Fiber-Optic Based Smart Textiles for Real-Time Monitoring of Breathing Rate.

Aizhan Issatayeva,Daniele Tosi,Aidana Beisenova,Carlo Molardi

doi:10.3390/s20123408

Abstract

Wearable light textiles are gaining widespread interest in application for measurement and monitoring of biophysical parameters. Fiber optic sensors, in particular Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors, can be a competitive method for monitoring of respiratory behavior for chest and abdomen regions since the sensors are able to convert physical movement into wavelength shift. This study aims to show the performance of elastic belts with integrated optical fibers during the breathing activities done by two volunteers. Additionally, the work aims to determine how the positions of the volunteers affect the breathing pattern detected by optical fibers. As a reference, commercial mobile application for sensing vibration is used. The obtained results show that the FBGs are able to detect chest and abdomen movements during breathing and consequently reconstruct the breathing pattern. The accuracy of the results varies for two volunteers but remains consistent.

Highlights

Wireless devices have pushed forward medical science to an advanced level in which people have access to a personalized drug delivery, a remote healthcare including simple diagnostics and data-logging operations outside of hospitals, and a continuous monitoring of biophysical parameters such as blood pressure, body temperature, breathing rate, etc
The aim of the experiments is to study the feasibility of the Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) arrays for breathing pattern monitoring application
The algorithm has filtered the eighth FBG in order the final plot not to be influenced by this incorrect pattern

Summary

Introduction

Wireless devices have pushed forward medical science to an advanced level in which people have access to a personalized drug delivery, a remote healthcare including simple diagnostics and data-logging operations outside of hospitals, and a continuous monitoring of biophysical parameters such as blood pressure, body temperature, breathing rate, etc. Several authors studied different techniques for designing smart textiles to measure breath pattern. Skrzetuska and Wojciechowski [1] studied the ability of T-shirts equipped with a printed respiratory rate sensor to monitor the breathing pattern of two volunteers and the influence of the environmental humidity and temperature on the output of the sensor. The authors have tried several configurations of printed sensor and identified the most optimal shape and size of the sensor. The sensing technology were able to identify breaths but the external climate conditions were found to have an effect on the accuracy of the results

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Results

Conclusion