Unobtrusive monitoring of biomedical signals in home environment

This paper describes recent developments in processing of signals acquired by on-body and environmental sensors to extract human vital signs. Crucial benefits of the approaches explained are in unobtrusive sensors and efficient estimation algorithms. Optical fibre interferometer (OFI) is presented in this context in more detail. We derived methods for extracting heartbeat and breathing rates from optical fibre signals. Experiments during rest were conducted with the sensor placed in bed mattress, while on-body placement of OFI was deployed in dynamic condition. Heartbeat and breathing rates were assessed by using time-frequency approaches, and simultaneously verified with referential medical devices. Preliminary results demonstrate high sensitivity and precision of proposed algorithms (over 97% for heartbeat in rest).