Load Position Estimation Method for Wearable Devices Based on Difference in Pulse Wave Arrival Time

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 22; no. 3; p. 1090
• Main Authors: Yoshida, Kazuki, Murao, Kazuya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 31.01.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Accuracy; Biometrics; Biometry; Body parts; electrocardiogram (ECG); Electrocardiography; Estimates; Exercise; Experiments; Female; Heart; Heart Rate; heartbeat; Humans; load position estimation; Male; Movement; Position sensing; pulse wave; Pulse Wave Analysis; Sensors; Wearable computers; wearable device; Wearable Electronic Devices; wearable sensor; Wearable technology; Weightlifting; wearable device; electrocardiogram (ECG); load position estimation; wearable sensor; heartbeat; pulse wave velocity (PWV); pulse wave
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s22031090

With the increasing use of wearable devices equipped with various sensors, information on human activities, biometrics, and surrounding environments can be obtained via sensor data at any time and place. When such devices are attached to arbitrary body parts and multiple devices are used to capture body-wide movements, it is important to estimate where the devices are attached. In this study, we propose a method that estimates the load positions of wearable devices without requiring the user to perform specific actions. The proposed method estimates the time difference between a heartbeat obtained by an ECG sensor and a pulse wave obtained by a pulse sensor, and it classifies the pulse sensor position from the estimated time difference. Data were collected at 12 body parts from four male subjects and one female subject, and the proposed method was evaluated in both user-dependent and user-independent environments. The average F-value was 1.0 when the number of target body parts was from two to five.