Citation: Moldovan, C.A.; Ion, M.;
Dragomir, D.C.; Dinulescu, S.;
Mihailescu, C.; Franti, E.; Dascalu, M.;
Dobrescu, L.; Dobrescu, D.;
Gheorghe, M.-I.; et al. Remote
Sensing System for Motor Nerve
Impulse. Sensors 2022, 22, 2823.
https://doi.org/10.3390/s22082823
Academic Editor: Enrico Vezzetti
Received: 11 February 2022
Accepted: 30 March 2022
Published: 7 April 2022
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral
with regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional affil-
iations.
Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
Article
Remote Sensing System for Motor Nerve Impulse
Carmen Aura Moldovan
1
, Marian Ion
1
, David Catalin Dragomir
1
, Silviu Dinulescu
1
, Carmen Mihailescu
1
,
Eduard Franti
1,2
, Monica Dascalu
2,3
, Lidia Dobrescu
3
, Dragos Dobrescu
3
, Mirela-Iuliana Gheorghe
3
,
Lars-Cyril Blystad
4
, Per Alfred Ohlckers
4
, Luca Marchetti
4
, Kristin Imenes
4
, Birgitte Kasin Hønsvall
4
,
Jairo Ramirez-Sarabia
4
, Ioan Lascar
5
, Tiberiu Paul Neagu
5
, Stefania Raita
6
, Ruxandra Costea
6
,
Adrian Barbilian
7
, Florentina Gherghiceanu
7
, Cristian Stoica
7
, Catalin Niculae
8
, Gabriel Predoi
6
,
Vlad Carbunaru
5
, Octavian Ionescu
1,9
and Ana Maria Oproiu
5,
*
1
IMT Bucharest, 77190 Bucharest, Romania; carmen.moldovan@imt.ro (C.A.M.); marian.ion@imt.ro (M.I.);
david.dragomir@imt.ro (D.C.D.); silviu.dinulescu@imt.ro (S.D.); carmen.mihailescu@imt.ro (C.M.);
eduard.franti@imt.ro (E.F.); octavian.ionescu@imt.ro (O.I.)
2
ICIA, Ctr New Elect Architectures, 050711 Bucharest, Romania; monica.dascalu@upb.ro
3
Department DCAE, Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunication and Information Technology,
University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, 060042 Bucharest, Romania; lidia.dobrescu@upb.ro (L.D.);
dragos.dobrescu@upb.ro (D.D.); mirelaiulianagheorghe@student.etti.upb.ro (M.-I.G.)
4
Department of Microsystems, University of South-Eastern Norway, 3603 Horten, Norway;
lars-cyril.blystad@usn.no (L.-C.B.); per.ohlckers@usn.no (P.A.O.); luca.marchetti@usn.no (L.M.);
kristin.imenes@usn.no (K.I.); birgitte.honsvall@usn.no (B.K.H.); jairo.ramirez@usn.no (J.R.-S.)
5
Emergency Clin Hosp Bucharest, 014461 Bucharest, Romania; ioan.lascar@umfcd.ro (I.L.);
tiberiu.paul@mfcd.ro (T.P.N.); vlad.carbunaru@umfcd.ro (V.C.)
6
Department I, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,
University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest, 050097 Bucharest, Romania;
stefania.raita@fmvb.ro (S.R.); ruxandra.costea@fmvb.ro (R.C.); catalin.predoi@fmvb.ro (G.P.)
7
Orthopedics, Anaesthesia Intensive Care Unit, Faculty of Medicine, UMF Carol Davila,
050454 Bucharest, Romania; adrian.barbilian@umfcd.ro (A.B.); florentina.gherghiceanu@umfcd.ro (F.G.);
cristian.stoica@umfcd.ro (C.S.)
8
AREUS Technol SRL, 70000 Bucharest, Romania; catalin.niculae@areusdev.com
9
Department IME/Faculty ACE, Petroleum and Gas University from Ploiesti, 100680 Ploiesti, Romania
* Correspondence: anamaria.oproiu@umfcd.ro; Tel.: +40-7200-703-59
Abstract:
In this article, we present our research achievements regarding the development of a
remote sensing system for motor pulse acquisition, as a first step towards a complete neuroprosthetic
arm. We present the fabrication process of an implantable electrode for nerve impulse acquisition,
together with an innovative wirelessly controlled system. In our study, these were combined into
an implantable device for attachment to peripheral nerves. Mechanical and biocompatibility tests
were performed, as well as
in vivo
testing on pigs using the developed system. This testing and the
experimental results are presented in a comprehensive manner, demonstrating that the system is
capable of accomplishing the requirements of its designed application. Most significantly, neural
electrical signals were acquired and transmitted out of the body during animal experiments, which
were conducted according to ethical regulations in the field.
Keywords: neuroprosthesis; microtechnology; microsystem; microfabrication
1. Introduction
Important developments in the prosthetics industry are continuously being reported,
revealing, in particular, a new research trend towards the creation of a robotic arm capable
of using nervous electrical signals for its control and feedback, capturing motor impulses,
and transmitting feedback to peripheral nerves [
1
]. From a practical perspective, an arm
prosthesis is expected to act similarly to the limb it replaces, but this depends on the
type of signals acquired from the patient’s stump and used for the prosthesis movement.
Sensors 2022, 22, 2823. https://doi.org/10.3390/s22082823 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors
