Investigating motion artifact in reflective pulse oximetry during random motion

Despite the wide use of pulse oximetry as a clinical monitoring device for non-invasive measurement of hemoglobin oxygen saturation and heart rate, reports have shown its high sensitivity to motion artifact, rendering the device inaccurate and unreliable during ambulatory transport. This paper investigates the effects of sensor weight and localized heating on measurement accuracy during random motion, to simulate an ambulatory transport environment. While results regarding localized heat were inconclusive, we found that increased sensor weight led to measurement errors and more severe signal corruption.