Continuous Artery Monitoring Using a Flexible and Wearable Single-Element Ultrasonic Sensor

Wearable health monitoring systems for ubiquitous and continuous evaluation of physiological status are facilitating a paradigm shift in the way healthcare will be delivered in the coming years. As the aging demographic in many developed countries increases, rising healthcare costs and strained hospital resources will result. Furthermore, as the pace of aging in the world is faster than in the past, according to the World Health Organization all countries will face challenges while providing health care to its citizens [1]. Home-based monitoring using low-cost wearable technologies that are capable of automatic diagnosis and supervising the physiological status of subjects may alleviate the excessive demand on the healthcare system. These systems require the development of novel sensor and measurement strategies to automate monitoring of the physiological parameters of interest. Such sensors and measurement systems must be lightweight and have low power consumption, as subjects would have to wear them continuously for long periods of time. Our research group has been developing wearable ultrasonic sensor (WUS) technology for monitoring the dynamical properties of soft tissues [2] in several areas of application.