Smart shirt with embedded vital sign and moisture sensing

This paper presents the development of a smart shirt with embedded electrodes in two-lead configuration for heart rate measurement and a knitted moisture sensor for sweat detection. Signal conditioning for heart rate measurement is based on the Analog Devices AD8232 heart rate monitor front-end. The shirt is part of a fireman interactive Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), which monitors information on heart rate and sweat detection, among other variables. Sweat detection is used to avoid skin burns that may occur due to the combination of excessive moisture and heat. Tests have demonstrated that the measurement of heart rate using the shirt is as efficient as conventional solutions, such as heart-rate monitoring straps. Sweat detection through textile moisture sensors has also shown to be effective.FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, in the framework of project UID/CTM/00264/2013 and project PROTACTICAL - Co-Promoção Nº Projecto: 23267, sponsored by ADI

Health monitoring using textile sensors and electrodes: an overview and integration of technologies

Publicado em "MeMeA 2014 International Symposium on Medical Measurements and Applications : proceedings", ISBN 978-1-4799-2920-7This paper gives an overview of technologies and results of integration and test of textile integrated sensors and electrodes for monitoring of biosignals (electrocardiographic - ECG and electromyographic - EMG), breathing and moisture. Using a seamless jacquard knitting machine, it is possible to integrate these sensors and electrodes directly into the fabrics, which can then be used in clothing for monitoring of elderly people, in sports or in hazardous occupations. The total integration of the sensing elements and connections into the garment presents great advantages in physical as well as psychological comfort of the user. It has been shown that the measurements are of adequate quality for most of the applications. In some cases, as is the case of ECG and EMG, signals acquired are similar to those obtained using conventional electrodes.The authors wish to thank funding by FCT -Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, projects PEst-C/CTM/UI0264/2011, PTDC/DTP-DES/1661/2012 and project PROTACTICAL - Co-Promoção Nº Projecto: 23267, sponsored by AD

Study and optimization of swimming performance in swimsuit designed with seamless technology

Hydrodynamic resistance, also called water drag, is one of the most discussed issues in swimming sport and recognized as a major factor in terms of swimming performance. Different authors tried to demonstrate that body compression is responsible for a better result in swimming, based on the fact that body modelling improves energy saving and helps to maintain the performance on repetitive movements. In this paper, different weft knitted fabrics, prepared under predefined production parameters, were tested in order to establish which were the most adequate for compressive effect and which parameters contribute most for compression.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - PTDC/EEA-ELC/70803/2006

Aquisição de sinais electromiográficos recorrendo a eléctrodos em substratos têxteis

A electromiografia (EMG) constitui um método fundamental para o estudo do comportamento biomecânico de um indivíduo. Este artigo apresenta um estudo realizado na óptica do desenvolvimento de eléctrodos têxteis não invasivos para a realização de electromiografia de superfície. O trabalho apresenta um método de fabrico de eléctrodos, as suas vantagens e limitações e uma comparação entre dois tipos de eléctrodos têxteis e convencionais, utilizados neste tipo de medição. Os resultados obtidos indiciam um comportamento para estes eléctrodos têxteis considerado semelhante ao dos convencionais, podendo deste modo constituir uma alternativa válida, sobretudo quando se tem em consideração as vantagens que estes proporcionam.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - PTDC/EEA-ELC/70803/2006Universidade do Minh

Biosignal monitoring implemented in a swimsuit for athlete performance evaluation

Monitor athletes during exercise has always been a major challenge for engineers and researchers due to the restrictions involving the measurement of physiological and performance parameters. An athlete should have complete freedom to perform his normal activity, in order to be correctly monitored. The advent of e-textiles can give an important contribution to overcome these limitations since it is possible to integrate sensors in garments and thus perform monitoring without limiting the freedom of movements. This paper presents part of the work that is being carried out in the project entitled BIOSWIM, which envisions the development of an instrumented swimsuit, capable of acquiring several physiological and performance related signals with the purpose of aiding the trainer in improving the technical component of the swimmer and improve his performance. This paper will give an overview of the monitoring system and the textile sensors that were developed, namely for biopotential measurement.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - projeto Bioswim (PTDC/EEAELC/70803/2006

Integration and embedding of vital signs sensors and other devices into textiles

The development of ubiquitous vital sign monitoring has become a very up-to-date research theme for many academics and industrial companies in the last years. With new materials and integration techniques, it is possible to implement vital sign monitoring in an economic manner, directly into textile products. This unobtrusive presence of sensors is especially important for the monitoring of children or elderly people. This paper focuses on two aspects of sensor integration: Integration of off-the-shelf electronic components, and the use of the textile material itself as sensor, or in general as an electrically active element presenting some exploratory work in the integration of electronic devices into textiles. The main objective was to reproduce and improve on previous work presented by other authors, and foster possibilities of developing garments for vital sign monitoring with immediate industrial and economic feasibility. The use of standard production techniques to produce textile-based sensors, easily integrated into garments and with mass-market potential, is one of the important motivations for this work

Throughput limits of two 802.15.4 wireless networks applications for signal acquisition

This work describes the development and test of a wireless sensor network used by a biomedical signal monitoring system. Data communication is based on a body area network (BAN) materialized as a wireless network in two versions, one based on the 802.15.4 specification and another on a higher-level Zigbee protocol. The system was developed using the Jennic JN5148 microcontroller, Jennics ZBPro stack and the JenOs RT kernell. The final system was tested with the devices at different distances, and with a varying number of sensor nodes communicating simultaneously. For each of these combinations the signal quality and frequency of communication errors were recorded. The version implemented using Zigbee protocol was able to acquire and send sensor signals at a sample rate of 7 kSamples/s (12-bit samples, final net rate of 84 kbps) with a percentage of lost frames below 4%. It was also shown that the system supports simultaneous communication of three sensor nodes at 3 kS/s (36 kbps) each, with a percentage of losses of less than 4%. These results are important since they support the possibility of having several sensors acquiring fast biomedical signals and sending them to a central unit in real time.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - Projeto Bioswi

Advancements in on-line monitoring and control of parameters in knitting and sewing processes

This paper presents a summary of the developments in process control in textile processes at the University of Minho, by a multidisciplinary research group involving three different departments (Textile, lectronic and Mechanical Engineering). The studies target the automatic process parameter monitoring and control in the areas of industrial sewing and knitting.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)

Wearable biopotential measurement using the TI ADS1198 analog front-end and textile electrodes : signal conditioning and signal quality assessment

The development of mobile systems for monitoring bioelectric signals outside a hospital environment involves many challenges that do not arise when it is in a controlled environment, like a hospital. The dimensions of these systems are an important factor to consider in order to facilitate their use without interfering with the daily activities of individuals. The purpose of this work is the implementation of a single-supply battery-powered, low power ECG/EMG signal monitoring system based on the ADS1198 Analog Front-End from Texas Instruments. The system was designed to acquire ECG signals from three electrodes using the integrated Right-Leg-Drive (RLD) circuit from the ADS1198. The developed analog front-end was connected for testing purposes through the SPI interface to a NI-USB 8451 board and signals were acquired using LabVIEW. The circuit was tested in several situations and proved to provide high quality signals using textile integrated electrodes and conventional disposable gel electrodes.FEDER- “Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade – COMPETE”, FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, projects PEst-C/CTM/UI0264/2011 and PTDC/EEA-ELC/70803/2006, and Instituto de Telecomunicaçõe

Study of vital sign monitoring with textile sensors in swimming pool environment

This paper presents the results of a series of experiments aiming at the optimisation of vital sign monitoring using textile electrodes to be used in a swimsuit. The swimsuit will integrate sensors for the measurement of several physiological and biomechanical signals; this paper will focus on ECG and respiratory movement analysis. The data obtained is mainly intended to provide tools for evaluation of high-performance swimmers, although applications can be derived for leisure sports and other situations. A comparison between electrodes based on different materials and structures, behaviour in dry and wet environments, as well as the behavior in different extension states, will be presented. The influence of movement on the signal quality, both by the muscular electrical signals as well as by the displacement of the electrodes, will be discussed. The final objective is the integration of the electrodes in the swimsuit by knitting them directly in the suit’s fabric in a seamless knitting machineFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - PTDC/EEAELC/70803/200