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13 pages, 3384 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Wearable Contactless Respiration Sensor Based on Multi-Material Fibers Integrated into Textile

by Philippe Guay, Stepan Gorgutsa, Sophie LaRochelle and Younes Messaddeq

Sensors 2017, 17(5), 1050; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17051050 - 6 May 2017

Cited by 49 | Viewed by 23184

In this paper, we report on a novel sensor for the contactless monitoring of the respiration rate, made from multi-material fibers arranged in the form of spiral antenna (2.45 GHz central frequency). High flexibility of the used composite metal-glass-polymer fibers permits their integration into a cotton t-shirt without compromising comfort or restricting movement of the user. At the same time, change of the antenna geometry, due to the chest expansion and the displacement of the air volume in the lungs, is found to cause a significant shift of the antenna operational frequency, thus allowing respiration detection. In contrast with many current solutions, respiration is detected without attachment of the electrodes of any kind to the user’s body, neither direct contact of the fiber with the skin is required. Respiration patterns for two male volunteers were recorded with the help of a sensor prototype integrated into standard cotton t-shirt in sitting, standing, and lying scenarios. The typical measured frequency shift for the deep and shallow breathing was found to be in the range 120–200 MHz and 10–15 MHz, respectively. The same spiral fiber antenna is also shown to be suitable for short-range wireless communication, thus allowing respiration data transmission, for example, via the Bluetooth protocol, to mobile handheld devices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomedical Sensors and Systems 2017)

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23 pages, 2699 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Personal, Distributed Exposimeter: Procedure for Design, Calibration, Validation, and Application

by Arno Thielens, Peter Vanveerdeghem, Patrick Van Torre, Stephanie Gängler, Martin Röösli, Hendrik Rogier, Luc Martens and Wout Joseph

Sensors 2016, 16(2), 180; https://doi.org/10.3390/s16020180 - 1 Feb 2016

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 5145

Abstract

This paper describes, for the first time, the procedure for the full design, calibration, uncertainty analysis, and practical application of a personal, distributed exposimeter (PDE) for the detection of personal exposure in the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) downlink (DL) band around 900 MHz (GSM 900 DL). The PDE is a sensor that consists of several body-worn antennas. The on-body location of these antennas is investigated using numerical simulations and calibration measurements in an anechoic chamber. The calibration measurements and the simulations result in a design (or on-body setup) of the PDE. This is used for validation measurements and indoor radio frequency (RF) exposure measurements in Ghent, Belgium. The main achievements of this paper are: first, the demonstration, using both measurements and simulations, that a PDE consisting of multiple on-body textile antennas will have a lower measurement uncertainty for personal RF exposure than existing on-body sensors; second, a validation of the PDE, which proves that the device correctly estimates the incident power densities; and third, a demonstration of the usability of the PDE for real exposure assessment measurements. To this aim, the validated PDE is used for indoor measurements in a residential building in Ghent, Belgium, which yield an average incident power density of 0.018 mW/m². Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Physical Sensors)

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