Marina Cole Associate Professor BSc(Montenegro), PhD(Coventry) Engineering Bldg. A323 +44 (0)24 765 23546 +44 (0)24 764 18922  M.Cole AT warwick.ac.uk

Dr. Marina Cole joined the Smart Sensors and Devices Research Group at Warwick University in 1996 as a post-doctoral research assistant. For two years she worked on the EPSRC funded project on the design of an intelligent gas array sensor for environmental monitoring. Dr Cole was appointed to a lectureship in electronic engineering and became a member of the Electrical & Electronic Engineering Division in September 1998. She is currently supervising 3 PhD students and one MPhil student and has EPSRC funding for the development of novel implementation techniques for a wavelet-based broadband signal detection system. Dr Cole has published over 30 technical papers in scientific journals, edited books and at the international conferences. Dr Cole is a member of the technical program committee for the IEEE Sensors conference (2002-2006) and a reviewer for Sensors & Actuators and IEEE Sensors Journal.

Dr. Marina Cole has a background in resonant sensors based on piezoelectric materials and instrumentation. Her research interests are in integrated silicon-based sensors, analogue, digital and mixed signal ASIC devices, SAW devices, smart sensors, actuators and microsystems.

Novel implementation techniques for a wavelet-based broadband signal detection system

In an active sonar system working in a reverberation-limited environment, the detection of low- and zero-Doppler signals in real-time is computationally expensive if we are to use the optimum technique using the correlation matrix. Previous research on the topic showed that an Adaptive Noise Canceller(ANC) can be a useful and computationally efficient alternative in the narrowband case and promising results were shown implementing an ANC by means of a least-squares lattice algorithm. The proposed research aims to look at the broadband case in which the doppler-shift model, used in the narrowband case, is no longer valid. In particular, the use of wavelets is proposed since the family of scaled wavelets better models the behaviour of pulses in a reverberation-limited broadband and shallow-water environment. Furthermore, this approach allows the possibility of designing a wavelet pulse that can maximise the signal and noise to local background ratio. The main thrust of the research is to design and model a broadband detection system based on a digital VLSI architecture. Evaluation of designs using ASICs and FPGAs will be made. In addition the feasibility of an analogue approach based on an acousto-optical wavelet correlator will be considered.

Biosynthetic Infochemical Communication (iCHEM)

By exploiting recent advances in the understanding of pheromone biosynthesis pathways and how pheromone molecules (a key category of so-called infochemicals) are detected and decoded in the insect nervous system we will develop a new class of technology for infochemical communication. In a novel approach to information and communication technology (ICT) we will first investigate, design and implement using microreactor technology, the biosynthesis pathways of infochemical production in the moth Spodoptera littoralis. This subsystem we term a “chemoemitter” (a microsystem capable of generating a precise mix of predefined synthesised compounds in programmable ratios of concentration). In parallel we will investigate, design and implement a complementary tuned detector of this volatile chemical mixture based upon principles of molecular detection in the receptor and antennal lobe neurons of the same animal (termed a “chemoreceiver”) which is able to recover the ratiometric information deployed in the world. As a combined system this innovative chemoemitter/receiver will be capable of information transmission using chemicals alone and will form the basis of a new technological field for labelling, information transmission and biochemical interfacing. Chemical messages may be deposited on surfaces or transmitted through gaseous/liquid media. Moreover, by controlling the volatility of the predefined pheromone compounds (by adjusting molecular chain length) it will be possible to transmit time-sensitive and time-registered information. As such we expect our approach and the technologies developed in this project to have long-term implications for automatic identification and data capture (AIDC), product labelling, search and rescue, data storage, unexploded ordinance and mine localisation, air silent communication, unmanned space exploration, medical diagnosis/treatment, therapeutic agents and environmental monitoring/control.

Recent publications

• Y. Jian, Z. Rácz, J.W. Gardner, M. Cole and H. Chen, "Ratiometric info-chemical communication system based on polymer-coated surface acoustic wave microsensors," Sensors and Actuators: B. Chemical (2012). [DOI: 10.1016/j.snb.2012.07.043]
• J.L. Vivancos, Z. Rácz, M. Cole, J.W. Gardner and J. Soto, "Surface acoustic wave based analytical system for the detection of liquid detergents," Sensors and Actuators: B. Chemical, 171-172, pp. 469-477 (2012).
• Z. Rácz, M. Cole, J.W. Gardner, M.F. Chowdhury, W.P. Bula, J.G.E. Gardeniers, S. Karout, A. Capurro and T.C. Pearce, "Design and Implementation of a Modular Biomimetic Infochemical Communication System," International Journal of Circuit Theory and Applications – Nanocircuits special issue (2012). [DOI: 10.1002/cta.1829]
• Z. Rácz, Y. Jian, J.W. Gardner and M. Cole, "Volatile-based Ratiometric Infochemical Communication System Using Polymer-coated Piezoelectric Sensor Arrays," 2011 IEEE Sensors pp. 747-749 (2011).
• M.F. Chowdhury, Z. Rácz, Y. Jian, M. Cole, S. Thomas and J.W. Gardner, "ASIC for Hybrid Biosynthetic Infochemical Chemoreceiver," 2011 IEEE Sensors pp. 990-993 (2011).
• J.L. Vivancos, Z. Rácz, M. Cole, J. Soto, J.W. Gardner, "Detergents sensing system based on SH-SAW devices," Procedia Engineering (Eurosensors XXV), Volume 25, pp. 1125-1128 (2011).
• M. Cole, J.A. Covington, J.W. Gardner, "Combined electronic nose and tongue for a flavour sensing system," Sensors and Actuators: B. Chemical, 156, pp. 832-839 (2011).
• Z. Rácz, S.B. Olsson, J.W. Gardner, T.C. Pearce, B.S. Hansson, M. Cole, "Challenges of Biomimetic Infochemical Communication," Procedia Computer Science, 7, pp. 106-109 (2011).
• S. Pathak, M.D. Jordan, Z. Rácz, R.A.J. Challiss, J.W. Gardner and M. Cole, "Detection of ligand-elicited secondary cellular responses using Surface Acoustic Wave biosensors," Procedia Computer Science, 7, pp. 346-347 (2011).
• S. Karout, Z. Rácz, A. Capurro, M. Cole, J.W. Gardner, T.C. Pearce, "Ratiometric Chemical Blend Processing with a Neuromorphic Model of the Insect Macroglomerular Complex," AIP Conference Proceedings (ISOEN), 1362, pp. 77-78 (2011).