Title: Sensor integration for perinatology research

Authors: Wei Chen, Jun Hu, Sibrecht Bouwstra, Sidarto Bambang Oetomo, Loe Feijs

Addresses: Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, Den Dolech 2, 5612 AZ, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. ' Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, Den Dolech 2, 5612 AZ, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. ' Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, Den Dolech 2, 5612 AZ, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. ' Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, Den Dolech 2, 5612 AZ, Eindhoven, The Netherlands; Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Maxima Medical Center, 5500 MB, Veldhoven, The Netherlands. ' Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, Den Dolech 2, 5612 AZ, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Abstract: The number of high-risk pregnancies and premature births is increasing due to the steadily higher age at which women get pregnant. The long-term quality of life of the neonates and their families depends increasingly critically on the ability to monitor the health status of mother and child accurately, continuously and unobtrusively throughout the perinatal period. Advances in sensor integration have enabled the creation of non-invasive solutions to improve the healthcare of the pregnant woman, and her child before, during and after delivery. In this paper, we present the design work of a smart jacket integrated with textile sensors for neonatal monitoring and software architecture of advanced sensor integration for delivery simulator. A balanced integration of technology, user focuses and design aspects is achieved. Prototypes are built for demonstrating the design concept and the experimental results are obtained in clinical settings.

Keywords: sensor integration; neonatal monitoring; smart textiles; software architecture; P2P technology; peer-to-peer; design process; perinatology; perinatal monitoring; ECG; electrocardiograms; high-risk pregnancies; premature births; smart jackets; textile sensors; delivery simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSNET.2011.037303

International Journal of Sensor Networks, 2011 Vol.9 No.1, pp.38 - 49

Published online: 02 Dec 2010 *

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