Objectives: To develop and evaluate a wearable, garment-integrated transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) system for relieving osteoarthritis knee pain, emphasizing safety, usability, and readiness for home and clinical deployment. Methods: We designed an IEC 60601 compliant TENS system that embeds flexible electrodes into a close-fitting, machine-washable textile. A seven-day, home-based usability evaluation was conducted with 11 participants with osteoarthritis. Outcomes included self-reported pain (baseline vs. post-use) and usability metrics (ease of setup and comfort). The system received Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and Health Research Authority (HRA) approvals for a subsequent clinical investigation. Results: Participants reported strong user acceptance, ease of use and comfort. Average pain decreased by 54.79% over the evaluation period, indicating a meaningful short-term analgesic benefit in a home setting. No serious adverse events were observed. Conclusion: Integrating electrodes into a wearable garment addresses key limitations of conventional adhesive-pad TENS, improving placement consistency, comfort, and ease of use while supporting safe operation under IEC 60601. These preliminary findings support the feasibility of garment-based TENS for osteoarthritis management at home and justify a follow-on clinical trial to rigorously quantify pain relief, functional outcomes, and user satisfaction in a larger cohort. Clinical impact: The use of a washable TENS garment, compliant with IEC 60601, resulted in reduced osteoarthritis pain in a home setting. Its integration into home care is facilitated by an easy to use device with reusable textile electrodes.

This work presents the design and test of an e-textile based functional electrical stimulation system for post-stroke upper limb rehabilitation. The prototype was tested on five stroke survivors to assess stimulation comfort, the stimulation intensity required to achieve hand opening, and ease of use. Wrist extension was measured using two inertial measurement units. The wearable e-textile prototype achieved similar stimulation comfort compared to high-quality hydrogel electrodes with a score difference of between 0 and 1. The stimulation intensity to achieve full hand opening was the same for the hydrogel electrodes and the e-textiles for all five participants. A second design based on a knitted sleeve has been assessed in terms of usability. Additional new designs have been proposed to improve the usability.

We present biphasic stimulator electronics developed for a wearable functional electrical stimulation system. The reported stimulator electronics consist of a twenty four channel biphasic stimulator. The stimulator circuitry is physically smaller per channel and offers a greater degree of control over stimulation parameters than existing functional electrical stimulator systems. The design achieves this by using, off the shelf multichannel high voltage switch integrated circuits combined with discrete current limiting and dc blocking circuitry for the frontend, and field programmable gate array based logic to manage pulse timing. The system has been tested on both healthy adults and those with reduced upper limb function following a stroke. Initial testing on healthy users has shown the stimulator can reliably generate specific target gestures such as palm opening or pointing with an average accuracy of better than 4 degrees across all gestures. Tests on stroke survivors produced some movement but this was limited by the mechanical movement available in those users' hands.

Electrotherapy is a common therapeutic treatment used to provide pain relief. The device delivers a mild level of current via electrodes positioned on the skin to interfere with the pain signal and stimulate the release of the body's own natural painkiller to reduce the pain. This paper presents the materials and fabrication methods used to manufacture a textile based wearable electronic textile (e-textile) with electrodes embedded for joint pain relief. The electrode is made by three functional layers including textile layer, conductive layer, and electrode layer. An electronic control has been developed to deliver interferential therapy. The e-sleeve has been designed and developed alongside patient and public input and tested on six volunteers with self-reported knee joint pain. Four out of six volunteers reported noticeable pain reduction on using the e-textile. The wearable e-textile demonstrated no adverse effects and pilot evidence suggests this has the potential to be a comfortable and easy to use solution for pain relief for people living with osteoarthritis knee joint pain. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We investigate the spatial and temporal englacial and subglacial processes associated with a temperate glacier resting on a deformable bed using the unique Glacsweb wireless in situ probes (embedded in the ice and the till) combined with other techniques [including ground penetrating radar (GPR) and borehole analysis]. During the melt season (spring, summer and autumn), high surface melt leads to high water pressures in the englacial and subglacial environment. Winter is characterized by no surface melting on most days (‘base’) apart from a series of positive degree days. Once winter begins, a diurnal water pressure cycle is established in the ice and at the ice/sediment interface, with direct meltwater inputs from the positive degree days and a secondary slower englacial pathway with a five day lag. This direct surface melt also drives water pressure changes in the till. Till deformation occurred throughout the year, with the winter rate approximately 60% that of the melt season. We were able to show the bed comprised patches of till with different strengths, and were able to estimate their size, relative percentage and temporal stability. We show that the melt season is characterized by a high pressure distributed system, and winter by a low pressure channelized system. We contrast this with studies from Greenland (overlying rigid bedrock), where the opposite was found. We argue our results are typical of soft bedded glaciers with low englacial water content, and suggest this type of glacier can rapidly respond to surface‐driven melt. Based on theoretical and field results we suggest that the subglacial hydrology comprises a melt season distributed system dominated by wide anastomosing broad flat channels and thin water sheets, which may become more channelized in winter, and more responsive to changes in meltwater inputs. © 2019 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Low power sensor networks have traditionally been regarded as not having the capabilities required to connect them to the internet. New research into the Internet of Things has challenged this concept and is opening up new possibilities for sensor network capabilities. Environmental sensor networks are just one of the areas which will greatly benefit from this connectivity improvement. However, there are many challenges to be solved in order to make full and efficient use of these advancements. One of the major challenges which has been identified is the lack of connectivity when sensors are in low power sleep states. Previous solutions for low power devices have relied on application layer gateways to proxy communications to the sensors, but this restricts the flexibility of the network as it is limited to the capabilities of the proxy. Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) offers a solution to this problem by allowing sensors to respond and handle communications at their convenience. This thesis presents and evaluates a novel method and implementation of Delay Tolerant Networking using IPv6 extension headers. The proposed DTN extension header is found to have a significantly lower packet size overhead than other DTN protocols. In addition, the protocol and systems to support it are entirely backwards and forwards compatible with the existing internet infrastructure allowing for it to be incorporated into existing deployments. The developed protocol forms a new state of the art for DTN on constrained sensor networks using end to end IP connectivity. Using this, a new range of low power IoT devices can be developed, featuring long battery lives and reliable connectivity.

We have developed an innovative passive borehole geophone system, as part of a wireless environmental sensor network to investigate glacier stick-slip motion. The new geophone nodes use an ARM Cortex-M3 processor with a low power design capable of running on battery power while embedded in the ice. Only data from seismic events was stored, held temporarily on a micro-SD card until they were retrieved by systems on the glacier surface which are connected to the internet. The sampling rates, detection and filtering levels were determined from a field trial using a standard commercial passive seismic system. The new system was installed on the Skalafellsjökull glacier in Iceland and provided encouraging results. The results showed that there was a relationship between surface melt water production and seismic event (ice quakes), and these occurred on a pattern related to the glacier surface melt-water controlled velocity changes (stick-slip motion). Three types of seismic events were identified, which were interpreted to reflect a pattern of till deformation (Type A), basal sliding (Type B) and hydraulic transience (Type C) associated with stick-slip motion.

Erica the Rhino is an interactive art exhibit created by the University of Southampton, UK. Erica was created as part of a city wide art trail in 2013 called "Go! Rhinos", curated by Marwell Wildlife, to raise awareness of Rhino conservation. Erica arrived as a white fibreglass shell which was then painted and equipped with five Raspberry Pi Single Board Computers (SBC). These computers allowed the audience to interact with Erica through a range of sensors and actuators. In particular, the audience could feed and stroke her to prompt reactions, as well as send her Tweets to change her behaviour. Pi SBCs were chosen because of their ready availability and their educational pedigree. During the deployment, 'coding clubs' were run in the shopping centre where Erica was located, and these allowed children to experiment with and program the same components used in Erica. The experience gained through numerous deployments around the country has enabled Erica to be upgraded to increase reliability and ease of maintenance, whilst the release of the Pi 2 has allowed her responsiveness to be improved.

As we continue to connect ever lower power and more power constrained devices to the Internet of Things the problem of main- taining constant end to end connectivity becomes harder. Accepting that continuous end to end connectivity cannot be maintained, we are forced to seek solutions to allow good operating function. Delay Tolerant Networking, an evolution of existing store and forward systems is a candidate for resolving this issue, however, current implementations are not ideal for use in constrained Inter- net of Things environments. We propose a solution to this by integrating the capabilities of Delay Tolerant Networking into the IP layer, in such a way as to maintain compatibility with existing and future systems and minimising additional overhead. This has been achieved by developing a new IPv6 Hop by Hop option header which contains the information required for messages to be delayed. This solution is then demonstrated to be implementable within the limitations of current Internet of Things hardware.

The growth in wireless sensor network deployments requires a move towards more standardised systems to improve compatibility and to reduce development times. The technologies being developed as part of the Internet of Things, such as 6LoWPAN (IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks), can greatly assist with this aim. Connecting low power wireless sensor network devices to the Internet of Things presents certain challenges. One of these challenges is the lack of constant connectivity to sensor nodes with sleep states. Current internet technologies expect that devices are always contactable which is not the case in sensor networks. We simulate and evaluate several solutions to this problem in a multitude of different scenarios. We conclude that delay tolerant networking is an effective solution to the challenges created when dealing with sleep states while minimising overheads. However, current standardised delay tolerant technologies are not easily applicable for use with sensor networks, so a new standard needs to be created to meet the requirements described in the paper.