Wearable Ultrasound Sensors for Sonomyography in Robotic Prosthesis and Augmentation

这个项目的目的是证明声纳图作为一种评估肌肉活动的成像技术的潜力，这种技术可以更有效和准确地诊断肌病和周围神经系统的损伤。为了做到这一点，第一步将是为这样的任务决定最好的材料。由于该项目将侧重于通过柔性压电传感器使用微超声波，因此发现感兴趣的主要材料是锆钛酸铅（PZT），聚偏氟乙烯（PVDF）和氮化铝（AIN），因为这些材料在最先进的技术中已经显示出足够的结果。值得注意的是，选择微超声，也称为高频超声，是因为它提供了增强的空间分辨率，尽管这可能会由于成像深度下降而造成障碍。通过将其制成植入式设备，可以潜在地避免这种障碍，这也将在项目期间进行研究。一旦选择了最合适的材料，设备将经历不同的设计阶段：单电极，阵列，声学匹配层和声学透镜，以优化提出的设计。最后，该项目将通过研究微超声贴片设计对肌肉的调制来结束。这种方法已经在以前的文献中显示过。

This project aims to demonstrate the potential of sonomyography as an imaging technique for the assessment of muscle activity which could lead to more efficient and accurate diagnosis of myopathies and damage to the peripheral nervous system. In order to do this, the first step will be to decide the best material for such a task. Since this project will be focused around the use of microultrasound through a flexible piezoelectric sensor, the main materials found to be of interest have been lead zirconate titanate (PZT), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and aluminium nitride (AIN) since these have shown adequate results as demonstrated in the state of the art. It is worth noting that microultrasound, also known as high-frequency ultrasound, has been chosen because of the enhanced spatial resolution that it offers, although this could pose an obstacle due to the imaging depth decreasing. Such an obstacle could be potentially avoided by making this an implantable device, which will also be investigated during the project.Once the most suitable material is chosen, the device will go through different design phases: single electrode, array, acoustic matching layer and acoustic lens, in order to optimise the design proposed. Finally, the project will conclude by investigating the modulation on the muscles caused by the microultrasound patch design. Such methodology has been previously shown in the literature.