Whole System Design of a Wearable Magnetic Induction Sensor for Physical Rehabilitation

Wearable sensor technologies attract increasing attention for continuous monitoring of human health. Much effort is devoted to exploit well-designed materials to realize superior abilities, such as high sensitivity, stability, and responsiveness. However, it hardly meets huge demands for practically wearable applications simply focusing on the development of sensing materials in isolation. Comprehensive consideration is given from upstream materials to endure market, including materials design, sensor assembly, signal analysis, theoretical foundation, and final system performance, such as sensitivity, stability, responsiveness, cost, comfortability, and durability. Herein, a systematic design is presented that combines a conductive fiber fabrication based on surface nanotechnology, device assembly process optimization, signal acquisition and analysis, and theoretical simulation, through a new multidisciplinary strategy integrating material science, textile technology, electromagnetics, and electronic engineering. The as-constructed magnetic inductance sensing system shows approximately six-times inductance change with regard to joint bending motions during rehabilitation exercises. This integrated design strategy offers a new concept, namely, a whole sensing system design, for wearable technologies in real-time health monitoring applications.