title: Development of a Tonometric Sensor with a Decoupled Circular Array for Precisely Measuring Radial Artery Pulse.
abstract: The radial artery pulse is one of the major diagnostic indices used clinically in both Eastern and Western medicine. One of the prominent methods for measuring the radial artery pulse is the piezoresistive sensor array. Independence among channels and an appropriate sensor arrangement are important for effectively assessing the spatial-temporal information of the pulse. This study developed a circular-type seven-channel piezoresistive sensor array using face-down bonding (FDB) as one of the sensor combination methods. The three-layered housing structure that included independent pressure sensor units using the FDB method not only enabled elimination of the crosstalk among channels, but also allowed various array patterns to be created for effective pulse measurement. The sensors were arranged in a circular-type arrangement such that they could estimate the direction of the radial artery and precisely measure the pulse wave. The performance of the fabricated sensor array was validated by evaluating the sensor sensitivity per channel, and the possibility of estimating the blood vessel direction was demonstrated through a radial artery pulse simulator. We expect the proposed sensor to allow accurate extraction of the pulse indices for pulse diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: KM Fundamental Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (KIOM), Daejeon 305-811, Korea. mino@kiom.re.kr.
authors.forename: Min-Ho
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Jun
authors.affiliation: KM Fundamental Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (KIOM), Daejeon 305-811, Korea. irobo77@kiom.re.kr.
authors.forename: Young-Min
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: KM Fundamental Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (KIOM), Daejeon 305-811, Korea. fcbest11@kiom.re.kr.
authors.forename: Jang-Han
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.affiliation: KM Fundamental Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (KIOM), Daejeon 305-811, Korea. traviswas@kiom.re.kr.
authors.forename: Chang Jin
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: KM Fundamental Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (KIOM), Daejeon 305-811, Korea. xtin@kiom.re.kr.
authors.forename: Jung-Hee
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: KM Fundamental Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (KIOM), Daejeon 305-811, Korea. jyj92@kiom.re.kr.
authors.forename: Young Ju
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Jeon
mesh_terms: D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D008365:Manometry / Q000379:methods*; D011674:Pulse; D017534:Radial Artery / Q000502:physiology
keywords: decoupled circular array; face-down bonding (FDB); piezoresistive sensor; pressure sensor; radial artery pulse; tonometric sensor