Wearable Sensor Signal Processing and Data Analytics for Health Applications

Advances in nano-fabrication and MEMS devices have led to radical improvements in sensing technologies in recent years. These improvements are most visible to all of us in our SmartPhones that already feature a panoply of miniaturized sensors. Many of the same sensors are also positively impacting several other application domains. In this talk, we highlight how smart light-weight body worn sensors are set to revolutionize healthcare and the practice of medicine by providing technologies for assessing biomarkers for physiological and physical attributes related to disease condition, treatment effectiveness, and longitudinal progression. In contrast with the subjective, sporadic in-clinic assessments that are in common use today, body-worn sensors can provide objective and repeatable measurements and based on extended periods of continuous monitoring. We present examples from our recent and ongoing research that features light-weight, low-power sensors that can be affixed to the body like adhesive temporary tattoos, in a diverse set of health monitoring applications including quantification of movement disorders for Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases, stroke rehabilitation, and cardiac monitoring. We present examples of signal processing and data analytics for these applications that effectively exploit the sensor measurements. Finally, we highlight ongoing and emerging directions for research and development.