MSc thesis project proposals

Here is a list of possible MSc thesis projects. This is intended just to give an idea, actual projects are usually defined after discussion with the advisor.

[2024] Project 7 at Nexperia: Fully integrated DC-DC Converter for energy harvesting

MSc thesis project opportunity in collaboration with Nexperia Energy Harvesting

[2024] Stochastic-resonance front-end for the acquisition of high-density cortical signals

This is a scientific technology project that is unique in its kind and therefore extremely well suited for MSc students that might be interested in doing a PhD project directly after their MSc studies.

[2024, most likely already taken] New non-invasive neuromodulation technique for vagus nerve stimulation (VNS)

MSc thesis project for a motivated, scientifically oriented, MSc student in either Biomedical Engineering (Medical Devices track) or Electrical Engineering (Biomedical Devices profile) on a new type of non-invasive neuromodulation for vagus nerve stimulation

[2024] Project 1 at Nexperia: Battery Life Conscious Energy Harvesting Energy

MSc thesis project opportunity at Nexperia Energy Harvesting IC Design in Delft

[2024] Project 4 at Nexperia: Wide supply range Level Shifter for Energy Harvesting Systems

MSc thesis project opportunity at Nexperia Energy Harvesting IC Design in Delft

[2024] Project 2 at Nexperia: MIMO Capacitive Power Converter

MSc thesis project opportunity at Nexperia Energy Harvesting IC Design in Delft

[2024] Project 5 at Nexperia: Fully Integrated Multi Ratio Capacitive Power Converter

MSc thesis project opportunity at Nexperia Energy Harvesting IC Design in Delft

[2024] Project 6 at Nexperia: Adaptive Capacitive Power Converter for On Board Supply

MSc thesis project opportunity at Nexperia Energy Harvesting IC Design in Delft

[2024] 3D Printed Bioelectronics for Regenerative Medicine

[2024] Wireless Stimulation of the Brain with Light

[2024] Transparent Microelectrode Arrays for Neuron Recordings and Stimulation

[2024] Organic Electrochemical Transistors for Wound Healing

[2024] Conformable Microelectrode Arrays for Electrical Mapping of the Heart

[2024] Dual-Frequency Ultrasound Neuromodulation for Minimally Invasive Brain Implants

Deciphering multispectral optical signals exposed on a capacitive CMOS platform

Interested in optical sensors, sensor electronics, and machine learning? This project combines these challenges to decipher multispectral optical stimuli from exposed on CMOS pixelated capacitive sensors.

Designing an implantable sensor to measure the eye pressure

This project is a collaboration between the Erasmus Medical Center, Ophtec BV, and TU Delft.The contact at Erasmus is Wishal Ramdas.

Capacitive CMOS platform to monitor multispectral optical signals

Interested in MEMS, optical sensors, sensor electronics and hands-on experiments? This project combines these challenges to develop novel sensors to monitor multispectral light signals in real-time.

Designing a Transparent Gel-Based Hand Pressure Sensor Mat supported

We are collaborating with a medical startup and have an exciting sub-project that involves designing a compact, flexible, and easy-to-use transparent gel-based pressure mat for accurate measurement of hand pressure. The goal is to create a safe, reliable, and fast system that accurately measures the pressure applied when pressing the gel mat with the hand.

Designing and Validating a Hand Pressure Sensor (Hardware and Software)

We are collaborating with a medical startup and have an exciting sub-project that involves designing a compact, flexible and easy to use pressure mat for accurate measurement of hand pressure. The goal is to create a safe, reliable, and fast system that accurately measures the pressure applied when pressing the mat with the hand.

[2023] Smart transparent electrode array for electroceuticals

In this project, we wish to take electroceuticals to the next level, by fabricating new, compact, flexible and transparent active neural interfaces.

[2023] Active neural interfaces for Bioelectronic Medicine (MSc project at Fraunhofer)

Project outside the university in collaboration with Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration in Berlin, Germany

Development of a fully coupled FEA-based transducer model

The recently established Modeling and Simulation Department at Sonion has a young and rapidly growing team with the goal to model and design innovative products for the hearing aid and pro-audio industry, such as miniaturized loudspeakers and other transducers used also in many modern consumer electronics products like smart phones, ear buds, tablets. In case of hearing aids, transducers are the main active components, and their behavior is crucial for the hearing aid performance. Therefore, a good dynamic model able to predict the behavior of the transducer under different conditions is required in order to test new designs, optimize the sound quality and reduce the product size.

Development of a MEMS microphone lumped element model

The recently established Modeling and Simulation Department at Sonion has a young and rapidly growing team with the goal to model and design innovative products for the hearing aid and pro-audio industry, such as miniaturized loudspeakers and other transducers used also in many modern consumer electronics products like smart phones, ear buds, tablets. In case of hearing aids, transducers are the main active components, and their behavior is crucial for the hearing aid performance. Therefore, a good dynamic model able to predict the behavior of the transducer under different conditions is required in order to test new designs, optimize the sound quality and reduce the product size.

Nonlinear material models for transducer membranes

The recently established Modeling and Simulation Department at Sonion has a young and rapidly growing team with the goal to model and design innovative products for the hearing aid and pro-audio industry, such as miniaturized loudspeakers and other transducers used also in many modern consumer electronics products like smart phones, ear buds, tablets. In case of hearing aids, transducers are the main active components, and their behavior is crucial for the hearing aid performance. Therefore, a good dynamic model able to predict the behavior of the transducer under different conditions is required in order to test new designs, optimize the sound quality and reduce the product size.

[2023] Current driver circuit for power-efficient neural stimulation

[2023] Patch clamp experiments on activation behavior of cortical neurons to electrical stimulation

CMOS-based Hall sensor without offset

The aim of this project is to develop a CMOS based Hall sensor without offset.

Ex-Situ Heart Perfusion (ESHP) sensor

The aim of this project is to develop an optical sensor to monitor the quality of heart cells during transplantations or during surgery. The rate of success of cardiac transplants largely depends on the amount of damage to the heart cells (myocardial ischemia). The use of ESPH (Ex-Situ Heart Perfusion) during transport, or while waiting for transplantation, enables the in-line monitoring of the quality of the donor heart muscle cells. Measuring the heart cell metabolism in strategic places, using several miniature sensors, would be of great value for more successful cardiac transplants.

[2023] GPU acceleration of neural-interface processing for closed-loop brain stimulation

[2023] Porting of a spike-classification kernel on Memristor-based circuits for next-generation Brain-Machine Interfaces

[2023] Porting a neural-recording kernel on FPGA & Memristor-based circuits for next-generation Brain-Machine Interfaces

[2023] Exploring the use of FPGAs & ASIPs in next-generation neural implants

[2023] Memristor implementation of compressive-imaging algorithm for revolutionary brain imaging

Analysis of 3D right ventricular shape from echocardiography

The functioning of our hearts is of vital importance to physical wellbeing. The right half of the heart is responsible for collecting the returning blood from the main circulation and pumping it to the lungs, where it is resupplied with oxygen. When the functioning of the right ventricle is compromised, venous pressure will rise and lung function will be decreased, leading to severe health problems on the long term.

Volumetric photoacoustic imaging of kidney

Photoacoustics (PA) is a rapidly developing imaging modality which provides information about the molecular composition of biological tissue. The photoacoustic signal is generated by so-called chromophores, such as biological molecules that absorb light, which can transform absorbed light into an ultrasound signal. The presence of certain types of chromophores can be a valuable marker indicating the condition of biological tissue. The accurate quantification of certain types of chromophores can improve clinical diagnosis. However, at each moment, only a limited area of human tissue can be exposed by a light (laser) which impedes volumetric analysis of present chromophores. The goal of this project is to quantify present chromophores in large organs, e. g. kidney, which are normally challenging to be fully imaged with PA.

[2022] Ultra-Flexible Active-Matrix Electrophysiology Arrays for Neural Interfacing

MSc thesis opportunity for an EE or BME student at the Holst Centre in Eindhoven on the development and characterization of active-matrix TFT arrays on foil with three-dimensional conformability for improved neural interfacing.

[2022] External electronics for ultrasonically powered stimulators

The main objectives of this project are proposing, implementation and test of a link management strategy for the application of ultrasonically powered stimulator(s).

[2020] Unobtrusive monitoring of internal bleeding

Internal bleeding is a major cause of death. This project aims to develop an unobtrusive method for monitoring internal bleeding.

Photoacoustic techniques for plaque detection

Atherosclerosis is a progressive inflammatory disease that is characterized by the accumulation of lipids in the artery wall. The composition withholds information about the risk of it causing a cardiovascular event. Currently used imaging techniques in carotid atherosclerosis provide mostly morphological information and lack molecular information.

Conditioning Navier-Stokes based velocity field regularization with sparse high-fidelity data

Vector flow imaging (VFI), a relatively recent development in diagnostic ultrasound research, describes a group of flow imaging methods that quantify both the magnitude and angle of the blood velocity vectors in the organ of interest (e.g. the heart). This is in contrast to traditional Doppler ultrasound which only estimates the velocity component on the axis towards the transducer.

The effect of fast microbubble motion on contrast pulse sequences

Ultrasound contrast agent (UCA), most commonly in the form of 1-10 µm microbubbles consisting of a lipid-monolayer shell with an inert gas core, are used to opacify the blood pool in ultrasound imaging. A more recent application of UCA is as tracer agents for echo-particle image velocimetry (echoPIV) where high frame-rate ultrasound imaging is used to track the motion of the microbubbles as they flow with the blood.

A biodegradable hernia post-operative monitoring implant

The aim is to develop methods to make biodegradable sensors for implants

A biodegradable device for measuring tissue vitality in internal wounds healing

The aim is to develop biodegradable sensors for tissue viability measurement.

Achilles tendon injury and recovery

When the Achilles tendon is overloaded, it is painful and needs to recover. This process is not well understood. This project is directed towards a better understanding of the role of dynamic loading in overloading and recovery of tendon.

Embryo development

This project involves a study of the development of an embryo and the effect of mechanical stress.

Detection of prostate cancer in urine

Prostate cancer is a major problem for men over the age of 55. Early diagnostic is extremely important. Present techniques are expensive and/or cause great discomfort. This project, in collaboration with The Hague University of Applied Science and Erasmus Medical Centre, aims to address these issues.

[2021] Body Coupled Communication for Microscale Implants

This project aims to investigate the applicability of body-coupled communication (BCC) for a network of micro-scale implants. The project's main goal is proposing and implementing a lightweight network protocol suitable for implantable micro-scale devices and/or implementation of an energy-efficient tissue interface for the BCC method.

Self-test for IR Sensors

In many applications, the lens and packaging of IR sensors can become contaminated leading to measurement error and apparent failure. A self-test built into the package could solve this problem. This project concerns the development of a self-test system which can compensate for minor contamination and produce a warning for higher contamination levels.

Hernia post-operative monitoring

Incisional hernia (IH) is a complication which can occur after surgery to the abdomen. In order to prevent IH, a mesh can be used. This holds the tissue in place to reinforce it and to enable healing. However, in some cases the healing does not take place correctly and IH is not prevented. In order to monitor healing, scans or ultrasonography can be used, but these diagnostic tools are expensive and time consuming. The aim of this project is to create a “bionic” mesh which can detect the early stages of IH formation with a device attached to the tissue around the wound.

Modelling for fontain circulation in congential heart disease

Children born with a single-ventricle heart defect need a series of operations, otherwise they will die in the first week of their life. Since the dysfunctional ventricle cannot be repaired, surgeons connect the functional ventricle to the aorta and the venous blood flow is redirected such that it passively returns to the lungs, thereby bypassing the heart. The final result is a so called Fontan circulation (Figure left panel). Patients with a Fontan circulation often suffer from limited exercise capacity, which is thought to be related to the geometry of and the altered hemodynamics in the Fontan circulation. Moreover, these patients use medication their entire life to avoid blood clotting.

[2021] Network of individually addressable ultrasonically powered implants

MSc thesis project in microelectronics on designing (on chip) light-weight and chip-scale communication protocols and addressing strategies for a network of ultrasonically powered implants

[2020] Ammonia & humidity sensors

Development of a ammonia/humidity sensor for harsh environments.

[2020] Active Acoustic Channel for Dynamic Hearing Protection

[2020] Body-coupled communication to enhance IMD security

MSc thesis project in collaboration with the implant security experts of ErasmusMC (Dept. Neuroscience) on their holy mission to make active medical implants safe, secure and dependable.

[2020] A system for blood analysis of newborns using Microneedles (with Stellenbosch South Africa)

This project aims to develop a novel, minimally invasive, detection method for jaundice (geelzucht).

Medical applications for custom-fit wireless headsets

New wireless headsets, that combine audio applications (music/voice calls) with sensor applications are entering the market. Integration with new sensors in custom-fit headsets provides new opportunities in medical, fitness and home care applications.