Tutorial 4
MEMS enabled Microsystems: Cogent sensing and intelligent applications
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Tutorial delivered by: Dr. Elena Gaura E-mail: CSX216@coventry.ac.uk |
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Co-authored by: Dr. Robert Newman E-mail: r.m.newman@coventry.ac.uk |
Elena Gaura is a Senior Lecturer with
the School
of Mathematical and Information Sciences, Coventry University,
specialising in MEMS based intelligent sensors, computer
hardware,
Artificial Intelligence and pervasive computing. She is the leader of
the Informatics, Media and Design
(IMD) research group.
She is a member of the UK Engineering
and Physical Sciences Research Council College
of Peer Reviewers and a member of the Program Committee for Nano Science
and Technology Institute’s NanoTechnology Conference and Trade
Show.
Presently, her research interests pursue the issues of MEMS sensor systems
design
(to include microsensors-Artificial Intelligence integration, sensor
fault detection, self-diagnosis, microsensor applications to safety
critical and biomedical systems and sensor networks. The work explores
the new avenues brought about by MEMS technology to enhance the functionality
of micro measurement systems, develop new techniques for integrating
sensors, actuators and control functions and ultimately aim at designing
autonomous systems which can sense, think and react to their working
environment. Much research effort is currently focused on theoretical
and practical design
aspects for very large networks of autonomous MEMS based sensors.
Dr. Gaura graduated with a MSc in Applied Electronics
from Technical University
of Cluj, Romania, in 1991. Her research interests were in the field
of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), with a focus on ANN VLSI implementations.
She worked for Brunel University,
Uxbridge, UK and subsequently for Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. In
1998 she was offered a HEFCE PhD grant at Coventry University.
She was awarded her Ph.D. at Coventry University,
School
of Engineering,
in April 2000, with a thesis entitled: ‘Neural Network
Techniques for the Control and Identification of Acceleration Sensors’.
She has been invited to Chair ANNs and Intelligent Control related sections
at various conferences and is a member of the Program Committee of the
International Conference on Adaptive and Natural Computing Algorithms
(ICANNGA). She has received several IEEE, Royal Society and Royal Academy
of Engineering
grants for presenting her research work at various conferences and academic
institutions. She is the organiser of a Special Track on “Smart
MEMS and Sensor Systems” at the largest Nanotechnology American
Conference, Nanotech. She is a Journal reviewer for the Journal of NeuroComputing
(Elsevier Science), the Mechatronics Journal (Pergamon Press, Oxford,
U.K.) and IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology.
Robert Newman is currently Head of Computer Science at Coventry University. He has managed and produced successful research proposals of a value greater than £500 000 from the EPSRC and the European Union and has included the support of a number of major industrial concerns. He holds a BSc in Physics from Birmingham University and a PhD in Computer Science, in the area of safety critical systems, from Coventry University. He has produced 50 refereed publications and has served on the programme committee of five major international conferences and in 1991 was awarded a patent for the design of an autonomous intelligent sensor, one of the earliest in this field. The major theme of his research is pervasive computing, particularly the system design of distributed intelligent systems, and their application and the use of formal methods and systems science in their design and specification. His research has involved major collaborations with the European aerospace and automotive industries over a period of ten years, and has included four major projects, three funded by the European Union and one by the EPSRC, with industrial collaborators including Ford, Rolls-Royce PLC, Volkswagen, BMW, BAE Systems and EADS. He is also a member of the UK Department of Trade and Industry Foresight Vehicle Steering Committee for Design and Manufacturing Processes (DMAP).
Aim
To present the directions of research, development and technological evolution for Electro Mechanical Microsystems, and in particular microsensors. The development of MEMS devices has generally followed a bottom up methodology, reaching now a stage where the capabilities of the devices could be used much more effectively in systems designed from the top down to include them. A holistic view of the requirements of MEMS based systems and the capabilities of the microdevices must be taken if such systems are to deliver the promise that was expected. This tutorial provides the integrative perspective required for workers in all areas of the field, to enable them to appreciate the system level design issues leading to breakthrough applications, particularly in the area of large sensor networks.
Audience
The tutorial would be of interest to:
Control/system engineers and robotics specialists who use sensors as part of process, plant or robot control. The tutorial will inform on the state-of-the-art in sensing and the possibilities opened by advances in Microsystems design.