A Wearable Sensor Design for Cardiorespiratory Signals Acquisition Based on PVDF Sensors

In this paper we introduce a new design of wearable sensor system for the monitoring of respiratory and heartbeats signals. The system is based on Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) film sensors that are placed on a wearable belt. PVDF is a piezoelectric material which characteristic is generating electrical potential in response to applied mechanical stress. This is used to detect respiratory signal, by the mean of chest wall motion assessment, and heartbeats sensed in the surface of the body. Three sensor system structures are tested and best sensor system design is deduced. The developed system is tested against commercial system where conventional three-leads ECG and respiratory signals are acquired simultaneously with developed system's signals and are used as reference signals. Results show that cardiorespiratory signals' parameters are accurately detected.