Design and Technology Transfer of RFID-Based Medical Sensing Devices

Abstract

In this paper a Battery-Assisted Passive (BAP) RFID based-on sensing system is proposed with the goal of backscattering sensor data to a reader in human monitoring activities. A suitable Printed Circuit Board (PCB) has been designed to integrate the sensors, the tag and the antenna. The sensors consist in two accurate units able to return the body temperature and the systolic pulse signals, from which the heart rate has been estimated. For the sake of transmitting the gathered sensor information, a data packet has been arranged and returned to the interrogating reader. The device size has been minimized by adopting an 866 MHz ceramic antenna. A very appreciable working distance between the tag and the reader has been obtained both in case of device worn or not. In addition to the electromagnetic properties, design aspects of sensors, microcontroller, and RFID chip and have been taken into consideration to realize a comfortable device.