Sensor integration for perinatology research

The numbers of high-risk pregnancies and premature births are increasing due to the steadily higher age at which women get pregnant. The long-term quality of life of the neonates and their families depends increasingly critically on the ability to monitor the health status of mother and child accurately, continuously and unobtrusively throughout the perinatal period. Advances in sensor integration have enabled the creation of non-invasive solutions to improve the healthcare of the pregnant woman, and her child before, during and after delivery. In this paper, we present the design work of a smart jacket integrated with textile sensors for neonatal monitoring and software architecture of advanced sensor integration for delivery simulator. A balanced integration of technology, user focuses and design aspects is achieved. Prototypes are built for demonstrating the design concept and the experimental results are obtained in clinical settings. Keywords— sensor integration, neonatal monitoring, smart textiles, software architecture, P2P technology, design process, perinatology, perinatal monitoring, delivery simulator, electrocardiogram (ECG)