The acquisition of high-voltage signals from sensors and actuators in an internal-combustion engi... more The acquisition of high-voltage signals from sensors and actuators in an internal-combustion engine is often required for diagnostic purposes or in the case of conversion to alternative fuels, such as hydrogen, natural gas, or biogas. The integration of electronic interfaces and acquisition circuits in a single device provides benefits in terms of component-count reduction and performance. Nonetheless, the high voltage level of the involved signals makes on-chip design challenging. Additionally, the circuits should be compatible with the CMOS technology, with limited use of high-voltage options and a minimum number of off-chip components. This paper describes the design and the implementation in 350 nm CMOS technology of electronic interfaces and acquisition circuits for typical high-voltage signals of automotive context. In particular, a novel co-design of dedicated voltage clamps with electro-static discharge (ESD) protections is described. The proposed circuits require only a sin...
Nowadays, analytical techniques are moving towards the development of smart biosensing strategies... more Nowadays, analytical techniques are moving towards the development of smart biosensing strategies for the point-of-care accurate screening of disease biomarkers, such as human epididymis protein 4 (HE4), a recently discovered serum marker for early ovarian cancer diagnosis. In this context, the present work represents the first implementation of a competitive enzyme-labelled magneto-immunoassay exploiting a homemade IoT Wi-Fi cloud-based portable potentiostat for differential pulse voltammetry readout. The electrochemical device was specifically designed to be capable of autonomous calibration and data processing, switching between calibration, and measurement modes: in particular, firstly, a baseline estimation algorithm is applied for correct peak computation, then calibration function is built by interpolating data with a four-parameter logistic function. The calibration function parameters are stored on the cloud for inverse prediction to determine the concentration of unknown s...
This paper describes a suitable mathematical model for the design of high-speed, high-resolution ... more This paper describes a suitable mathematical model for the design of high-speed, high-resolution pipe-line ADC's.
The paper presents a digital foreground calibration technique for pipeline analog-to-digital conv... more The paper presents a digital foreground calibration technique for pipeline analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). While the conventional calibration approach requires additional buffered voltage references, the proposed technique requires only a voltage reference, already available in the converter, thus allowing a significant circuit simplification and silicon area savings. Since the number of buffered voltage references in the conventional calibration algorithm increases exponentially
The paper presents the design of a very-high speed Track-and-Hold amplifier (THA) aimed at low po... more The paper presents the design of a very-high speed Track-and-Hold amplifier (THA) aimed at low power consumption. Tha THA is based on a half diode bridge driving a switched emitter follower. It features 10-b resolution at 1-GS/s with less than 25-mW of power consumption.
This work was supported by the project "Biosensoristica innovativa per i test sierologici e molec... more This work was supported by the project "Biosensoristica innovativa per i test sierologici e molecolari e nuovi dispositivi PoCT per la diagnosi di infezione da SARS-CoV-2" funded in 2020 by "Bando Straordinario di Ateneo per Progetti di Ricerca Biomedica in Ambito SARS-COV-2 e COVID-19"-University of Parma ABSTRACT Recent advances in Internet-of-Things technology have opened the doors to new scenarios for biosensor applications. Flexibility, portability, and remote control and access are of utmost importance to move these devices to people's homes or in a Point-of-Care context and rapidly share the results with users and their physicians. In this paper, an innovative portable device for both quantitative and semi-quantitative electrochemical analysis is presented. This device can operate autonomously without the need of relying on other devices (e.g., PC, tablets, or smartphones) thanks to built-in Wi-Fi connectivity. The developed hardware is integrated into a cloud-based platform, exploiting the cloud computational power to perform innovative algorithms for calibration (e.g., Machine Learning tools). Results and configurations can be accessed through a web page without the installation of dedicated APPs or software. The electrical input/output characteristic was measured with a dummy cell as a load, achieving excellent linearity. Furthermore, the device response to five different concentrations of potassium ferri/ferrocyanide redox probe was compared with a bench-top laboratory instrument. No difference in analytical sensitivity was found. Also, some examples of application-specific tests were set up to demonstrate the use in real-case scenarios. In addition, Support Vector Machine algorithm was applied to semi-quantitative analyses to classify the input samples into four classes, achieving an average accuracy of 98.23%. Finally, COVID-19 related tests are presented and discussed.
The Internet of Things paradigm has expanded the possibility of using sensors ubiquitously, parti... more The Internet of Things paradigm has expanded the possibility of using sensors ubiquitously, particularly if connected to a cloud service for data sharing. There are several ways to connect sensors to the cloud: wearable or portable devices often lean on a smartphone that acts as a gateway, while other sensors, such as smart sensors for continuous monitoring (e.g. fall detectors) are connected through wireless networks covering a limited area (e.g. ZigBee or Wi-Fi). Their functionality can be improved using them in both outdoor and indoor environments without other devices. NB-IoT is a recently introduced wide-range protocol with a good compromise between low power, low deployment costs, payload length, and data rate. Traditionally, sensor nodes rely on only one type of radio: an innovative solution could be a sensor node exploiting a combination of different transmission technologies with the aim of achieving higher portability. In this paper, a hybrid solution based on NB-IoT/Wi-Fi is presented. The Wi-Fi connection is primarily selected due to its lower power consumption (compared to NB-IoT), while NB-IoT is activated only when a Wi-Fi network is not available. This study aims to evaluate the power consumption of the proposed solution with respect to single radio NB-IoT technology. Test boards have been implemented, and several data transmission tests have been carried out with both NB-IoT and Wi-Fi radios. Different received powers and payload lengths have been considered to analyze the impact on the energy profile of smart sensors. It has been demonstrated that using NB-IoT for both indoor and outdoor leads to an acceptable battery discharge time, with a strong dependence on the payload length. Under certain conditions, the proposed hybrid solution results in a battery duration up to two times higher than single-radio NB-IoT. INDEX TERMS Sensor systems and applications, smart devices, power measurements, low-power electronics, Internet of Things (IoT).
Nowadays, analytical techniques are moving towards the development of smart biosensing strategies... more Nowadays, analytical techniques are moving towards the development of smart biosensing strategies for the point-of-care accurate screening of disease biomarkers, such as human epididymis protein 4 (HE4), a recently discovered serum marker for early ovarian cancer diagnosis. In this context, the present work represents the first implementation of a competitive enzyme-labelled magneto-immunoassay exploiting a homemade IoT Wi-Fi cloud-based portable potentiostat for differential pulse voltammetry readout. The electrochemical device was specifically designed to be capable of autonomous calibration and data processing, switching between calibration, and measurement modes: in particular, firstly, a baseline estimation algorithm is applied for correct peak computation, then calibration function is built by interpolating data with a four-parameter logistic function. The calibration function parameters are stored on the cloud for inverse prediction to determine the concentration of unknown samples. Interpolation function calibration and concentration evaluation are performed directly on-board, thus reducing the power consumption. The analytical device was validated in human serum, demonstrating good sensing performance for analysis of HE4 with detection and quantitation limits in human serum of 3.5 and 29.2 pM, respectively, reaching the sensitivity that is required for diagnostic purposes, with high potential for applications as portable and smart diagnostic tool for point-of-care testing.
IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, 2020
The measurement of the analyte concentration in electrochemical biosensors traditionally requires... more The measurement of the analyte concentration in electrochemical biosensors traditionally requires costly laboratory equipment to obtain accurate results. Innovative portable solutions have recently been proposed, but usually, they lean on personal computers (PCs) or smartphones for data elaboration and they exhibit poor resolution or portability and proprietary software. This paper presents a low-cost portable system, assembling an ad hoc-designed analog front end (AFE) and a development board equipped with a system on chip integrating a microcontroller and a Wi-Fi network processor. The wireless module enables the transmission of measurements directly to a cloud service for sharing device outcome with users (physicians, caregivers, and so on). In doing so, the system does not require neither the customized software nor other devices involved in data acquisition. Furthermore, when any Internet connection is lost, the data are stored on board for subsequent transmission when a Wi-Fi connection is available. The noise output voltage spectrum has been characterized. Since the designed device is intended to be battery-powered to enhance portability, investigations about battery lifetime were carried out. Finally, data acquired with a conventional benchtop Autolab PGSTAT-204 electrochemical workstation are compared with the outcome of our developed device to validate the effectiveness of our proposal. To this end, we selected ferri/ferrocyanide as redox probe, obtaining the calibration curves for both the platforms. The final outcomes are shown to be feasible, accurate, and repeatable.
The acquisition of high-voltage signals from sensors and actuators in an internal-combustion engi... more The acquisition of high-voltage signals from sensors and actuators in an internal-combustion engine is often required for diagnostic purposes or in the case of conversion to alternative fuels, such as hydrogen, natural gas, or biogas. The integration of electronic interfaces and acquisition circuits in a single device provides benefits in terms of component-count reduction and performance. Nonetheless, the high voltage level of the involved signals makes on-chip design challenging. Additionally, the circuits should be compatible with the CMOS technology, with limited use of high-voltage options and a minimum number of off-chip components. This paper describes the design and the implementation in 350 nm CMOS technology of electronic interfaces and acquisition circuits for typical high-voltage signals of automotive context. In particular, a novel co-design of dedicated voltage clamps with electro-static discharge (ESD) protections is described. The proposed circuits require only a sin...
Nowadays, analytical techniques are moving towards the development of smart biosensing strategies... more Nowadays, analytical techniques are moving towards the development of smart biosensing strategies for the point-of-care accurate screening of disease biomarkers, such as human epididymis protein 4 (HE4), a recently discovered serum marker for early ovarian cancer diagnosis. In this context, the present work represents the first implementation of a competitive enzyme-labelled magneto-immunoassay exploiting a homemade IoT Wi-Fi cloud-based portable potentiostat for differential pulse voltammetry readout. The electrochemical device was specifically designed to be capable of autonomous calibration and data processing, switching between calibration, and measurement modes: in particular, firstly, a baseline estimation algorithm is applied for correct peak computation, then calibration function is built by interpolating data with a four-parameter logistic function. The calibration function parameters are stored on the cloud for inverse prediction to determine the concentration of unknown s...
This paper describes a suitable mathematical model for the design of high-speed, high-resolution ... more This paper describes a suitable mathematical model for the design of high-speed, high-resolution pipe-line ADC's.
The paper presents a digital foreground calibration technique for pipeline analog-to-digital conv... more The paper presents a digital foreground calibration technique for pipeline analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). While the conventional calibration approach requires additional buffered voltage references, the proposed technique requires only a voltage reference, already available in the converter, thus allowing a significant circuit simplification and silicon area savings. Since the number of buffered voltage references in the conventional calibration algorithm increases exponentially
The paper presents the design of a very-high speed Track-and-Hold amplifier (THA) aimed at low po... more The paper presents the design of a very-high speed Track-and-Hold amplifier (THA) aimed at low power consumption. Tha THA is based on a half diode bridge driving a switched emitter follower. It features 10-b resolution at 1-GS/s with less than 25-mW of power consumption.
This work was supported by the project "Biosensoristica innovativa per i test sierologici e molec... more This work was supported by the project "Biosensoristica innovativa per i test sierologici e molecolari e nuovi dispositivi PoCT per la diagnosi di infezione da SARS-CoV-2" funded in 2020 by "Bando Straordinario di Ateneo per Progetti di Ricerca Biomedica in Ambito SARS-COV-2 e COVID-19"-University of Parma ABSTRACT Recent advances in Internet-of-Things technology have opened the doors to new scenarios for biosensor applications. Flexibility, portability, and remote control and access are of utmost importance to move these devices to people's homes or in a Point-of-Care context and rapidly share the results with users and their physicians. In this paper, an innovative portable device for both quantitative and semi-quantitative electrochemical analysis is presented. This device can operate autonomously without the need of relying on other devices (e.g., PC, tablets, or smartphones) thanks to built-in Wi-Fi connectivity. The developed hardware is integrated into a cloud-based platform, exploiting the cloud computational power to perform innovative algorithms for calibration (e.g., Machine Learning tools). Results and configurations can be accessed through a web page without the installation of dedicated APPs or software. The electrical input/output characteristic was measured with a dummy cell as a load, achieving excellent linearity. Furthermore, the device response to five different concentrations of potassium ferri/ferrocyanide redox probe was compared with a bench-top laboratory instrument. No difference in analytical sensitivity was found. Also, some examples of application-specific tests were set up to demonstrate the use in real-case scenarios. In addition, Support Vector Machine algorithm was applied to semi-quantitative analyses to classify the input samples into four classes, achieving an average accuracy of 98.23%. Finally, COVID-19 related tests are presented and discussed.
The Internet of Things paradigm has expanded the possibility of using sensors ubiquitously, parti... more The Internet of Things paradigm has expanded the possibility of using sensors ubiquitously, particularly if connected to a cloud service for data sharing. There are several ways to connect sensors to the cloud: wearable or portable devices often lean on a smartphone that acts as a gateway, while other sensors, such as smart sensors for continuous monitoring (e.g. fall detectors) are connected through wireless networks covering a limited area (e.g. ZigBee or Wi-Fi). Their functionality can be improved using them in both outdoor and indoor environments without other devices. NB-IoT is a recently introduced wide-range protocol with a good compromise between low power, low deployment costs, payload length, and data rate. Traditionally, sensor nodes rely on only one type of radio: an innovative solution could be a sensor node exploiting a combination of different transmission technologies with the aim of achieving higher portability. In this paper, a hybrid solution based on NB-IoT/Wi-Fi is presented. The Wi-Fi connection is primarily selected due to its lower power consumption (compared to NB-IoT), while NB-IoT is activated only when a Wi-Fi network is not available. This study aims to evaluate the power consumption of the proposed solution with respect to single radio NB-IoT technology. Test boards have been implemented, and several data transmission tests have been carried out with both NB-IoT and Wi-Fi radios. Different received powers and payload lengths have been considered to analyze the impact on the energy profile of smart sensors. It has been demonstrated that using NB-IoT for both indoor and outdoor leads to an acceptable battery discharge time, with a strong dependence on the payload length. Under certain conditions, the proposed hybrid solution results in a battery duration up to two times higher than single-radio NB-IoT. INDEX TERMS Sensor systems and applications, smart devices, power measurements, low-power electronics, Internet of Things (IoT).
Nowadays, analytical techniques are moving towards the development of smart biosensing strategies... more Nowadays, analytical techniques are moving towards the development of smart biosensing strategies for the point-of-care accurate screening of disease biomarkers, such as human epididymis protein 4 (HE4), a recently discovered serum marker for early ovarian cancer diagnosis. In this context, the present work represents the first implementation of a competitive enzyme-labelled magneto-immunoassay exploiting a homemade IoT Wi-Fi cloud-based portable potentiostat for differential pulse voltammetry readout. The electrochemical device was specifically designed to be capable of autonomous calibration and data processing, switching between calibration, and measurement modes: in particular, firstly, a baseline estimation algorithm is applied for correct peak computation, then calibration function is built by interpolating data with a four-parameter logistic function. The calibration function parameters are stored on the cloud for inverse prediction to determine the concentration of unknown samples. Interpolation function calibration and concentration evaluation are performed directly on-board, thus reducing the power consumption. The analytical device was validated in human serum, demonstrating good sensing performance for analysis of HE4 with detection and quantitation limits in human serum of 3.5 and 29.2 pM, respectively, reaching the sensitivity that is required for diagnostic purposes, with high potential for applications as portable and smart diagnostic tool for point-of-care testing.
IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, 2020
The measurement of the analyte concentration in electrochemical biosensors traditionally requires... more The measurement of the analyte concentration in electrochemical biosensors traditionally requires costly laboratory equipment to obtain accurate results. Innovative portable solutions have recently been proposed, but usually, they lean on personal computers (PCs) or smartphones for data elaboration and they exhibit poor resolution or portability and proprietary software. This paper presents a low-cost portable system, assembling an ad hoc-designed analog front end (AFE) and a development board equipped with a system on chip integrating a microcontroller and a Wi-Fi network processor. The wireless module enables the transmission of measurements directly to a cloud service for sharing device outcome with users (physicians, caregivers, and so on). In doing so, the system does not require neither the customized software nor other devices involved in data acquisition. Furthermore, when any Internet connection is lost, the data are stored on board for subsequent transmission when a Wi-Fi connection is available. The noise output voltage spectrum has been characterized. Since the designed device is intended to be battery-powered to enhance portability, investigations about battery lifetime were carried out. Finally, data acquired with a conventional benchtop Autolab PGSTAT-204 electrochemical workstation are compared with the outcome of our developed device to validate the effectiveness of our proposal. To this end, we selected ferri/ferrocyanide as redox probe, obtaining the calibration curves for both the platforms. The final outcomes are shown to be feasible, accurate, and repeatable.
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Papers by Andrea Boni