Blog

ESTAR: Low-cost self-powered wireless multisensor devices for Industry 4.0
Posted on by araujo

The objective of the ESTAR project is to develop a system of completely autonomous low-cost devices that allow automatic monitoring through different sensors. The autonomy is based on the automation of the installation, energy harvesting and automatic configuration of both the network and the devices. In addition, the device will be easy to install and maintain.

The system will adapt to different use cases with different needs.

Title: ESTAR: Low-cost self-powered wireless multisensor devices for Industry 4.0
Duration: November 2022 – October 2023
Partners: UNIVERSIDAD POLITÉCNICA DE MADRID, CENTUM SOLUTIONS
Financing entity: CENTUM SOLUTIONS con el apoyo del CENTRO PARA EL DESARROLLO TECNOLÓGICO Y LA INNOVACIÓN E.P.E. (CDTI)  (IDI-20220872)

HUMAIN: Investigación de nuevas soluciones flexibles basadas en patrones de IA e IoT para una producción 5.0 más segura, eficiente y sostenible
Posted on by araujo

The general goal of the HUMAIN project is the improvement of production processes through industrial research and the creation of synergies for the achievement of novel methodologies and algorithms that allow:

  • Execute complex and diverse production processes with greater precision/quality.
  • Increase time efficiency and reduce unplanned stops (predictive maintenance system).
  • Optimize the use of resources, both material and energy.
  • Improve execution quality to help reduce waste generation at increasingly earlier stages of the production process in order to promote circularity.

The task of B105 Electronic Systems Lab is research into indoor and outdoor positioning systems for Industry 5.0.

Title: HUMAIN – Investigación de nuevas soluciones flexibles basadas en patrones de IA e IoT para una producción 5.0 más segura, eficiente y sostenible
Duration: October 2022 – December 2024
Partners: GPA INNOVA, BAMA, CENTUM, AMPER S&C IOT, BitMetrics, UNIVERSIDAD POLITÉCNICA DE MADRID
Financing entity: “Programa de Misiones de Ciencia e Innovación”, CENTRO PARA EL DESARROLLO TECNOLÓGICO Y LA INNOVACIÓN E.P.E. (CDTI) (MIP-20221036)

MINA-CM: Madrid Innovative Neurotech Alliance
Posted on by araujo

Neurotechnologies are achieving spectacular advances both in the treatment of pathologies of the
nervous system (with the reduction of enormous social and economic costs associated with these
diseases; with disability and mortality rates of 21M disabled, 1.2M deceased per year respectively in
Europe, costs >4% of GDP) as well as in other important areas, such as empowerment and extension
of brain capacities, brain-machine and brain-brain interfaces. The applications of these technologies
are immense, from the clinical aspects related with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of
neurological pathologies to the development of new computation systems, improvement of learning,
integration and connection of advanced devices with the nervous system.


The main goal of Madrid Innovative Neurotech Alliance (MINA-CM) is the innovation, development and application of advanced neurotechnological solutions in the Comunidad de Madrid.


The main objectives of MINA-CM are:
The development of multidisciplinary and interinstitutional biomedical R+D+i in neurotechnologies for
pathologies of the nervous system and improvement of brain capacities and interconnection through
physical and functional interfaces.
The attraction and incorporation of exceptional young researchers to R+D+i in neurotechnology in the Comunidad de Madrid.
The reinforcement and enhancement of the participation of the Comunidad de Madrid in international
networks and consortiums of R+D+I in neurotechnology.
The reinforcement, potentiation and integration of companies, in particular SMEs of high technology in a network of R+D+i in neurotechnology in the Comunidad de Madrid to favor international and national funding.

Title: MINA-CM – Madrid Innovative Neurotech Alliance
Duration: January 2023 – December 2026
Partners: UNIVERSIDAD POLITÉCNICA DE MADRID, UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID, CENTRO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTÍFICAS, HOSPITAL RAMÓN Y CAJAL, HOSPITAL CLÍNICO SAN CARLOS, HOSPITAL LA PAZ
Financing entity: Comunidad de Madrid, Programas de actividades de I+D entre grupos de investigación de la Comunidad de Madrid en Biomedicina 2022 (P2022/BMD-7236)

THOR – Building vascular networks and Blood-Brain-Barriers through a Biomimetic manufacturing Technology for the fabrication of Human tissues and Organs
Posted on by araujo

Tenths of millions of people with organ failures or suffering from degenerative diseases are waiting for a novel cellular therapy or for a transplant of a donor compatible organ and the immense majority of these patients will die before receiving the tissue or organ they need. Despite the significant advances in tissue engineering, not a single artificial tissue has been used to replace a part of an organ, with the exception of simple or avascular tissues like skin or cartilage. And the main impediment is the up-to-date impossibility to engineer physiological vascular networks to provide O2 and nutrients to the artificial tissue.

THOR solves this drawback with the combination of self-assembling molecules (SAM) inspired to the Extracellular matrix (ECM) to construct solid and hollow polymeric fibers, spiderbots to create self-assembling structures (SAS) and photoactivable crosslinkers-based  functionalization of the structures using SAM proteins. THOR tissue arises from high-resolution 3D spatial positioning of SAS, angiogenic factors and relevant cell lineages, reprogrammed and expanded in a dedicated bioreactor under controlled conditions.

B105 Electronics Systems Lab is in charge of the design and implementation of the spiderbots, as well as the integration with the rest of the technologies.

Title: THOR – Building vascular networks and Blood-Brain-Barriers through a Biomimetic manufacturing Technology for the fabrication of Human tissues and Organs
Duration: January 2023 – December 2026
Partners: UNIVERSIDAD POLITÉCNICA DE MADRID, UNIVERSITAETSKLINIKUM FREIBURG, ELVESYS, UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DELLA CAMPANIA LUIGI VANVITELLI, BIOACTIVE SURFACES, S.L.
Financing entity: HORIZON-EIC-2022-PATHFINDEROPEN-01 (GA 101099719)

More information:

https://www.thor-project.eu/

TFM: Development of an electronic system on smart garments to aid in the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases
Posted on by María Tejedor

TFM: Development of an electronic system on smart garments to aid in the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases

Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects the nervous system, which mainly causes motor disorders. It affects more than 160,000 people in Spain. In addition, it is expected that due to the growing aging of the population it will become the most common serious disease by the year 2040.
One of the main problems faced in this disease is the delay in its diagnosis. In addition, it is important to ensure that patients’ symptoms are properly monitored in order to correctly adjust their medication.
Over the past few years, the use of wearable devices to monitor patients outside of the hospital environment has increased. Among these devices, those that use sensorized clothing, so that the sensors are integrated into the tissues, are gaining popularity and have great potential. Although these are still at an early stage of development.

In this context begins this Master’s Thesis, which is part of the research line of the B105 Electronic Systems Lab for the development of wearable devices. The main objective of the project is to design and implement an electronic system to control a set of intelligent clothes for the monitoring of different parameters, which can be connected to other wearable devices in the future.

For this purpose, a study of the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and how it is possible to monitor them have been carried out. We have also analysed which studies have been conducted in recent years using textile sensor to diagnose or monitor this pathology. Subsequently, it has been searched which intelligent garments are being commercialized in the market. And finally, it has been established which requirements are intended to be fulfilled by the design that is going to be carried out.

Due to the initial work done, the design of the system to be implemented has been carried out.

It consists of a pair of socks and a harness, which communicate through Bluetooth with a mobile phone application.

The socks incorporate 3 textile resistors in the sole of the foot, and an IMU in the ankle to monitor the patient’s gait. While the harness makes use of 3 textile electrodes, whose outputs are filtered by a circuit to obtain the ECG. It also incorporates an IMU in the central part of the chest, to monitor the user’s posture. In addition, both garments make use of a PCB in which they operate the control part and the power supply.

In the software development of the project, FreeRTOS has been used together with a state machine to control the measurements of the sensors of the garments and send the measured values via bluetooth to a mobile application.

In the hardware development, the design and implementation of the PCBs has been carried out.

Finally, we have started to perform unit tests on the development carried out, for the hardware as well as for the software, which should be finalized to verify the complete performance of the developed system.