Design of a Telemedical Vest for Sleep Disorder Diagnosis - A Preliminary Analysis

Abstract This paper presents the components of a sleep apnea analysis device that have been evaluated for diagnosis suitability and expected difficulties. The medical background and statistics of sleep apnea are presented. Work related to the topic is then discussed. A description of the system components follows: ECG, respiratory effort, nasal flow and pulse oximetry. Problems expected with all of these measurements are then outlined both from the methodological and electronic perspective. The main difficulties identified are the necessity to maintain the exact location of the sensors on the patient’s body and vulnerability of the sensors to variations of the environmental conditions. Challenges on the electronic aspect are then discussed, which are mainly caused by the need of measuring small signals (noise, interference) and compensation of the sensors’ nonlinearity. Power supply design in the context of the measurement accuracy is also considered followed by an evaluation of the impact of telemedical function presence. The paper ends with a summary and conclusions.