title: Vital sign monitoring for elderly at home: development of a compound sensor for pulse rate and motion.
abstract: This paper describes the development of a miniaturized wearable vital sign monitor which is aimed for use by elderly at home. The development of a compound sensor for pulse rate, motion, and skin temperature is reported. A pair of infrared sensor working in reflection mode was used to detect the pulse rate from various sites over the body including the wrist and finger. Meanwhile, a motion sensor was used to detect the motion of the body. In addition, the temperature on the skin surface was sensed by a semiconductor temperature sensor. A prototype has been built into a box with a dimension of 2 x 2.5 x 4 cm3. The device includes the sensors, microprocessor, circuits, battery, and a wireless transceiver for communicating data with a data terminal.
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Engineering Center, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Sum
authors.forename: Y P
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: A F T
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Mak
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D020811:Biomedical Technology / Q000295:instrumentation; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D001831:Body Temperature; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000295:instrumentation; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000295:instrumentation*; D009068:Movement; D011674:Pulse; D017216:Telemedicine