Jon Cobb

Dr Jon Cobb

  • Principal Academic in Electronics
  • Poole House P604, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, BH12 5BB
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Biography

Dr Cobb’s passion for electronic technology has been a consistent theme throughout his professional career, encompassing such diverse fields as biomedical engineering, and artificial intelligence. “I was fortunate to commence by professional life at the same time as the microelectronics revolution started and was immediately enthralled by the possibilities of the silicon chip”. This led to a position in a microelectronics design centre followed by a scholarship to study for a Masters in Microelectronics at the University of Southampton. “At that time Digital Signal Processing (DSP) was an emerging field offering great potential and I developed microcontroller and FPGA based DSP solutions. “

Cobb then commenced a part-time doctorate and worked with medical physicists at Poole and Salisbury hospitals investigating application of new technologies in diabetes and stroke. “The PhD work was a fantastic experience that absorbed my thoughts for many years, achieving a novel solution and especially one designed to help patients was very fulfilling.” Having completed the PhD and achieving Chartered Engineer status, Cobb chose to remain in academia...

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Research

I am currently supervising four doctoral students, two of whom are working with the Medical Physics department at Salisbury Hospital, one with Naim Audio and the fourth is based in the Sports Science department at Bournemouth University.

The collaborative work with Professor Swain at Salisbury District hospital involves application of newer technologies, such as, integrated accelerometers and wireless sensor networks to provide assistive rehabilitation based on functional electrical stimulation for stroke patients. These projects are funded via matched funding between Odstock Medical Limited and Bournemouth University. We are also investigating through collaboration with BU Sports Scientists how these technologies can be applied for performance assessment in athletes, in particular, swimmers. Our collaborative work with Naim Audio is investigating novel low noise approaches to providing electrical power to high specification audio power amplifiers.

I am very happy to discuss potential research collaboration with academics or industry.

Journal Articles

  • Venugopalan, L., Taylor, P.N., Cobb, J.E. and Swain, I.D., 2020. TetraGrip–a four channel upper limb FES device for people with C5/C6 tetraplegia: device design and clinical outcome. Journal of Medical Engineering and Technology, 44 (1), 38-44.
  • Cobb, J. and Nasir, N., 2016. CM Noise Reduction of Isolated Convertor by Balancing Technique. IEEE Power and Energy Conference.
  • Venugopalan, L., Taylor, P.N., Cobb, J.E. and Swain, I.D., 2015. Upper limb functional electrical stimulation devices and their man–machine interfaces. Journal of Medical Engineering and Technology.
  • Mecheraoui, C.A., Swain, I. and Cobb, J., 2013. A distributed three-channel wireless Functional Electrical Stimulation system for automated triggering of stimulation to enable coordinated task execution by patients with neurological disease. Biomedical Signal Processing and Control, 8 (2), 176-183.
  • Mecheraoui, C., Cobb, J.E. and Swain, I.D., 2012. Evaluation of a wireless in-shoe sensor based on ZigBee used for Drop Foot Stimulation. IEEE Radio & Wireless Week.
  • Callaway, A. and Cobb, J.E., 2012. Linear acceleration measurement utilising inter-instrument synchronisation: A comparison between accelerometers and motion based tracking approaches. Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science.
  • Mecheraoui, C.A., Swain, I. and Cobb, J., 2012. A distributed three-channel wireless Functional Electrical Stimulation system for automated triggering of stimulation to enable coordinated task execution by patients with neurological disease. Biomedical Signal Processing and Control.
  • Stepien, P. and Cobb, J.E., 2010. Configuration sharing optimized placement and routing. International Journal of Reconfigurable Computing.
  • Callaway, A., Cobb, J.E. and Jones, I., 2009. A Comparison of Video and Accelerometer Based Approaches Applied to Performance Monitoring in Swimming. International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, 4, 139-153.
  • Bharara, M., Viswanathan, V. and Cobb, J.E., 2008. Cold Immersion Recovery Responses in the Diabetic Foot With Neuropathy. International Wound Journal, 5, 562-569.
  • Cobb, J.E., Bharara, M. and Viswanathan, V., 2008. Warm Immersion Recovery Test in Assessment of Diabetic Neuropathy: A Proof of Concept Study. International Wound Journal, 5, 570-576.
  • Bharara, M., Cobb, J.E., Anderson, A.M. and Claremont, D.J., 2007. Characterisation and Calibration of Three Physical Forms of Thermochromic Liquid Crystals. Imaging Science Journal, 55, 232-241.
  • Grewal, G.S., Bharara, M., Cobb, J.E., Dubey, V.N. and Claremont, D.J., 2006. A Novel Approach to Thermochromic Liquid Crystal Calibration Using Neural Networks. Measurement Science and Technology, 17, 1918-1924.
  • Bharara, M., Claremont, D.J. and Cobb, J.E., 2006. Thermography and Thermometry in the Assessment of Diabetic Neuropathic Foot: A Case for Furthering the Role of Thermal Technqiues. International Journal of Lower Extremity Wounds, 5, 250-260.
  • Claremont, D.J. and Cobb, J.E., 2002. In-Shoe Measurement of Plantar Blood Flow in Diabetic Subjects: Results of a Preliminary Clinical Evaluation. Physiological Measurement, 23, 287-299.
  • Claremont, D.J. and Cobb, J.E., 2002. Noninvasive Measurement Techniques for Monitoring of Microvascular Function in the Diabetic Foot. International Journal of Lower Extremity Wounds, 1, 161-169.
  • Claremont, D.J. and Cobb, J.E., 2000. An In-Shoe Laser Doppler Sensor For Assessing Plantar Blood Flow in the Diabetic Foot. Medical Engineering & Physics, 23, 417-425.
  • Cobb, J. and Claremont, D.J., 1995. Transducers for foot pressure measurement: survey of recent developments. Med Biol Eng Comput, 33 (4), 525-532.

Chapters

  • Stepien, P. and Cobb, J.E., 2010. Configuration Sharing Optimized Placement and Routing. International Conference on Reconfigurable Computing and FPGAs (ReConFig) 13-15 December 2010. IEEE, 430-435.

Conferences

  • Nasir and Cobb, J., 2016. A novel ZVS full-bridge converter. EEEIC 2016 - International Conference on Environment and Electrical Engineering.
  • Nasir and Cobb, J., 2016. CM noise reduction of isolated converter by balancing technique. 2016 IEEE Power and Energy Conference at Illinois, PECI 2016.
  • Nasir and Cobb, J., 2016. Mitigation of common mode noise for PFC boost converter by balancing technique. IET Conference Publications, 2016 (CP684).
  • Cobb, J.E., 2016. A novel audio based approach to game control to encourage musical instrument practice. Proceedings of the 30th International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference, HCI 2016, 2016-July.
  • Cobb, J. and Cobb, J.E., 2015. SenseEgg: A wireless music controller for teaching children with special learning needs. In: ICSRiM: Music, Multimedia and Electronics (iscMME) 15 June 2015 University of Leeds.
  • Cobb, J., Venugopalan, L., Swain, I. and Taylor, P., 2015. An Inertial Measurement Unit Based Shoulder Position Sensor for Upper Limb FES Device. In: 5th Conference of the International Functional Electrical Stimulation Society. 8-9 May 2015 Sheffield.
  • Mecheraoui, C., Cobb, J.E. and Swain, I.D., 2011. Wireless network of local stimulators and sensors for people with neurological disabilities. In: 8th European Conference on Wireless Sensor Networks (EWSN 2011) 23 February 2025 Bonn, Germany.
  • Mecheraoui, C., Cobb, J.E. and Swain, I.D., 2010. Sensors for triggering practical Functional Electrical Stimulation walking systems. In: 1st Annual Conference of the International Functional Electrical Stimulation Society (UK and Ireland Chapter) 15-16 April 2010 University of Salford, England.
  • Mecheraoui, C., Cobb, J.E. and Swain, I.D., 2010. Sensors for triggering practical Functional Electrical Stimulation walking systems. In: 1st Annual Conference of the International Functional Electrical Stimulation Society (UK and Ireland Chapter) 15-16 April 2010 University of Salford, England.
  • Mecheraoui, C., Finn, S., Lane, R., Cobb, J.E. and Swain, I.D., 2009. Developing a body-centric wireless network solution for systems used to correct movement disorder caused by paralysis. In: IET Body-centric wireless communications 20 April 2009 London. IET.
  • Bharara, M., Cobb, J.E. and Claremont, D.J., 2006. Association of Plantar Foot Temperatures and Sensory Loss in Diabetic Foot Disease. In: 10th European Congress of Thermology 15-17 September 2006 Zakopane, Poland. , 101-102 Thermology International 16 (3) July 2006. Abstracts.
  • Bharara, M. and Cobb, J.E., 2005. Liquid Crystal Thermography (LCT) in Biomechanical Assessment of the Diabetic Foot. In: Dubey, V.N., ed. 5th Academic Biomedical Engineering Research Group (ABERG) Workshop 10 February 2005 Bournemouth University, England. , 32-37 Poole, England: Bournemouth University.
  • Yong, K., Cobb, J.E. and Claremont, D.J., 2005. Near Infrared Spectroscopy of the Diabetic Foot. In: Dubey, V.N., ed. 5th Academic Biomedical Engineering Research Group (ABERG) Workshop 10 February 2005 Bournemouth University, England. , 21-26 Poole, England: Bournemouth University.
  • Bharara, M. and Cobb, J.E., 2005. Thermographic Measurement of the Plantar Foot Using TLC for Early Detection of Risk of Ulceration. In: The 2nd Life Science Interface Conference 1 December 2005 University of Southampton, England.

Reports

Theses

  • Cobb, J.E., 2012. An accelerometer based gestural capture system for performer based music composition. Master's Thesis. University of York, Dept Music Technology.
  • Cobb, J.E., 2000. An In-Shoe Laser Doppler Sensor for Assessing Plantar Blood Flow in the Diabetic Foot. PhD Thesis. Bournemouth University; Design, Engineering and Computing.

Patents

PhD Students

  • Andrew Callway. Performance monitoring instrumentation for swimmers
  • Earl Merson. Advances in Functional Electrical Stimulation
  • Lalitha Venugopalan. Assistive technologies for Spinal injured patients
  • Nasir. Advanced power supplies for high fidelity audio

Profile of Teaching PG

  • SMART Systems
  • Research Methods
  • Artificial Intelligence

Profile of Teaching UG

  • Digital Signal Processing
  • Software Programming
  • Advanced Hardware Design
  • Embedded Microcontrollers

Grants

  • Tetragrip system (OML and BU, 10 Jun 2013). Awarded
  • Switched Mode Power Supplies for Audio Systems (NAIM Audio and BU, 04 Oct 2012). Awarded

Qualifications

  • MRES in Music Technology (University of York, 2012)
  • PhD in Biomedical Engineering (Bournemouth University, 2000)
  • Chartered Engineer in Electronics (IET, 1992)
  • MSc in Microelectronics Systems Design (University of Southampton, 1991)
  • Higher National Diploma in Electronic Engineering (BTEC, 1990)

Memberships

  • IET, Chartered Engineer (1992-),