Recent developments in wireless sensor technology have created new opportunities to make physiological and biomechanical measurements on animals in their natural environment. However, two challenges are faced when deploying wireless sensors on animals. The first is the physical size of the sensor node relative to the animal (eg guidelines for birds are 5% of body mass); the second is handling the potentially large volumes of data generated by sensors such as accelerometers. This size/weight constraint, and the frequent need to deploy over a long timescale means that power consumption (and hence battery life) is important. This can be addressed by using a low power processor and by transmitting the minimum volume of data. To do this one needs to minimise the volume of data transmitted over the radio backbone by: 1. Smart logging, ie monitoring the data from the sensors and discarding it or changing the sampling rate according to the nature of the data. This ranges from not logging movement data when an animal is sleeping to intelligent sleep scheduling, so that the device is powered off for as much of the time as is consistent with obtaining the necessary data. 2. Compression in either the frequency or time domain (latter more likely due to processor power limitations). This is constrained by the requirements of low power and techniques in the time domain such as thresholding and differential encoding. The Toumaz sensor is of particular interest to the applicants because the chip is remarkably low power, and the analogue processing prior to digitisation enables the handling of a diverse range of signals from different sensor types (normally sensors such as strain gauges require additional signal processing circuitry which can be power hungry and physically significant). We seek to develop the hardware and software of the Toumaz sensors for use in two related applications which enable us to collect truly novel biological data. The applications present different challenges for the sensors of battery life, physical size and signal nature; resolving these will allow much wider use of the sensors in future applications. 1. Lameness detection in dogs. Many subtle lamenesses in dogs are only apparent after exercise, but in our experience treadmill exercise of dogs for clinical examination is difficult. We therefore require a system for assessment of lameness during free exercise similar to that we have developed and applied for horses using larger sensors from Xsens (publications by Pfau and Wilson). The Toumaz units appear ideal for this application (due to physical size, battery life, radio protocol and cost) since the real time component and radio synchronisation of data from different units enable real time visualisation of the dog's movement using a computer animation which could be valuable for both diagnosis and teaching purposes (lameness evaluation is an important and challenging aspect of veterinary education and clinical practice). Sensors will record biomechanical and stride data which can be analysed and interpreted to identify lameness. It will also contribute to our knowledge of limitations of running and turning performance. 2. Dynamics of foxhounds - we are interested in how groups of animals interact and physiological drivers of this. We will instrument dogs following a scent trail to record heart rate and stride parameters whilst tracking using GPS. We envisage combining the Toumaz chipset with GPS units developed as part of the EPSRC funded WINES project and our BBSRC CASE award with Forsberg Services. Specific questions relate to the metabolic workload of leading vs following in the pack, which may contribute to understanding of how the pack shares the workload of following the scent. This leads into future applications in the domain of behaviour of packs of animals which is the subject of an EPSRC grant we expect to submit shortly.

Industry leaders in wireless wearable communication are not adopting existing academic antenna solutions as they don't meet the requirements for future emerging applications, particularly in remote medical sensing. This project challenges conventional single purpose sub-optimal antenna design and aims to address the need for wearable antennas with a step change in functionality on a single, physically compact, disposable wearable antenna structure. The core concept of this work is to achieve all three propagating modes using a single antenna with optimal performance, where at least two or more antennas with sub-optimal characteristics and performance would be required. One of the key areas where this advancement would have unquestionable immediate impact is in wireless medical application. The proposed research vision is that this imminent challenge could be solved through advanced antenna design, involving unique materials and compounded higher resonant modes requiring new design methodologies and measurement concepts. The key impact enabler would be a single advanced unobtrusive antenna structure which adapts to all the medical propagation requirements and the diverse physiological and morphological parameters of any human host. The research proposal follows two main tracks: computational and applied electromagnetics. The computational electromagnetics will be used to support theoretical assumptions and investigate complex antenna structures. The numerical analysis will then be verified using experimental measurements, aligned with application requirements. The work will follow the following programme: WP1: Investigation and numerical exploration of the key requirements of each propagation mode. WP2: Investigation and design of compact optimal antenna structures which can be excited at higher resonant modes, to enhance Off, In & Into -Body propagation modes. WP3: Investigation and development of switching between modes, to allow mode diversity, integrated into one antenna element WP4: Prototyping and Experimental Measurement The proposed research will be in collaboration with Sensium Healthcare. Sensium Healthcare is a UK based company, which is part of the Toumaz Group, who pioneer in low-power, wireless semiconductor and software technologies for Healthcare.

Previously, Lab-on-a-Chip technologies have exploited many aspects of microsystems technology, including both sensor miniaturisation and microfluidics, to produce technologies associated with DNA analysis, proteomics and diagnostics. Despite the numerous analytical advantages that are delivered as a consequence of miniaturisation into Lab-on-a-Chip, the vast majority of all devices that have been proposed (with the exception of handheld biosensors, first developed 20 years ago), most often require to be based on a laboratory bench. In contrast, wireless 'Lab-on-a-Pill' technology now has the proven ability to deliver both remote and-or distributed analysis, resulting in a wide range of potential applications, including those associated with biomedical analysis in the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract, process control in industry, environmental analysis and the functional foods industry. The concept is one of a battery-powered technology platform, which combines miniaturised sensors, a low power radio transmitter and receiver and power management modules, and an array of microsensors. Our current prototype can measure pH, disolved oxygen (pO2), temperature and conductivity, and has been proven with wireless measurements in a pig, using radiotelemtry to track its position. The device is controlled by an ASIC. This application now seeks to implement important technological challenges associated with implementing microfluidics on the Pill in order to enable advanced diagnostic tests. In this project we will illustrate this by performing remote immunodiagnostics. As an example, we will try to perform a remote biochemical assay for a marker for colon cancer in the lower GI tract.

High Performance Embedded and Distributed Systems (HiPEDS), ranging from implantable smart sensors to secure cloud service providers, offer exciting benefits to society and great opportunities for wealth creation. Although currently UK is the world leader for many technologies underpinning such systems, there is a major threat which comes from the need not only to develop good solutions for sharply focused problems, but also to embed such solutions into complex systems with many diverse aspects, such as power minimisation, performance optimisation, digital and analogue circuitry, security, dependability, analysis and verification. The narrow focus of conventional UK PhD programmes cannot bridge the skills gap that would address this threat to the UK's leadership of HiPEDS. The proposed Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) aims to train a new generation of leaders with a systems perspective who can transform research and industry involving HiPEDS. The CDT provides a structured and vibrant training programme to train PhD students to gain expertise in a broad range of system issues, to integrate and innovate across multiple layers of the system development stack, to maximise the impact of their work, and to acquire creativity, communication, and entrepreneurial skills. The taught programme comprises a series of modules that combine technical training with group projects addressing team skills and system integration issues. Additional courses and events are designed to cover students' personal development and career needs. Such a comprehensive programme is based on aligning the research-oriented elements of the training programme, an industrial internship, and rigorous doctoral research. Our focus in this CDT is on applying two cross-layer research themes: design and optimisation, and analysis and verification, to three key application areas: healthcare systems, smart cities, and the information society. Healthcare systems cover implantable and wearable sensors and their operation as an on-body system, interactions with hospital and primary care systems and medical personnel, and medical imaging and robotic surgery systems. Smart cities cover infrastructure monitoring and actuation components, including smart utilities and smart grid at unprecedented scales. Information society covers technologies for extracting, processing and distributing information for societal benefits; they include many-core and reconfigurable systems targeting a wide range of applications, from vision-based domestic appliances to public and private cloud systems for finance, social networking, and various web services. Graduates from this CDT will be aware of the challenges faced by industry and their impact. Through their broad and deep training, they will be able to address the disconnect between research prototypes and production environments, evaluate research results in realistic situations, assess design tradeoffs based on both practical constraints and theoretical models, and provide rapid translation of promising ideas into production environments. They will have the appropriate systems perspective as well as the vision and skills to become leaders in their field, capable of world-class research and its exploitation to become a global commercial success.