This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 10161, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction (if any), and Conference Committee listing.

Cantilever based sensor system are a well-established sensor family exploited in several every-day life applications as well as in high-end research areas. The very high sensitivity of such systems and the possibility to design and functionalize the cantilevers to create purpose built and highly selective sensors have increased the interest of the scientific community and the industry in further exploiting this promising sensors type. Optical deflection detection systems for cantilever sensors provide a reliable, flexible method for reading information from cantilevers with the highest sensitivity. However the need of using multi-cantilever arrays in several fields of application such as medicine, biology or safety related areas, make the optical method less suitable due to its structural complexity. Working in the frame of a the Joint Undertaking project Lab4MEMS II our group proposes a novel and innovative approach to solve this issue, by integrating a Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical-System (MOEMS) with dedicated optics, electronics and software with a MOEMS micro-mirror, ultimately developed in the frame of Lab4MEMSII. In this way we are able to present a closely packed, lightweight solution combining the advantages of standard optical read-out systems with the possibility of recording multiple read-outs from large cantilever arrays quasi simultaneously.

This paper covers research results on development of the cantilevers beams test structures for interconnects reliability and robustness investigation. Presented results include design, modelling, simulation, optimization and finally fabrication stage performed on 4 inch Si wafers using the ITE microfabrication facility. This paper also covers experimental results from the test structures characterization.

In this paper authors present design, technology and application of soft silicon dioxide AFM cantilevers. Novel technology allows for manufacturing ultra-soft cantilevers equipped with silicon tip. Mechanical properties of developed probes were tested and finally applied in AFM measurements of fragile samples.

A vision to supply microelectronic devices without batteries making them perpetual or extending time of service in battery-oriented mobile supply schemes is the driving force of the research related to ambient energy harvesting. Energy harnessing aims thus at extracting energy from various ambient energy “pools”, which generally are cost- or powerineffective to be scaled up for full-size, power-plant energy generation schemes supplying energy in electric form. These include – but are not limited to - waste heat, electromagnetic hum, vibrations, or human-generated power in addition to traditional renewable energy resources like water flow, tidal and wind energy or sun radiation which can also be exploited at the miniature scale by energy scavengers. However, in case of taking advantage of energy harvesting strategies to power up sensors monitoring environment inside buildings adaptable energy sources are restrained to only some which additionally are limited in spatial and temporal accessibility as well as available power. The paper explores experimentally an energy harvesting scheme exploiting human kinesis applicable in indoor environment for supplying a wireless indoor micro-system, monitoring ambient air properties (pressure, humidity and temperature).

In this paper we present a new method of polymer microfluidic bioreactor fabrication by means of a gray scale lithography technique. As a result of the gray scale lithography process the 3D model of the bioreactor is defined in photoresist. The obtained model serves as a sacrificial layer for the subsequent transfer of the 3D shape into the polymer material. The proposed method allows simultaneous definition of both the overall bioreactor geometry and the multi steps cell traps in a single photolithography step. Such microfluidic structure can be used for sorting cells based on their size. The developed solution significantly simplifies the production technology and reduces its costs in comparison to standard photolithography techniques.

In this paper we describe the method for monitoring the progress of electrochemical deposition process. The procedure allows to control the deposition of metals as well as conductive polymers on metallic seed layer. The method is particularly useful to very thin layers (1-10 nm) of deposited medium which mechanical or optical methods are troublesome for. In this method deposit is grown on the target and on the test silicon micro-cantilever with a metal pad. Galvanic deposition on the cantilever causes the change of its mass and consequently the change of its resonance frequency. Changes of the frequency is measured with laser vibro-meter then the layer thicknesses can be estimated basing on the cantilever calibration curve. Applying this method for controlling of gold deposition on platinum seed layer, for improving the properties of the biochemical sensors, is described in this paper.

Almost all environments are now being extensively populated by miniaturized, nano-powered electronic sensor devices communicated together through wireless sensor networks building Internet of Things (IoT). Various energy harvesting techniques are being more and more frequently proposed for battery-less powering of such remote, unattended, implantable or wearable sensors or other low-power electronic gadgets. Energy harvesting relays on extracting energy from the ambient sources readily accessible at the sensor location and converting it into electrical power. The paper exploits possibility of generating electric energy safely accessible for nano-power electronics using tribo-electric and electrostatic induction phenomena displayed at super-hydrophobic surfaces impinged by water droplets. Mechanism of such interaction is discussed and illustrated by experimental results.

V₂O₅-undoped and Ti-doped thin films were deposited onto insulating support (either fused silica or alumina) by rf sputtering from metallic V target in a reactive Ar+O₂ atmosphere. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM) were used to structural and phase characterization. Electrical properties were determined by means of impedance spectroscopy (0.1 Hz – 1.4 MHz) at temperatures from RT to 620 K and oxygen partial pressure from 600 Pa to 21 kPa. It was found, that the studied samples can be characterized by an equivalent circuit composed of two ohmic resistors and non Debye constant phase element (CPE). Based on electrical conductivity vs. oxygen partial pressure dependence the point defect model has been proposed .

Many types of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) based gas sensors have been explored extensively in recent years. Great attention have been directed to mixed-potential-type gas sensors. It is due to growing concerns with environmental issues. Not without a significance is the fact of very attractive performance of this type of sensor allowing to detect low concentration of pollutant gases. In this paper two types of YSZ based mixed-potential planar sensors were investigated, with platinum electrode painted using commercial paste and with spin coated platinum layer. Both types had second electrode in the form of porous gold. Measurements were performed at 400 °C in synthetic air and different concentrations of SO₂. Gas flow was set to 100 cm³min^-1 and the concentration of 50 ppm SO₂ was tested. During this measurements the sensor was sintered in-situ at increasing temperatures. Sensor with 100 nm spin-coated platinum layer sintered at 700 °C was shown to exhibit two times smaller response than sensor with 5 μm porous electrode, while consisting of over 20 times smaller amount of Pt. The influence of sintering temperature on electrical conductivity of platinum films was also examined. Moreover, the platinum microstructure was investigated using SEM microscopy.

This paper describes research on sol-gel solutions preparation process. Utilize of a sol-gel layers in the LTCC technology for reduction of surface roughness and influence on the ceramics properties is examined and described. The influence of sol-gel layer on possible sedimentation of dyes or biological substances in channels, mixers or chambers of ceramic microfluidic structures was investigated. Moreover, properties of sol-gel coated surfaces have been precisely examined and described. Finally, positive results of conducted experiments made it possible to design and manufacture a simple microfluidic ceramic structure, with embedded protective layer of sol-gel, for fluorescence measurements.

Results of experiments on application of various interlayers between LTCC (Low Temperature Cofired Ceramics) substrate and thick-film PZT (Lead Zirconate - Titanate) are described in this work. Thick-film intermediate layers were based on several dielectric materials: TiN, Al₂O₃, SiC, TiO₂, SiC, YSZ, BN. Seven screen printable pastes were prepared on the base of powders of mentioned materials with addition of glass and organic vehicle. The substrates were made of 951 (DuPont), CeramTapeGC (CeramTec) and HL2000 (Heraeus) LTCC tapes. Sandwich type transducers, consisting of barrier layer, gold bottom electrode, PZT layer and silver top electrode were prepared and characterized. Basic piezoelectric parameters – permittivity, effective charge constant (d_33(eff)) and remanent polarization were determined. The best properties were obtained for substrates made of 951. In general, interlayers based on TiO₂, SiC and Al₂O₃ improved permittivity and charge constant comparing to bare substrates. For example, for 951 substrate the PZT layer exhibited d_33(eff) equal to 160, 215, 250 and 230 pC/N for bare substrate, TiO₂ interlayer, SiC interlayer and Al₂O₃ interlayer, respectively. In case of CeramTape GC substrates determined permittivity was equal to 215, 245, 235 and 275 for bare substrate, TiO₂ interlayer, SiC interlayer and Al₂O₃ interlayer, respectively. In case of TiN and BN materials the parameters were considerably deteriorated.

We examine the application of selected thin dielectric films, deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD), in a low coherence fiber-optic Fabry-Pérot interferometer designed for sensing applications. Such films can be deposited on the end-face of a single mode optical fiber (SMF-28) in order to modify the reflectivity of the Fabry-Pérot cavity, to provide protection of the fibers from aggressive environments or to create a multi-cavity interferometric sensor. Spectral reflectance of films made from zinc oxide (ZnO), titanium dioxide (TiO₂), aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) and boron nitride (BN) was calculated for various thickness of the films and compared. The results show that the most promising materials for use in fiber-optic Fabry-Pérot interferometer are TiO₂ and ZnO, although Al₂O₃ is also suitable for this application.

The paper presents investigation of physical properties of wide bandgap oxide semiconductor – titanium dioxide for applications in integrated photonics as well as for future applications in gas sensors structures. The investigation presented in the paper was focused on: surface topography of TiO₂ layer measured by AFM method, as well as investigation of Raman shift obtained by Raman spectroscopy. Finally the integrated photonics in the form of planar waveguide is also presented.

This paper describes how the refractive index and the absorption of investigated substances change the spectrum of the optical radiation at the output of the fiber-optic Fabry-Pérot interferometer. The modeling of the operation of the interferometer takes into account not only the spectra of the refractive index and the absorption of the medium that is inside the cavity, but also spectra of the refractive indices of the core and the cladding of the optical fiber connected to the interferometer cavity and the parameters of the mirrors forming the cavity. The physical phenomena related to the beam diffraction inside the cavity (i.e. the beam divergence, the curvature of the wavefront, and the phase shift caused by the Gouy effect) are taken into account, too. The spectra obtained from simulations were compared to the spectra registered during measurements. The preliminary results indicate that the fiber-optic Fabry-Pérot interferometer can measure both the refractive index and the absorption of investigated substances with high accuracy.

Recent increasing demand for new eco-friendly materials and for low cost fabrication process for use in optical sensors field, raise concern about alternative materials for this application. We have designed two glass-ceramics compositions from the quaternary ROAl₂O₃- SiO₂-B₂O₃(R=Ba) alkali-earth aluminum silicate system, labeled B72 and B69, with high refractive index (>1.6), large values of Abbe number (94.0 and 53.0, respectively), and free of lead and arsenic. We present an analysis and discussion of experimental optical properties, thermal and thermo-chemical stability along with important properties such as transition temperature (T_g), onset of crystallization (T_x) as well transport properties as ionic conductivity behavior in the quaternary glass-ceramic system containing boron for use as optical sensors. Complex Impedance Spectra (Bode Plot) and Potentiodynamic Polarization curves (Tafel plots) measurements were carried out in the temperature range of 600 to 850°C. The most probable conductivity mechanism is a thermally activated process of mobile ions overcoming a potential barrier (EA), according to the Arrhenius regime. Here we report that charge transfer is caused by the flux of electrons, in the region of elevated temperatures (>700°C), and is affected by immiscibility of crystals, nucleation and growth type, that causes phase separation. We found conductivity (σ) values from 10^-9 to 10^-5 S/cm at temperatures between 700 and 850°C. Our results highlight a need for research on ion mobility in the glassy network above the transition range, and the effect cause by metastable immiscibility in the alkaline-earth glasses are exposed. The two glass compositions B72 and B69 can be tailored by proper use as glassy optical sensor.

Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis is a well-known technique to separate proteins by their molecular weight. After electrophoresis, the gels are commonly stained for protein band analysis with silver stain; this allows the detection of protein loads to about 1 ng. To increase the detection sensitivity of the protein bands down in the subnanogram level, a sensor has been developed based on the thermal lens effect to scan and quantify protein loads which would remain undetected using the standard imaging systems. The thermal lens sensor is equipped with a 450 nm diode pump laser modulated at 1 Hz and a HeNe probe laser mounted in collinear geometry. The sensor could detect protein bands of 0.05 ng when the gel was soaked in methanol/water and 0.1 ng in water. The limit of detection ranged from 8 to 20 pg, depending on the soaking medium and the staining efficiency. Thus, the detection of silver stain by thermal lens effect results 10 to 20 times more sensitive than the standard colorimetric method.

In almost all of non-invasive techniques, fiber optic sensors may be the most promising ones because of their inherent advantages such as very small size and hard environment tolerance. Proximity sensors based on optical fiber are highly required especially in the impact area of electromagnetic fields.

In this paper three different types of fiber optic reflective sensors are presented. In all three types of the sensor four multimode optical fibers (MMF) illuminate the movable surface. The difference is in the number of collecting the reflected light MMF. In the first one, 12 MMF collect the light, in the second one 20 MMF, while in the third one the number of MMF collecting reflected light is 32. Moreover, all three types of fiber optic reflective sensors were realized in two configurations. In the first one, the cleaved MMF were used to collect reflected light, while in the second configuration – the ball-lensed optical fibers were chosen. In this paper an analysis of each type of realized sensor is presented. In the last part of this paper the obtained results and the detailed discussion are given.

Over the past thirty years, optical fibers have revolutionized the telecommunication market. Fiber optics play also important roles in other numerous applications. One of these applications is fiber sensing – very fast developing area. In this paper, realization of different configurations of a fiber optic sensor detecting the presence of liquid is presented. In the presented sensor, two multimode fibers (MMF) are placed opposite each other, where the first one transmits the light radiation, while the second one is a receiver. Due to the small size of the core (50 μm diameter), they had to be precisely positioned. Therefore the optical fibers were placed in the etched channels in the silicon substrate.

In order to make sensors more sensitive, ball-lensed optical fibers were used. Four different diameters of lenses were examined. Sensitivity to the presence of liquids was compared in all realized sensors. Moreover, the influence of distance between the transmitting and receiving optical fiber on the received optical power is also described in this paper. All developed sensors were tested at 1300 nm wavelength. In the last part of this paper the detailed discussion is given.

The paper presents the results of investigation on ambient air odor quality in a vicinity of the industrial sewage treatment plant being a part of the crude oil processing plant. The investigation was performed during spring-winter season using a prototype of electronic nose and the Nasal Ranger field olfactometers. The prototype was equipped with a set of six semiconductor sensors by FIGARO Co. and one PID-type sensor. The field olfactometers were used to determine mean concentration of odorants, which amounted from 2.2 to 20.2 ou/m³ depending on the place of measurement. In case of the investigation with the electronic nose prototype a classification of the ambient air samples with respect to the place of sampling was performed utilizing the kNN (where k=3) algorithm supported with a cross-validation method. Correct classification of the ambient air samples was at the level of 47.9%. Performed investigation revealed that evaluation of the ambient air samples with respect to odor was possible using the electronic nose instrument.

The paper describes a principle of operation of odor nuisance monitoring network, which is being designed in the tri-city agglomeration. Moreover, it presents the preliminary results of an investigation on ambient air quality with respect to odour nuisance in a vicinity of the municipal landfill. The investigation was performed during spring-winter season using a prototype of electronic nose and the Nasal Ranger field olfactometers. The prototype was equipped with a set of six semiconductor sensors by FIGARO Co. and one PID-type sensor. The field olfactometers were used to determine mean concentration of odorants, which amounted from 2.2 to 30.2 ou/m³ depending on the place of measurement. In case of the investigation with the electronic nose prototype a classification of the ambient air samples with respect to the place of sampling was performed utilizing kNN algorithm supported with a cross-validation method. Correct classification of the ambient air samples was at the level of 66.7%. Performed investigation revealed that discrimination of the ambient air samples differing in concentration of odorants and place of origin was possible.

Gas analyzers based on gas sensors are the devices which enable recognition of various kinds of volatile compounds. They have continuously been developed and investigated for over three decades, however there are still limitations which slow down the implementation of those devices in many applications. For example, the main drawbacks are the lack of selectivity, sensitivity and long term stability of those devices caused by the drift of utilized sensors. This implies the necessity of investigations not only in the field of development of gas sensors construction, but also the development of measurement procedures or methods of analysis of sensor responses which compensate the limitations of sensors devices. One of the fields of investigations covers the dynamic measurements of sensors or sensor-arrays response with the utilization of flow modulation techniques. Different gas delivery patterns enable the possibility of extraction of unique features which improves the stability and selectivity of gas detecting systems. In this article three utilized flow modulation techniques are presented, together with the proposition of the evaluation method of their usefulness and robustness in environmental pollutants detecting systems. The results of dynamic measurements of an commercially available TGS sensor array in the presence of nitrogen dioxide and ammonia are shown.

One of the types of gas sensors used for detection and identification of toxic-air pollutant is an electro-catalytic gas sensor. The electro-catalytic sensors are working in cyclic voltammetry mode, enable detection of various gases. Their response are in the form of I-V curves which contain information about the type and the concentration of measured volatile compound. However, additional analysis is required to provide the efficient recognition of the target gas. Multivariate data analysis and pattern recognition methods are proven to be useful tool for such application, but further investigations on the improvement of the sensor’s responses processing are required. In this article the method for extraction of the parameters from the electro-catalytic sensor responses is presented. Extracted features enable the significant reduction of data dimension without the loss of the efficiency of recognition of four volatile air-pollutant, namely nitrogen dioxide, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide.

The practical application of human nose for fragrance recognition is severely limited by the fact that our sense of smell is subjective and gets tired easily. Consequently, there is considerable need for an instrument that can be a substitution of the human sense of smell. Electronic nose devices from the mid 1980s are used in growing number of applications. They comprise an array of several electrochemical gas sensors with partial specificity and a pattern recognition algorithms. Most of such systems, however, is only used for qualitative measurements. In this article usage of such system in quantitative determination of gas concentration is demonstrated. Electronic nose consist of a sensor array with eight commercially available Taguchi type gas sensor. Performance of three different pattern recognition algorithms is compared, namely artificial neural network, partial least squares regression and support vector machine regression. The electronic nose is used for ammonia and nitrogen dioxide concentration determination.

Gas sensors usually exhibit lack of selectivity, require frequent calibration, exhibit drift of the response and a lot of factors, such as humidity or ambient temperature, influence their performance. Different approaches can be used to overcome this shortcomings. Building arrays of different sensors and usage of pattern recognition methods to analyze responses of elements in array is a popular approach. In this paper the approach of using a single sensor and special measurement techniques will be presented. Instead of increasing the number of sensors an additional information, needed to improve the properties of the sensor, is obtained from the response signal of a single sensor.

In this work, 3D polypyrrole (PPy) structures as material for glucose detection is proposed. Polypyrrole was electrochemically polymerized on platinum screen-printed electrode from an aqueous solution of lithium perchlorate and pyrrole. The growth mechanism of such PPy structures was studied by ex-situ scanning electron microscopy. Preliminary studies show that studied here PPy film is a good candidate as a sensing material for glucose biosensor. It exhibits very high sensitivity (28.5 mA·mM^-1·cm^-2) and can work without any additional dopants, mediators or enzymes. It was also shown that glucose detection depends on the PPy morphology. The same PPy material was immobilized with the glucose oxidase enzyme. Such material exhibited higher signal response, however it lost its stability very fast.

In this work, the influence of H₂O, NaOH and propanol on properties of graphene layer placed on SiO₂ has been investigated. These chemical particles are present during technological steps required for a device fabrication and may lead to significant changes of graphene properties. The investigation has been done by means of ab-initio simulation based on the DFT method. A MedeA-VASP package was used to investigate behavior of graphene layer in the vicinity of chemical compounds. Presented studies show that properties of graphene are significantly modified when particles of H₂O and NaOH are captured in-between graphene layer and SiO₂. Special attention should be paid to NaOH which, according to simulations, decays and modifies the properties of graphene layer.

A graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxytiophene)-reduced graphene oxide (PEDOT-RGO composite) gas sensors were successfully fabricated using an electro-deposition method. The electro-deposition was carried out in aqueous GO dispersions. To obtain RGO and PEDOT-RGO, the electrochemical reduction of GO and PEDOT-GO was carried out in 0.1 M KCl at a constant potential of −0.85 V. The GO, RGO and PEDOT-RGO composite were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The fabricated sensors showed sensitivity to NO₂ gas. In this work the sensing response of GO, RGO and PEDOT-RGO in NO₂ at elevated temperatures were investigated. The influence of the operating temperature on the gas sensing response were compared. The role of the polymer and RGO in PEDOT-RGO composite was discussed. The results are discussed in light of recent literature on graphene sensors.

In presented studies resistive chlorine gas sensor with gas sensitive layer in the form of zinc oxide microrods doped with platinum was developed. The growth of active layer was carried out in water solution containing zinc nitrate (V), hexamethylenetetramine and chloroplatinic acid using the chemical bath deposition method. The structure and morphology of obtained sensors was characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). To determine the chlorine gas sensing properties Temperature-Stimulated Conductance method (TSC) was used. During the measurements sensor was tested in a reference atmosphere and an atmosphere with 2, 5 or 8 ppm of chlorine. Obtained results have shown that zinc oxide microrods doped with platinum were obtained. TSC measurements showed that developed sensor allows to detect chlorine with very good sensitivity.

A periodic temperature modulation using sinusoidal heater voltage was applied to a commercial SnO₂ semiconductor gas sensor. Resulting resistance response of the sensor was analyzed using a feature extraction method based on Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT). The amplitudes of the higher harmonics of the FFT from the dynamic nonlinear responses of measured gas were further utilized as an input for Artificial Neuron Network (ANN). Determination of the concentration of chlorine was performed. Moreover, this work evaluates the sensor performance upon sinusoidal temperature modulation.

The study deals with metrological characteristics of the flat voltammetric electrode used for determination of ions concentration by the DC voltammetric method, where a reversible reaction of electrochemical oxidation/reduction takes place on the surface. The analysis shows that such voltammetric electrode acts as a transducer of the first order, where the input signal is a concentration of marked ions in tested solution and the output signal is the current associated with a reversible reaction of oxidation / reduction. Metrological characteristics of such electrode in the time domain are determined by its sensitivity and time constant. The values of these parameters are defined by measurements of characteristics of the voltammetric electrode, polarization voltage and marked ions. To determine the effect of a particular volume of each of these parameters several numerical simulations are presented.

This paper presents new type of thermal flow converter with the pulse frequency output. The integrating properties of the temperature sensor have been used, which allowed for realization of pulse frequency modulator with thermal feedback loop, stabilizing temperature of sensor placed in the flowing medium. The system assures balancing of heat amount supplied in impulses to the sensor and heat given up by the sensor in a continuous way to the flowing medium. Therefore the frequency of output impulses is proportional to the heat transfer coefficient from sensor to environment. According to the King’s law, the frequency of those impulses is a function of medium flow velocity around the sensor. The special feature of presented solution is total integration of thermal sensor with the measurement signal conditioning system. Sensor and conditioning system are not the separate elements of the measurement circuit, but constitute a whole in form of thermal heat-balance mode flow-to-frequency converter. The advantage of such system is easiness of converting the frequency signal to the digital form, without using any additional analogue-to-digital converters. The frequency signal from the converter may be directly connected to the microprocessor input, which with use of standard built-in counters may convert the frequency into numerical value of high precision. Moreover, the frequency signal has higher resistance to interference than the voltage signal and may be transmitted to remote locations without the information loss.

Output frequency signal from the "physical quantity-to-frequency" (X/f) converter is often transmitted and converted in the slotted line with frequency carrier of information. This paper presents a meteorological analysis of a slotted line with frequency carrier of information, which obtain signal from the X/f converter. A changeable physical quantity conversion in the X/f converter causes a signal with changeable frequency generation. It is shown that the accuracy of the slotted line is determined by the construction-depending error of the X/f converter, the quantization error, the averaging error and the approximation error. Essential components of the total conversion error are the averaging error, the approximation error and the quantization error. Values of the approximation error and the averaging error are rising when signal frequency of the X/f converter output is decreasing. The quantization error value is rising when signal frequency of the X/f converter output is rising. Estimations of these errors are given. Ways of minimizing the total error are proposed.

A flexible thin film impedance sensor has been developed. Device manufacturing process and preparation of test wafers are described. Sensors with ring shaped Au electrodes have been fabricated on a polyimide substrate using Si wafer as a temporary substrate. The sensors have been characterized by means of Agilent 4294A analyzer and tested in measurements of impedance of human skin, Si wafers and other materials. Results of indirect measurements of samples covered with dielectric layer (SU-8, glass) confirm advantages of the sensors.

This paper presents humidity sorption sensors with eight different polymer coatings. After the introduction of sensor construction, a presentation of tested sorption laters and measurement system is provided. Finally, the results are presented and discussed as well as validation tests are described. Two most suitable coatings are chosen.

The paper presents evaluation of human mobility by gait analysis, carried out in natural conditions (outside laboratory). Foot plantar pressure is measured using a shoe insole with 8 sensors placed in different anatomical zones of the foot, and placed inside a sports footwear. Polarized PVDF foil is used as a sensor material. A wireless transmission system is used to transmit voltage values to the computer. Due to linear relationship between force and transducer voltage, energy released during walking in arbitrary units can be calculated as integral of the square of transducer voltage over time. Gait measurements have been done over the next few days on healthy person during normal walking and slow walking. Performed measurements allow determination of walking speed (number of steps per second), gait rhythm and manner of walking (applying force to inside versus outside part of the sole). It is found that switching from normal to slow walk increases gait energy by 25% while the pressure distribution across the anatomical regions of the foot remains unchanged. The results will be used for developing a programme for evaluation of patients with cardiac failure and future integration of actimetry with pulse and spirometry measurements.

The paper reports a recognizing method base on ultrasonic transducers utilized for the surface types detection. Ultra-sonic signal is transmitted toward the examined substrate, then reflected and scattered signal goes back to another ultra-sonic receiver. Thee measuring signal is generated by a piezo-electric transducer located at specified distance from the tested substrate. The detector is a second piezo-electric transducer located next to the transmitter. Depending on thee type of substrate which is exposed by an ultrasonic wave, the signal is partially absorbed inn the material, diffused and reflected towards the receiver. To measure the level of received signal, the dedicated electronic circuit was design and implemented in the presented systems. Such system was designed too recognize two types of floor surface: solid (like concrete, ceramic stiles, wood) and soft (carpets, floor coverings). The method will be applied in electronic detection system dedicated to autonomous cleaning robots due to selection of appropriate cleaning method. This work presents the concept of ultrasonic signals utilization, the design of both the measurement system and the measuring stand and as well number of wide tests results which validates correctness of applied ultrasonic method.

The paper reports a capacitive multisection sensor for measuring level of various liquids. Presented sensor was fully fabricated with the inkjet printing technology on thin Kapton substrate. The measurement of liquids level based on capacitive sensing is already well known technique, however the novelty of presented sensor is the technology of fabrication that was used, approach to the pattern design which combines analog and digital capacitive section and obtained self-calibration feature of whole system independently on measured liquid type.

Fabricated sensor structure has dimension of 210 mm x 12 mm and the thickness approximately of 27 μm. It contains 8 digital-like sections along the sensor and one analog section which allows to fine measurements. The sensor was tested in a vessel during filling and emptying with various liquids. Performed tests exhibited the linearity of the sensor characteristic and the lack of hysteresis. Obtained sensitivity of the sensor prototype was approximately 6.8 pF/mm, but it could be easily modify on the design stage due to the fast prototyping feature of inkjet printing technology. Thanks to the flexibility of the substrate, the sensor structure can be applied to any shape of vessel. Furthermore, the sensor construction is fairly simple and costs in mass production could be extremely low. This type of sensor was design especially for autonomous cleaning and washing robots for large areas operation.