Bio-Inspired Micro-Fluidic Angular-Rate Sensor for Vestibular Prostheses

Sensors

Charalambos M. Andreou¹  Yiannis Pahitas² 

[1] Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus;

关键词: vestibular prostheses;    oscillopsia;    inner-ear semi-circular canals;    angular-rate sensor;    implantable bio-sensors;    gyroscope;    inertial sensor;    motion sensor;    MEMS;    microfluidics;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s140713173

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

This paper presents an alternative approach for angular-rate sensing based on the way that the natural vestibular semicircular canals operate, whereby the inertial mass of a fluid is used to deform a sensing structure upon rotation. The presented gyro has been fabricated in a commercially available MEMS process, which allows for microfluidic channels to be implemented in etched glass layers, which sandwich a bulk-micromachined silicon substrate, containing the sensing structures. Measured results obtained from a proof-of-concept device indicate an angular rate sensitivity of less than 1 °/s, which is similar to that of the natural vestibular system. By avoiding the use of a continually-excited vibrating mass, as is practiced in today's state-of-the-art gyroscopes, an ultra-low power consumption of 300 μW is obtained, thus making it suitable for implantation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.