DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A WEARABLE, MULTIPARAMETER PHYSIOLOGICAL MONITORING SYSTEM FOR THE STUDY OF HUMAN HEAT STRESS, COLD STRESS, AND THERMAL COMFORT

This article describes the design and implementation of a wearable, multiparameter physiological monitoring system called the Sensing Belt system, which consists of multiple sensors integrated into fabric that communicates with a physiological data acquisition unit (PDAU) that in turn transmits these data to a remote monitoring center (RMC) for analysis. A number of vital signs can be acquired by the system, including electrocardiography (ECG), respiratory inductance plethysmograph (RIP), posture/activity, multipoint skin temperature (TSK), and rectal temperature (TRC). The physiological data can be stored on a MicroSD card or transmitted to the RMC, where specialized analysis will be provided to extract parameters such as heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and human energy expenditure. The RMC can receive physiological data from up to 16 Sensing Belt users simultaneously. A medical validation test was carried out to compare the accuracy of the physiological data obtained from the Sensing Belt system with data obtained concurrently from traditional, calibrated laboratory physiological monitoring instruments. The results showed that most of the variables measured by the Sensing Belt are within acceptable error limits. The mean temperature on two trials (walking and running) showed significantly higher mean differences than on other trials, but the correlation coefficient (r) remained high (0.985 and 0.989, respectively). This study demonstrates the accuracy of the Sensing Belt system for the monitoring of these physiological parameters and suggests that it could be used to provide a complete human physiological monitoring platform for the study of human heat stress, cold stress, and thermal comfort.