In this thesis, a test device is designed for the company Momo Medical. Momo Medical is developing a system that can be used to prevent pressure ulcers and adding more functionality is being investigated. For this system they need a device to test the functionality of the six piezoelectric sensors that are used in their product. The sensors’ response to a known pulse needs to be tested in order to give a pass/fail indication of the sensor quality. First, different ways of testing the sensors are investigated. Based on the results of the investigation, a final test setup is chosen and characterized. The test system developed in this thesis is based on a pneumatic setup, using a solenoid valve to control well-defined air pulses directed towards the sensors. Due to the addition of a reference load cell with custom designed read-out electronics, the device is able to test all six sensors one at the time and provides detailed feedback about the individual sensor quality. The test is performed using GUI-based software written in MATLAB, connected to a microcontroller. The software offers a broad variety of settings and can be configured according to Momo Medical’s wishes. After configuration, the test can be performed at the click of a button. The standard deviation of the device precision over three hours is sigma = 4.16, which equals a variation of cv = 0.82% of the mean μ = 504.8. This easily satisfies the requirements set byMomoMedical.

Tactile Internet opens many new possibilities as it solves one of the critical problems in the modern-day Internet, namely latency. Remote operations are possible that are deemed too dangerous with current technologies. Interacting directly with the remote environment without being physically present will be a life-changing experience. Before building the Tactile Internet infrastructure, continued research is necessary for haptic technology and networking. A modern Tactile Internet testbed is needed for researchers to conduct studies. The testbed uses Unity with Bullet Physics as an external physics engine and includes network possibilities and basic 3D tracking. Latency analysis shows a relation between the physics engine execution time and the scene's complexity. The testbed can handle many objects in the environment if continuous interactions among objects are limited. Force feedback analysis shows the expected behavior for the virtual spring implementation.