A personal medical device for multi-sensor, remote vital signs collection in the elderly

Telehealth monitoring applications are becoming more ubiquitous, as more devices than ever before are being released on to the market that aim to support the elderly through telemonitoring; encouraging their independence and to remain healthy for longer. There are many devices on the market that will analyse one or two signals very well, but there is a considerable need for a device that can bring together a synergy of sensors, producing one coherent snapshot of a patient. Therefore, the proposed system in this paper aims to assemble multiple sensor inputs into one accessible, hand-held device as well as simplifying the gathering and sending of the vital sign data to help support the elderly. The signals collected include: ECG and PPG measurements, blood oxygen saturation (SPO2) and core body temperature. It has also been specifically designed to allow cuff-less estimation of Blood Pressure (BP) and modelling has been done to show its current accuracy. The device will produce meaningful and easy to read results that aim to satisfy both the patient and medical professionals for both quality and quantity of data. The design, development and user testing of this device to support telehealth and tele-monitoring applications is described in this paper.