Unconstrained cardiorespiratory monitor for premature infants

Issue title: Proceedings of the twelfth International Symposium on Interdisciplinary Electromagnetic, Mechanic and Biomedical Problems, ISEM Bad Gastein

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Wang, Feng^{a; *} | Zou, Yanhui^b | Tanaka, Mami^b | Matsuda, Tadashi^c | Chonan, Seiji^d

Affiliations: [a] Faculty of Engineering, Maebashi Institute of Technology, 460-1 Kamisatori-machi, Maebashi 371-0816, Japan | [b] Department of Bioengineering and Robotics, Tohoku University, 6-6-04 Aoba-yama, Sendai 980-8579, Japan | [c] Center for Perinatal Medicine, Tohoku University Hospital, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, Sendai 980-8574, Japan | [d] Department of Machine Intelligence and System Engineering, Akita Prefectural University, 84-4 Tsuchiya, Yurihonjo 015-0055, Japan

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 27 265 7369; Fax: +81 27 265 3837; E-mail: wangfeng@ieee.org

Abstract: The development of an unconstrained sensing technique using PVDF films as sensory material for monitoring the heart beats and respiration of premature infants is reported. A sensor consists of a 1 × 4 array of PVDF films is developed. The sensor is placed on the bed to pick up the fluctuation of the pressure on the bed caused by the respiratory movement and heart beats of a premature infant. Wavelet multi-resolution decomposition is used for simultaneous detection of heart beats and respiration. Simultaneous real-time detection of both the respiration and heartbeats has been verified through clinical experiments.

Keywords: Premature infant, heart beat, respiration, monitor, PVDF, sensor, NICU

DOI: 10.3233/JAE-2007-751

Journal: International Journal of Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics, vol. 25, no. 1-4, pp. 469-475, 2007