Passively Powered Non-invasive Human Body Sensing on Bio-Degradable Conformal Substrates

在过去的十年中，优秀的非侵入式传感平台已经可以用于捕获实时健康和生活方式数据，Fitbit和Apple Watch就是众所周知的例子。然而，目前的“可穿戴”传感器都有很大的局限性：它们使用带子和类似物连接到身体上，长时间不能保持良好的连接;它们具有高功耗，这意味着设备必须每隔几天取下并充电;它们会产生大量的电子废物。他们还远远没有意识到自己的真正潜力。EPSRC认识到了这一挑战，并将“用于传感和分析的颠覆性技术”作为2015年医疗保健技术战略的核心部分。我们建议通过推进新的材料制造方法来实现下一代“共形”传感器节点来应对这一挑战。这将成为一个颠覆性的下一代传感器平台，用于长期监测许多身体参数（运动，电生理和温度数据），这与当前的生物传感方法非常不同。我们的新型制造将使传感器能够：-安装在适形衬底上，直接附着在皮肤上，而无需带，并保持接触数天。使用喷墨打印制造，以实现最小的浪费和响应式制造，可能为每个人量身定制每个传感器。基于石墨烯纳米颗粒的油墨将取代当前的银纳米颗粒油墨，由于石墨烯的惰性性质，其避免了与银油墨相关的电子废物问题。- 采用新的油墨和基底配方定制，使石墨烯油墨和共形基底都是“瞬时”的。也就是说，它们工作一段时间，然后自然分解成安全，惰性和容易去除的成分，便于使用和处置。通过使用在预应力基板上制造的“弹出”结构，在本质上实现3D。这将允许“致动天线”，耦合3D天线的机械和电磁特性，以便允许使用天线组件同时感测和传输，显著减小设备尺寸，因为可以移除传统仪器。- 超低功耗，采用新颖的开关策略，允许通过RFID无线链路进行安全的数字传输，而无需专用的高功率模数转换器微芯片。- 通过设计尺寸减小的表皮天线来增加无线供电范围，该天线利用纹身天线中的磁耦合回路，其表面积是当前方法的3倍以下，减少了数字制造的墨水使用。针对运动干扰的鲁棒性进行了优化，允许在真实世界、实验室外的情况下收集高质量信号。- 适合通过关键元件的卷对卷和/或单张纸印刷进行扩大制造，并集成拾取和放置功能。- 集成到最初的完整系统演示器中，将向我们的合作伙伴展示，涵盖老年人和儿童的长期传感器节点的使用。总的来说，这些都代表了一个超越今天可用的“可穿戴”设备的步骤变化。我们的新传感器将是可定制的无电池RFID标签，可以在离供电阅读器一米多的地方工作，一次可以连接很多天，并且具有由制造过程的瞬态特性设定的受控寿命。在这个早期阶段，我们不打算针对任何一个临床应用领域，而是使下一代技术的适形体上传感器节点，收集纵向信息相关的一些疾病领域。我们将与合作伙伴合作，通过影响活动的途径，最大限度地提高接触医疗保健场景中相关最终用户的可能性。

Over the last decade excellent non-invasive sensing platforms have become available for capturing real-time health and lifestyle data, with the fitbit and Apple Watch being well known examples. However, current 'wearable' sensors all have major limitations: they connect to the body using straps and similar which do not maintain a good connection over long time periods; they have high power consumptions meaning the device must be taken off and recharged, at best, every couple of days; they contribute a significant amount to electronic waste. They are thus far from realising their true potential. This challenge is recognised by the EPSRC, with 'Disruptive technologies for sensing & analysis' being a core part of the 2015 Healthcare Technologies strategy. We propose to tackle this challenge by advancing novel material manufacturing approaches to realise next generation 'conformal' sensor nodes. This will make a disruptive next generation sensor platform for the very long term monitoring of a number of body parameters (motion, electrophysiological and temperature data) which is very different to current bio-sensing approaches. Our novel manufacturing will enable sensors which are: - Mounted on a conformal substrate, attaching directly to the skin without a strap, and maintaining contact for several days at a time.- Manufactured using inkjet printing to allow minimal waste and responsive manufacturing, potentially tailoring each sensor to each person. Graphene nanoparticle based inks will replace current silver nanoparticle inks which, due to the inert nature of graphene, avoids the electronic waste issues associated with silver inks. - Tailored with new ink and substrate formulations so that both the graphene ink and conformal substrate are 'transient'. That is, they work for a period of time and then naturally decompose into safe, inert and easily removed components, enabling easy use and disposal.- 3D in nature by using 'popup' structures manufactured on pre-stressed substrates. This will allow 'actuated antennas', coupling the mechanical and electromagnetic properties of a 3D antenna in order to allow simultaneous sensing and transmission using the antenna component, significantly reducing the device size as conventional instrumentation can be removed. - Ultra low power using a novel switching strategy to allow secure digital transmission over an RFID wireless link without the need for a dedicated, high power, analogue-to-digital converter microchip. - Increased in wireless powering range, by devising reduced size epidermal antennas that exploit magnetically coupled loops in tattoo antennas with under 3 times the surface area of current approaches, reducing ink use for digital fabrication.- Optimized for robustness to motion interference, allowing the collection of high quality signals in real-world, out-of-the-lab situations. - Suitable for scale-up manufacturing with roll-to-roll and/or sheet fed printing of key elements, integrating with pick and place capabilities. - Integrated into initial complete system demonstrators which will be showcased to our partners, covering the use of long term sensor nodes with people who are elderly and with children. Collectively these represent a step change beyond 'wearable' devices available today. Our new sensors will be customisable battery-less RFID tags that can operate more than a metre from a powered reader, stay attached for many days at a time, and with a controlled lifetime set by the transient nature of the manufacturing. At this early stage we do not propose to target any one clinical application area, but rather to make the next generation of technologies for conformal on-body sensor nodes that collect longitudinal information relevant to a number of disease areas. We will work with our partners through pathways to impact activities to maximise the possibility of exposure to relevant end users in healthcare scenarios.