Abstract
Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) are frequently implemented in wearable devices. Thanks to advances in signal processing and machine learning, applications of IMUs are not limited to those explicitly addressing body movements such as Activity Recognition (AR). On the other hand, wearing IMUs on the chest offers a few advantages over other body positions. AR and posture analysis, cardiopulmonary parameters estimation, voice and swallowing activity detection and other measurements can be approached through chest-worn inertial sensors. This survey tries to introduce the applications that come with the chest-worn IMUs and summarizes the existing methods, current challenges and future directions associated with them. In this regard, this paper references a total number of 57 relevant studies from the last 10 years and categorizes them into seven application areas. We discuss the inertial sensors used as well as their placement on the body and their associated validation methods based on the application categories. Our investigations show meaningful correlations among the studies within the same application categories. Then, we investigate the data processing architectures of the studies from the hardware point of view, indicating a lack of effort on handling the main processing through on-body units. Finally, we propose combining the discussed applications in a single platform, finding robust ways for artifact cancellation, and planning optimized sensing/processing architectures for them, to be taken more seriously in future research.
Highlights
The use of wearable sensors has been significantly increased over the past years [1].Early motivations to produce such wearables are found in medical applications
The remainder of this survey includes five sections: Section 2 lists existing approaches on possible information to be gathered through chest-worn inertial sensors; Section 3 provides an overview on available methods to measure inertial information from the chest and discusses their validation methods; the existing literature is further analyzed from the data processing architecture point of view in Section 4; processing stages and the hardware units performing those stages are investigated in this
Wearing Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) on the chest offers a few advantages over other body positions: being in close contact with the heart and the lungs, being close to the body’s center of mass and facing more general rather than detailed movements of the body
Summary
The use of wearable sensors has been significantly increased over the past years [1]. This could attract more attention to the current capabilities of such wearables, highlight the existing challenges to be solved and address the undiscovered potential in this area This survey paper aims to identify and introduce a wide range of application domains that can Sensors 2021, 21, 2875 be addressed through a chest-worn IMU. All the statistics presented in the rest of this paper are based on these referenced studies The remainder of this survey includes five sections: Section 2 lists existing approaches on possible information to be gathered through chest-worn inertial sensors; Section 3 provides an overview on available methods to measure inertial information from the chest and discusses their validation methods; the existing literature is further analyzed from the data processing architecture point of view in Section 4; processing stages and the hardware units performing those stages are investigated in this.
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