PIG's Speed Estimated with Pressure Transducers and Hall Effect Sensor: An Industrial Application of Sensors to Validate a Testing Laboratory.

The pipeline inspection using a device called Pipeline Inspection Gauge (PIG) is safe and reliable when the PIG is at low speeds during inspection. We built a Testing Laboratory, containing a testing loop and supervisory system to study speed control techniques for PIGs. The objective of this work is to present and validate the Testing Laboratory, which will allow development of a speed controller for PIGs and solve an existing problem in the oil industry. The experimental methodology used throughout the project is also presented. We installed pressure transducers on pipeline outer walls to detect the PIG's movement and, with data from supervisory, calculated an average speed of 0.43 m/s. At the same time, the electronic board inside the PIG received data from odometer and calculated an average speed of 0.45 m/s. We found an error of 4.44%, which is experimentally acceptable. The results showed that it is possible to successfully build a Testing Laboratory to detect the PIG's passage and estimate its speed. The validation of the Testing Laboratory using data from the odometer and its auxiliary electronic was very successful. Lastly, we hope to develop more research in the oil industry area using this Testing Laboratory.

Design of an embedded PID controller applied to blood pressure control.

Some diseases, such as hypertension, require a close control of the patient's blood pressure. This is even more critical when that patient is going through--or has just underwent--a surgical procedure In such situations, reducing blood pressure to normal levels is of paramount importance. Usually, this demanding and time consuming monitoring is done manually by clinical personnel and are subject to mistakes and inconsistent practices. In this paper, we propose a solution to the manual monitoring through the design and implementation of an embedded PID controller to handle blood pressure, integrated to an automated monitoring system to assist in detecting anomalies and to optimize the process of patient care.

Angelcare mobile system: homecare patient monitoring using bluetooth and GPRS.

The quick progress in technology has brought new paradigms to the computing area, bringing with them many benefits to society. The paradigm of ubiquitous computing brings innovations applying computing in people's daily life without being noticed. For this, it has used the combination of several existing technologies like wireless communications and sensors. Several of the benefits have reached the medical area, bringing new methods of surgery, appointments and examinations. This work presents telemedicine software that adds the idea of ubiquity to the medical area, innovating the relation between doctor and patient. It also brings security and confidence to a patient being monitored in homecare.