title: An optical fibre-based sensor for respiratory monitoring.
abstract: In this paper, a textile-based respiratory sensing system is presented. Highly flexible polymeric optical fibres (POFs) that react to applied pressure were integrated into a carrier fabric to form a wearable sensing system. After the evaluation of different optical fibres, different setups were compared. To demonstrate the feasibility of such a wearable sensor, the setup featuring the best performance was placed on the human torso, and thus it was possible to measure the respiratory rate. Furthermore, we show that such a wearable system enables to keep track of the way of breathing (diaphragmatic, upper costal and mixed) when the sensor is placed at different positions of the torso. A comparison of the results with the output of some commercial respiratory measurements devices confirmed the utility of such a monitoring device.
authors: Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Protection and Physiology, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, 9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland. marek.krehel@empa.ch.
authors: Marek
authors: M
authors: Krehel
authors: Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Protection and Physiology, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, 9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland. michel.schmid@empa.ch.
authors: Michel
authors: M
authors: Schmid
authors: Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Protection and Physiology, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, 9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland. rene.rossi@empa.ch.
authors: René M
authors: RM
authors: Rossi
authors: Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Protection and Physiology, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, 9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland. Luciano.Boesel@empa.ch.
authors: Luciano F
authors: LF
authors: Boesel
authors: Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Protection and Physiology, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, 9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland. gian-luca.bona@empa.ch.
authors: Gian-Luca
authors: GL
authors: Bona
authors: Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Protection and Physiology, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, 9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland. lukas.scherer@empa.ch.
authors: Lukas J
authors: LJ
authors: Scherer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004867:Equipment Design / Q000295:instrumentation; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation*; D055100:Optical Fibers; D012119:Respiration; D056152:Respiratory Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D013784:Textiles