title: An improved flexible telemetry system to autonomously monitor sub-bandage pressure and wound moisture.
abstract: This paper presents the development of an improved mobile-based telemetric dual mode sensing system to monitor pressure and moisture levels in compression bandages and dressings used for chronic wound management. The system is fabricated on a 0.2 mm thick flexible printed circuit material, and is capable of sensing pressure and moisture at two locations simultaneously within a compression bandage and wound dressing. The sensors are calibrated to sense both parameters accurately, and the data are then transmitted wirelessly to a receiver connected to a mobile device. An error-correction algorithm is developed to compensate the degradation in measurement quality due to battery power drop over time. An Android application is also implemented to automatically receive, process, and display the sensed wound parameters. The performance of the sensing system is first validated on a mannequin limb using a compression bandage and wound dressings, and then tested on a healthy volunteer to acquire real-time performance parameters. The results obtained here suggest that this dual mode sensor can perform reliably when placed on a human limb.
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia. nasir.mehmood@unisa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Nasir
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mehmood
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia. alex.hariz@unisa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hariz
authors.affiliation: Royal District Nursing Service, Adelaide, SA 5035, Australia. sue.templeton@rdns.org.au.
authors.forename: Sue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Templeton
authors.affiliation: Mawson Institute, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia. nico.voelcker@unisa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Nicolas H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Voelcker
mesh_terms: D058128:Compression Bandages; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008365:Manometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008904:Miniaturization; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013686:Telemetry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014456:Ulcer / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000451:nursing*; D014945:Wound Healing