Reliability of a Re-Usable Wireless Epidermal Temperature Sensor in Real Conditions

Abstract

Body temperature is among most important biometric indicators that are normally checked in both domestic and hospital environments. The way to collect such parameter could be dramatically improved thanks to the Epidermal Electronics technology enabling plaster-like devices suitable to on-skin temperature sensing and capable of wireless communication with an electromagnetic reading module. The practical applicability of an eco-friendly battery-less epidermal thermometer, compatible with the UHF RFID standard, is here discussed by the help of experimentation with some volunteers. Comfortable reading procedures can be applied for both the operator and the patient. Experiments revealed a non negligible sensitivity of the temperature measurement versus the mutual distance between the reader and the sensor, that must be removed by a proper threshold filtering. Finally, the analysis of the sensor response for different placement position over the body, demonstrates that the axilla and chest loci provide only 0.6°C deviation from a reference tympanic measurement and are well accepted by the user which does not complain about the presence of the sensor.