Patient Movement Monitoring and Respiration Rate Analysis with an Acceleration Sensor

Abstract

This paper presents an electronic circuit that is used to monitor a patient’s respiration rate by analyzing the patient’s thoracic movements with an acceleration sensor that is fixed to the patient’s chest.

By analyzing and processing thoracic movements that are converted into electrical signals by an accelerometer, the “movement state” of the patient (“not moving” or “in movement”) is determined and the patient’s respiratory rate is obtained.

The paper contains:

• considerations concerning the proper design and implementation of the acquisition module in order to obtain minimal noise at the analog-to-digital conversion;

• schematics and an experimental model of the circuit;

• the algorithm that determines the movement state of the patient;

• experimental data for patients in diverse conditions.