Implementing and Evaluating a Wireless Body Sensor System for Automated Physiological Data Acquisition at Home

TL;DR

This paper presents the development and evaluation of a lightweight, wireless body sensor system for unobtrusive physiological data collection at home, demonstrating its effectiveness in motion classification and reliable data transmission despite interference.

Contribution

It introduces a low-energy, wearable sensor system for home health monitoring and evaluates its performance in real-world scenarios with interference and environmental factors.

Findings

Motion can be classified using acceleration data.

Wireless data transmission remains satisfactory despite interference.

Housing and appliances affect wireless signal quality.

Abstract

Advances in embedded devices and wireless sensor networks have resulted in new and inexpensive health care solutions. This paper describes the implementation and the evaluation of a wireless body sensor system that monitors human physiological data at home. Specifically, a waist-mounted triaxial accelerometer unit is used to record human movements. Sampled data are transmitted using an IEEE 802.15.4 wireless transceiver to a data logger unit. The wearable sensor unit is light, small, and consumes low energy, which allows for inexpensive and unobtrusive monitoring during normal daily activities at home. The acceleration measurement tests show that it is possible to classify different human motion through the acceleration reading. The 802.15.4 wireless signal quality is also tested in typical home scenarios. Measurement results show that even with interference from nearby IEEE 802.11 signals and microwave ovens, the data delivery performance is satisfactory and can be improved by selecting an appropriate channel. Moreover, we found that the wireless signal can be attenuated by housing materials, home appliances, and even plants. Therefore, the deployment of wireless body sensor systems at home needs to take all these factors into consideration.