Multi-source Multi-frequency Bio-impedance Measurement Method for Localized Pulse Wave Monitoring

Continuous monitoring of cardiac parameters such as blood pressure (BP) and pulse transit time (PTT) from wearable devices can improve the diagnosis and management of the cardiovascular disease. Continuous monitoring of these parameters depends on monitoring arterial pulse wave based on the blood volume changes in the artery using non-invasive sensors such as bio-impedance (Bio-Z). PTT and BP monitoring require the measurement of multiple pulse signals along the artery through the placement of multiple sensors within a small distance. Conventionally, these Bio-Z sensors are excited by a single shared current source, which results in low directivity and distortion of pulse signal due to the interaction of the different sensors together. For a localized pulse sensing, each sensor should focus on a certain point on the artery to provide the most accurate arterial pulse wave, which improves PTT and BP readings. In this paper, we propose a multi-source multi-frequency method for multi-sensor Bio-Z measurement that relies on using separate current sources for each sensor with different frequencies to allow the separation of these signals in the frequency domain, which results in isolation in the spatial domain. The effectiveness of the new method was demonstrated by a reduction in the inter-beat-interval (IBI) root mean square error (RMSE) by 19% and an increase of average PTT by 15% compared to the conventional method.