A Flexible Wearable Sensor Network for Bio-Signals and Human Activity Monitoring

The work presented herein addresses the development, implementation, and evaluation of a new wearable system for monitoring bio-signals and physical human activity, namely for gait analysis and cardiovascular surveillance. It consists of a wearable textile substrate (pantyhose and/or T-shirt) with embedded conductive yarns interconnecting custom electronic devices, in a mesh or other network type, that acquire bio-signals and/or inertial data. All data are aggregated in a central processing module from where they are sent via a wireless link to a mobile phone or personal computer for final processing. The network topology, sensor nodes architecture and results obtained with first prototypes are presented.