Capacitive Coupled Electrocardiography Measurements Employing Flexible Electrodes in a Car Seat

Although traffic safety is continuously improving, transportation still causes considerable personal and property damage. The majority of accidents happen because of human error. Monitoring the driver’s condition can be a means to reduce such events. Daimler AG is already working towards this subject, e.g. in the BMBF (German Ministry for Education and Research) funded project INSITEX (Aktive Insassensicherheit durch intelligente Textilien), the goal of which is to amend driver’s safety with intelligent textiles. Here we present a study on the integration of Capacitive Coupled ElectroCardioGraphy (CCECG) into the seat of an upper class model of the Mercedes-Benz S-class to assist in observing the driver’s condition without compromising any driving comfort. An electrode employing intelligent textile technology being integrated into the car seat is taken to measure CCECG, enabling to incorporate the measurement set-up into a car seat.