Invisible furniture-integrated RF sensors for respiratory pattern monitoring
Non-invasive respiration sensors integrated into furniture can be invisible to the user and greatly enhance comfort and convenience to facilitate many applications. Current sensors often require user cooperation or fitting, which discourages frequent usage. We present a new respiration sensor integrated into a bed or a chair by modifying a radio-frequency (RF) coaxial cable structure with a designed notch.
The lung motion is coupled to the electromagnetic leakage at the notch through near-field coherent sensing (NCS). The sensors, covered with fabrics and positioned under the abdomen and thorax, can capture the respiratory waveforms and derive the breath rate. The heart rate can also be evaluated in the same setup with proper filtering. The sensor design can tolerate large position variation to accommodate user uncertainties. Various voluntary exercises of normal, deep, fast, held and blocked breathing were measured under different postures of supine, recumbent and sitting by the carrier frequency range between 900MHz and 2.4GHz. The breath rate from 10 participants compare well with the synchronous commercial chest-belt sensors in all breathing routines.
Benchmark with BIOPAC tension belts
Isovolumetric exercises (simulated apnea) detection
Advantages: 1) Tolerance of large position variation to accommodate user uncertainty; 2) Posture applicability including supine and recumbent on bed, as well as sitting on chair; 3) Availability of HR estimation in one setup; 4) Identification of multiple breathing patterns including deep, fast, tidal, held and blocked breathing; 5) Broad bandwidth of operations to facilitate multiplexing and signal quality improvement in different scenarios.