CBM 370 WEARABLE DEVICES

UNIT 1
INTRODUCTION TO WEARABLE
SYSTEMS AND SENSORS
 Introduction
• Electronic device designed to be worn
on the user's body
• jewelry, accessories, medical devices, and
clothing or elements of clothing
• Processing or communications capabilities
• artificial intelligence (AI) hearing aids, Google
Glass and Microsoft's HoloLens, and a
holographic computer in the form of a virtual
reality (VR) headset
 Need for Wearable Systems
• Fundamentally, wearables can perform the
following basic functions or unit operations

• Sense
• Process (Analyze)
• Store
• Transmit
• Apply (Utilize)
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 Drawbacks
of Conventional Systems for Wearable
Monitoring
Advantages of Wearable Technology

Rapid data results can help drive improvements. Having

immediate data to make decisions and drive improvements may
be helpful, rather than waiting for more formal or detailed
assessments.

Detailed data can supplement loss analysis and loss

trends. Additional data can help identify specific trends in your
claims history.

Can help build a business case for senior management. It can

be challenging to help senior management make decisions or
determine if some of your funding should be spent on
improvements. The data from wearable technology devices can
help support your business case for that spend.
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Data from wearable sensors offers promising job risk analysis
and evaluation opportunities for safety and ergonomics
practitioners. Most ergonomic assessments or evaluations
require additional time to observe and manually collect data.
Having instant data can save time and expedite ergonomic
assessments or evaluations.

Enhance employee wellness programs. More organizations are

starting to promote wellness programs for employees. Some
wearable technology devices can assist with easily tracking
wellness program data that could supplement or support your
efforts.
Applications of Wearable Systems
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Currently other applications within healthcare are being explored, such
as:

❖ Applications for monitoring of glucose, alcohol, and lactateor blood

oxygen, breath monitoring, heartbeat, heart rate and
its variability, electromyography (EMG), electrocardiogram (ECG)
and electroencephalogram (EEG), body temperature, pressure (e.g.
in shoes), sweat rate or sweat loss, levels of uric acid and ions – e.g.
for preventing fatigue or injuries or for optimizing training patterns,
including via "human-integrated electronics“
❖ Forecasting changes in mood, stress, and health
❖ Measuring blood alcohol content
❖ Measuring athletic performance
❖ Monitoring how sick the user is
❖ Detecting early signs of infection
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❖ Long-term monitoring of patients with heart and circulatory
problems that records an electrocardiogram and is self-moistening
❖ Health Risk Assessment applications, including measures
of frailty and risks of age-dependent diseases
❖ Automatic documentation of care activities
❖ Days-long continuous imaging of diverse organs via a
wearable bioadhesive stretchable high-resolution ultrasound
imaging patch or e.g. a wearable continuous heart ultrasound
imager (potential novel diagnostic and monitoring tools)
❖ Sleep tracking
❖ Cortisol monitoring for measuring stress
❖ Measuring relaxation or alertness e.g. to adjust their modulation or
to measure efficacy of modulation technique
 Types of Wearable Systems
• Smart watches
• Fitness Trackers
• Smart Jewelry
• Game Simulators
• Smart Clothing
• Smart Glasses
• Heartbeat Trackers & Blood Pressure Monitors
• Smart Ear buds
• Smart Contact Lens
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 Components of wearable Systems
1. Control

Wearable-specific microcontrollers (32-bit ARM

processors) are small, so as to be
comfortable and discrete. On the other hand,
the distinctive shapes and colors can function
as a decorative element. Several of the
boards available are hand-washable
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2. Input/Output
In place of pins, these boards have metal eyelets
which you can loop conductive thread through
to sew soft circuit connections.
Some boards also have snaps — or eyelets large
enough to solder on snaps — for easy
removal.
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3. Conductive Textiles
A material containing metals, such as silver or stainless
steel, through which an electrical current can flow is
said to be conductive.
Wearable systems can make use of these materials in a
variety of ways, such as:

Thread for making circuits

Fabric for capacitive touch sensors

Hook-and-loop for switches

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4. Sensors
Sensors gather information about the environment, the
user, or both.
Examples of the former include light, temperature,
motion (ACC), and location (GPS).
Examples of the latter include heart rate (ECG), brain
waves (EEG), and muscle tension (EMG).
A few wearable microcontrollers have basic sensors
onboard.
Other manufacturers offer a range of external sensor
modules that connect to the main board.
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5. Power

Boards with an integrated holder for a lithium

coin battery are nice for low-power projects
that need to be self- contained.
However, boards with a standard JST (Japan
Solderless Terminal) connector (with or
without a circuit to charge LiPo (Lithium
Polymer batteries) are more versatile
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6. Actuators
One generic way to describe a wearable system
is: In response to X, where
X is the input from a sensor, Y happens.
Actuators such as LEDs, buzzers
or speakers, and servomotors are what make
things happen
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7. Networking
To communicate with smart devices, the internet,
or other wearable systems, you need wireless
connectivity.
In addition to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, wearable-
friendly options include: BLE (Bluetooth Low
Energy), which has lower power consumption
than classic Bluetooth, a range of 50m, and a data
transmission rate up to 1 Mbps, a radio frequency
field with a range of approximately 20cm and
data transmission rate up to about 400 Kbps
SENSORS
Inertia movement sensors
 Accelerometers
❖ Accelerometers are motion sensors that measure linear
acceleration/rate of change in velocity of an object, relative to
a local inertial reference frame.
❖ An accelerometer is a device that senses the different types of
accelerations or vibrations.
❖ Acceleration is the change in velocity caused by the
movements of a body.
❖ An accelerometer absorbs the vibrations created by the body
and uses it to know the orientation of the body.
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Types of Accelerometer

• The 3 important types of accelerometers are capacitive MEMS

accelerometer, piezoresistive accelerometer, and piezoelectric
accelerometer.

Capacitive MEMS Accelerometer

– The MEMS stands for Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System.

– MEMS is a fabrication technology.

– In this type of accelerometer, the changes in capacitance are

detected instead of a change in resistance.

– Most mobile devices use this MEMS accelerometer.

Piezoresistive Accelerometer
❖It measures the vibrations by changes in resistance.
❖This is the accelerometer that works as DC
responsive and proves efficient while measuring very
little vibrations, for example, gravity vector.
Piezoelectric Accelerometer
❖In this type the sensors are made of crystals or
ceramics like lead zirconate, lead titanate, etc.
❖This sensor absorbs the vibrations and produces the
same amount of electrical signals.
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❖A piezoelectric accelerometer has two types which

are high impedance output accelerometer and low
impedance output accelerometer.
❖On the basis of the working mode, it is mainly of
three types.
❖The compression mode, the capacitive mode, and
the shear mode.
❖All of them work on sensing the vibrations.
Accelerometer Working Principle
❖The main working principle of an accelerometer is
that it converts mechanical energy into electrical
energy.
❖When a mass is kept on the sensor which is actually
just like a spring it starts moving down.
❖Since it is moving down it starts experiencing
acceleration.
❖That acceleration then gets converted into an
amount of electric signal which is used for the
measurements of variation in the position of the
device.
 Gyroscope

Magnetometer
Continued…

❖A digital thermometer is included to

compensate for time-varying temperature
biases in the MEMS sensors.
❖The sensors, along with buttons, status LEDs,
and a Bluetooth transceiver, are connected to
a microcontroller for collecting, controlling,
and processing data.
❖The motion data are acquired and processed
at 100 Hz.
Applications of Inertia Movement
Sensors
 Plethysmography
• Plethysmography measures changes in volume in
different parts of the body.
• The test may be done to check for blood clots in the
arms and legs.
• It is also done to measure how much air the user can
hold his/her lungs.
• The word is derived from the Greek "plethysmos"
(increasing, enlarging, becoming full), and "graphein"
(to write).
 Inductive plethysmography
• Respiratory inductance plethysmography (RIP) is a method of
evaluating pulmonary ventilation by measuring the movement of the chest
and abdominal wall.
• Accurate measurement of pulmonary ventilation or breathing often requires
the use of devices such as masks or mouthpieces coupled to the airway
opening.
• These devices are often both encumbering and invasive, and thus ill suited
for continuous or ambulatory measurements.
• As an alternative RIP devices that sense respiratory excursions at the body
surface can be used to measure pulmonary ventilation.
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• A respiratory inductance plethysmograph consists of two sinusoid wire
coils insulated and placed within two 2.5 cm (about 1 inch) wide,
lightweight elastic and adhesive bands.
• The transducer bands are placed around the rib cage under the armpits
and around the abdomen at the level of the umbilicus (belly button).
• They are connected to an oscillator and subsequent
frequency demodulation electronics to obtain digital waveforms.
• During inspiration the cross-sectional area of the rib cage and abdomen
increases altering the self-inductance of the coils and the frequency of
their oscillation, with the increase in cross-sectional area proportional to
lung volumes.
• The electronics convert this change in frequency to a digital respiration
waveform where the amplitude of the waveform is proportional to the
inspired breath volume.
• A typical pitch of the wire sinusoid is in the range 1-2 cm and the
inductance of the belt is ~ 2-4 microhenries per metre of belt.
• The inductance can be measured by making it part of the tuned circuit of
an oscillator and then measuring the oscillation frequency.
 Single Vs. Dual Band Respiration
Dual Band Respiration
• a two-degrees-of-freedom model of chest wall motion, whereby ventilation could be derived
from measurements of rib cage and abdomen displacements.
• With this model, tidal volume(Vt) was calculated as the sum of the anteroposterior
dimensions of the rib cage and abdomen, and could be measured to within 10% of actual Vt
as long as a given posture was maintained.
Single Band Respiration
▪ Changes in volume of the thoracic cavity can also be inferred from displacements of the rib
cage and diaphragm.
▪ Motion of the rib cage can be directly assessed, whereas the motion of the diaphragm is
indirectly assessed as the outward movement of the anterolateral abdominal wall.
▪ However, accuracy issues arise when trying to assess accurate respiratory volumes from a
single respiration band placed either at the thorax, abdomen or midline.
▪ Due to differences in posture and thoraco-abdominal respiratory synchronization it is not
possible to obtain accurate respiratory volumes with a single band.
▪ Furthermore, the shape of the acquired waveform tends to be non-linear due to the non-
exact co-ordination of the two respiratory compartments.
▪ This further limits quantification of many useful respiratory indices and limits utility to only
respiration rates and other basic timing indices.
▪ Therefore, to accurately perform volumetric respiratory measurements, a dual band
respiratory sensor system must be required.
 Impedance plethysmography
• Impedance plethysmography is a noninvasive test that uses electrical
monitoring in the form of impedance changes to measure certain
parameters, such as respiration rate, cardiac rate, and water content of
the lungs (through the thorax impedance variations).
• Volume variations can also be acquired using impedance plethysmography
(IPG).
• The measurement principle is illustrated on Fig.:
– an alternative current source is used to inject current in measurement
site through the outter electrodes.
– Inner electrodes are then used to measure a resulting voltage signal
proportional to the instantaneous impedance of tissues.
– As previously described, the systolic phase causes a volume
modification in artery, resulting in a modification of the average
impedance under the skin.
– During systolic phase, blood flow increases, resulting in a lower
impedance.
– Conversely, during diastole, a higher impedance is measured
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• As long as this impedance measurement is performed at a

suffcient sampling rate, the heart rate component will be
visible on signals.
• In this configuration, envelope of the acquired signal is
comprised of a pulsatile component Z(t) representative of
cardiac activity, and a static component Z0 introduced by the
average impedance of tissues (see Fig.)
• However, the acquired waveform has to be demodulated to
retrieve the impedance variations.
• One of the main challenge for IPG is thus to assess the very
low impedance changes of few milliohms within a signal
amplitude in the order of several decades of ohms.
• A commonly used measurement setup is composed of four dry electrodes,
as tetrapolar (four-wire) method is used to reduce the contribution of
skin-electrode interface.
• The contact impedance introduced by electrodes represents an unknown
parameter as it will change depending on individuals, as well as over time.
• Indeed, sweating is also acting as a natural electrolyte and will cause a
long-time drift in case of prolonged measurement.
 Impedance pneumography
• Impedance pneumography is a noninvasive method of
measuring changes in respiratory rate and breathing
patterns.
• It is based on the principle that impedance (resistance) to an
electrical current passing through the thorax changes
between inspiration and expiration because of the difference
in the amount of gas in the lungs.
• The technique is relatively easy to perform.
• The disadvantage of the system is that it is quite sensitive to
body movement, which can lead to artifacts.
• In addition, because the device measures only impedance, it
is not reliable to assess the quality of the respiratory effort or
significant changes in tidal volume
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Electrode Configuration
• Changes in chest electrical impedance caused by respiration can be
measured using either a two-electrode (bipolar) or a four-electrode
(tetrapolar) configuration, as shown in Fig.
• In both configurations, an alternating current under the
perception threshold is injected into the chest at a high
frequency (50–100 kHz) using surface electrodes.
• The current causes a potential difference that is measured
between the electrodes.
• The equivalent resistance is defined as the ratio between the
voltage in the receiving electrode(s) and the current applied
to the tissue.
• Although the tetrapolar configuration provides better
measurements than the bipolar configuration, in this
development, the bipolar configuration is preferred as it
requires fewer electrodes, which reduces the user’s
discomfort and provides the necessary information to obtain
the desired respiratory waveforms.
Measurement Protocol
• Uncover the thorax of the volunteer.
• Clean the area where the four electrodes will be positioned with alcohol-soaked
cotton to eliminate any traces of creams and grease.
• Two electrodes were symmetrically placed in the left ventral chest and two in the
right ventral chest (Figure).
• Sit the volunteer in a chair.
• Place the Velcro belt with an elastic resistive band SS5LB (Biopac Systems Inc,
Goleta, CA, USA) to record the respiratory movement, and to validate TEB
estimation of respiratory frequency (see Figure) using a Biopac MP36 data
acquisition unit (Biopac Systems Inc, Goleta, CA, USA).
• Start the measurement. In the first 30 s, breathe normally, then perform maximum
inspiration, and then a maximum expiration (like a spirometry measurement).
• Continue breathing normally for another 20 s.
• Exchange measurement channels without moving the electrodes and reverse the
channel order to ensure channel-independent TEB measurements.
• Repeat measurement, as indicated in step 7.
• Disconnect the TEB system and all electrodes from the subject. Finally, the data are
saved in a PC with Bluetooth connectivity for processing and validation of the
respiratory frequency estimation.
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THANK YOU!