Respiratory and heart rate monitoring using an FBG 3D-printed wearable system

Abstract

This work proposes a 3D-printed sensor based on fiber Bragg grating (FBG) technology for respiratory rate (RR) and heart rate (HR) monitoring. Each sensor is composed of a single FBG fully encapsulated into a 3D-printable <i>Flexible</i>, during the printing process. Sensors with different material thicknesses and infill densities were tested. The sensor with the best metrological properties was selected and preliminary assessed in terms of capability of monitoring RR and HR on three users. Preliminary results proved that the developed sensor can be a valuable easy-to-fabricate solution, with high reproducibility and high strain sensitivity to chest wall deformations due to breathing and heart beating.