Smart Jacket Design for Neonatal Monitoring with Wearable Sensors

• Published in: 2009 Sixth International Workshop on Wearable and Implantable Body Sensor Networks pp. 162 - 167
• Main Authors: Bouwstra, S., Feijs, L., Wei Chen, Oetomo, S.B.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.06.2009
• Subjects: Biomedical electrodes; Biomedical monitoring; Body sensor networks; ECG monitoring; Electrocardiography; Neonatal Monitoring; Pediatrics; Process design; Telecommunication network reliability; Textile Electrodes; Textile technology; wearability; Wearable sensors; Wireless communication
• ISBN: 9780769536446; 0769536441
• ISSN: 2376-8886
• DOI: 10.1109/BSN.2009.40

Critically ill new born babies admitted at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) are extremely tiny and vulnerable to external disturbance. Smart Jacket proposed in this paper is the vision of a wearable unobtrusive continuous monitoring system realized by body sensor networks (BSN) and wireless communication. The smart jacket aims for providing reliable health monitoring as well as a comfortable clinical environment for neonatal care and parent-child interaction. We present the first version of the neonatal jacket that enables ECG measurement by textile electrodes. We also explore a new solution for skin-contact challenges that textile electrodes pose. The jacket is expandable with new wearable technologies and has aesthetics that appeal to parents and medical staff. An iterative design process in close contact with the users and experts lead to a balanced integration of technology, user focus and aesthetics. We demonstrate the prototype and the experimental results obtained in clinical setting.