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We propose a circuit for generation of modified Hermite polynomial functions for use in impulse radio communications. Simultaneous generation of pulses of differing order is developed, reducing circuit complexity. Pulses are produced by applying modifications to Hermite polynomials. Pulses have the properties of orthogonality and not changing their pulse width and pulse bandwidth significantly dependent on pulse order, or under the differentiation effect of the transmitter or receiver antenna. The usefulness of these pulses applied to a multi-user system by orthogonal pulse modulation is shown by comparison with conventional pulse position modulation by computer simulation.

MammoWave is a microwave imaging device for breast lesions detection, which operates using two (azimuthally rotating) antennas without any matching liquid. Images, subsequently obtained by resorting to Huygens Principle, are intensity maps, representing the homogeneity of tissues’ dielectric properties. In this paper, we propose to generate, for each breast, a set of conductivity weighted microwave images by using different values of conductivity in the Huygens Principle imaging algorithm. Next, microwave images’ parameters, i.e. features, are introduced to quantify the non-homogenous behaviour of the image. We empirically verify on 103 breasts that a selection of these features may allow distinction between breasts with no radiological finding (NF) and breasts with radiological findings (WF), i.e. with lesions which may be benign or malignant. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. We obtained single features Area Under the receiver operating characteristic Curves (AUCs) spanning from 0.65 to 0.69. In addition, an empirical rule-of-thumb allowing breast assessment is introduced using a binary score S operating on an appropriate combination of features. Performances of such rule-of-thumb are evaluated empirically, obtaining a sensitivity of 74%, which increases to 82% when considering dense breasts only.

This paper presents the design of a novel wireless sensor network structure to monitor patients with chronic diseases in their own homes through a remote monitoring system of physiological signals. Currently, most of the monitoring systems send patients' data to a hospital with the aid of personal computers (PC) located in the patients' home. Here, we present a new design which eliminates the need for a PC. The proposed remote monitoring system is a wireless sensor network with the nodes of the network installed in the patients' homes. These nodes are then connected to a central node located at a hospital through an Internet connection. The nodes of the proposed wireless sensor network are created by using a combination of ECG sensors, MSP430 microcontrollers, a CC2500 low-power wireless radio, and a network protocol called the SimpliciTI protocol. ECG signals are first sampled by a small portable device which each patient carries. The captured signals are then wirelessly transmitted to an access point located within the patients' home. This connectivity is based on wireless data transmission at 2.4-GHz frequency. The access point is also a small box attached to the Internet through a home asynchronous digital subscriber line router. Afterwards, the data are sent to the hospital via the Internet in real time for analysis and/or storage. The benefits of this remote monitoring are wide ranging: the patients can continue their normal lives, they do not need a PC all of the time, their risk of infection is reduced, costs significantly decrease for the hospital, and clinicians can check data in a short time.