Measurement of respiratory rate with inertial measurement units

Simon Beck,Bernhard Laufer,Knut Moeller,Sabine Krueger-Ziolek

doi:10.1515/cdbme-2020-3060

Simon Beck, Bernhard Laufer + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1515/cdbme-2020-3060

Copy DOI

Abstract

Abstract Demographic changes and increasing air pollution entail that monitoring of respiratory parameters is in the focus of research. In this study, two customary inertial measurement units (IMUs) are used to measure the breathing rate by using quaternions. One IMU was located ventral, and one was located dorsal on the thorax with a belt. The relative angle between the quaternion of each IMU was calculated and compared to the respiratory frequency obtained by a spirometer, which was used as a reference. A frequency analysis of both signals showed that the obtained respiratory rates vary slightly (less than 0.2/min) between the two systems. The introduced belt can analyse the respiratory rate and can be used for surveillance tasks in clinical settings.

Highlights

2 MethodsDue to the demographic change of the population and the increasing air pollution, a rising number of people is suffering from respiratory diseases
The inertial measurement units (IMUs)-belt is a promising approach for respiratory rate determination
The angle between dorsal and ventral quaternion provides a respiratory rate which is in high correlation to the respiratory rate obtained by the spirometry

Summary

Methods

Due to the demographic change of the population and the increasing air pollution, a rising number of people is suffering from respiratory diseases. Depending on the goal of monitoring, there is a variety of respiratory parameters to choose from, starting with respiratory rate to tidal volume. These diverse monitoring aspects need different kinds of measurement systems [1, 2]. Gold standards for pulmonary function tests are spirometry and body plethysmography, which are both used in medical examinations In both systems, the patient must breathe through a mouthpiece or a face mask with a sealed nose. The belt was attached in the height of the xiphoid process of the sternum and, the belt would not be sensitive to respiration induced movements of the abdomen during pure abdominal breathing.

Data processing

Results

Discussion