Browsing by Author "Golgouneh, Alireza"
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Item Comparative Assessment of Wearable Surface EMG Electrode Configurations for Biomechanical Applications(49th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2019-07-07) Lee, J. Walter; Golgouneh, Alireza; Dunne, LucyObtaining accurate biomechanical information within rigid, constrained compartments such as spacesuits can be challenging and labor-intensive, due to the obstacles of bulk and mass involved with sensor placements. Inspired by the current challenges in measuring astronaut biomechanics and in designing mobility-assistive robotics, this study investigates the feasibility of using soft, flexible wearable surface electromyography (EMG) sensors. In this study, anti-slip arm bands with textile-friendly metal-snap electrodes were used to collect EMG signals from biceps brachii and triceps brachii muscle activities, with conventional adhesive disposable solid-gel electrodes measuring the same muscle activities simultaneously. To compare the quality of signals obtained from the wearable EMG electrode configuration to the signals obtained from the conventional EMG electrodes, 40 trials that were collected with two subjects were analyzed by extracting 11 time-domain EMG features. These EMG features from two distinct signal sources were compared by using the non-segmentation method, the overlapping segmentation method, and the disjoint segmentation method. Results showed that comparisons were non-significant in most feature comparisons using non-segmentation method, and all comparisons were non-significant in both EMG signal segmentation methods, validating the feasibility of reliable and accurate signal collection with the dry metal-snap wearable electrodes and the promise in real-time application of the wearable EMG electrode configuration. Implications and limitations of the current study results are also discussed.Item Effects of E-Textile Circuit Components on Signal Quality for Wearable Sensing Applications(51st International Conference on Environmental Systems, 7/10/2022) Golgouneh, Alireza; Holschuh, Brad; Dunne, Lucy; Eshima, SamuelWearable sensors are an emerging area of interest for next-generation spacesuits. Wearable sensors can be used to measure things like physiological signals or forces experienced by the body to obtain information about crew members� wellness, mobility, and body position. Obtaining this information within rigid, constrained environments such as spacesuits can be challenging and labor-intensive. Requirements of comfort and conformability are often at odds with both functional and durability requirements involved with wearing a sensing layer underneath a stiff suit. Using E-textile components such as conductive threads and rubbers instead of typical electrical components can help manage the comfort/durability requirements of a sensing baselayer for space suit applications. However, flexible e-textile components may influence circuit integrity and sensor signal quality, and lead to inaccurate measurement. This study seeks to quantify the effects of various approaches to integrating soft textile-based electrical connections (such as threads and rubbers) on the responses of soft strain sensors. Changes in Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) for textile-based piezoresistive and capacitive strain sensors were measured under wearability conditions including three e-textile lead configurations, a body curvature condition, and a skin proximity condition. Effects were most significant for the capacitive sensor. All lead types maintained strong SNR for the piezoresistive sensor, and body curvature did not induce significant changes. Skin proximity (and particularly motion artifacts) affected the capacitive sensor response, but effects were smallest when using conductive rubber leads.Item Towards Large-area On-body Force Sensing Using Soft, Flexible Materials: Challenges of Textile-Based Array Sensing(2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2020-07-31) Compton, Crystal; Golgouneh, Alireza; Holschuh, Brad; Dunne, LucyOn-body force-sensing presents important opportunities for understanding of how the human body moves and interfaces with wearable systems such as space suits. Measuring these body-space suit interactions has been a continuous challenge due to the enclosed nature of the suit as well as limitations of common sensor technology. Textile-based wearable sensors offer the possibility of comfortable, unobtrusive monitoring inside the suit. Further, most typical force sensors only provide information for a single point, while for wearable applications, it is useful to be able to measure multiple points over a larger area to obtain a distribution of force measurements. Here, we investigate the challenges of textile-based sensing arrays through the assessment of two force-sensing array architectures: (1) isolated-cell, and (2) connected-cell. Controlled calibration and force-sensing tests have illuminated challenges stemming from crosstalk and mechanical deformation of the sensing array that influence sensor response repeatability and accuracy. We present an assessment of these challenges including implementation of mitigation approaches, and discuss their implications for on-body textile-based sensing.