Professional Documents
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Multisenssor Biometrica
Multisenssor Biometrica
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Received 27 October 2012
Received in revised form 30 April 2013
Accepted 1 May 2013
Available online 18 May 2013
Keywords:
Photoplethysmographic sensor
Tissue impedance measurement
Wireless sensor
Portable smart sensor
Non-invasive measurement
a b s t r a c t
In the last few years, the availability of powerful personal computing devices, like smartphones, has
opened new scenarios to the so called Body Area Network (BAN), i.e., sensor networks specically
designed to monitor physical conditions of the user. The traditional methods adopted to monitor physical
parameters, like heart beat rate or exertion level, are not suitable for real-time measurements. However,
a continuous monitoring of such kind of parameters would allow the athletes to constantly control their
physical conditions, furnishing useful information to prevent overstrain and to improve their performance. In this work, a simple, portable and low-cost system for non-invasive and real-time measurement
of physical parameters is proposed and experimentally characterized. It is composed of three units: the
sensor apparatus, electronic interface circuit, and the data transmission unit. Two different sensors are
combined in a unique structure to be placed in a clip-like fashion on the earlobe or other body part of
a person. A photoplethysmographic sensor is used to optically measure the changes of blood volume in
the arteries, thus to acquire information about heart beat, blood pressure, and arrhythmias. The second
sensor is composed of two electrodes, hence an impedance measurement of the tissue is carried out. The
impedance estimation can be used to monitor the dielectric properties of biological tissues and uids,
like blood ow. A commercial battery-operated Bluetooth earphone is used both to transmit sensor data
and to provide the power supply for the sensors and the rst conditioning electronics. Data transmission
is operated by the standard Bluetooth Hands-Free prole; therefore, sensor data can be easily acquired,
elaborated and visualized by a broad range of commercial devices. In fact, Hands-Free is the only Bluetooth data communication prole supported by any smartphone, from the low-cost ones to the high-end
devices. The experimental characterization of the prototype, performed by using a specically designed
application for Android smartphone systems, has demonstrated the validity of the proposed approach.
2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Monitoring physical data, particularly during sport activities,
can provide athletes with useful information about the body
response to fatigue. If the information was given in real-time, the
athlete could immediately recognize potential serious hazards for
his health, for example due to overstrain, thus reducing or interrupting the activity. Moreover, training programs tailored to the
athlete characteristics may take advantage of the real-time information, by suggesting him how to adjust the activity in order to
improve his performance. A system able to acquire such data from
the human body must be compact, light and portable, non-invasive
and low-power, in order to be battery-operated during outdoor use.
Several devices are today available on the market for such purposes; for instance heart rate belts are used to collect information
from athlete body and to transmit data to smartphones or dedicated devices. However, such systems are usually rather invasive
and require a careful positioning of the sensitive elements, in order
to provide meaningful results. In addition, the connection of these
sensing devices to a smartphone for data visualization requires the
use of external dongle, since typically their communication protocol is not natively supported. In [1], a new approach has been
proposed to improve the comfort and the quality of the provided
heart rate measurements. The sensor is placed on the user earlobe
and the acquired data are transmitted with wireless technology to
an end-device for data processing and visualization. Therefore, the
complexity and the cost of the sensor apparatus can be maintained
low, whereas the power consumption is comparable to the one of
the wireless transmission unit. The purpose of the present work is
to improve the system in [1], in order to collect additional physical information from the athletes body; in particular, beside the
photoplethysmographic (PPG) sensor of [1], the measurement of
the earlobe tissue impedance has been considered [2]. Data from
both sensors are transmitted by the same audio Bluetooth interface,
148
without the need for additional processing unit. The aim is to use
the audio signal to code, thanks to simple glue logic, two biological
signals. Since data collected from the sensors have not particularly
privacy issues, coding and protection of transmitted data (like for
instance in [3]) have not been considered.
The PPG sensor is used to monitor modications in blood volume in the arteries, measuring the variation of the light through
the tissues [4]. The frequency of the signal provided by the sensor is used to estimate the heart beat rate and to gather additional
information from the characteristics of the cardiac signal. For example, by analyzing the heart beat variability [5,6], it is possible to
detect events that can seriously injure athletes, such as arrhythmias or arterial stenosis and occlusions. The use of a second sensor,
operating with a different wavelength or, similarly, a single sensor employing two different wavelengths, would make possible the
estimation of the oxygen saturation in blood as well [7,8]. On the
other hand, the bio-impedance measurement is well-known in literature [9] to monitor the changes of biological tissue properties,
like for example ions concentration due to physical effort. The monitoring of such properties may help the athlete to understand the
body response to the current activity and, in accordance, to adjust
his physical effort. In the present work, the measurement of the
earlobe tissue impedance is achieved by encapsulating two electrodes in the clip support of the PPG sensor. By doing this, the size
and weight of the sensor unit applied on the athlete earlobe are not
substantially increased.
Data transmission takes advantage of the well-known and
widespread Bluetooth wireless technology, which is already used
in several applications for collecting sensor data [10,11]. In fact,
Bluetooth is natively available in almost all portable devices, such
as smartphones and tablets, which, in addition, are the best candidates for the data elaboration and visualization, thanks to the
presence of relatively high computational resources and of a touch
screen for the user interaction. Other communication technologies
typically adopted to collect data from sensors, like Wi-Fi [12] and
IEEE802.15.4 [13], present limitations regarding the power consumptions (Wi-Fi) and the support by smartphones (IEEE 802.15.4).
Other interesting approaches, like the one proposed in [14], are not
suitable for the proposed application, since the sensors are connected externally to the earlobe.
Lately, Bluetooth has been adopted for data transmission also
in sensor systems for sport activities, thus making possible a direct
communication link with the user smartphone. However, compatibility issues arise from this approach; in fact, Bluetooth standard
denes a broad set of communication proles, oriented for data
as well as audio (streaming) transmission, differently supported
by the most widespread devices on the market (Android, iOS, Windows Phone terminals). Currently, the only prole implemented by
all the devices is the Hands-Free Prole (HFP), mainly used for communication with commercial headsets. The HFP solution has been
chosen for data communication, to assure the full compatibility of
the proposed sensor systems with the most available end-devices.
This led to the need of implementing an effective rst conditioning
electronics for sensor data, which will be deeply described in the
following.
For demonstrative purposes, a data acquisition and user interface programme has been implemented in Android environment.
However, being the proposed solution independent of the used
end-device, the development of applications for other terminals
equipped with different operating systems is facilitated [1].
Fig. 1. Block scheme of the overall system; the circled part is the proposed solution
for data measurement and transmission.
149
Vcc
CLP
RLP2
RLP1
RD
RC
VPPG
VC
PPG
OA
CHP
RHP
(a)
VPPG
RST
Ct
(Ctot)
(b)
1
1
= Re(Zt ) + j Im(Zt )
j2fCi
2fCi
(1)
Also in the case when the insulator lm is applied, the information about the tissue impedance Zt can be nevertheless obtained
from the estimation of Ztot and the knowledge of Ci .
2.2. Analog front-end
The sensors need to be properly excited and sensor output signals have to be suitably conditioned before transmission; these
tasks are performed by the electronic circuits implemented in the
Fig. 3. The equivalent model of the impedance sensor when the electrodes are
covered with insulating lms.
ST
VST
Prescaler
RHP
VCar
VBT
Q
CST
Fig. 4. (a) The polarization and rst conditioning electronics for the PPG sensor. (b)
The impedance measurement and modulation circuits.
(a) 5.00E+02
3.75E+02
Zt Mag (k)
150
2.50E+02
1.25E+02
Modern personal devices, like smartphones and tablets, are usually equipped with different communication interfaces, for instance
USB, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. In comparison with other technologies,
Bluetooth has several advantages, such as simple communication
stack, safe communication channel, and availability of low-cost
and low-power devices [19]. For these reasons, Bluetooth is typically employed to provide communication with add-on devices,
like earphones, headsets, game devices and many more. Lately, a
new release of Bluetooth standard is available, the so called Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) [15], which is also known with the name
Bluetooth Smart. Typically this protocol is adopted for the development of sensors network [16], where the power consumption
is one of the main design parameters, like in medical and tness
appliances [17]. Nevertheless, despite its low power consumption,
comparable to other very low power technology like IEEE 802.15.a
[18], this solution cannot be employed in the proposed approach,
since a prole for the continuous transmission of data stream is not
available. In addition, only high-end devices are equipped with BLE
at present time, limiting its compatibility, which is one of the main
advantages of the proposed approach.
There are several Bluetooth proles available for data as well as
audio communication; however, not all of them are implemented
by the operating systems adopted in smartphones and tablets. For
instance, Android supports some of the proles (data and audio)
provided by the standard, whereas iOS implements other proles
(HFP 1.5, PBAP, A2DP, AVRCP, PAN, HID) not compatible with the
previous ones.
The audio Hands-Free Prole (HFP) has been selected for the
transmission of the sensor signal, because it is supported by the
most of the devices on the market (included Android, iOS systems and Windows Phone 8) and due to the easy recovery of the
transmitted sensor data at application level. The Hands-Free Prole
denes how a headset (Hands-Free Unit) can be interfaced with
an audio gateway device (e.g., smartphone, tablet, and more),
for transmitting or receiving audio signals. The monaural audio
channel is transmitted over the Synchronous Connection-Oriented
(SCO) link using Continuously Variable Slope Delta Modulation
(CVSD) or a Pulse Code Modulation (PCM). It should be noted
that only one audio connection per time is supported between
the Hands-Free unit and the audio gateway; if data from multiple sensors need to be transmitted, it is necessary to combine the
information to form a single analog signal.
Among the available commercial devices operating with the
Hands-Free prole, a low-cost earphone, the Essential Headset
from Cellular Line, has been used. The earphone circuit has been
modied by introducing an electronic switch; this allows the user
to select data to transmit to the end-device, that is the sensor signal provided by the analog front-end or the integrated microphone
signal. Hence, the modied earphone can be used for monitoring
purposes as well as like a traditional earphone. Thus, the proposed
measurement system could be easily integrated in headsets available on the market.
0.00E+00
4000
8000
12000
16000
20000
(b)
Zt Phase (Deg)
Frequency (Hz)
-40
-80
0
4000
8000
12000
16000
20000
Frequency (Hz)
Fig. 5. The magnitude (a) and phase (b) of the earlobe impedance Zt measured
with the proposed sensor (without insulating lm) and acquired with an impedance
analyser.
1
2fCt
(2)
1
2fCt
1
1
1
=
+
Ctot
Ct
Ci
1
2fCi
1
2fCi
= j
1
2fCtot
(3)
(4)
(a) 160000
120000
80000
40000
0
0
4000
8000
12000
16000
20000
Frequency (Hz)
(b)
-40
-80
-120
0
4000
8000
12000
16000
20000
Frequency (Hz)
Fig. 6. The magnitude (a) and phase (b) of the earlobe impedance Ztot measured
with the proposed sensor (with insulating lm) and acquired with an impedance
analyser.
151
Fig. 7. Digital scope acquisition of the non-ltered PPG sensor output (VC of Fig. 4(a)).
152
Fig. 8. Digital scope acquisition of the ltered PPG sensor output (VPPG of Fig. 4(a)).
Fig. 9. Digital scope acquisition of the ltered (VPPG of Fig. 4(a)) and modulated (VBT of Fig. 4(b)) PPG sensor output.
153
Fig. 10. Screenshot of the demo App implemented for an Android smartphone.
4. Conclusions
Non-invasive and real-time measurement of physical parameters requires a simple, portable and low cost system able to collect
the information without interfering with athletic training. A system composed of a Bluetooth earphone equipped with a PPG and
tissue impedance sensors, to be applied on the earlobe of the athlete, has been proposed. Thanks to an effective processing of the
sensor data, an audio signal, suitable to be transmitted with Bluetooth earphones operating with the standard Hands-Free prole,
can be obtained. Therefore, a broad range of portable devices, such
as smartphones and tablets, can be used to acquire the sensor signal, for real-time processing, data visualization, and user interface.
Data obtained from the estimation of the heart beat rate and the
earlobe impedance can be used to provide to the athlete real-time
information concerning the response of the body to the fatigue,
thus allowing them to adjust his activity, avoiding health risks and
to improve his performance. The multi-sensor prototype described
Biographies
Alessandro Depari was born in Italy, in 1976. He received the Laurea degree in
Electronics Engineering and the Ph.D. degree in Electronic Instrumentation from
the University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy, in 2002 and 2006, respectively. Since 2007,
he has been an Assistant Professor (Researcher) with the Department of Information Engineering, University of Brescia. He is co-author of more than 50 scientic
papers published on international journals and conference proceedings. His research
interests are in the areas of signal conditioning and processing for chemical sensors,
particularly resonant and resistive sensors for articial olfactory systems, the development of sensor networks for distributed measurement, and the design of methods
and digital electronic circuits for numeric measurement instrumentation.
154
Alessandra Flammini was born in Brescia, Italy, in 1960. She received the M.Sc.
degree (with honours) in physics from the University of Rome, Rome, Italy, in 1985.
From 1985 to 1995, she was involved with industrial research and development on
digital drive control. Currently, she is with the Department of Information Engineering, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy, where she was a Researcher from 1995 to
2002 and has been an Associate Professor since 2002. She teaches several courses
about measurements in industrial environments and digital electronic systems. Her
main research activity includes embedded systems, measurement instrumentation,
sensor signal processing, smart sensors, wired and wireless sensor networking, synchronization and smart grids.
Stefano Rinaldi was born in Seriate, Italy, in 1982. He received the degree with
honours in electronics engineering in 2006 and the Ph.D. degree in electronic
instrumentation in 2010 from the University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy. His main
research activities are focused on performance analysis of industrial network,
wireless sensor network, smart sensors, real-time Ethernet, eldbus applications,
synchronization methods, FPGA SoC design, and Linux-embedded software development.
Angelo Vezzoli was born in Chiari in 1983. He graduated in Electronics Engineering
at University of Brescia in 2010 with a thesis titled triassial accelerometer with USB
communication. In 2010 he held research grant at University of Brescia on a project
of development of hybrid network: wired and wireless. Currently, he studies for
Ph.D. course in Electronic Sensors and Instrumentation at University of Brescia. The
main themes of his researches are about smart metering, protocols and systems of
communication on smart metering scenario.