Sensor characterization for portable and wearable applications

Abstract

Advances in smart textiles, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), wireless devices, and sensors in general, have accelerated the development of wearable and portable monitoring solutions during the past decade. Such advances and developments have been accompanied by parallel efforts in characterization and pattern recognition in an ever-increasing number of applications in numerous areas such as medicine, rehabilitation, sports, entertainment, etc. However, when considering long-term monitoring scenarios, only modest efforts have been done in the area of sensor characterization, calibration and testing. Environmental and physical factors can induce fluctuations on sensor measurements, not to mention aging and deterioration, which need to be addressed on location with restricted resources and accessibility. The present research seeks to understand and address the needs of wearable/portable systems sensor characterization through on- location strategies.