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA) is used to access velocity and turbulence values at different distances before and after the mechanical valve. Data obtained can be related, according to the literature, to typical pathologies affecting patients who underwent surgical procedures to implant mechanical heart valves. In particular thrombosis and hemolysis can be related to high levels of shear stress affecting blood cells. Measurements of velocity, turbulence and shear stresses have been performed.
Over the past three decades extensive studies have been performed on the structural and mechanical properties of Achilles tendon trying to explain its mechanical proprieties and trying to realize more precise mathematical model trough constitutive equations. Among the various mechanical parameters, deformation-load and stress-strain curves give first mechanical parameters of interest, but also the vibrational behavior of tendon may be of interest, in particular for in-vivo applications. The present paper describes how in vitro tensile experiments can be performed, taking also into account the need to simulate physiological condition of Achilles tendon, approaching thus some opened problems in the design of the experimental set-up. A new system for measuring tendon vibrations by non-contact techniques under specific deformation-load conditions is presented. In the first step preliminary simple elongation tests are made in order to characterize the tissue extracting the mainly mechanical parameters: load-deformation and stress-strain curves. Then, an experimental vibration study is made at each tension level evaluating the free oscillations caused by a small hammer. Modification of first resonance frequency as function of load or strain is reported. The underlying idea is to establish a measurement procedure to perform the mechanical characterization of tendons by extracting parameters, as the resonance frequency, achievable also during in-vivo investigation.
A fiber optic dual Michelson interferometer for vibration measurement and analysis is presented in this paper. One of its main features is that it is operated in the homodyne mode allowing the detection of the direction of motion. The capability of the system in detecting periodic signals is described, through a comparison with a commercial laser vibrometer.
In this paper, an extremely small and laser Doppler sensor of low cost is presented. The sensor consists of a laser diode and of an optical system composed by two lenses in order to focus the laser light onto the target. The sensor measures velocity and it is based on the self-mixing effect that occurs in a semiconductor laser diode when the radiation generated inside the cavity is back reflected into the cavity. Velocity is calculated measuring the position of the frequency peak on the frequency spectrum of the Doppler spectrum generated by the photodiode present inside the laser diode when modulated by feedback light coming from the moving scattering particles. The laser Doppler self-mixing velocimeter has been statically calibrated, using a rotating disk covered with white paper. Authors report about the Doppler signal amplitude of the velocimeter as function of the characteristics and colour of the target surface. Dependence of the Doppler peak amplitude from the target distance and the angle between target and optical axis of the sensor are also reported. Results regarding dynamic characteristics of the sensor are reported and it is shown its capability to be used as a laser Doppler vibrometer.
Sequential double exposure holographic interferometry is employed for examining the mechanical effects induced in the UV ablation of polymers. Deformations, evidenced by changes in the refractive index of the substrate, are observed to develop at unexpectedly long distances (approximately equals 2 - 5 cm) from the irradiation area. The morphology of the induced effects depends on the substrate properties, with the major types observed being tentatively ascribed to delaminations and local fractures. For accounting for the highly delocalized spatial spread of the effects, laser doppler vibrometry was used for monitoring the propagation of the stresses generated by the ablation process. The examination confirms the development of intense vibrations far from the ablation point. The present results suggest that in UV laser processing of molecular substrates, the photomechanical effects can be significant and special attention should be paid in their characterization and their minimization.
This paper presents a method for extracting features in the wavelet domain of vibration velocity transient signals of washing machines, that are then used for classification of the state (acceptable-faulty) of the product. The Discrete Wavelet Transform in conjunction with Statistical Digital Signal Processing techniques are used for feature extraction. The performance of this feature set is compared to features obtained through standard Fourier analysis of the stationary part of the signal. Minimum distance Bayes classifiers are used for classification purposes. Measurements from a variety of defective/non-defective washing machines taken in the laboratory as well as from the production line are used to illustrate the applicability of the proposed method.
This work is part of a research devoted to the development of a non-intrusive modal analysis procedure based on laser techniques both for excitation and for measurement. The attention is focused on the experimental evaluation of uncertainty sources in modal parameter measurement, when high energy laser pulses are used to excite the vibration of the structure. The tests were performed on a cantilever beam excited firstly with a hammer and then with laser pulses from a Nd-YAG source (532 nm, 100 mJ/pulse). The problem due to the lack of knowledge on laser-induced input force is here considered. This, in fact, makes the precise quantitative measurement of the mobility functions and of the damping ratio difficult. To this aim, an `equivalent' input force was estimated by solving an inverse problem: the `equivalent' force is useful to determine the features of the laser-induced impulsive excitation. The achieved results are in complete agreement with other characterizations presented in previous studies, in particular in terms of specific impulse, time duration and characteristic frequencies. Finally, several suggestions are given in order to minimize the influence of the problems connected with laser pulse excitation, in particular concerning the limited energy given to the structure under investigation.
In this paper, an extremely small, simple and economic laser Doppler sensor is presented. It simply consists of a laser diode and of an optical system composed by two lenses in order to focus the laser light. The sensor is able to measure velocity and it is based on the self-mixing effect that occurs in a semiconductor laser diode when the emitted radiation is back reflected toward the cavity and then re- introduced inside. The velocity is calculated measuring the position of the frequency peak on the frequency spectrum of the intensity signal generated by the photodiode present inside the laser diode when modulated by feedback light coming from the moving scattering particles. The laser Doppler self-mixing velocimeter has been statically calibrated, using a rotating disk covered with white paper. The sensor has then been dynamically characterized using an electro-magnetic shaker and a Laser Doppler Vibrometer as reference.
In the present paper, recent experimental advances obtained with a laser Doppler self-mixing velocimeter are reported. The self-mixing effect in a semiconductor laser is used to realize the velocimeter. The velocity is calculated measuring the frequency peak of the frequency spectrum of the intensity signal generated by the laser diode when modulated by feedback light coming from the moving scattering particles. A special optical fiber version of this velocimeter to be used specifically for intra-arterial blood velocity measurement has been realized and a solution for reducing temperature influence on the semiconductor performances is proposed. The results of the in vivo tests carried out with the proposed sensor are presented.
Thermal effects caused by 532 nm Nd:YAG laser pulses on human tooth surface are investigated using an IR high frame rate (60 Hz) detector (256x 256 elements, Indium Antimonide, with 3-5 μm spectral bandwidth). Measurements of the temperature on a reference line of the tooth surface during exposure to laser pulses of 0.5 W of power, with time amplitude of 12 ns and 10 Hz of frequency repetition are performed. Images and maps of temperature of the human to the surface are shown during laser treatment. Results are discussed with particular reference to the possibility to evaluate thermal effects of pulsed lasers of frequent use in dentistry and to the application of such lasers as excitation sources for non- destructive defect analysis of human teeth by laser Doppler vibrometry.
An important research theme in today's dentistry is the selection of the appropriate resin to be used for the filling of drilled cavities. Some resins in fact may cause high sensitivity or pain in the patient also few days after their application. This phenomenon of high sensitivity seems to be used by the creation of likeages at the interface between dentin and resin.
The use of air compressed, high rotational velocity drill and of ultrasound devices in the dentist practice can cause pain for the patient and damage to the tooth structure. The authors in this paper have investigated the possible cause of these problems: the vibrations caused by the drill exciting the tooth. Particular attention has been dedicated to the frequency behavior of teeth, in order to individualize their frequency resonances. A method for the investigation of human teeth dynamic response, in terms of natural frequencies and modal shapes has been proposed. Very short laser pulses have been used to excite teeth vibrations and a scanning laser doppler vibrometer to measure the dynamic response. An assessment of the amplitude of the characteristics of the excitation has been done using the theory of the impulse response function in such a way as to calculate the frequency response of the teeth. The results measured have been compared. Results permit to extract information extremely useful for the design of devices used in the dentist practice.
This paper addresses the question of on-line quality control of the production of house-hold appliances, which is an important goal of this industrial sector. Vibro-acoustic and mechanical diagnostics rely on vibration measurement: optical non contact measurements are presented as the tool to perform accurate and fast multi-point measurements on finished products. The solution proposed is based on the use of an array of four integrated optics displacement sensor for vibration measurement and on specially devoted fuzzy logic and neural algorithms able to detect the presence of different types of defects.
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