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A Portable Sensor for Skin Bioimpedance Measurements

Received: 1 July 2019    Accepted: 25 July 2019    Published: 10 August 2019
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Abstract

The costs of pressure injury treatments continue to rise with a steadily aging population and consistent pressure injury incidence rates. Evidence suggests that the bioimpedance of living tissues changes in response to continuous pressure loading and may be useful as an indicator for the onset of pressure injuries. Therefore, the development of a low-cost, accurate, and portable sensor capable of measuring the bioimpedance of human skin has practical significance in the development of pressure injury prevention devices. This paper reports the design and characterization of a system for measuring skin impedance based on the AD5933 impedance analyzer. The sensor was tested for accuracy via measurements of a simplified electrical equivalent skin model. Long duration measurement stability was assessed over 24 hours and skin measurement repeatability was performed on the volar forearm. The power consumption was measured both during idle and when transmitting data for each major component. The sensor demonstrated accuracies similar to those reported for other AFE’s used in conjunction with the AD5933. Additionally, the sensor shows good stability over long measurement durations as well as good repeatability when measuring the skin bioimpedance on the volar forearm. Power consumption was as expected and future suggestions for lowering the overall circuit power consumption and size are presented.

Published in International Journal of Sensors and Sensor Networks (Volume 7, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijssn.20190701.11
Page(s) 1-8
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Bioimpedance, Portable, Skin, Pressure, Ulcer

References
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[7] Bates-Jensen, B. M., H. E. McCreath, and V. Pongquan, Subepidermal moisture is associated with early pressure ulcer damage in nursing home residents with dark skin tones: pilot findings. J Wound Ostomy Continence Nurs, 2009. 36(3): p. 277-84.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Joshua Robert Harvey, Yitzhak Mendelson. (2019). A Portable Sensor for Skin Bioimpedance Measurements. International Journal of Sensors and Sensor Networks, 7(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijssn.20190701.11

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    ACS Style

    Joshua Robert Harvey; Yitzhak Mendelson. A Portable Sensor for Skin Bioimpedance Measurements. Int. J. Sens. Sens. Netw. 2019, 7(1), 1-8. doi: 10.11648/j.ijssn.20190701.11

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    AMA Style

    Joshua Robert Harvey, Yitzhak Mendelson. A Portable Sensor for Skin Bioimpedance Measurements. Int J Sens Sens Netw. 2019;7(1):1-8. doi: 10.11648/j.ijssn.20190701.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijssn.20190701.11,
      author = {Joshua Robert Harvey and Yitzhak Mendelson},
      title = {A Portable Sensor for Skin Bioimpedance Measurements},
      journal = {International Journal of Sensors and Sensor Networks},
      volume = {7},
      number = {1},
      pages = {1-8},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijssn.20190701.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijssn.20190701.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijssn.20190701.11},
      abstract = {The costs of pressure injury treatments continue to rise with a steadily aging population and consistent pressure injury incidence rates. Evidence suggests that the bioimpedance of living tissues changes in response to continuous pressure loading and may be useful as an indicator for the onset of pressure injuries. Therefore, the development of a low-cost, accurate, and portable sensor capable of measuring the bioimpedance of human skin has practical significance in the development of pressure injury prevention devices. This paper reports the design and characterization of a system for measuring skin impedance based on the AD5933 impedance analyzer. The sensor was tested for accuracy via measurements of a simplified electrical equivalent skin model. Long duration measurement stability was assessed over 24 hours and skin measurement repeatability was performed on the volar forearm. The power consumption was measured both during idle and when transmitting data for each major component. The sensor demonstrated accuracies similar to those reported for other AFE’s used in conjunction with the AD5933. Additionally, the sensor shows good stability over long measurement durations as well as good repeatability when measuring the skin bioimpedance on the volar forearm. Power consumption was as expected and future suggestions for lowering the overall circuit power consumption and size are presented.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - A Portable Sensor for Skin Bioimpedance Measurements
    AU  - Joshua Robert Harvey
    AU  - Yitzhak Mendelson
    Y1  - 2019/08/10
    PY  - 2019
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijssn.20190701.11
    T2  - International Journal of Sensors and Sensor Networks
    JF  - International Journal of Sensors and Sensor Networks
    JO  - International Journal of Sensors and Sensor Networks
    SP  - 1
    EP  - 8
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2329-1788
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijssn.20190701.11
    AB  - The costs of pressure injury treatments continue to rise with a steadily aging population and consistent pressure injury incidence rates. Evidence suggests that the bioimpedance of living tissues changes in response to continuous pressure loading and may be useful as an indicator for the onset of pressure injuries. Therefore, the development of a low-cost, accurate, and portable sensor capable of measuring the bioimpedance of human skin has practical significance in the development of pressure injury prevention devices. This paper reports the design and characterization of a system for measuring skin impedance based on the AD5933 impedance analyzer. The sensor was tested for accuracy via measurements of a simplified electrical equivalent skin model. Long duration measurement stability was assessed over 24 hours and skin measurement repeatability was performed on the volar forearm. The power consumption was measured both during idle and when transmitting data for each major component. The sensor demonstrated accuracies similar to those reported for other AFE’s used in conjunction with the AD5933. Additionally, the sensor shows good stability over long measurement durations as well as good repeatability when measuring the skin bioimpedance on the volar forearm. Power consumption was as expected and future suggestions for lowering the overall circuit power consumption and size are presented.
    VL  - 7
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Biomedical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, USA

  • Department of Biomedical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, USA

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