
The rubber sticker attached to the wrist can bend and stretch as the person’s skin moves, beaming pulse readings to a receiver clipped to the person’s clothing. (Image credit: Bao Lab)
Stanford engineers have developed experimental stickers that pick up physiological signals emanating from the skin, then wirelessly beam these health readings to a receiver clipped onto clothing. It’s all part of a system called BodyNet.
We tend to take our skin’s protective function for granted, ignoring its other roles in signaling subtleties like a fluttering heart or a flush of embarrassment.
Now, Stanford engineers have developed a way to detect physiological signals emanating from the skin with sensors that stick like band-aids and beam wireless readings to a receiver clipped onto clothing.
To demonstrate this wearable technology, the researchers stuck sensors to the wrist and abdomen of one test subject to monitor the person’s pulse and respiration by detecting how their skin stretched and contracted with each heartbeat or breath. Likewise, stickers on the person’s elbows and knees tracked arm and leg motions by gauging the minute tightening or relaxation of the skin each time the corresponding muscle flexed.
Zhenan Bao, the chemical engineering professor whose lab described the system in an Aug. 15 article in Nature Electronics, thinks this wearable technology, which they call BodyNet, will first be used in medical settings such as monitoring patients with sleep disorders or heart conditions. Her lab is already trying to develop new stickers to sense sweat and other secretions to track variables such as body temperature and stress. Her ultimate goal is to create an array of wireless sensors that stick to the skin and work in conjunction with smart clothing to more accurately track a wider variety of health indicators than the smart phones or watches consumers use today.
“We think one day it will be possible to create a full-body skin-sensor array to collect physiological data without interfering with a person’s normal behavior,” said Bao, who is also the K.K. Lee Professor in the School of Engineering.
Stretchable, comfortable, functional
Postdoctoral scholars Simiao Niu and Naoji Matsuhisa led the 14-person team that spent three years designing the sensors. Their goal was to develop a technology that would be comfortable to wear and have no batteries or rigid circuits to prevent the stickers from stretching and contracting with the skin.
Their eventual design met these parameters with a variation of the RFID – radiofrequency identification – technology used to control keyless entry to locked rooms. When a person holds an ID card up to an RFID receiver, an antenna in the ID card harvests a tiny bit of RFID energy from the receiver and uses this to generate a code that it then beams back to the receiver.
The BodyNet sticker is similar to the ID card: It has an antenna that harvests a bit of the incoming RFID energy from a receiver on the clothing to power its sensors. It then takes readings from the skin and beams them back to the nearby receiver.
But to make the wireless sticker work, the researchers had to create an antenna that could stretch and bend like skin. They did this by screen-printing metallic ink on a rubber sticker. However, whenever the antenna bent or stretched, those movements made its signal too weak and unstable to be useful.
To get around this problem, the Stanford researchers developed a new type of RFID system that could beam strong and accurate signals to the receiver despite constant fluctuations. The battery-powered receiver then uses Bluetooth to periodically upload data from the stickers to a smartphone, computer or other permanent storage system.
The initial version of the stickers relied on tiny motion sensors to take respiration and pulse readings. The researchers are now studying how to integrate sweat, temperature and other sensors into their antenna systems.
To move their technology beyond clinical applications and into consumer-friendly devices, the researchers need to overcome another challenge – keeping the sensor and receiver close to each other. In their experiments, the researchers clipped a receiver on clothing just above each sensor. One-to-one pairings of sensors and receivers would be fine in medical monitoring, but to create a BodyNet that someone could wear while exercising, antennas would have to be woven into clothing to receive and transmit signals no matter where a person sticks a sensor.
Learn more: Stanford engineers have developed wireless sensors that stick to the skin to track our health
The Latest on: Wireless health monitoring
via Google News
The Latest on: Wireless health monitoring
- Sudbury med-tech firm advancing development of blood-flow monitoring deviceon January 26, 2021 at 6:04 am
A Sudbury medical technology company is advancing the development of its portable ultrasound device so it can be made compatible with electronic records systems currently being used in hospitals ...
- DC Circ. Picks Apart FCC Over 5G Wireless Safety Reviewon January 25, 2021 at 3:19 pm
A D.C. Circuit panel on Monday appeared skeptical of the Federal Communications Commission's support for its own findings that cellphones and other connected devices pose no risks to human health.
- American Equus and Energous Announce Trials Completed for the World's First Wirelessly Charged Equine Health Tracking Sensoron January 23, 2021 at 7:42 pm
American Equus and Energous Announce Trials Completed for the World's First Wirelessly Charged Equine Health Tracking Sensor "That fact that our health monitoring wearable sensor has finished trials ...
- Wireless Health Market by Type, Product, Delivery Mode, End-User – Forecast to 2026on January 23, 2021 at 12:15 am
Pune, Maharashtra, India, January 22 2021 (Wiredrelease) MarketDesk :The Global Wireless Health Market 2021 is a detailed research ... Patient-specific, Physiological Monitoring, ...
- Biobeat Launches Home-Based Remote Patient Monitoring Kiton January 20, 2021 at 2:08 pm
Biobeat, developer of AI-powered remote patient monitoring solutions, announced the launch of its home patient monitoring kit.
- Patient monitoring devices market through 2026 | three major trends to drive the industry growthon January 20, 2021 at 5:25 am
The global patient monitoring devices market is projected to observe massive growth over the coming years due to ...
- Mobile Health Market Statistics 2020: Top Impacting Factors That Can Win the Industry Worldwideon January 18, 2021 at 4:45 am
The global mHealth market was valued at 46 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach 230 billion by 2027 registering a CAGR of 22 3 from 2020 to 2027 Mobile health provides health service and ...
- St. Luke's University Health Network taps college students for remote monitoring COVID-19 patientson January 15, 2021 at 10:07 am
Bethlehem, Pa.-based St. Luke's University Health Network has tapped college students to remotely monitor COVID-19 patients in eight of its hospitals, the health system said. Students have been ...
- $35M in new funding raised for battery-free wireless sensorson January 15, 2021 at 7:23 am
Everactive, a technology company that sells category-defining batteryless, wireless Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, announced today it closed a $35 million funding round led by Fluke Corporation, ...
- Danish researchers from DTU Health Tech developed a unique patient surveillance system with wireless monitoringon January 14, 2021 at 1:40 pm
A group of Danish researchers from DTU Health Tech in collaboration with Rigshospitalet, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital have developed a unique patient surveillance system with wireless ...
via Bing News