Low-cost plastic optical fiber sensor embedded in mattress for sleep performance monitoring

Abstract

In this study, we investigated plastic optical fiber (POF) pressure sensors embedded in mattresses to measure respiration and heart rate for sleep performance monitoring. The signal is amplified in the circuit using a two-stage amplification scheme to collect weak respiration and heart rate signals while an algorithm was designed to obtain respiration and heart rate. We also propose a good reliability cutting-POF technology which can be used to improve pressure sensitivity. The experimental results indicate that the mattress can distinguish four behavioral states related to sleep (on bed, lying, moving and leaving bed) and can detect respiration and heart rate values in different positions and postures. Validation experiments on 10 participants showed that absolute error was less than one breath per minute and two beats per minute, making our approach suitable for household sleeping monitoring.