A collar-mounted location sensor and stimulation unit includes a body. A generally planar stimulation unit and differential impedance-based fur detector in combination protect the animal from harmful stimulation. At least one sensory stimulator is configured to provide at least one of auditory, kinesthetic, and visual stimulation responsive to an output of a location sensor. One or more of a voltage, current, oscillation frequency, extent of modulation, or other output characteristic of the stimulation unit output is varied responsive to the detected fur differential impedance to protect and benefit both the body and mind of the animal.

Disclosed are a method and system for detecting a concentration of an analyte based on a change in relative permittivity of a biological tissue within a living body. The method of detecting a concentration of an analyte may include generating a fringing field, measuring a change in a resonant frequency generated by an oscillator based on a change in capacitance attributable to a change in an analyte within a region of the fringing field, and measuring a change characteristic of the analyte within the fringing field based on the change in the resonant frequency.

Described examples include devices and methods for measuring relative humidity of an environment using inductance. The devices can include a resonant circuit, including a capacitor and an inductor. The inductor includes a moisture-absorbing core with at least a portion thereof exposed to an environment, with at least one magnetic property of the core being variable in response to changing levels of moisture in the environment. An excitation circuit provides an AC excitation signal to the resonant circuit. A sense circuit determines an inductance of the inductor according to a sense signal from the resonant circuit. The sense circuit is coupled to generate an output signal that indicates a humidity level of the environment according to the sense signal.

A system for determining material accumulation relative to ground engaging tools of an agricultural implement may include a frame member, and first and second ground engaging tools coupled to the frame member. The first and second ground engaging tools are configured to engage soil within a field as the agricultural implement is moved across the field. The first and second ground engaging tools are electrically isolated from each other. The system may further include a power source configured to apply a voltage across the first and second ground engaging tools, a sensor configured to measure a capacitance across the first and second ground engaging tools, and a controller communicatively coupled to the sensor. The controller may be configured to determine a presence of material accumulation between the first and second ground engaging tools based at least in part on the measured capacitance.

Disclosed herein are a soil moisture sensor and an operating method thereof. The soil moisture sensor includes a first probe including a pair of first electrodes extending in a first direction; a first resonance circuit connected to the pair of first electrodes of the first probe through a pair of first ports, and configured such that a first AC signal is applied thereto; a second resonance circuit having the same impedance as the first resonance circuit, and configured such that a second AC signal having the same characteristics as the first AC signal while being a reference AC signal is applied thereto; and a determination circuit configured to receive a first electrical signal and a second electrical signal and to determine the moisture in the soil based on the first resonant frequency of the first electrical signal and the second resonant frequency of the second electrical signal.

An apparatus senses the proportion of FOG flowing with effluent from a sink to a p-trap. A pipe portion is connectable for use as a tailpipe for a sink with a first electrode within the pipe portion and a second electrode outside the pipe portion. Conductors connect the first and second electrodes to a capacitance sensor, so changes in capacitance between the electrodes caused by changes in proportions of FOG content in effluent from the sink can be detected and/or monitored. The monitoring can be remote and can cause an action when an excess FOG content is detected.

A method for determining an electrical property of interest of material(s) in a target region confined by a boundary surface comprises receiving measured values of a measurable electrical quantity; providing simulated values of the measurable electrical quantity for an initial approximation of the electrical property conditions; determining an objective function comprising observation difference between the measured and the simulated values as well a prior model, and determining an adjusted approximation; and providing, on the basis of the adjusted approximation, an estimation of the electrical property of interest. Simulated statistics of a position deviation in the observations is provided, caused by a difference of an effective position of the measurement probe from a predetermined reference position; and by providing the observation model to define the observations of the measurable electrical quantity to correspond to measurements made with the measurement probe in the reference position.

Capacitive sensors and capacitive sensing data integration for plasma chamber condition monitoring are described. In an example, a plasma chamber monitoring system includes a plurality of capacitive sensors, a capacitance digital converter, and an applied process server coupled to the capacitance digital converter, the applied process server including a system software. The capacitance digital converter includes an isolation interface coupled to the plurality of capacitive sensors, a power supply coupled to the isolation interface, a field-programmable gate-array firmware coupled to the isolation interface, and an application-specific integrated circuit coupled to the field-programmable gate-array firmware.

A battery management system (BMS) and method for determining an active material content in an electrode includes determining a first peak in an inverse-differential capacity analysis curve of a the battery, determining a second peak in an incremental capacity analysis (ICA) curve associated with the at least one electrode, mapping the first peak of the inverse-differential capacity analysis curve to the second peak of the ICA curve, determining an active material content in the at least one electrode of the battery based on the mapping, and optimizing a performance of the battery based on the active material content in the at least one electrode.

An apparatus and method to detect disease-specific antigens assists in disease diagnosis. Point-of-care (POC) micro biochip incorporates at least one hydrophilic microchannel for controlled and self-driven flow of body fluid. Metallic nano-interdigitated electrodes disposed within the channels give enhanced sensitivity detection. Microchannel controls flow and amplifies a capillary effect. Electrodes are fabricated on microchannel surface to detect biomolecular interactions. When a sample flows through microchannel, disease-specific antigens from the sample form antigen-antibody complex with antibodies immobilized on electrodes. Antigen-antibody interaction is detected via an electrical change in the biochip's nano circuit. Each electrode may include a different antibody to detect different antigens. Capacitance during antigen-antibody interaction without microfluidic flow is higher than with microfluidic flow due to immobilized antibodies instability on sensing surface caused by shear stress. POC biochip provides nano level detection of many disease-specific antigens of any type based on micro volume or single drop sized sample.