Textile sensor system for electrocardiogram monitoring

Wearable self-powered medical devices have long been a goal of the medical community. The ability to constantly monitor the patient´s vital signs for abnormalities, in addition to alerting first responders to immediate problems, would allow for more rapid medical treatment. As the population of the United States ages, low-cost and ubiquitous medical devices will improve the ability of medical personnel to diagnose potential health issues early, thus increasing the survival rate and decreasing the potential complications. Electrocardiograms are a major focus of the medical community due to the prevalence of heart issues among elderly Americans, and as the cost of sensors and wireless communication decreases, new devices are possible. This paper describes a Bluetooth-based, dry electrode electrocardiogram monitoring system seamlessly integrated into a T-shirt. The shirt used three dry silver-based electrodes to collect the ECG signal and streamed the resulting signal to an Android smartphone for analysis.