Sensors Converge 2023

Agenda 

9:00-9:05 Welcome
Speaker: Roger Grace, President, Roger Grace Associates, Workshop Organizer and Chairman

9:05-9:25 Introduction and Overview of Printed, Flexible, Stretchable and Functional/E-Fabric Sensors and Sensor-Based Systems
Speaker: Roger Grace, President, Roger Grace Associates

9:25-9:50 Keynote: High-Performance Printed Electronics on Flexible Substrates
Speaker: Ravinder Dahiya Ph.D., Northeastern University

9:50-10:10 Design Considerations when Embedding Tactile Force Sensors-What OEMs Need to Know
Engineers designing commercial products always have key considerations in mind when it comes to specifying embedded components: performance, budget, and timing. Every application is unique, and experienced engineers know that these factors are not mutually exclusive – selecting the “right” component doesn’t always mean selecting the highest precision component, and selecting the most cost-effective component doesn’t always mean selecting the component with the lowest piece-price.This presentation will provide examples of applications in industries ranging from healthcare to automotive, highlighting critical information to consider in evaluating embedded technology like thin, flexible force sensors.
Speaker: Rob Podoloff, Chief Technology Officer, Tekscan

10:10-10:30 Conventional versus New Generation Gas Sensing: Meeting the Demanding Needs of Flexible Electronics and Emerging Markets
Conventional gas sensors are designed as zero-order analytical instruments with a single-output response (e.g. resistance, current, light intensity). Under variable ambient conditions such sensors suffer from cross-sensitivity from interferent gases and from fluctuations (drift) of their response because single-output sensor designs mathematically do not allow gas-selectivity and/or drift correction. In this talk, we will break this status quo by demonstrating a new generation of gas sensors, known as multivariable sensors with several independent responses. By our designs, these sensors are first-order analytical instruments. We will show that individual first-order gas sensors quantify several gases and reject interferences, which is mathematically not feasible using conventional sensor designs.
Speaker: Radislav Potyrailo Ph.D., Principal Scientist, GE Research

10:30-10:45 Morning Break

10:45-11:05 3D Printing Enables Complex Manufacturing Processes for Sensors
The convergence of 3D printing and MEMS will be covered in this presentation. MEMS wafer processing is now using Additive Manufacturing (AM) to fabricate complex micromachined substrates. By using 3D printing, hundreds of traditional MEMS wafer fabrication steps can be eliminated from the typical MEMS wafer process. Wafer level packaging cavities, through wafer vias, cantilevers, resonators, getters, pressure diaphragms and suspended microtubes have all been 3D printed as part of a wafer. The convergence of 3D printing and traditional IC and MEMS photolithography processes offers new ways to manufacture complex micromachined substrates from new materials like stainless steel, super alloys and various plastics with submicron circuit and sensing element features on the MEMS wafer surface.
Speaker: Doug Sparks Ph.D., Founder, Micro2Nano Technologies,

11:05:11:25 Additive Hybrid Electronics for Novel Wearable Devices
Flexible Hybrid Electronics (FHE) combines various processes from industries such as conventional electronics manufacturing, printing, plastics processing, additive manufacturing, laser imaging, and robotic assembly. It combines thinned dies, printed components, flexible and conformal materials for electronics to enable new shapes and form factors. NextFlex, as a consortium and a manufacturing hub, unites a broad community of technology providers, end users, and a unique combination of manufacturing tools that together make FHE possible. Additive processes enable us to erase the boundaries between advanced packaging and circuit boards. This talk provides an overview of projects at NextFlex and its partners that facilitate US manufacturing innovation for electronics packaging and integration.
Speaker: Robert Malakhov, Ph.D, Materials and Process Engineer, Netflex

11:25-11:45 Sensor Infused Smart Sock for Medical Monitoring Applications
In the last years wearable technologies and smart fabrics are arousing a great deal of interest in the healthcare field. The possibility to directly interact and collect data from the body, along with the comfort of fabrics, represent great opportunities to develop health related applications. Smart sensing socks, able to collect kinematic and foot pressure signals, are attractive solutions to perform gait analysis inside and also outside clinical laboratories, e.g., in the home environment for remote continuous monitoring of patients. In this study we analyze the performance of Sensoria smart socks in detecting the major spatio-temporal gait analysis metrics. We validate the results provided by the system in comparison with those of the IMU-based gait analysis system OPAL Mobility Lab by APDM.
Speaker: Maurizio Macagno, Co-Founder & CTO, Sensoria Health

11:45-12:00 Q & A

12:00-1:00 Lunch

1:00-1:10 Welcome
Speaker: Roger Grace, President, Roger Grace Associates, Workshop Organizer and Chairman

1:10-1:35 Self-Sustainable Textile Sensor Power Sources Based on Low-Cost Printing 
Flexible and comfortable textile embedded physical sensors capable of both energy harvesting and self-powered sensing are vital to the rapid advancements in wearable electronics. New energy-harvesting sensing systems are essential to overcome the limitations of the battery capacity, the device and product design, and the need to trade-off functionality and endurance for product size. We have developed a promising alternative to overcome these limitations relies on flexible conductor adhesives and electronic inks directly printed on textiles. The integration of versatile TENG and RF technology into functional electronic textiles brings more possibilities for next-generation wearable electronics, personal healthcare, and human–machine interfaces.
Speaker: Helena Alves Ph.D., INESC

1:35 -1:55 Sensored Soldier at the Tactical Edge
Our world is full of data, but not all of it is meaningful or useful depending on the context in which it is presented. Being able to collect and make sense of that data so that it becomes actionable information will be the key to mission success in our future military operating environment. Innovations in flexible, functional fabric and e-textile sensors and electronics will help the military realize this next phase of operations in a data-rich environment, enabling scalable continuous data collection and utilization to empower our leaders to make data-driven decisions.
Speaker: Stephanie A.T. Brown, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command

1:55 -2:15 E-Textile Based Systems for Damage Detection and Status Monitoring for Military and Other Applications
DCS has extensive experience with the development, testing and production of wearable electronic systems for military applications. This expertise is especially pertinent to textile-based sensor systems as DCS has developed an E-textile for damage detection and status monitoring with a resolution of 2-3 nodes per square inch. These sensors can target several directions of stretch or distortion in one membrane. By using a variety of colors and leveraging the inherent sheerness of the material they can make them nearly invisible.
Speaker: Sean Garbarino, Electrical Engineer, DCS,

2:15-2:35 Summary and Conclusions of Printed, Flexible, Stretchable and Functional/E-Fabric Sensors and Sensor-Based Systems
Speaker: Roger Grace, President, Roger