Optimization of signal quality over comfortability of textile electrodes for ECG monitoring in fog computing based medical applications

2018 ◽  
Vol 86 ◽  
pp. 515-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanqing Wu ◽  
Sandeep Pirbhulal ◽  
Arun Kumar Sangaiah ◽  
Subhas Chandra Mukhopadhyay ◽  
Guanglin Li
Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (21) ◽  
pp. 6233
Author(s):  
Abreha Bayrau Nigusse ◽  
Benny Malengier ◽  
Desalegn Alemu Mengistie ◽  
Granch Berhe Tseghai ◽  
Lieva Van Langenhove

Long-term electrocardiography (ECG) monitoring is very essential for the early detection and treatment of cardiovascular disorders. However, commercially used silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrodes have drawbacks, and these become more obvious during long-term signal monitoring, making them inconvenient for this use. In this study, we developed silver printed textile electrodes from knitted cotton and polyester fabric for ECG monitoring. The surface resistance of printed electrodes was 1.64 Ω/sq for cotton and 1.78 Ω/sq for polyester electrodes. The ECG detection performance of the electrodes was studied by placing three electrodes around the wrist where the electrodes were embedded on an elastic strap with Velcro. The ECG signals collected using textile electrodes had a comparable waveform to those acquired using standard Ag/AgCl electrodes with a signal to noise ratio (SNR) of 33.10, 30.17, and 33.52 dB for signals collected from cotton, polyester, and Ag/AgCl electrodes, respectively. The signal quality increased as the tightness of the elastic strap increased. Signals acquired at 15 mmHg pressure level with the textile electrodes provided a similar quality to those acquired using standard electrodes. Interestingly, the textile electrodes gave acceptable signal quality even after ten washing cycles.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 4174
Author(s):  
Abreha Bayrau Nigusse ◽  
Desalegn Alemu Mengistie ◽  
Benny Malengier ◽  
Granch Berhe Tseghai ◽  
Lieva Van Langenhove

The continuous and long-term measurement and monitoring of physiological signals such as electrocardiography (ECG) are very important for the early detection and treatment of heart disorders at an early stage prior to a serious condition occurring. The increasing demand for the continuous monitoring of the ECG signal needs the rapid development of wearable electronic technology. During wearable ECG monitoring, the electrodes are the main components that affect the signal quality and comfort of the user. This review assesses the application of textile electrodes for ECG monitoring from the fundamentals to the latest developments and prospects for their future fate. The fabrication techniques of textile electrodes and their performance in terms of skin–electrode contact impedance, motion artifacts and signal quality are also reviewed and discussed. Textile electrodes can be fabricated by integrating thin metal fiber during the manufacturing stage of textile products or by coating textiles with conductive materials like metal inks, carbon materials, or conductive polymers. The review also discusses how textile electrodes for ECG function via direct skin contact or via a non-contact capacitive coupling. Finally, the current intensive and promising research towards finding textile-based ECG electrodes with better comfort and signal quality in the fields of textile, material, medical and electrical engineering are presented as a perspective.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cícero A. Silva ◽  
Gibeon S. Aquino ◽  
Sávio R. M. Melo ◽  
Dannylo J. B. Egídio

The aging of the world’s population and the growth in the number of people with chronic diseases have increased expenses with medical care. Thus, the use of technological solutions has been widely adopted in the medical field to improve the patients’ health. In this context, approaches based on Cloud Computing have been used to store and process the information generated in these solutions. However, using Cloud can create delays that are intolerable for medical applications. Thus, the Fog Computing paradigm emerged as an alternative to overcome this problem, bringing computation and storage closer to the data sources. However, managing medical data stored in Fog is still a challenge. Moreover, characteristics of availability, performance, interoperability, and privacy need to be considered in approaches that aim to explore this problem. So, this article shows a software architecture based on Fog Computing and designed to facilitate the management of medical records. This architecture uses Blockchain concepts to provide the necessary privacy features and to allow Fog Nodes to carry out the authorization process in a distributed way. Finally, this paper describes a case study that evaluates the performance, privacy, and interoperability requirements of the proposed architecture in a home-centered healthcare scenario.


2018 ◽  
Vol 89 (11) ◽  
pp. 2098-2112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xueliang Xiao ◽  
Ke Dong ◽  
Chenhao Li ◽  
Guanzheng Wu ◽  
Hongtao Zhou ◽  
...  

Long-term electrocardiogram (ECG) recording can reveal some vital cardiovascular disorders and provide warning of human sudden cerebral or vascular diseases in advance. This requires high-quality ECG skin electrodes. Gel (Ag/AgCl) electrodes were reported to have good signal quality in ECG acquisition, but easily caused human skin irritation or allergy. Consequently, textile electrodes have attracted more attention for long-term ECG acquisition. In this paper, eight woven fabrics with diverse yarns and weft densities were fabricated in plain and honeycomb structures. The fabrics were investigated in terms of comfortability, fabric–skin contact impedance and acquired bio-signal quality. Honeycomb weave electrodes were measured with a high comfort level from subjective and objective views, including pleasant tactile comfort, high visual acceptance, good air permeability and good heat transfer. Weave electrodes made of all conductive filaments in high density had low skin contact impedance and high-quality ECG signals. An increase of compression load on weave electrodes resulted in a decrease of contact impedance with a high signal quality. A conductive honeycomb weave with unit repeat of 6*6 warps*wefts presented the highest score of acquired ECG signals of all studied electrodes based on the qualities of the QRS complex, P and T waves, R peak amplitude and variation and signal-to-noise ratio. This study contributes to the future design and fabrication of textile electrodes using honeycomb weave in long-term and real-time collection of human ECGs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meseret N. Teferra ◽  
David A. Hobbs ◽  
Robyn A. Clark ◽  
Karen J. Reynolds

Background: With cardiovascular disease continuing to be the leading cause of death and the primary reason for hospitalization worldwide, there is an increased burden on healthcare facilities. Electronic-textile (e-textile)-based cardiac monitoring offers a viable option to allow cardiac rehabilitation programs to be conducted outside of the hospital.Objectives: This study aimed to determine whether signals produced by an e-textile ECG monitor with textile electrodes in an EASI configuration are of sufficient quality to be used for cardiac monitoring. Specific objectives were to investigate the effect of the textile electrode characteristics, placement, and condition on signal quality, and finally to compare results to a reference ECG obtained from a current clinical standard the Holter monitor.Methods: ECGs during different body movements (yawning, deep-breathing, coughing, sideways, and up movement) and activities of daily living (sitting, sitting/standing from a chair, and climbing stairs) were collected from a baseline standard of normal healthy adult male using a novel e-textile ECG and a reference Holter monitor. Each movement or activity was recorded for 5 min with 2-min intervals between each recording. Three different textile area electrodes (40, 60, and 70 mm2) and electrode thicknesses (3, 5, and 10 mm) were considered in the experiment. The effect of electrode placement within the EASI configuration was also studied. Different signal quality parameters, including signal to noise ratio, approximate entropy, baseline power signal quality index, and QRS duration and QT intervals, were used to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of the textile-based ECG monitor.Results: The overall signal quality from the 70 mm2 textile electrodes was higher compared to the smaller area electrodes. Results showed that the ECGs from 3 and 5 mm textile electrodes showed good quality. Regarding location, placing the “A” and “I” electrodes on the left and right anterior axillary points, respectively, showed higher signal quality compared to the standard EASI electrode placement. Wet textile electrodes showed better signal quality compared to their dry counterparts. When compared to the traditional Holter monitor, there was no significant difference in signal quality, which indicated textile monitoring was as good as current clinical standards (non-inferior).Conclusion: The e-textile EASI ECG monitor could be a viable option for real-time monitoring of cardiac activities. A clinical trial in a larger sample is recommended to validate the results in a clinical population.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 1203-1211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yayoi Tetsuou Tsukada ◽  
Miwa Tokita ◽  
Hiroshige Murata ◽  
Yasuhiro Hirasawa ◽  
Kenji Yodogawa ◽  
...  

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 1013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katya Arquilla ◽  
Andrea Webb ◽  
Allison Anderson

Wearable health-monitoring systems should be comfortable, non-stigmatizing, and able to achieve high data quality. Smart textiles with electronic elements integrated directly into fabrics offer a way to embed sensors into clothing seamlessly to serve these purposes. In this work, we demonstrate the feasibility of electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring with sewn textile electrodes instead of traditional gel electrodes in a 3-lead, chest-mounted configuration. The textile electrodes are sewn with silver-coated thread in an overlapping zig zag pattern into an inextensible fabric. Sensor validation included ECG monitoring and comfort surveys with human subjects, stretch testing, and wash cycling. The electrodes were tested with the BIOPAC MP160 ECG data acquisition module. Sensors were placed on 8 subjects (5 males and 3 females) with double-sided tape. To detect differences in R peak detectability between traditional and sewn sensors, effect size was set at 10% of a sample mean for heart rate (HR) and R-R interval. Paired student’s t-tests were run between adhesive and sewn electrode data for R-R interval and average HR, and a Wilcoxon signed-rank test was run for comfort. No statistically significant difference was found between the traditional and textile electrodes (R-R interval: t = 1.43, p > 0.1; HR: t = −0.70, p > 0.5; comfort: V = 15, p > 0.5).


Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (20) ◽  
pp. 4426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Seoane ◽  
Azadeh Soroudi ◽  
Ke Lu ◽  
David Nilsson ◽  
Marie Nilsson ◽  
...  

The interconnection between hard electronics and soft textiles remains a noteworthy challenge in regard to the mass production of textile–electronic integrated products such as sensorized garments. The current solutions for this challenge usually have problems with size, flexibility, cost, or complexity of assembly. In this paper, we present a solution with a stretchable and conductive carbon nanotube (CNT)-based paste for screen printing on a textile substrate to produce interconnectors between electronic instrumentation and a sensorized garment. The prototype connectors were evaluated via electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings using a sensorized textile with integrated textile electrodes. The ECG recordings obtained using the connectors were evaluated for signal quality and heart rate detection performance in comparison to ECG recordings obtained with standard pre-gelled Ag/AgCl electrodes and direct cable connection to the ECG amplifier. The results suggest that the ECG recordings obtained with the CNT paste connector are of equivalent quality to those recorded using a silver paste connector or a direct cable and are suitable for the purpose of heart rate detection.


Materials ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amale Ankhili ◽  
Xuyuan Tao ◽  
Cédric Cochrane ◽  
David Coulon ◽  
Vladan Koncar

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