Ultra Low-power Inductively Coupled Wearable ECG Sensor Design with Inkjet Printed Dry Electrodes

Wearable Electrocardiogram (ECG) devices cannot be used for long duration due to power requirement (on a single charge) and electrode degradation. A new extremely low power wearable ECG sensor device is proposed in this work that minimizes power consumption by eliminating digitization and wireless data transfer with a zero power analog inductive coupling and long duration inkjet printed (IJP) dry electrodes. The prototyped device can operate on a coin cell for 140 hours consuming only 1.6 mA. Ability to collect ECG data at home for long duration can largely improve capabilities of mobile health (mHealth) towards Smart and Connected Communities (SCC).