Stretchable, Patch-Type, Wireless, 6-axis Inertial Measurement Unit for Mobile Health Monitoring

Wearable devices which measure and transfer signals from the human body can provide useful biometric data for various biomedical applications. In this paper, we present an implementation of the advanced Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) with wireless communication technology for mobile health monitoring. The device consists of rigid silicon-based components on a flexible/stretchable substrate for applications in epidermal electronic devices to collect precise data from the human body. Using the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) System-on-a-chip (SoC), the device can be miniaturized and portable, and the collected data can be processed with low power consumption. The dimensions of the implemented system are approximately 40 mm × 40 mm × 100 mm. Also, the device can be attached closely to human skin, which results in minimized signal distortion due to body movements or skin deformations. In order to achieve device flexibility and stretch ability, the interconnection wires are designed as serpentine-shaped structures on a stretchable substrate. The previously reported “cut-and-paste” method is utilized to fabricate the device that produces complex, twisty interconnections with thin metal sheets. The implemented patch-type, wireless, 6-axis IMU is expected to have potential in various applications, such as health monitoring, dependency care, and daily lifelogging.

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Development of an ultra-miniaturized inertial measurement unit WB-3 for human body motion tracking

2010 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration ◽

10.1109/sii.2010.5708361 ◽

2010 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Z. Lin ◽

M. Zecca ◽

S. Sessa ◽

L. Bartolomeo ◽

H. Ishii ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Body ◽

Inertial Measurement Unit ◽

Motion Tracking ◽

Body Motion ◽

Measurement Unit ◽

Inertial Measurement

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Insole Gait Acquisition System Based on Wearable Sensors

Engineering Proceedings ◽

10.3390/ecsa-8-11275 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 29

Author(s):

Niharika Gogoi ◽

Zixuan Yu ◽

Yichun Qin ◽

Jens Kirchner ◽

Georg Fischer

Keyword(s):

Health Monitoring ◽

Inertial Measurement Unit ◽

Low Cost ◽

Wearable Sensors ◽

Human Gait ◽

Measurement Unit ◽

Inertial Measurement ◽

Plantar Pressure Distribution ◽

Human Gait Analysis ◽

Insight Into

Human gait analysis is a growing field of research interest in medical treatment, sports training and structural health monitoring. In our study, we propose a low-cost insole design with wearable sensors based on piezoelectric discs (PZT) and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) to acquire the human gait. The sensors are placed at three points of a shoe sole: toe, metatarsal and heel. The human gait obtained from such an insole layout is significantly affected by plantar pressure distribution and alignment of the feet. The PZT sensors give an insight into the pressure map under the feet, and the IMUs record projection and orientation of the feet.

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Characterization of inertial measurement unit placement on the human body upon repeated donnings

2015 IEEE 12th International Conference on Wearable and Implantable Body Sensor Networks (BSN) ◽

10.1109/bsn.2015.7299398 ◽

2015 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Morris Vanegas ◽

Leia Stirling

Keyword(s):

Human Body ◽

Inertial Measurement Unit ◽

Measurement Unit ◽

Inertial Measurement

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2P1-B09 Recognition of human body movement using Inertial Measurement Unit(Sense, Motion and Measurement (3))

The Proceedings of JSME annual Conference on Robotics and Mechatronics (Robomec) ◽

10.1299/jsmermd.2012._2p1-b09_1 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 2012 (0) ◽

pp. _2P1-B09_1-_2P1-B09_4

Author(s):

Takashi AOKI ◽

Gentiane VENTURE ◽

Dana KULIC

Keyword(s):

Human Body ◽

Inertial Measurement Unit ◽

Body Movement ◽

Measurement Unit ◽

Inertial Measurement

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Segmentation of Human Body Movement Using Inertial Measurement Unit

2013 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics ◽

10.1109/smc.2013.205 ◽

2013 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Takashi Aoki ◽

Gentiane Venture ◽

Dana Kulic

Keyword(s):

Human Body ◽

Inertial Measurement Unit ◽

Body Movement ◽

Measurement Unit ◽

Inertial Measurement

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Wireless Epidermal Six-Axis Inertial Measurement Units for Real-Time Joint Angle Estimation

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app10072240 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (7) ◽

pp. 2240 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jae Keun Lee ◽

Seung Ju Han ◽

Kangil Kim ◽

Yoon Hyuk Kim ◽

Sangmin Lee

Keyword(s):

Real Time ◽

Human Body ◽

Joint Angle ◽

The Body ◽

Measurement Unit ◽

Processing Unit ◽

Solder Paste ◽

Angle Estimation ◽

Patch Type ◽

Inertial Measurement

Technological advances in wireless communications, miniaturized sensors, and low-power electronics have made it possible to implement integrated wireless body area networks (WBANs). These developments enable the applications of wireless wearable systems for diagnosis, health monitoring, rehabilitation, and dependency care. Across the current range of commercial wearable devices, the products are not firmly fixed to the human body. To minimize data error caused by movement of the human body and to achieve accurate measurements, it is essential to bring the wearable device close to the skin. This paper presents the implementation of a patch-type, six-axis inertial measurement unit (IMU) with wireless communication technology. The device comprises hard-electronic components on a stretchable elastic substrate for application in epidermal electronics, to collect precise data from the human body. Instead of the commonly used cleanroom processes of implementing devices on a stretchable substrate, a simple and inexpensive “cut-solder-paste” method is adopted to fabricate complex, convoluted interconnections. Thus, the signal distortions in the proposed device can be minimized during various physical activities and skin deformations when used in gait analysis. The inertial sensor data measured from the motion of the body can be sent in real-time via Bluetooth to any processing unit enabled with such a widespread standard wireless interface. For performance evaluation, the implemented device is mounted on a rotation plate in order to compare performance with the conventional product. In addition, an experiment on joint angle estimation is performed by attaching the device to an actual human body. The preliminary results of the device indicate the potential to monitor people in remote settings for applications in mobile health, human-computer interfaces (HCIs), and wearable robots.

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