Ricerc@Sapienza

In this paper, the design and characterization of a device, able to analyze the electrical bio-impedance in the frequency domain and its variations with time, is presented. The whole system design, that employs a tetra-polar electrode configuration, a specifically developed printed circuit board, and a data acquisition card connected to a PC, is presented. The measurement system is controlled through LabVIEW virtual instruments.

Impedance plethysmography is a technique which allows the monitoring of respiratory activity through the measurement of variations in the trans-thoracic impedance. Provided the measurement system has enough sensitivity, the same technique can also detect heartbeats, thus adding cardiac activity monitoring capabilities. In this paper, a comparison is performed between 2-electrode and 4-electrode systems, considering both volt-amperometric and AC-bridge solutions.

Bioelectrical impedance analysis applied to pneumographic investigation is a technique for monitoring the respiratory activity through the measurement of variations in the trans-thoracic electrical impedance. In this paper, a low-cost reconfigurable measurement system is presented. The system is based on a 4-electrode volt-amperometric technique and a network of inertial sensors for correction of arms motion artifacts. The trans-thoracic impedance was acquired via an ad-hoc programmed LabVIEW software.

In this paper, the design and characterization of a device, able to analyze the electrical bio-impedance in the frequency domain and its variations with time, is presented. The whole system design, that employs a tetra-polar electrode configuration, a specifically developed printed circuit board, and a data acquisition card connected to a PC, is presented. The measurement system is controlled through LabVIEW virtual instruments.

Impedance plethysmography is a technique that allows monitoring changes in the volume of specific tissues or organs inside the human body, through the measurement of variations in the bio-impedance between electrodes placed on the body surface. One of its best-known applications is the monitoring of respiratory activity based on trans-thoracic impedance measurements. Provided the measurement system has enough sensitivity, trans-thoracic impedance can also allow the detection of heartbeats, thus adding cardiac activity monitoring capabilities.

Unobtrusive and continuous monitoring of vital signs is becoming more and more important
both for patient monitoring in the home environment and for sports activity tracking. Even though
many gadgets and clinical systems exist, the need for simple, low-cost and easily applicable solutions
still remains, especially in view of a more widespread use within everyone’s reach. The paper presents
a fully wearable and wireless sensorized belt, suitable to simultaneously acquire respiratory and