We have developed the flexible dual-gate OFET based pressure sensor using a thin polyethylene naphthalate (PEN, 25 µm) film as a substrate. The performance was equivalent to that fabricated on the glass substrate, and it could also be used on the curved surface. Drain current in the flexible pressure sensor was increased according to the pressure load without application of gate voltage. The magnitude of the change in drain current with respect to pressure application was about 2.5 times larger than that for the device on the glass substrate.

We integrate a pressure sensing capacitor and a low operation voltage OFET to develop a pressure sensor. The OFET was used as a readout device and an external pressure was loaded on the sensing capacitor. The OFET operates at less than 5 V and the change in the drain current in response to the pressure load (100 kPa) is two orders of magnitude.

We have developed Pedestrian-Vehicular Collision Avoidance Support System (P-VCASS) in order to protect pedestrians from traffic accidents and its effectiveness has been verified. P-VCASS is a system that takes into account pedestrian's moving situations. It gives warning to drivers of neighboring vehicles in advance if there is a possibility of collision between vehicles and pedestrians. There are pedestrians to move around. They are dangerous for vehicle drivers because they have high probability of running out into the road suddenly. Hence, we need to take into account the presence of them. In this paper, we propose a new estimation method of pedestrian's running out into road by using pressure sensor and moving record. We show the validity of the proposed system by experiments using a vehicle and a pedestrian terminal in the intersection. As a result, we show that a driver of vehicle is able to detect dangerous pedestrians quickly and accurately.

This paper proposes a sensing system for a behavior detection system using an ultrasonic oscillosensor and an air pressure sensor. The ultrasonic oscillosensor sensor has a cylindrical tank filled with water. It detects the vibration of the target object from the signal reflected from the water surface. This sensor can detect a biological vibration by setting to the bottom bed frame. The air pressure sensor consists of a polypropylene sheet and an air pressure sensor, and detects the pressure information by setting under the bed's mattress. An increase (decrease) in the load placed on the bed is detected by the increase (decrease) in the pressure of the air held in the tube attached to the sheet. We propose a behavior detection system using both sensors, complementally. The system recognizes three states (nobody in bed, keeping quiet in bed, moving in bed) using both sensors, and we detect the behavior before getting out of bed by recognized these states. Fuzzy logic plays a primary role in the system. As the fundamental experiment, we applied the system to five healthy volunteers, the system successfully recognized three states, and detected the behavior before getting out of bed. As the clinical experiment, we applied the system to four elderly patients with dementia, the system exactly detected the behavior before getting out of the bed with enough time for medical care support.

Sensing elements based on AlGaN/GaN HEMT and Schottky diode structures have been investigated in relation with the strain sensitivity of their characteristics. Piezoresistance of the Al0.3Ga0.7N/GaN HEMT-channel as well as changes in the current-voltage characteristics of the Schottky diodes have been observed with gauge factor (GF) values ranging between 19 and 350 for the selected biasing conditions. While a stable response to strain was measured, the observed temperature dependence of the channel resistance demonstrates the need for a systematic characterisation of the sensor properties to allow compensation of the observed temperature effects.

Many diverse methods have been developed in the field of biometric identification as a greater emphasis is placed on human-friendliness in the area of intelligent systems. One emerging method is the use of human footprint. However, in the previous research, there were some limitations resulting from the spatial resolution of sensors. One possible method to overcome this limitation is through the use additional information such as dynamic walking information in dynamic footprint. In this study, we suggest a new person recognition scheme based on overlapped foot shape and COP (Center Of Pressure) trajectory during one-step walking. And, we show the usefulness of the suggested method, obtaining a 98.6% recognition rate in our experiment with eleven people.

A tunable optical Fabry-Perrot filter was designed by setting a single-mode optical fiber normal to the diaphragm of a capacitive pressure sensor. The silicon diaphragm is deflected by the electrostatic force generated by applying a voltage to the capacitive electrodes. According to the movement of the diaphragm, the peak wavelength changed from 1546 to 1551 nm when applied voltage was increased from 20 to 50 V. The relationship of the wavelength change to the applied voltage was derived from the silicon diaphragm deflection theory. That measured change of the wavelength agrees well with the wavelength change calculated from this relationship. The commercial pressure sensors are expected to be able to be used as a tunable optical filter.

This paper reviews the use of fiber optic sensors for downhole monitoring in the oil and gas industry. Due to their multiplexing capabilities and versatility, the use of Bragg grating sensors appears to be particularly suited for this application. Several types of transducer have been developed, each of which can be addressed along a single (common) optical fiber in the well and read-out using a common surface instrumentation system.

A new silicon capacitive pressure sensor with center clamped diaphragm is presented. The sensor has a silicon-glass structure and is fabricated by batch-fabrication processes. Since deformed diaphragm has a doughnut-shape, parallel-like displacement is realized and therefore better linearity of 0.7% which is half of the conventional flat diaphragm sensor is obtained. It is clarified both analytically and experimentally that the capacitive pressure sensor with center clamped diaphragm is advantageous in terms of linearity.