Design and in vitro Characterization of a Wearable Multisensing System for Hydration Monitoring
Sarah Tonello, Alberto Zacchini, Alessandra Galli, Ata Golparvar, Ali Meimandi, Giacomo Peruzzi, Alessandro Pozzebon, Nicolò Lago, Andrea Cester, Giada Giorgi, Sandro Carrara, Claudio Narduzzi
Abstract
Dehydration is a frequent condition in the elderly and can lead to serious health complications if not compensated timely. Early diagnosis can be problematic, as medical examinations in hospital would be needed. Fully wearable low-cost multi-sensing devices for home use could help investigate and prevent critical conditions. We introduce a sensing platform designed for operation in remote healthcare for the elderly. It combines a low-cost, highly customizable flexible inkjet-printed multi-sensor bracelet, including sensors for body impedance, skin hydration and temperature monitoring, with a small, low-power front-end circuit and an embedded unit that communicates by a Low Power Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) transmission interface. We describe individual system components and present <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">in-vitro</i> experiments for their characterization. Reported results represent the fundamental proof of concept for the development of a fully operating device that can be used satisfactorily to monitor dehydration in a real-life application scenario.