High-Accuracy, Compact Scanning Method and Circuit for Resistive Sensor Arrays

The zero-potential scanning circuit is widely used as read-out circuit for resistive sensor arrays because it removes a well known problem: crosstalk current. The zero-potential scanning circuit can be divided into two groups based on type of row drivers. One type is a row driver using digital buffers. It can be easily implemented because of its simple structure, but we found that it can cause a large read-out error which originates from on-resistance of the digital buffers used in the row driver. The other type is a row driver composed of operational amplifiers. It, very accurately, reads the sensor resistance, but it uses a large number of operational amplifiers to drive rows of the sensor array; therefore, it severely increases the power consumption, cost, and system complexity. To resolve the inaccuracy or high complexity problems founded in those previous circuits, we propose a new row driver which uses only one operational amplifier to drive all rows of a sensor array with high accuracy. The measurement results with the proposed circuit to drive a 4 × 4 resistor array show that the maximum error is only 0.1% which is remarkably reduced from 30.7% of the previous counterpart.

[1]  Óscar Oballe-Peinado,et al.  High-Accuracy Readout Electronics for Piezoresistive Tactile Sensors , 2017, Sensors.

[2]  Tommaso D'Alessio,et al.  Measurement errors in the scanning of piezoresistive sensors arrays , 1999 .

[3]  Nan-Chyuan Tsai,et al.  Development of tactile sensors for simultaneous, detection of normal and shear stresses , 2010 .

[4]  M. Shimojo,et al.  A tactile sensor sheet using pressure conductive rubber with electrical-wires stitched method , 2004, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[5]  Masatoshi Ishikawa,et al.  A flexible high resolution tactile imager with video signal output , 1991, Proceedings. 1991 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[6]  S. Varghese,et al.  Fabrication of electron beam physical vapor deposited polysilicon piezoresistive MEMS pressure sensor , 2015 .

[7]  R. K. Bhan,et al.  A new discrete circuit for readout of resistive sensor arrays , 2009 .

[8]  Victor Sreeram,et al.  Implementation of an analogue model of a memristor based on a light-dependent resistor , 2012 .

[9]  Mitsuhiro Shikida,et al.  Active tactile sensor for detecting contact force and hardness of an object , 2003 .

[10]  Shuo-Hung Chang,et al.  An integrated flexible temperature and tactile sensing array using PI-copper films ☆ , 2008 .

[11]  Óscar Oballe-Peinado,et al.  Three Realizations and Comparison of Hardware for Piezoresistive Tactile Sensors , 2011, Sensors.

[12]  Óscar Oballe-Peinado,et al.  Accuracy and Resolution Analysis of a Direct Resistive Sensor Array to FPGA Interface , 2016, Sensors.

[13]  M. Kaltenbrunner,et al.  An ultra-lightweight design for imperceptible plastic electronics , 2013, Nature.

[14]  Aiguo Song,et al.  An Improved Zero Potential Circuit for Readout of a Two-Dimensional Resistive Sensor Array , 2016, Sensors.

[15]  Nguyen Binh-Khiem,et al.  High-sensitivity triaxial tactile sensor with elastic microstructures pressing on piezoresistive cantilevers , 2014 .

[16]  Paolo Dario,et al.  A tactile array sensor layered in an artificial skin , 1995, Proceedings 1995 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Human Robot Interaction and Cooperative Robots.

[17]  R. K. Bhan,et al.  A sub-circuit model of a microbolometer IR detector and its experimental validation , 2011 .

[18]  C.-M. Tsao,et al.  The development of a highly twistable tactile sensing array with stretchable helical electrodes , 2011 .

[19]  Jianqing Li,et al.  VF-NSE method measurement error analysis of networked resistive sensor array , 2014 .

[20]  Aiguo Song,et al.  A Novel Two-Wire Fast Readout Approach for Suppressing Cable Crosstalk in a Tactile Resistive Sensor Array , 2016, Sensors.

[21]  Yuanfei Zhang,et al.  Measurement errors in the scanning of resistive sensor arrays , 2010 .

[22]  JianQing Li,et al.  Design and Crosstalk Error Analysis of the Circuit for the 2-D Networked Resistive Sensor Array , 2015, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[23]  Debao Zhou,et al.  Development of a Skin-Like Tactile Sensor Array for Curved Surface , 2014, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[24]  Óscar Oballe-Peinado,et al.  Tactile sensor hardware based on programmable SoC , 2010 .

[25]  C. L. Nagendra,et al.  Ion beam sputtered Ge–Si–O amorphous thin films for microbolometer infrared detectors and their application in earth sensors , 2013 .

[26]  W. Snyder,et al.  Conductive Elastomers as Sensor for Industrial Parts Handling Equipment , 1978, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.

[27]  I. Shimoyama,et al.  A shear stress sensor for tactile sensing with the piezoresistive cantilever standing in elastic material , 2006 .

[28]  Mircea Arcan,et al.  Dynamic contact stress analysis using a compliant sensor array , 1993 .

[29]  Fernando Vidal-Verdú,et al.  Tactile sensors based on conductive polymers , 2010 .

[30]  Makoto Shimojo,et al.  Development of a mixed signal LSI for tactile data processing , 2004, 2004 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37583).

[31]  Andrew G. Gillies,et al.  Nanowire active-matrix circuitry for low-voltage macroscale artificial skin. , 2010, Nature materials.

[32]  Yao Shuai,et al.  Monolithic pyroelectric infrared detectors using SiO2 aerogel thin films , 2015 .

[33]  Tayfun Akin,et al.  Low-cost uncooled infrared detectors in CMOS process , 2003 .

[34]  Ying Wang,et al.  Fabrication and characterization of carbon nanotube–polyimide composite based high temperature flexible thin film piezoresistive strain sensor , 2013 .