Wearable Wireless Health Monitoring: Current Developments, Challenges, and Future Trends

Wearable health-monitoring systems are becoming very popular, especially in enabling the noninvasive diagnosis of vital functions of the human body. Besides typical singular heartbeat or perspiration sensors, which have been commercially available in recent years, the deployment of a series of body-worn sensors can enable an effective health-monitoring mechanism. The combined information obtained from such systems can either be relayed directly to any health-monitoring personnel in the case of emergencies or can be logged and analyzed as a part of preventive health measures. However, the deployment of on-body nodes for humans must be performed with care, as they may interfere with the patients´ regular movements. This is especially challenging because the relationship between the electromagnetic waves is influenced by the patient´s movements, distance from the nearest base station, operating environment, etc. Additional challenges to the deployment of such mechanisms are also faced in situations where the nodes require additional on-body space, impose additional weight, or are not conformal enough to the patient´s body. On the hardware design aspect, the sensory and communication functions on the electronic node have to be designed using special materials to avoid reliability issues or damage due to repeated or intense movements. Finally, and perhaps the most important aspect that needs to be addressed concerning such systems, is their electromagnetic safety level, which is defined by their specific absorption rates (SARs). This article aims to review the latest developments in body-worn wireless health-monitoring systems and their current challenges and limitations and to discuss future trends for such worn devices for these applications.