Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY

A DIY approach to wearable sensor networks

Nature Electronics volume 4, pages 771–772 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Textile-integrated metamaterials can be used to propagate signals across the body, and between different people, allowing a network of sensors to be connected and powered.

Wearable sensors can be an important tool for understanding a person’s health, and take a variety of forms, including watches, glasses, skin patches, earphones, headbands and clothing. When two or more sensors are worn together, they can form a network of connected devices called a body area network1,2. Such networks can collect physiological signals from multiple sites, compute vital health metrics and transmit data to the cloud. They can, therefore, have broad applications in fitness tracking and health monitoring, and could be used to develop a connected personal healthcare system.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: A body area network based on textile-integrated metamaterials.

References

  1. Yuce, M. R. Sens. Actuat. A 162.1, 116–129 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Chu, B., Burnett, W., Chung, J. W. & Bao, Z. Nature 549, 328–330 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Tian, X. et al. Nat. Electron. 2, 243–251 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Stuart, T. et al. Biosens. Bioelectron. 178, 113007 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Hajiaghajani, A. et al. Nat. Electron. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-021-00663-0 (2021).

  6. Lin, R. et al. Nat. Commun. 11, 444 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Mishra, V. & Kiourti, A. IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag. 69, 2864–2876 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Shamonina, E. et al. J. Appl. Phys. 92, 6252–6261 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Health Innovation and Technology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Rongzhou Lin & John S. Ho

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    John S. Ho

  3. The N.1 Institute for Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    John S. Ho

Authors
  1. Rongzhou Lin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. John S. Ho
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John S. Ho.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lin, R., Ho, J.S. A DIY approach to wearable sensor networks. Nat Electron 4, 771–772 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-021-00674-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-021-00674-x

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing