Measuring and Transmitting Vital Body Signs Using MEMS Sensors

With the advancements in technology and science, electronics have been getting smaller and smaller, which enables researchers and scientist to weave the electronics and interconnections into the fabric. This new technology enables to establish a new concept called "electronic-textiles (e-Textiles)", which allows cost-effective and efficient solutions for various applications. In this paper, the main idea is monitoring vital body signs by placing the electronic devices into a garment in a compact way. Among many vital body signs, posture, respiration rate and body activities like walking, running have been monitored. The measurements have been performed with a MEMS based accelerometer which is widely used in many applications. The electronic components have been placed into the fabric to form the ARF-Shirt to monitor vital body signs. Collected data from 10 subjects with ARF-Shirt system have been transmitted by RF transmission and monitored in real-time. After forming the ARF-Shirt, data were collected from subjects and then analyzed with Labview. The characteristic amplitude and frequency ranges were obtained for each activity. With this project, measuring a vital body sign with MEMS accelerometer, transmitting the data by RF Transmission, signal processing and analysis with Labview in real-time have been realized.