Abstract
Wearable health monitoring systems that collect data in free-living environments are becoming increasingly popular. Flexible printed circuits provide a commercially available option that can conform to the shape of a wearable system and support electronic sensing and flexible interconnect. However, repetitive dynamic activity can stress and damage the interconnect of flexible PCBs which degrades data quality. This case study evaluated the performance of flexible PCBs providing interconnect between electrodes and sensing electronics for tissue bioimpedance measurements in a wearable system. Resistance data (1 kHz to 128 kHz) was collected from localized knee tissues of 3 participants using the wearable design with flexible PCBs over 7 days of free-living. From electrical and optical inspection after use trace cracking of the flexible PCBs occurred, degrading tissue resistances reported by the wearable system. Exploration of these results advances understanding of how flexible PCBs perform in free-living conditions for wearable bioimpedance applications.
Highlights
A Wearable Case StudySHELBY CRITCHER (Graduate Student Member, IEEE), AND TODD J
W EARABLE devices are becoming increasingly popular and serve to generate data from the human body in increasing volume, velocity, and variety
Wearable devices are available in multiple form-factors including smart watches, rings, eyeglasses, forehead mounted sensors, and ear-worn monitors highlighting that these devices can be worn at different body sites for different applications [1]
Summary
SHELBY CRITCHER (Graduate Student Member, IEEE), AND TODD J. The University of Alabama Institutional Review Board under Application No 18-013-ME
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