Low-Cost Wearable Sensor Based on a D-Shaped Plastic Optical Fiber for Respiration Monitoring

Skin-like and highly elastic optical fiber strain sensor based on a knot-bend shape for human motion monitoring

A simply designed, highly sensitive, stretchable, compact wearable, and skin-like optical fiber sensing instrument is designed and demonstrated for joint motion monitoring. The fiber sensing scheme comprises only a section of single-mode fiber (SMF) deformed in the knot-like configuration, which performs as a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) based on a modal coupling mechanism between the core and cladding modes of the deformed SMF section. This proposed optical fiber sensor based on a knot-like configuration is mounted onto wearable woven fabric and then garments on the limbs of a healthy human's body. As the flexion angle of the human limb is varied, the interference fringe coding based on the spectral shift difference of the periodical transmission spectra is perceived. The proposed wearable optical fiber sensor exhibits excellent sensitivities from around -0.431 to -0.614n m/∘ realized for elbow and knee joint flexion between a range of motion around 0°-90°. Additionally, this sensor also displays high repeatability and stability and a fast response time of 1.4 ms, combined with a small standard deviation of about 2.585%. The proposed sensor device possesses manufacturing simplicity, high processing accuracy, lightness, and elasticity, as well as certain improvements over other goniometers and optical fiber sensors. These attributes of the proposed sensor prove its applicability for human joint angle monitoring.

Wearable Optical Fiber Sensors in Medical Monitoring Applications: A Review

Wearable optical fiber sensors have great potential for development in medical monitoring. With the increasing demand for compactness, comfort, accuracy, and other features in new medical monitoring devices, the development of wearable optical fiber sensors is increasingly meeting these requirements. This paper reviews the latest evolution of wearable optical fiber sensors in the medical field. Three types of wearable optical fiber sensors are analyzed: wearable optical fiber sensors based on Fiber Bragg grating, wearable optical fiber sensors based on light intensity changes, and wearable optical fiber sensors based on Fabry-Perot interferometry. The innovation of wearable optical fiber sensors in respiration and joint monitoring is introduced in detail, and the main principles of three kinds of wearable optical fiber sensors are summarized. In addition, we discuss their advantages, limitations, directions to improve accuracy and the challenges they face. We also look forward to future development prospects, such as the combination of wireless networks which will change how medical services are provided. Wearable optical fiber sensors offer a viable technology for prospective continuous medical surveillance and will change future medical benefits.

Highly sensitive curvature sensor based on a sandwich multimode fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer

A highly sensitive optical fiber Mach-Zehnder interference curvature sensor based on MMF-GIMMF-MMF, which was made by sandwiching the graded-index multimode fiber (GIMMF) between two pieces of very short stepped-index multimode fibers (SIMMFs) spliced with input-single-mode fiber (SMF) and output-SMF, respectively, was proposed. The core diameter of the SIMMFs and GIMMF was 105 µm and 50 µm, respectively, and cladding diameter of them were both 125 µm. The sensing principle of the MMF-GIMMF- MMF sensors and the influences of structure parameters on the interference spectrum characteristics were theoretically analyzed in detail. Experimental results showed that when the length of the GIMMF was short enough (usually ≤ 10 mm), interference spectrum was induced by the interaction between the core modes and the low-order cladding modes due to the special structure of the designed Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Intensity of the interference valleys was highly sensitive to the applied bending but nearly independent of the surrounding temperature, on the contrary, the dip wavelength showed negligible sensitivity to the applied bending but relatively high temperature sensitivity. Thus, a temperature- independent curvature sensor could be realized by tracing the intensity variation of interference valley. In addition, different interference valley exhibited different intensity-based curvature sensitivity, providing more options for curvature sensing applications. Especially, total length of the sensor could be as short as 3 mm with length of GIMMF and SIMMFs only 1mm, the maximum curvature sensitivity could reach up to -78.75 dB/m^-1 in the small curvature range of 0-2.36 m^-1. Owing to its compact size, easy fabrication, good reproducibility and low cost, the proposed sensor is promising for bending-related high-precision engineering applications.

The Current State of Optical Sensors in Medical Wearables

Optical sensors play an increasingly important role in the development of medical diagnostic devices. They can be very widely used to measure the physiology of the human body. Optical methods include PPG, radiation, biochemical, and optical fiber sensors. Optical sensors offer excellent metrological properties, immunity to electromagnetic interference, electrical safety, simple miniaturization, the ability to capture volumes of nanometers, and non-invasive examination. In addition, they are cheap and resistant to water and corrosion. The use of optical sensors can bring better methods of continuous diagnostics in the comfort of the home and the development of telemedicine in the 21st century. This article offers a large overview of optical wearable methods and their modern use with an insight into the future years of technology in this field.