A design for a stimulation probe based on the STM32 microcontroller

This paper presents the design of a thermode for a single-board microcontroller (STM32) for the purpose of providing quantitative sensory testing (QST) with a quantitative sensory analysis (QSA) of temperature stimuli. The objective of this study was to provide the subjects with precise temperature stimulation within the QST. To enhance the precision and stability of temperature control, the design employed a fuzzy adaptive PID control strategy, which was then compared to the traditional PID control strategy. The experimental findings demonstrated that the fuzzy adaptive PID control exhibited a slightly slower initial response rate than the traditional PID control. However, it demonstrated superior performance in maintaining temperature regulation with minimal overshoot and enhanced stability, ultimately achieving a temperature control range of ±0.04°C. The results demonstrated that the traditional PID control strategy exhibited a larger overshoot and greater variability in the steady state, whereas the fuzzy adaptive PID control strategy exhibited superior temperature control performance within a temperature range of 4°C. The findings suggest that the fuzzy adaptive PID control strategy can significantly enhance the temperature control capability of the thermal stimulation probe, providing a more stable and reliable temperature environment for QST, which in turn improves the accuracy of the measurement results.