Biometric monitoring of footstep and heart rate using wireless inertial sensors
RIS ID
31372
Abstract
Inertial sensors are widely used for a variety of biomedicalapplications, such as human activity monitoring. We present awireless biomedical monitoring network used for measuringfootstep parameters and the heart rate of a person. The wirelessbiomedical monitoring network uses inertial sensors to recordand monitor heart rate and consists of multiple monitoringnodes placed on a person, that communicate with a base node.The monitoring nodes placed on a person&¿s ankle measure theacceleration generated during a footstep. By analysing thisdata, we are able to determine the average footstep length andwalking velocity to be 80cm and the average walking speed tobe 1m/s which corresponds to results found by existing studies.A monitoring node placed on the right Carotid artery in theneck region was able to measure the vibrations generated bythe movement of blood. Analysis of the acceleration signalsgenerated by the pressure pulse showed that it was possible todetermine the heart rate of the person. We found that a sittingperson had a heart rate of 75 BPM, which was confirmed by anelectrocardiogram device. Further areas of investigationinvolve improving the sensitivity of the monitoring node&¿saccelerometer sensor by using a diaphragm and also to measurea person&¿s blood pressure using inertial sensing.
Publication Details
D''Souza, M., Wallace, M. & Ros, M. 2009, ''Biometric monitoring of footstep and heart rate using wireless inertial sensors'', Proceedings of the ASME 2009 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference IDETC/CIE 2009, ASME, New York, USA, pp. 1-8.