Unattended luggage or containers in public areas, such as railway stations and buildings, like airports, may trigger bomb disposal operations. While these instances frequently involve harmless forgotten bags, they can also signal the presence of unconventional explosives and incendiary devices, which may include chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNe) elements. Research aspects of this work include the development of a mobile laser cutting system (LCS) to enhance the capabilities of police bomb disposal units in neutralizing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and forensic evidence collection, thereby improving the safety of the public and defusing experts. This article presents the results of the development of a breakthrough detection system using an appropriate sensor technology. Parameters are determined by means of sensory monitoring to cut through various materials without interacting with the layer behind them. The investigation includes real cutting tests with the mobile LCS on various materials. For example, breakthrough times for polystyrene ranged from 75 to 250 s depending on geometry, while sensor accuracy in detecting cutting progress exceeded 90%. Additionally, explosive residues as low as 10 ng were successfully detected post-cutting, highlighting the system’s forensic compatibility. The results show that sensor-based breakthrough detection is feasible for the laser cutting of IED-relevant objects.
{"title":"Sensory Monitoring for Breakthrough Detection in Mobile Laser Cutting of Various Materials in the Context of Improvised Explosive Device Disposal","authors":"Emre Ünal;Matthias Muhr;Dominik Wild;Cathrin Theiss;Moritz Schumacher;Gerhard Holl;Peter Kaul","doi":"10.1109/OJIM.2025.3540127","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJIM.2025.3540127","url":null,"abstract":"Unattended luggage or containers in public areas, such as railway stations and buildings, like airports, may trigger bomb disposal operations. While these instances frequently involve harmless forgotten bags, they can also signal the presence of unconventional explosives and incendiary devices, which may include chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNe) elements. Research aspects of this work include the development of a mobile laser cutting system (LCS) to enhance the capabilities of police bomb disposal units in neutralizing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and forensic evidence collection, thereby improving the safety of the public and defusing experts. This article presents the results of the development of a breakthrough detection system using an appropriate sensor technology. Parameters are determined by means of sensory monitoring to cut through various materials without interacting with the layer behind them. The investigation includes real cutting tests with the mobile LCS on various materials. For example, breakthrough times for polystyrene ranged from 75 to 250 s depending on geometry, while sensor accuracy in detecting cutting progress exceeded 90%. Additionally, explosive residues as low as 10 ng were successfully detected post-cutting, highlighting the system’s forensic compatibility. The results show that sensor-based breakthrough detection is feasible for the laser cutting of IED-relevant objects.","PeriodicalId":100630,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of Instrumentation and Measurement","volume":"4 ","pages":"1-10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10879072","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143564034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-06DOI: 10.1109/OJIM.2025.3531742
reviewers
{"title":"OJIM 2024 Reviewer List","authors":"reviewers","doi":"10.1109/OJIM.2025.3531742","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJIM.2025.3531742","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100630,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of Instrumentation and Measurement","volume":"4 ","pages":"1-4"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10877683","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143361072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-15DOI: 10.1109/OJIM.2025.3530263
{"title":"2024 Index IEEE Open Journal of Instrumentation and Measurement Vol. 3","authors":"","doi":"10.1109/OJIM.2025.3530263","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJIM.2025.3530263","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100630,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of Instrumentation and Measurement","volume":"3 ","pages":"1-10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10843336","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143184173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The integration of radar sensing and imaging capabilities into future integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) networks enables advanced use cases, including autonomous vehicle navigation, real-time health monitoring, and smart city management. However, ultraprecise time and frequency synchronization is crucial for unlocking the full potential of such networked ISAC systems. In this article, a novel real-time wireless time and frequency synchronization scheme is developed and fully implemented on a high-end radio frequency system-on-chip field-programmable gate array (FPGA) platform. The excellent performance and robustness of the proposed solution in practical applications are demonstrated. It is evidenced that the recursive nature of the Kalman filter is well suited to the dynamic capabilities of FPGA-based simultaneous synchronization. Observed values obtained through the precision time protocol (PTP) are iteratively refined, thus effectively compensating for uncertainties encountered during a synchronization packet exchange. Due to the deterministic processing time inherent in the FPGA, the proposed synchronization method achieves exceptional precision, with clock offset deviations in the nanosecond range and clock rate deviations limited to only a few parts per billion, even across considerable distances between the network nodes.
{"title":"Ultrahigh-Performance Radio Frequency System-on-Chip Implementation of a Kalman Filter-Based High-Precision Time and Frequency Synchronization for Networked Integrated Sensing and Communication Systems","authors":"Roghayeh Ghasemi;Patrick Fenske;Tobias Koegel;Markus Hehn;Ingrid Ullmann;Martin Vossiek","doi":"10.1109/OJIM.2025.3527532","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJIM.2025.3527532","url":null,"abstract":"The integration of radar sensing and imaging capabilities into future integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) networks enables advanced use cases, including autonomous vehicle navigation, real-time health monitoring, and smart city management. However, ultraprecise time and frequency synchronization is crucial for unlocking the full potential of such networked ISAC systems. In this article, a novel real-time wireless time and frequency synchronization scheme is developed and fully implemented on a high-end radio frequency system-on-chip field-programmable gate array (FPGA) platform. The excellent performance and robustness of the proposed solution in practical applications are demonstrated. It is evidenced that the recursive nature of the Kalman filter is well suited to the dynamic capabilities of FPGA-based simultaneous synchronization. Observed values obtained through the precision time protocol (PTP) are iteratively refined, thus effectively compensating for uncertainties encountered during a synchronization packet exchange. Due to the deterministic processing time inherent in the FPGA, the proposed synchronization method achieves exceptional precision, with clock offset deviations in the nanosecond range and clock rate deviations limited to only a few parts per billion, even across considerable distances between the network nodes.","PeriodicalId":100630,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of Instrumentation and Measurement","volume":"4 ","pages":"1-15"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10835166","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143106202","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-09DOI: 10.1109/OJIM.2025.3527529
Jose Moreira;Athanasios Papanikolaou;Jan Hesselbarth
This article discusses challenges and methods for production-level over-the-air (OTA) test of antenna-in-package (AiP) modules comprising antenna arrays operating at millimeter-wave frequencies. Starting with the requirements of testing specific properties of AiP modules, characteristics of far-field tests as well as different kinds of near-field tests are presented. Considering the constraints of typical automatic test equipment (ATE) used by the semiconductor industry, this article describes technical solutions for the integration of OTA testing into the ATE environment. Practical examples are discussed for testing AiP modules for 5G communication (frequency bands from 24 to 53 GHz). Limitations of the proposed techniques are detailed, and in view of future requirements for testing larger arrays at higher frequency, novel scalable approaches are presented for probing in the reactive near-field of the antenna array radiators.
{"title":"High-Volume OTA Production Testing of Millimeter-Wave Antenna-in-Package Modules","authors":"Jose Moreira;Athanasios Papanikolaou;Jan Hesselbarth","doi":"10.1109/OJIM.2025.3527529","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJIM.2025.3527529","url":null,"abstract":"This article discusses challenges and methods for production-level over-the-air (OTA) test of antenna-in-package (AiP) modules comprising antenna arrays operating at millimeter-wave frequencies. Starting with the requirements of testing specific properties of AiP modules, characteristics of far-field tests as well as different kinds of near-field tests are presented. Considering the constraints of typical automatic test equipment (ATE) used by the semiconductor industry, this article describes technical solutions for the integration of OTA testing into the ATE environment. Practical examples are discussed for testing AiP modules for 5G communication (frequency bands from 24 to 53 GHz). Limitations of the proposed techniques are detailed, and in view of future requirements for testing larger arrays at higher frequency, novel scalable approaches are presented for probing in the reactive near-field of the antenna array radiators.","PeriodicalId":100630,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of Instrumentation and Measurement","volume":"4 ","pages":"1-15"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10835189","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143106205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-27DOI: 10.1109/OJIM.2024.3522345
Omar Dhawahir;Murat Torlak
This article presents an innovative timing-based localization method aimed at determining the positions of active WiFi devices through passive reception. The method involves capturing and analyzing the timing of over-the-air WiFi packets: request-to-send (RTS), clear-to-send (CTS), data (DATA), and acknowledgment (ACK) packets exchanged between WiFi routers and clients. The accuracy of round-trip time (RTT) estimation, crucial for distance calculation, can be affected by factors, such as clock variations between devices and, notably, the short interframe space (SIFS) time setting in the WiFi protocol. Despite SIFS time aiming to ensure a consistent interval between DATA and ACK frame transmissions, IEEE 802.11 standards permit up to a 10% variation in SIFS time. When combined with device-level disparities and environmental fluctuations, individual RTT measurements may not reliably estimate distances. In this study, we employ statistical clustering techniques, specifically k-means clustering, to enhance RTT estimation by refining coarse- and fine-timing estimates. Each captured packet pair, i.e., (DATA/ACK), is assigned to the cluster with the most similar coarse and fine RTT characteristics. Subsequently, the properties of the identified cluster (e.g., coarse RTT/fine RTT) are utilized as a more precise RTT estimate for localization computations. Simulations and experiments conducted under diverse multipath conditions demonstrate the algorithm’s accuracy in 2-D positioning, achieving an average accuracy of as low as 0.24 m in simulations and 1.18 m in experiments when the Wi-Fi router and device are separated by distances of up to 18 m. The proposed method offers a robust approach for accurate passive Wi-Fi positioning, highlighting its potential for real-world applications.
{"title":"Enhancing Passive WiFi Device Localization Through Packet Timing Analysis","authors":"Omar Dhawahir;Murat Torlak","doi":"10.1109/OJIM.2024.3522345","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJIM.2024.3522345","url":null,"abstract":"This article presents an innovative timing-based localization method aimed at determining the positions of active WiFi devices through passive reception. The method involves capturing and analyzing the timing of over-the-air WiFi packets: request-to-send (RTS), clear-to-send (CTS), data (DATA), and acknowledgment (ACK) packets exchanged between WiFi routers and clients. The accuracy of round-trip time (RTT) estimation, crucial for distance calculation, can be affected by factors, such as clock variations between devices and, notably, the short interframe space (SIFS) time setting in the WiFi protocol. Despite SIFS time aiming to ensure a consistent interval between DATA and ACK frame transmissions, IEEE 802.11 standards permit up to a 10% variation in SIFS time. When combined with device-level disparities and environmental fluctuations, individual RTT measurements may not reliably estimate distances. In this study, we employ statistical clustering techniques, specifically k-means clustering, to enhance RTT estimation by refining coarse- and fine-timing estimates. Each captured packet pair, i.e., (DATA/ACK), is assigned to the cluster with the most similar coarse and fine RTT characteristics. Subsequently, the properties of the identified cluster (e.g., coarse RTT/fine RTT) are utilized as a more precise RTT estimate for localization computations. Simulations and experiments conducted under diverse multipath conditions demonstrate the algorithm’s accuracy in 2-D positioning, achieving an average accuracy of as low as 0.24 m in simulations and 1.18 m in experiments when the Wi-Fi router and device are separated by distances of up to 18 m. The proposed method offers a robust approach for accurate passive Wi-Fi positioning, highlighting its potential for real-world applications.","PeriodicalId":100630,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of Instrumentation and Measurement","volume":"4 ","pages":"1-13"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10817509","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143106201","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-27DOI: 10.1109/OJIM.2024.3505992
{"title":"IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society","authors":"","doi":"10.1109/OJIM.2024.3505992","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJIM.2024.3505992","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100630,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of Instrumentation and Measurement","volume":"3 ","pages":"C2-C2"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10817081","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142905878","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-27DOI: 10.1109/OJIM.2024.3505993
{"title":"IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society","authors":"","doi":"10.1109/OJIM.2024.3505993","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJIM.2024.3505993","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100630,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of Instrumentation and Measurement","volume":"3 ","pages":"C3-C3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10817082","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142905956","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-24DOI: 10.1109/OJIM.2024.3506272
James A. Smith;Helena Geirinhas Ramos
{"title":"Guest Editorial for Nondestructive Testing and Evaluation (NDT&E) Special Section","authors":"James A. Smith;Helena Geirinhas Ramos","doi":"10.1109/OJIM.2024.3506272","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJIM.2024.3506272","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100630,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of Instrumentation and Measurement","volume":"3 ","pages":"1-3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10815015","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142890153","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-18DOI: 10.1109/OJIM.2024.3517623
Samuel W. Glass;Jonathan R. Tedeschi;Muthu Elen;Mychal P. Spencer;Jiyoung Son;Leo S. Fifield
This document describes the adaptation of a clamshell inductive current coupler for online reflectometry testing (both frequency-domain reflectometry and spread spectrum time-domain reflectometry) to evaluate cable anomalies. The life span of safety-critical nuclear power plant cables is initially qualified for 40 years in accordance with IEEE 383 without additional testing. As plants extend their operating licenses to 60 and 80 years, justification for continued safe operation includes cable test and condition monitoring (CM) programs. Test programs traditionally involve manual interventions to disconnect the cables, perform one or several tests, then reconnect the systems, usually during refueling outages occurring only every two years. Offline testing poses an operational burden that can be minimized by online testing. This work investigates the adaptation of a clamshell inductive current coupler to inject a signal onto a cable conductor and listen for a reflected signal indicative of a damaged condition. The coupler provides >60 dB of protection, thereby allowing tests on cables up to 10 kV or more. Although the clamshell coupler is a known commercial product for cable performance testing, its use for energized cable CM constitutes a novel use case.
{"title":"Clamshell Inductive Current Coupler for Online Cable Condition Monitoring","authors":"Samuel W. Glass;Jonathan R. Tedeschi;Muthu Elen;Mychal P. Spencer;Jiyoung Son;Leo S. Fifield","doi":"10.1109/OJIM.2024.3517623","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/OJIM.2024.3517623","url":null,"abstract":"This document describes the adaptation of a clamshell inductive current coupler for online reflectometry testing (both frequency-domain reflectometry and spread spectrum time-domain reflectometry) to evaluate cable anomalies. The life span of safety-critical nuclear power plant cables is initially qualified for 40 years in accordance with IEEE 383 without additional testing. As plants extend their operating licenses to 60 and 80 years, justification for continued safe operation includes cable test and condition monitoring (CM) programs. Test programs traditionally involve manual interventions to disconnect the cables, perform one or several tests, then reconnect the systems, usually during refueling outages occurring only every two years. Offline testing poses an operational burden that can be minimized by online testing. This work investigates the adaptation of a clamshell inductive current coupler to inject a signal onto a cable conductor and listen for a reflected signal indicative of a damaged condition. The coupler provides >60 dB of protection, thereby allowing tests on cables up to 10 kV or more. Although the clamshell coupler is a known commercial product for cable performance testing, its use for energized cable CM constitutes a novel use case.","PeriodicalId":100630,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Open Journal of Instrumentation and Measurement","volume":"4 ","pages":"1-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10807070","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142938284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}