Feasibility Study of Measuring Heartbeat and Respiration by Using Strain Gauge

In recent years a number of serious accidents due to human errors have occurred in public transportation. Preventative safety technology is therefore the most urgent issue, and human monitoring technique becomes the centre of attention. Physiological responses to external stimuli have been vigorously investigated and physiological indices such as ´eheart rate variability´ were established to estimate the activities of one´s autonomic nervous system. The purpose of this research is to study the feasibility of measuring heartbeat and respiration by using strain gauge. The proposed method has several advantages of possibility of simultaneous measurement of heartbeat and respiration with no electrode and with minimum invasiveness. This paper deals with the application of this new technique to man and dog.