Abdelrahman Hekal

• BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering
• Software Development for a prototype air jet indenter for use in optical coherence elastography of soft matter

Optical Coherence Tomography offers several opportunities for a vast number of applications, including the use of imaging to deduce mechanical properties of tissues. Since the introduction of Optical Coherence elastography in 1998, the field has witnessed a great acceleration in research and development in the recent years. However, a vast area of applications is yet to be explored. This project entails the software development for a prototype Air Jet Indenter for use in Optical Coherence Elastography of Soft Matter. The Air Jet Indenter allows for noncontact, pressure-controlled indentation of soft matter. The system employs an Arduino microcontroller for control of the system and data collection, interfaced with MATLAB software for data processing and plotting. The Tested system collects and plots data at a frequency of 60hz. The system promises broad applications in noncontact tissue assessment and characterisation.

Funding source: Newcastle University

Project supervisor: Dr Jinju Chen