8/8/2019 SMART ELECTRODE FOR HEALTH MONITORING USING A WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK

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Introduction

Healthcare services and resources are currentlybeing confronted with an ever-increasing demand,driven by the ageing of the world population. As directconsequences from this tendency, there is anincrease in the incidence of chronic disease andphysical disability, and rising global healthcare costs.These problems are motivating the researchcommunity for the development of novel and moreefficient solutions for health monitoring, which are

University ofMinho

School of Engineering

Algoritmi R&D Centre

Engenharia para a Qualidade de Vida: SADE, LAZER E AMBIENTE Semana da Escola de Engenharia -11 a 16 de Outubro de 2010

Author* CELSO P. FIGUEIREDO

Supervisors: Paulo M. Mendes, Klaus-Peter Hoffmann

* celso.figueiredo@dei.uminho.pt

SMART ELECTRODE FOR HEALTH MONITORING USING A WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK

Prototype

Top and bottom views of the first prototype of the smart electrode

Results

Obtained electrocardiogram and activity sig nals from the smartelectrode prototype, with suitable quality for health and activity

monitoring.

Low current consumption measured values of the smart electrodeprototype, in different modes of operation.

made possible by the recent developments in di fferent technologiessuch as sensors, wireless communications and materials, aiming toprovide caregivers with alternative and more efficient methods

for observation and monitoring the health condition of patients,

outside the hospital environment, and therefore increase the

quality and efficiency of healthcare.

This goal of this work concerns the development of a smart electrodesystem, composed by a dry and flexible electrode material, attachedto an intelligent electronic core. The smart electrodes should be ableto autonomously create a wireless sensor network for monitoring thehealth condition of their user, in a wearable fashion. The concept ofthe smart electrode and a first prototype are presented.

Goals

Smart electrode concept:

Continuous monitoring of the users electrocardiogram;

Low power electronics for signal acquisition and wirelesscommunication;

Ability with further smart electrodes in a self-organizable wirelesssensor network;

Small dimensions;

Autonomous energy supply;

Wearability / possibility of textile integration;

Study of methods for the reconstruction of different leads of theconventional electrocardiogram from the individual localmeasurements in each node of the smart electrode network.

Flexible DryElectrodeMaterial

IntelligentElectronic

Core

Smart

Electrode

+ =

Features

Wearability:

Use of flexible dry electrodes for electrocardiogram monitoring.

Complete absence of connecting wires.

Continuous monitoring of electrocardiogram, activity andtemperature signals:

Wireless link:

Use of the Toumaz Sensium proprietary solution (state of the art inlow power consumption);

Operates at the 868 MHz ISM band (avoiding the crowded 2.4GHz band) with 50 kbps of data rate;

Low power consumption:

Over 90 hours of continuous operation.

Conclusion

The concept of a smart electrode was presented, which envisions thedevelopment of a wireless sensor network for health monitoringcomposed of smart electrodes that would ultimately allow completeabsence of connecting wires (reference signals, power, etc.), andtherefore provide c omfortable use on a w earable system. Future workwill involve further miniaturization of the first prototype and theresearch of methods and algorithms for the synthesis of aconventional 12-lead ECG from the individual measurements of eachsmart electrode on the network.

Acknowledgement

Celso P. Figueiredo is supported by the Portuguese Foundation forScience and Technology (SFRH/BD/40341/2007).

Walking Run ning

Operating ModeMCU Clock Frequency

16 MHz 8 MHz 4 MHz 1 MHz

MCU on, Transceiver off(Monitoring)

3 .5 m A 2 .4 m A 1 .8 m A 1.4 mA

MCU on, Transceiver on(Monitoring and Transmitting)

6 .2 m A 5 .1 m A 4 .6 m A 4.2 mA

Analog Frontend 220 A

R&D CENTRE

ALGORITMI