Body Sensor Networking, Design and Algorithms

4Ambulatory and Popular Sensor Measurements

4.1 Introduction

Recognition and evaluation of physiological and biological states of human body including disease symptoms and variation in the related parameters may be obtained through the use of wearable or implanted sensors. Of these parameters, the vital signals play crucial roles in healthcare monitoring to predict the next state of a patient and to decide what treatment should be applied and how to avoid deterioration of the patient's situation. These data may also be used for patient management, rehabilitation, assistive technology, sport, and also human–machine interaction.

Primary vital signs include body temperature, heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), and blood pressure (BP). There are other parameters which are recorded along the primary vital signs and can provide helpful, and in some cases vital, information in certain clinical settings. These signs are often grouped as ‘fifth vital sign’ or ‘sixth vital sign’. The fifth vital signs may include blood oxygen saturation level (SpO₂), blood glucose level, menstrual cycle, or pain. The sixth vital signs include end-tidal CO₂, functional status, gait speed, and shortness of breath.

In this chapter, a number of vital signs including HR, RR, blood oxygen saturation level (SpO₂), BP, and blood glucose level are discussed in more details and recent techniques for their estimation are briefly explained.

4.2 Heart Rate

Electrocardiography (ECG) is a way of recording electrical ...