TFG: Design and development of synchronization protocols for wireless EMG devices

Clock Synchronization

Electromyography is the technique used to check the health of muscles and the nerve cells that control them. Muscle data is normally collected through non-intrusive surface electrodes, which are placed on the skin. One of the problems that this technique has traditionally presented is the number of wires that are needed to connect the electrodes to the device that processes the information.

In the B105 Electronic Systems Lab there is a line of research focused on the development of a platform that removes these wires. The proposed solution is a platform with wireless sensors that allows the collection of EMG data.
The design and development of the synchronization and data transfer protocols are essential and will be covered in this project. This work is a fundamental piece along with the detection of EMG signals, the encapsulation of the device and the representation of the data to create a final wireless EMG product.

In this project the objective is to design and develop at least one synchronization protocol and one data transfer protocol that allow the specific activities of an EMG platform to be carried out. A previous study of the EMG technique, as well as the available hardware and software have been conducted. Subsequently, two synchronization protocols and one data transfer protocol have been designed and implemented.

Finally, tests have been carried out to evaluate the operation of the protocols, verifying that they work properly.

A Methodology for Choosing Time Synchronization Strategies for Wireless IoT Networks

This summer we have published a new article about time synchronization for wireless sensor networks, applied to the field of IoT, in Sensors Open Access Journal. This journal has these statistics:

  • 2018 Impact Factor: 3.031
  • 5-year Impact Factor: 3.302
  • JCR category rank: 15/61 (Q1) in ‘Instruments & Instrumentation’

This article belongs to the Special Issue Topology Control and Protocols in Sensor Network and IoT Applications.

This article has a direct relationship with the thesis of our colleague Francisco Tirado-Andrés. This thesis investigates a methodology, and associated tools, to make it easier for all researchers to choose time synchronization protocols for specific WSNs.

For more information about this article please visit MDPI webpage.