This paper presents a tidal current meter that is based on the inertial acceleration principle fo... more This paper presents a tidal current meter that is based on the inertial acceleration principle for offshore infrastructures in deep water. Focusing on the marine installations of the aquaculture industry, we studied the forces of tides at a depth of 15 m by measuring the acceleration. In addition, we used a commercial MEMS triaxial accelerometer to record the acceleration values. A prototype of the tidal measurement unit was developed and tested at a real offshore aquaculture infrastructure in Gran Canaria, which is one of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The proposed tidal measurement unit was used as a recorder to assess the complexity of measuring the frequency of tidal currents in the short (10 min), medium (one day) and long term (one week). The acquired data were studied in detail, in both the time and frequency domains, to determine the frequency of the forces that were involved. Finally, the complexity of the frequency measurements from the captured data was analyze...
A transimpedance amplifier (TIA) based on a voltage conveyor structure designed for high gain, lo... more A transimpedance amplifier (TIA) based on a voltage conveyor structure designed for high gain, low noise, low distortion, and low power consumption is presented in this work. Following a second-generation voltage conveyor topology, the current and voltage blocks are a regulated cascode amplifier and a down converter buffer, respectively. The proposed voltage buffer is designed for low distortion and low power consumption, whereas the regulated cascode is designed for low noise and high gain. The resulting TIA was fabricated in 65 nm CMOS technology for logic and mixed-mode designs, using low-threshold voltage transistors and a supply voltage of ±1.2 V. It exhibited a 52 dBΩ transimpedance gain and a 1.1 GHz bandwidth, consuming 55.3 mW using a ±1.2 V supply. Our preamplifier stage, based on a regulated cascode, was designed considering detector capacitance, bonding wire, and packaging capacitance. The voltage buffer was designed for low-power consumption and low distortion. The meas...
In this paper, we present a novel charging method for underwater batteryless sensor node networks... more In this paper, we present a novel charging method for underwater batteryless sensor node networks. The target application is a practical underwater sensor network for oceanic fish farms. The underwater sections of the network use a wireless power transfer system based on the ISO 11784/11785 HDX standard for supplying energy to the batteryless sensor nodes. Each sensor has an accumulator capacitor, which is charged for voltage supplying to the sensor node. A new distributed charging scheme is proposed and discussed in detail to reduce the required time to charge all sensor nodes of the underwater sections. One important key is its decentralized control of the charging process. The proposal is based on the self disconnection ability of each sensor node from the charging network. The second important key is that the hardware implementation of this new feature is quite simple and only requires to include a minimal circuitry in parallel to the current sensor node antenna while the rest o...
In this paper, a new method for gaining the control of standalone underwater sensor nodes based o... more In this paper, a new method for gaining the control of standalone underwater sensor nodes based on sensing the power supply evolution is presented. Underwater sensor networks are designed to support multiple extreme scenarios such as network disconnections. In those cases, the sensor nodes involved should go into standalone, and its wired and wireless communications should be disabled. This paper presents how to exit from the standalone status and enter into debugging mode following a practical ultra-low power design methodology. In addition, the discharge and regeneration effects are analyzed and modeled to minimize the error using the sensor node self measurements. Once the method is presented, its implementation details are discussed including other solutions like wake up wireless modules or a pin interruption solution. Its advantages and disadvantages are discussed. The method proposed is evaluated with several simulations and laboratory experiments using a real aquaculture sens...
In this paper, we present the design of a practical underwater sensor network for offshore fish f... more In this paper, we present the design of a practical underwater sensor network for offshore fish farm cages. An overview of the current structure of an offshore fish farm, applied sensor network solutions, and their weaknesses are given. A mixed wireless–wired approach is proposed to mitigate the problem of wire breakage in underwater wired sensor networks. The approach is based on the serial arrangement of identical sections with wired and wireless interconnections areas. Wireless section alleviates underwater maintenance operations when cages are damaged. The analytical model of the proposed solution is studied in terms of maximum power transfer efficiency and the general formulas of the current in their transmitting antennas and sensor nodes are provided. Subsequently, based on simulations, the effects of parasitic resistance across the network are evaluated. A practical underwater sensor network to reach the 30 m depth with sensor nodes distanced 6 m is used to determine the prop...
A blood pressure sensor suitable for wireless biomedical applications is designed and optimized. ... more A blood pressure sensor suitable for wireless biomedical applications is designed and optimized. State-of-the-art blood pressure sensors based on piezoresistive transducers in a full Wheatstone bridge configuration use low ohmic values because of relatively high sensitivity and low noise approach resulting in high power consumption. In this paper, the piezoresistance values are increased in order to reduce by one order of magnitude the power consumption in comparison with literature approaches. The microelectromechanical system (MEMS) pressure sensor, the mixed signal circuits signal conditioning circuitry, and the successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) are designed, optimized, and integrated in the same substrate using a commercial 1 μm CMOS technology. As result of the optimization, we obtained a digital sensor with high sensitivity, low noise (0.002 μV/Hz), and low power consumption (358 μW). Finally, the piezoresistance noise does not affect th...
ABSTRACT In this paper design of fast arithmetic circuits using a GaAs based feed through logic (... more ABSTRACT In this paper design of fast arithmetic circuits using a GaAs based feed through logic (FTL) family is presented. A modified version of FTL termed differential FTL (DFTL) is introduced and basic aspects of design methodologies using FTL are discussed. A 4-bit ripple-carry adder is designed and its performance is evaluated against other similar reported works in terms of device count, chip area, delay clock rate, and power consumption. It is shown how arithmetic circuits based on FTL outperform the evaluated performance. A 4-bit magnitude comparator is designed and performance evaluated against four cascaded 1-bit comparators
This paper presents a tidal current meter that is based on the inertial acceleration principle fo... more This paper presents a tidal current meter that is based on the inertial acceleration principle for offshore infrastructures in deep water. Focusing on the marine installations of the aquaculture industry, we studied the forces of tides at a depth of 15 m by measuring the acceleration. In addition, we used a commercial MEMS triaxial accelerometer to record the acceleration values. A prototype of the tidal measurement unit was developed and tested at a real offshore aquaculture infrastructure in Gran Canaria, which is one of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The proposed tidal measurement unit was used as a recorder to assess the complexity of measuring the frequency of tidal currents in the short (10 min), medium (one day) and long term (one week). The acquired data were studied in detail, in both the time and frequency domains, to determine the frequency of the forces that were involved. Finally, the complexity of the frequency measurements from the captured data was analyze...
A transimpedance amplifier (TIA) based on a voltage conveyor structure designed for high gain, lo... more A transimpedance amplifier (TIA) based on a voltage conveyor structure designed for high gain, low noise, low distortion, and low power consumption is presented in this work. Following a second-generation voltage conveyor topology, the current and voltage blocks are a regulated cascode amplifier and a down converter buffer, respectively. The proposed voltage buffer is designed for low distortion and low power consumption, whereas the regulated cascode is designed for low noise and high gain. The resulting TIA was fabricated in 65 nm CMOS technology for logic and mixed-mode designs, using low-threshold voltage transistors and a supply voltage of ±1.2 V. It exhibited a 52 dBΩ transimpedance gain and a 1.1 GHz bandwidth, consuming 55.3 mW using a ±1.2 V supply. Our preamplifier stage, based on a regulated cascode, was designed considering detector capacitance, bonding wire, and packaging capacitance. The voltage buffer was designed for low-power consumption and low distortion. The meas...
In this paper, we present a novel charging method for underwater batteryless sensor node networks... more In this paper, we present a novel charging method for underwater batteryless sensor node networks. The target application is a practical underwater sensor network for oceanic fish farms. The underwater sections of the network use a wireless power transfer system based on the ISO 11784/11785 HDX standard for supplying energy to the batteryless sensor nodes. Each sensor has an accumulator capacitor, which is charged for voltage supplying to the sensor node. A new distributed charging scheme is proposed and discussed in detail to reduce the required time to charge all sensor nodes of the underwater sections. One important key is its decentralized control of the charging process. The proposal is based on the self disconnection ability of each sensor node from the charging network. The second important key is that the hardware implementation of this new feature is quite simple and only requires to include a minimal circuitry in parallel to the current sensor node antenna while the rest o...
In this paper, a new method for gaining the control of standalone underwater sensor nodes based o... more In this paper, a new method for gaining the control of standalone underwater sensor nodes based on sensing the power supply evolution is presented. Underwater sensor networks are designed to support multiple extreme scenarios such as network disconnections. In those cases, the sensor nodes involved should go into standalone, and its wired and wireless communications should be disabled. This paper presents how to exit from the standalone status and enter into debugging mode following a practical ultra-low power design methodology. In addition, the discharge and regeneration effects are analyzed and modeled to minimize the error using the sensor node self measurements. Once the method is presented, its implementation details are discussed including other solutions like wake up wireless modules or a pin interruption solution. Its advantages and disadvantages are discussed. The method proposed is evaluated with several simulations and laboratory experiments using a real aquaculture sens...
In this paper, we present the design of a practical underwater sensor network for offshore fish f... more In this paper, we present the design of a practical underwater sensor network for offshore fish farm cages. An overview of the current structure of an offshore fish farm, applied sensor network solutions, and their weaknesses are given. A mixed wireless–wired approach is proposed to mitigate the problem of wire breakage in underwater wired sensor networks. The approach is based on the serial arrangement of identical sections with wired and wireless interconnections areas. Wireless section alleviates underwater maintenance operations when cages are damaged. The analytical model of the proposed solution is studied in terms of maximum power transfer efficiency and the general formulas of the current in their transmitting antennas and sensor nodes are provided. Subsequently, based on simulations, the effects of parasitic resistance across the network are evaluated. A practical underwater sensor network to reach the 30 m depth with sensor nodes distanced 6 m is used to determine the prop...
A blood pressure sensor suitable for wireless biomedical applications is designed and optimized. ... more A blood pressure sensor suitable for wireless biomedical applications is designed and optimized. State-of-the-art blood pressure sensors based on piezoresistive transducers in a full Wheatstone bridge configuration use low ohmic values because of relatively high sensitivity and low noise approach resulting in high power consumption. In this paper, the piezoresistance values are increased in order to reduce by one order of magnitude the power consumption in comparison with literature approaches. The microelectromechanical system (MEMS) pressure sensor, the mixed signal circuits signal conditioning circuitry, and the successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) are designed, optimized, and integrated in the same substrate using a commercial 1 μm CMOS technology. As result of the optimization, we obtained a digital sensor with high sensitivity, low noise (0.002 μV/Hz), and low power consumption (358 μW). Finally, the piezoresistance noise does not affect th...
ABSTRACT In this paper design of fast arithmetic circuits using a GaAs based feed through logic (... more ABSTRACT In this paper design of fast arithmetic circuits using a GaAs based feed through logic (FTL) family is presented. A modified version of FTL termed differential FTL (DFTL) is introduced and basic aspects of design methodologies using FTL are discussed. A 4-bit ripple-carry adder is designed and its performance is evaluated against other similar reported works in terms of device count, chip area, delay clock rate, and power consumption. It is shown how arithmetic circuits based on FTL outperform the evaluated performance. A 4-bit magnitude comparator is designed and performance evaluated against four cascaded 1-bit comparators
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Papers by Juan A. Montiel-Nelson