While health monitors have exploded on to the consumer electronics scene over the past decade, researchers say this device, which can be synched in real time to your smartphone, is the first fully integrated electronic system that can provide continuous, noninvasive monitoring of multiple biochemicals in perspiration.
The advance opens doors to wearable devices that alert users to health problems such as fatigue, dehydration, and dangerously high body temperatures.
“Human sweat contains physiologically rich information, thus making it an attractive body fluid for non-invasive wearable sensors,” says study principal investigator Ali Javey, professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at the University of California at Berkeley and principal investigator of the study that is published in the journal Nature.
“However, sweat is complex and it is necessary to measure multiple targets to extract meaningful information about your state of health.
“In this regard, we have developed a fully integrated system that simultaneously and selectively measures multiple sweat analytes, and wirelessly transmits the processed data to a smartphone. Our work presents a technology platform for sweat-based health monitors.”
“Having a wearable sweat sensor is really incredible because the metabolites and electrolytes measured by the Javey device are vitally important for the health and well-being of an individual,” says coauthor George Brooks, Berkeley professor of integrative biology.
Headbands and Wristbands
The prototype packs five sensors on to a flexible circuit board. The sensors measure the metabolites glucose and lactate, the electrolytes sodium and potassium, and skin temperature.
“The integrated system allows us to use the measured skin temperature to calibrate and adjust the readings of other sensors in real time,” says Wei Gao, a postdoctoral fellow in Javey’s lab. “This is important because the response of glucose and lactate sensors can be greatly influenced by temperature.”
Adjacent to the sensor array is a wireless printed circuit board with off-the-shelf silicon components. The researchers used more than 10 integrated circuit chips responsible for taking the measurements from the sensors, amplifying the signals, adjusting for temperature changes, and wirelessly transmitting the data. The researchers developed an app to sync the data from the sensors to mobile phones, and then fitted the device onto “smart” wristbands and headbands.
Source: www.futurity.org
