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*Wireless Sensor Networks - Design, Deployment and Applications*

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**264**

**Chapter 15**

**Abstract**

**1. Introduction**

**267**

Innovative Wearable Sensors

Based on Hybrid Materials for

Real-Time Breath Monitoring

This chapter will present the importance of innovative hybrid materials for the

development of a new generation of wearable sensors and the high impact on improving patient's health care. Suitable conductive nanoparticles when embedded into a polymeric or glass host matrix enable the fabrication of flexible sensor capable to perform automatic monitoring of human vital signs. Breath is a key vital sign, and its continuous monitoring is very important including the detection of sleep apnea. Many research groups work to develop wearable devices capable to monitor continuously breathing activity in different conditions. The tendency of integrating wearable sensors into garment is becoming more popular. The main reason is because textile is surrounding us 7 days a week and 24 h a day, and it is easy to use by the wearer without interrupting their daily activities. Technologies based on contact/noncontact and textile sensors for breath detection are addressed in this chapter. New technology based on multi-material fiber antenna opens the door to future methods of noninvasive and flexible sensor network for real-time

breath monitoring. This technology will be presented in all its aspects.

innovative material, smart textile, breath monitoring

**Keywords:** wireless communication, wearable sensors, flexible antenna,

Wearable sensors for vital signs monitoring are becoming key emerging technologies in different research fields such as medical science [1], sports and fitness [2], and military [3], to name a few. They present tremendous potential for providing a diagnosis of the subject's health status in their home, with the possibility to progress toward the concept of personalized medicine. The sensor is mostly made of conductive electrodes to detect the physiological signal, and it is an electronic device that seamlessly tracks and transfers all biometric data into an actionable base station with user interface for analysis and interpretation and data storage. Since two decades ago, tremendous efforts have been made in material sciences, radio frequency communications, and biomedical electronics research domains to transform these sensors as research and development laboratory tools to a commercial technology market. This transformation is driven by the urgent need to lower the high cost associated with health-care services in most countries, which continues to

*Mourad Roudjane and Younès Messaddeq*
