Determination of the Postmortem Interval Using Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors

Abstract

Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors are often used in monitoring activities and to ensure that environmental parameters satisfy industrial requirements. They offer crucial safety measures in the early detection of hazards due to their greatly reduced size, low weight, flexibility, and immunity to electromagnetic interference. These characteristics make FBGs suitable also for use in relation to the human body for in vivo measurements and long-term monitoring. In this study, recent developments are presented with regard to the utilization of these sensors to measure the so-called post-mortem interval (PMI). Such developments rely on numerical simulations based on the Matlab software and monitoring of the rectal temperature, which is one of the main parameters for estimating the PMI. First, the Matlab software is used to solve the Henssge equation for different ambient temperatures and for different body masses; then a Bragg grating sensors is used for post-mortem dating. The results and their accuracy are discussed.