Development of a low cost wearable prototype for long-term vital signs monitoring based on embedded integrated wireless module

The specific goal of this study is the development of a system for assisting people affected by age inconveniences, disabilities or chronic diseases through observation of vital signs and to make patient communications with physician office, hospital facilities, caregivers and device itself easier. The system can be used both for home health care (home care - telemonitoring) and communication aid for disabled persons besides research purposes. The hardware platform is based on a custom wireless biomedical data acquisition unit, designed on an ergonomic and comfort basis to provide continuous monitoring of the electrocardiogram (ECG), respiratory motion and pulse oximetry. To ensure more comfort we developed a sensor-belt with dry rubber electrodes for ECG pick-up and respiration motion detection. The system has been presented to a small sample of hypothetical users to obtain ratings and suggestions for future improvements.