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Wireless-based Monitoring of Body Movements Using Wearable Sensors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Sarah Brady ,
Shirley Coyle ,
Yanzhe Wu ,
Gordon Wallace  and
Dermot Diamond
Sarah Brady
Affiliation:
sarah.brady4@mail.dcu.ie, Dublin City University, NCSR, National Centre for Sensor Research, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin, Leinster, 9, Ireland
Shirley Coyle
Affiliation:
shirley.coyle@dcu.ie, Adaptive Information Cluster, National Centre for Sensor Research, School of Chemical Sciences, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin, 9, Ireland
Yanzhe Wu
Affiliation:
yzw54@uow.edu.au, Intelligent Polymer Research Institute and ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia
Gordon Wallace
Affiliation:
gwallace@uow.edu.au, Intelligent Polymer Research Institute and ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia
Dermot Diamond
Affiliation:
dermot.diamond@dcu.ie, Adaptive Information Cluster, National Centre for Sensor Research, School of Chemical Sciences, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin, 9, Ireland
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Abstract

The world is becoming more health conscious and as a result healthcare is evolving in many ways. Wearable computing is assisting with this evolution, finding its place in many biomedical applications where real-time monitoring of general health indicators is required. However, the inconvenience of connecting sensors through wires, which not only incurs high maintenance, limits the freedom of the person therefore hampering a true reflection of the person's actions. By using sensors attached to wireless sensor nodes, this constraint is removed. Also in order to be “wearable” the sensors must be comfortable, a factor often overlooked by traditional sensors, where functionality and robustness are of higher importance. This work is focused on the use of foam-based pressure sensors and similar textile-based sensors for monitoring the ambulatory movements of the wearer. Characterization of the molecular nature of the materials and their environment are presented. We find these sensors to be successful in detecting the movement events without imposing on the daily activity of the wearer.

Keywords

sensorbiomedicalfoam
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 920: Symposium S – Smart Nanotextiles , 2006 , 0920-S04-05
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006

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References

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