biosensors

Editorial
Towards Wearable Health Monitoring Devices
Vladimir A. Pozdin 1,2, * and James Dieffenderfer 3

1 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33174, USA
2 Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33174, USA
3 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27606,
USA; [email protected]
* Correspondence: [email protected]

Humans have searched far beyond our planet to understand the fundamental princi-
ples and mechanisms of life. Although this search has extended outwards past our Earth,
the recent advances in micro and soft electronics have shifted the focus back inwards—
understanding how our bodies function and how to improve and prolong their lifespan.
Research has even ventured inside the human body to explore the fundamental principles
and building blocks of human thought with spatial and temporal recordings of neuronal
activity. Biomarker and performance monitoring are seen as key elements to maintaining
our health, identifying detrimental activities, and reinforcing healthy habits. The recent
global pandemic has underscored the importance of health and environmental monitoring
for complete and up-to-date information on our health and to guide us to a higher quality
of life and greater worldly advances.
Advances in microelectronics, such as the development of flexible and stretchable cir-
cuits boards, have led to a boom in wearable sensors; the watershed moment of having low-
cost health monitoring and diagnostic devices is upon us. Monetization of personal data
by technology giants has demonstrated that our uniqueness can be analyzed, quantified,
and predicted. These advances have fueled research into quantification and predication
of health, particularly in the area of neurological diseases and disorders. As most neuro-
Citation: Pozdin, V.A.; Dieffenderfer, logical diseases do not manifest until late stages of the disease, current focus is on early
J. Towards Wearable Health detection and development of cures for pre-terminal patients. Advances in computational
Monitoring Devices. Biosensors 2022, algorithms on established datasets show great promise in achieving these goals; however,
12, 322. https://doi.org/10.3390/ the pandemic has shown a great disparity in existing datasets, as common pulse oximeters
bios12050322 fail to provide accurate results for individuals with non-white skin pigmentation [1]. These
Received: 8 May 2022
failures expose the need for large universal datasets, which could lead to advances for
Accepted: 9 May 2022
the entire human race. In addition, early detection data are needed for patients outside
Published: 11 May 2022
of a hospital setting to identify early stage disease biomarkers. To achieve this level of
monitoring, the sensors need to evolve from benchtop financial behemoths to low-cost
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral
portable sensors, which can seamlessly be part of our daily life. As technology advances
with regard to jurisdictional claims in
towards portable sensing, one of the challenges is the integration of all subsystems into an
published maps and institutional affil-
unobtrusive device for continuous data collections (Figure 1). Significant breakthroughs are
iations.
possible through the deployment of sensors to the wider public for unobtrusive long-term
monitoring, as it is not feasible to subject participants to life threatening conditions to
advance early detection.
Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
Unobtrusive long-term monitoring devices require focus on materials research, circuit
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. design, fabrication, user interaction, and data processing. Conformable circuit design is
This article is an open access article needed to attach devices to the skin without strong adhesives and achieve low noise levels.
distributed under the terms and Fabric integration is a viable route for a wide range of sensors, including environmental
conditions of the Creative Commons monitoring, however significant durability improvements of textile devices are needed for
Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// deployment. Wearable devices require noise and motion resilient circuitry and algorithms, as
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ well as multimodal sensing to provide user’s context for the measurements. One of the biggest
4.0/). challenges of wearable sensors is the power source to achieve reusable long-term operation,

Biosensors 2022, 12, 322. https://doi.org/10.3390/bios12050322 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/biosensors

Biosensors 2022, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 2

Biosensors 2022, 12, 322 algorithms, as well as multimodal sensing to provide user’s context for the measurements. 2 of 2
One of the biggest challenges of wearable sensors is the power source to achieve reusable
long-term operation, as device safety requires encapsulation, and ideal source is self-con-
tained, non-hazardous, and durable. Importantly, device communication and user inte-
as device safety requires encapsulation, and ideal source is self-contained, non-hazardous,
gration are vital to achieve user adherence and long-term data collection. Due to vast de-
and durable. Importantly, device communication and user integration are vital to achieve
sign criteria of wearable sensors, numerous sensors demonstrated for wearable detection
user adherence and long-term data collection. Due to vast design criteria of wearable sensors,
of biomarkers utilized benchtop hardware, lacked wireless communication, relied on pro-
numerous sensors demonstrated for wearable detection of biomarkers utilized benchtop
prietary software for data analysis, or lacked a power module. Extensive collaboration
hardware, lacked wireless communication, relied on proprietary software for data analysis, or
across the
lacked scientific
a power community
module. is needed
Extensive to advance
collaboration the
across research
the towards
scientific trulyiswearable
community needed to
and imperceptible sensors.
advance the research towards truly wearable and imperceptible sensors.

Figure 1. Wearable sensor past, current, and future. Early sensors focused on monitoring training
Figure 1. Wearable sensor past, current, and future. Early sensors focused on monitoring training
of of military
military personnel
personnel andand athletes.
athletes. Current
Current personal
personal electronics
electronics boom
boom integrates
integrates activity
activity and
and health
health
monitoring into existing electronics (smart phones, watches, prosthetics). Future wearable
monitoring into existing electronics (smart phones, watches, prosthetics). Future wearable devices devices
aimaimto to seamlessly
seamlessly integrate
integrate into
into our
our daily
daily life
life forfor continuous
continuous feedback
feedback ononourour health.
health. (This
(This image
image
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was created using
created usingBioRender,
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andAdobe
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products.).

InInthis
thisSpecial
Special Issue,
Issue, we
we strive
strivetotohighlight
highlightthethe
development
development of wearable sensors
of wearable across
sensors
the areas of sensor design, flexible circuitry, and computation to motivate interdisciplinary
across the areas of sensor design, flexible circuitry, and computation to motivate interdis-
researchresearch
ciplinary to realizetocomplete wearablewearable
realize complete systems. systems.
CompleteComplete
wearablewearable
systems with supporting
systems with
computation
supporting and interfaces
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and interfaces engagement
allow of medicalofprofessionals,
for the engagement allowing
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forallowing
als, inward forlookinward
withinlook
ourselves
withinas humans,astohumans,
ourselves seek outtothe
seekanswers
out thetoanswers
increasing our
to in-
quality of life and reversing the burden of incurable diseases.
creasing our quality of life and reversing the burden of incurable diseases.

AuthorContributions:
Author Conceptualization, V.A.P.
Contributions:Conceptualization, V.A.P. and
andJ.D.; writing—original
J.D.; writing—originaldraft preparation,
draft V.A.P.;
preparation,
V.A.P.; writing—review and editing, J.D. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of
writing—review and editing, J.D. All authors have read and agreed to the published version
of the
the manuscript.
manuscript.
Funding:
Funding: The
The authorsacknowledge
authors acknowledgesupport
supportfrom
from NSF
NSF (EEC-1160483)
(EEC-1160483) through
throughan anNSF
NSFNanosystems
Nanosys-
Engineering Research Center (NERC) for Advanced Self-Powered System of integrated
tems Engineering Research Center (NERC) for Advanced Self-Powered System of integratedSensors and
Sen-
Technologies (ASSIST).
sors and Technologies (ASSIST).
Conflicts
Conflicts ofof Interest:
Interest: The
The authors
authors declare
declare nono conflictof
conflicts ofinterest.
interest.

Reference
References
1. Food and Drug Administration. Pulse Oximeter Accuracy and Limitations: FDA Safety Communications. Available online: https://
1. Food and Drug Administration. Pulse Oximeter Accuracy and Limitations: FDA Safety Communications. Available online:
www.fda.gov/medical-devices/safety-communications/pulse-oximeter-accuracy-and-limitations-fda-safety-communication
https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/safety-communications/pulse-oximeter-accuracy-and-limitations-fda-safety-communi-
(accessed on 8 May 2022).
cation (accessed on 8 May 2022).