Recent Advances in Artificial Sensory Neurons:Biological Fundamentals,Devices,Applications,and Challenges

Spike-based neural networks,which use spikes or action potentialsto represent information,have gained a lot of attention because of their high energyefficiency and low power consumption.To fully leverage its advantages,convertingthe external analog signals to spikes is an essential prerequisite.Conventionalapproaches including analog-to-digital converters or ring oscillators,and sensorssuffer from high power and area costs.Recent efforts are devoted to constructingartificial sensory neurons based on emerging devices inspired by the biologicalsensory system.They can simultaneously perform sensing and spike conversion,overcoming the deficiencies of traditional sensory systems.This review summarizesand benchmarks the recent progress of artificial sensory neurons.It starts with thepresentation of various mechanisms of biological signal transduction,followed bythe systematic introduction of the emerging devices employed for artificial sensoryneurons.Furthermore,the implementations with different perceptual capabilitiesare briefly outlined and the key metrics and potential applications are also provided.Finally,we highlight the challenges and perspectives for the future development of artificial sensory neurons.

Integrated Sensing and Communication Enabled Sensing Base Station:System Design,Beamforming,Interference Cancellation and Performance Analysis

This paper studies the sensing base station(SBS)that has great potential to improve the safety of vehicles and pedestrians on roads.SBS can detect the targets on the road with communication signals using the integrated sensing and communication(ISAC)technique.Compared with vehicle-mounted radar,SBS has a better sensing field due to its higher deployment position,which can help solve the problem of sensing blind areas.In this paper,key technologies of SBS are studied,including the beamforming algorithm,beam scanning scheme,and interference cancellation algorithm.To transmit and receive ISAC signals simultaneously,a double-coupling antenna array is applied.The free detection beam and directional communication beam are proposed for joint communication and sensing to meet the requirements of beamwidth and pointing directions.The joint timespace-frequency domain division multiple access algorithm is proposed to cancel the interference of SBS,including multiuser interference and duplex interference between sensing and communication.Finally,the sensing and communication performance of SBS under the industrial scientific medical power limitation is analyzed and simulated.Simulation results show that the communication rate of SBS can reach over 100 Mbps and the range of sensing and communication can reach about 500 m.

Fabrication and Mechano-sensing Characteristics of Bending Polypyrrole Actuator

To prepare a conductive polymer actuator with decent performance,a self-built experimental platform for the preparation of polypyrrole film is employed.One of the essential goals is to examine the mechanical characteristics of the actuator in the presence of various combinations of process parameters,combined with the orthogonal test method of"four factors and three levels".The bending and sensing characteristics of actuators of various sizes are methodically examined using a self-made bending polypyrrole actuator.The functional relationship between the bending displacement and the output voltage signal is established by studying the characteristics of the actuator sensor subjected to various degrees of bending.The experimental results reveal that the bending displacement of the actuator tip almost exhibits a linear variation as a function of length and width.When the voltage reaches 0.8 V,the bending speed of the actuator tends to be stable.Finally,the mechanical properties of the self-assembled polypyrrole actuator are verified by the design and fabrication of the microgripper.

Passive Integrated Sensing and Communication Scheme Based on RF Fingerprint Information Extraction for Cell-Free RAN

This paper investigates how to achieve integrated sensing and communication(ISAC)based on a cell-free radio access network(CF-RAN)architecture with a minimum footprint of communication resources.We propose a new passive sensing scheme.The scheme is based on the radio frequency(RF)fingerprint learning of the RF radio unit(RRU)to build an RF fingerprint library of RRUs.The source RRU is identified by comparing the RF fingerprints carried by the signal at the receiver side.The receiver extracts the channel parameters from the signal and estimates the channel environment,thus locating the reflectors in the environment.The proposed scheme can effectively solve the problem of interference between signals in the same time-frequency domain but in different spatial domains when multiple RRUs jointly serve users in CF-RAN architecture.Simulation results show that the proposed passive ISAC scheme can effectively detect reflector location information in the environment without degrading the communication performance.

A Multi-Task Learning Framework for Joint Sub-Nyquist Wideband Spectrum Sensing and Modulation Recognition

The utilization of millimeter-wave frequencies and cognitive radio(CR)are promising ways to increase the spectral efficiency of wireless communication systems.However,conventional CR spectrum sensing techniques entail sampling the received signal at a Nyquist rate,and they are not viable for wideband signals due to their high cost.This paper expounds on how sub-Nyquist sampling in conjunction with deep learning can be leveraged to remove this limitation.To this end,we propose a multi-task learning(MTL)framework using convolutional neural networks for the joint inference of the underlying narrowband signal number,their modulation scheme,and their location in a wideband spectrum.We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework for real-world millimeter-wave wideband signals collected by physical devices,exhibiting a 91.7% accuracy in the joint inference task when considering up to two narrowband signals over a wideband spectrum.Ultimately,the proposed data-driven approach enables on-the-fly wideband spectrum sensing,combining accuracy,and computational efficiency,which are indispensable for CR and opportunistic networking.

Building Feedback-Regulation System Through Atomic Design for Highly Active SO_(2)Sensing

Reasonably constructing an atomic interface is pronouncedly essential for surface-related gas-sensing reaction.Herein,we present an ingen-ious feedback-regulation system by changing the interactional mode between single Pt atoms and adjacent S species for high-efficiency SO_(2)sensing.We found that the single Pt sites on the MoS_(2)surface can induce easier volatiliza-tion of adjacent S species to activate the whole inert S plane.Reversely,the activated S species can provide a feedback role in tailoring the antibonding-orbital electronic occupancy state of Pt atoms,thus creating a combined system involving S vacancy-assisted single Pt sites(Pt-Vs)to synergistically improve the adsorption ability of SO_(2)gas molecules.Further-more,in situ Raman,ex situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy testing and density functional theory analysis demonstrate the intact feedback-regulation system can expand the electron transfer path from single Pt sites to whole Pt-MoS_(2)supports in SO_(2)gas atmosphere.Equipped with wireless-sensing modules,the final Pt1-MoS_(2)-def sensors array can further realize real-time monitoring of SO_(2)levels and cloud-data storage for plant growth.Such a fundamental understanding of the intrinsic link between atomic interface and sensing mechanism is thus expected to broaden the rational design of highly effective gas sensors.

Microarrow sensor array with enhanced skin adhesion for transdermal continuous monitoring of glucose and reactive oxygen species

Conventional blood sampling for glucose detection is prone to cause pain and fails to continuously record glucose fluctuations in vivo.Continuous glucose monitoring based on implantable electrodes could induce pain and potential tissue inflammation,and the presence of reactive oxygen species(ROS)due to inflammationmay affect glucose detection.Microneedle technology is less invasive,yet microneedle adhesion with skin tissue is limited.In this work,we developed a microarrow sensor array(MASA),which provided enhanced skin surface adhesion and enabled simultaneous detection of glucose and H_(2)O_(2)(representative of ROS)in interstitial fluid in vivo.The microarrows fabricated via laser micromachining were modified with functional coating and integrated into a patch of a three-dimensional(3D)microneedle array.Due to the arrow tip mechanically interlocking with the tissue,the microarrow array could better adhere to the skin surface after penetration into skin.The MASA was demonstrated to provide continuous in vivo monitoring of glucose and H_(2)O_(2) concentrations,with the detection of H_(2)O_(2) providing a valuable reference for assessing the inflammation state.Finally,the MASA was integrated into a monitoring system using custom circuitry.This work provides a promising tool for the stable and reliable monitoring of blood glucose in diabetic patients.

Temperature and Salinity Dual-parameter Sensing Based on Forward Brillouin Scattering in 1060-XP SMF

A novel temperature and salinity discriminative sensing method based on forward Brillouin scattering(FBS)in 1060-XP single-mode fiber(SMF)is proposed.The measured frequency shifts corresponding to different radial acoustic modes in 1060-XP SMF show different sensitivities to temperature and salinity.Based on the new phenomenon that different radial acoustic modes have different frequency shift-temperature and frequency shift-salinity coefficients,we propose a novel method for simultaneously measuring temperature and salinity by measuring the frequency shift changes of two FBS scattering peaks.In a proof-of-concept experiment,the temperature and salinity measurement errors are 0.12℃and 0.29%,respectively.The proposed method for simultaneously measuring temperature and salinity has the potential applications such as ocean surveying,food manufacturing and pharmaceutical engineering.

Integrated Sensing and Communication:Who Benefits More?

This paper compares the benefits of communication-assisted sensing and sensing-assisted communication in the context of integrated sensing and communication(ISAC).Communication-assisted sensing leverages the extensive cellular infrastructure to create a vast and cooperative sensor network,enhancing environmental perception accuracy and coverage.On the other hand,sensing-assisted communication utilizes advanced sensing technologies to improve predictive beamforming and channel estimation performance in high-frequency and highmobility scenarios,thereby increasing communication efficiency and reliability.To validate our analysis,we present an example of channel knowledge map(CKM)-assisted beam tracking.This example demonstrates the practical advantages of incorporating CKM in enhancing beam tracking accuracy.Our analysis confirms that communication-assisted sensing may offer greater development potential due to its wide coverage and cost-effectiveness in large-scale applications.

Characteristic Study of Self-Powered Sensors Based on Native Protein Composite Film

Flexible electronic sensors composed of flexible film and conductive materials play an increasingly important role in wearable and internet information transmission.It has received more and more attention and made some progress over the decades.However,it is still a great challenge to prepare biocompatible and highly transparent conductive films.Egg white is a pure natural protein-rich material.Hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose has a good compatibility and high transparency,which is an ideal material for flexible sensors.Here,we overcome the problem of poor mechanical flexibility and electrical conductivity of protein,and develop a high transparency and good flexibility hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose/egg white protein composite membrane-based triboelectric nanogenerator('X'-TENG).The experimental results show that the flexible pressure sensor based on'X'-TENG has a high sensitivity,fast response speed,and low detection limit.It can even be used as a touch/pressure sensing artificial electronic skin.It can also be made into an intelligent waffle keyboard for recording and tracking users of the keyboard.Our strategy may provide a new way to easily build flexible electronic sensors and move toward practical applications.

Preparation of single atom catalysts for high sensitive gas sensing

Single atom catalysts(SACs)have garnered significant attention in the field of catalysis over the past decade due to their exceptional atom utilization efficiency and distinct physical and chemical properties.For the semiconductor-based electrical gas sensor,the core is the catalysis process of target gas molecules on the sensitive materials.In this context,the SACs offer great potential for highly sensitive and selective gas sensing,however,only some of the bubbles come to the surface.To facilitate practical applications,we present a comprehensive review of the preparation strategies for SACs,with a focus on overcoming the challenges of aggregation and low loading.Extensive research efforts have been devoted to investigating the gas sensing mechanism,exploring sensitive materials,optimizing device structures,and refining signal post-processing techniques.Finally,the challenges and future perspectives on the SACs based gas sensing are presented.

Facile Semiconductor p-n Homojunction Nanowires with Strategic p-Type Doping Engineering Combined with Surface Reconstruction for Biosensing Applications

Photosensors with versatile functionalities have emerged as a cornerstone for breakthroughs in the future optoelectronic systems across a wide range of applications.In particular,emerging photoelectrochemical(PEC)-type devices have recently attracted extensive interest in liquid-based biosensing applications due to their natural electrolyte-assisted operating characteristics.Herein,a PEC-type photosensor was carefully designed and constructed by employing gallium nitride(GaN)p-n homojunction semiconductor nanowires on silicon,with the p-GaN segment strategically doped and then decorated with cobalt-nickel oxide(CoNiO_(x)).Essentially,the p-n homojunction configuration with facile p-doping engineering improves carrier separation efficiency and facilitates carrier transfer to the nanowire surface,while CoNiO_(x)decoration further boosts PEC reaction activity and carrier dynamics at the nanowire/electrolyte interface.Consequently,the constructed photosensor achieves a high responsivity of 247.8 mA W^(-1)while simultaneously exhibiting excellent operating stability.Strikingly,based on the remarkable stability and high responsivity of the device,a glucose sensing system was established with a demonstration of glucose level determination in real human serum.This work offers a feasible and universal approach in the pursuit of high-performance bio-related sensing applications via a rational design of PEC devices in the form of nanostructured architecture with strategic doping engineering.

Multi-functional photonic spin Hall effect sensor controlled by phase transition

Photonic spin Hall effect(PSHE), as a novel physical effect in light–matter interaction, provides an effective metrological method for characterizing the tiny variation in refractive index(RI). In this work, we propose a multi-functional PSHE sensor based on VO_(2), a material that can reveal the phase transition behavior. By applying thermal control, the mutual transformation into different phase states of VO_(2) can be realized, which contributes to the flexible switching between multiple RI sensing tasks. When VO_(2) is insulating, the ultrasensitive detection of glucose concentrations in human blood is achieved. When VO_(2) is in a mixed phase, the structure can be designed to distinguish between the normal cells and cancer cells through no-label and real-time monitoring. When VO_(2) is metallic, the proposed PSHE sensor can act as an RI indicator for gas analytes. Compared with other multi-functional sensing devices with the complex structures, our design consists of only one analyte and two VO_(2) layers, which is very simple and elegant. Therefore, the proposed VO_(2)-based PSHE sensor has outstanding advantages such as small size, high sensitivity, no-label, and real-time detection, providing a new approach for investigating tunable multi-functional sensors.

Distributed fiber optic sensors for tunnel monitoring:A state-of-the-art review

Distributed fiber optic sensors(DFOSs)possess the capability to measure strain and temperature variations over long distances,demonstrating outstanding potential for monitoring underground infrastructure.This study presents a state-of-the-art review of the DFOS applications for monitoring and assessing the deformation behavior of typical tunnel infrastructure,including bored tunnels,conventional tunnels,as well as immersed and cut-and-cover tunnels.DFOS systems based on Brillouin and Rayleigh scattering principles are both considered.When implementing DFOS monitoring,the fiber optic cable can be primarily installed along transverse and longitudinal directions to(1)measure distributed strains by continuously adhering the fiber to the structure’s surface or embedding it in the lining,or(2)measure point displacements by spot-anchoring it on the lining surface.There are four critical aspects of DFOS monitoring,including proper selection of the sensing fiber,selection of the measuring principle for the specific application,design of an effective sensor layout,and establishment of robust field sensor instrumentation.These four issues are comprehensively discussed,and practical suggestions are provided for the implementation of DFOS in tunnel infrastructure monitoring.

Design and Implementation of a High-Sensitivity Magnetic Sensing System Based on GMI Effect

A high-sensitivity magnetic sensing system based on giant magneto-impedance(GMI)effect is designed and fabricated.The system comprises a GMI sensor equipped with a gradient probe and an signal acquisition and processing module.A segmented superposition algorithm is used to increase target signal and reduce the random noise.The results show that under unshielded,room temperature conditions,the system achieves successful detection of weak magnetic fields down to 2 pT with a notable sensitivity of 1.84×10^(8)V/T(G=1000).By applying 17 overlays,the segmented superposition algorithm increases the power proportion of the target signal at 31 Hz from6.89%to 45.91%,surpassing the power proportion of the 2 Hz low-frequency interference signal.Simultaneously,it reduces the power proportion of the 20 Hz random noise.The segmented superposition process effectively cancels out certain random noise elements,leading to a reduction in their respective power proportions.This high-sensitivity magnetic sensing system features a simple structure,and is easy to operate,making it highly valuable for both practical applications and broader dissemination.

Trajectory Tracking for MmWave Communication Systems via Cooperative Passive Sensing

A cooperative passive sensing framework for millimeter wave(mmWave)communication systems is proposed and demonstrated in a scenario with one mobile signal blocker.Specifically,in the uplink communication with at least two transmitters,a cooperative detection method is proposed for the receiver to track the blocker’s trajectory,localize the transmitters and detect the potential link blockage jointly.To facilitate detection,the receiver collects the signal of each transmitter along a line-of-sight(LoS)path and a non-line-of-sight(NLoS)path separately via two narrow-beam phased arrays.The NLoS path involves scattering at the mobile blocker,allowing its identification through the Doppler frequency.By comparing the received signals of both paths,the Doppler frequency and angle-of-arrival(AoA)of the NLoS path can be estimated.To resolve the blocker’s trajectory and the transmitters’locations,the receiver should continuously track the mobile blocker to accumulate sufficient numbers of the Doppler frequency and AoA versus time observations.Finally,a gradient-descent-based algorithm is proposed for joint detection.With the reconstructed trajectory,the potential link blockage can be predicted.It is demonstrated that the system can achieve decimeterlevel localization and trajectory estimation,and predict the blockage time with an error of less than 0.1 s.

Multimodal fiber antenna for proximity and stress sensing

Fiber sensors are commonly used to detect environmental,physiological,optical,chemical,and biological factors.Thermally drawn fibers offer numerous advantages over other commercial products,including enhanced sensitivity,accuracy,improved functionality,and ease of manufacturing.Multimaterial,multifunctional fibers encapsulate essential internal structures within a microscale fiber,unlike macroscale sensors requiring separate electronic components.The compact size of fiber sensors enables seamless integration into existing systems,providing the desired functionality.We present a multimodal fiber antenna monitoring,in real time,both the local deformation of the fiber and environmental changes caused by foreign objects in proximity to the fiber.Time domain reflectometry propagates an electromagnetic wave through the fiber,allowing precise determination of spatial changes along the fiber with exceptional resolution and sensitivity.Local changes in impedance reflect fiber deformation,whereas proximity is detected through alterations in the evanescent field surrounding the fiber.The fiber antenna operates as a waveguide to detect local deformation through the antisymmetric mode and environmental changes through the symmetric mode.This multifunctionality broadens its application areas from biomedical engineering to cyber-physical interfacing.In antisymmetric mode,the device can sense local changes in pressure,and,potentially,temperature,pH,and other physiological conditions.In symmetric mode,it can be used in touch screens,environmental detection for security,cyber-physical interfacing,and human-robot interactions.

Cache Memory Design for Single Bit Architecture with Different Sense Amplifiers

Most modern microprocessors have one or two levels of on-chip caches to make things run faster,but this is not always the case.Most of the time,these caches are made of static random access memory cells.They take up a lot of space on the chip and use a lot of electricity.A lot of the time,low power is more important than several aspects.This is true for phones and tablets.Cache memory design for single bit architecture consists of six transistors static random access memory cell,a circuit of write driver,and sense amplifiers(such as voltage differential sense amplifier,current differential sense amplifier,charge transfer differential sense amplifier,voltage latch sense amplifier,and current latch sense amplifier,all of which are compared on different resistance values in terms of a number of transistors,delay in sensing and consumption of power.The conclusion arises that single bit six transistor static random access memory cell voltage differential sense amplifier architecture consumes 11.34μW of power which shows that power is reduced up to 83%,77.75%reduction in the case of the current differential sense amplifier,39.62%in case of charge transfer differential sense amplifier and 50%in case of voltage latch sense amplifier when compared to existing latch sense amplifier architecture.Furthermore,power reduction techniques are applied over different blocks of cache memory architecture to optimize energy.The single-bit six transistors static random access memory cell with forced tack technique and voltage differential sense amplifier with dual sleep technique consumes 8.078μW of power,i.e.,reduce 28%more power that makes single bit six transistor static random access memory cell with forced tack technique and voltage differential sense amplifier with dual sleep technique more energy efficient.

A highly sensitive LITES sensor based on a multi-pass cell with dense spot pattern and a novel quartz tuning fork with low frequency

A highly sensitive light-induced thermoelectric spectroscopy(LITES)sensor based on a multi-pass cell(MPC)with dense spot pattern and a novel quartz tuning fork(QTF)with low resonance frequency is reported in this manuscript.An erbi-um-doped fiber amplifier(EDFA)was employed to amplify the output optical power so that the signal level was further enhanced.The optical path length(OPL)and the ratio of optical path length to volume(RLV)of the MPC is 37.7 m and 13.8 cm^(-2),respectively.A commercial QTF and a self-designed trapezoidal-tip QTF with low frequency of 9461.83 Hz were used as the detectors of the sensor,respectively.The target gas selected to test the performance of the system was acetylene(C2H2).When the optical power was constant at 1000 mW,the minimum detection limit(MDL)of the C2H2-LITES sensor can be achieved 48.3 ppb when using the commercial QTF and 24.6 ppb when using the trapezoid-al-tip QTF.An improvement of the detection performance by a factor of 1.96 was achieved after replacing the commer-cial QTF with the trapezoidal-tip QTF.

Remote sensing of air pollution incorporating integrated-path differential-absorption and coherent-Doppler lidar

An innovative complex lidar system deployed on an airborne rotorcraft platform for remote sensing of atmospheric pollution is proposed and demonstrated.The system incorporates integrated-path differential absorption lidar(DIAL) and coherent-doppler lidar(CDL) techniques using a dual tunable TEA CO_(2)laser in the 9—11 μm band and a 1.55 μm fiber laser.By combining the principles of differential absorption detection and pulsed coherent detection,the system enables agile and remote sensing of atmospheric pollution.Extensive static tests validate the system’s real-time detection capabilities,including the measurement of concentration-path-length product(CL),front distance,and path wind speed of air pollution plumes over long distances exceeding 4 km.Flight experiments is conducted with the helicopter.Scanning of the pollutant concentration and the wind field is carried out in an approximately 1 km slant range over scanning angle ranges from 45°to 65°,with a radial resolution of 30 m and10 s.The test results demonstrate the system’s ability to spatially map atmospheric pollution plumes and predict their motion and dispersion patterns,thereby ensuring the protection of public safety.