Development of electronic tattoo for pulse rate monitoring: Materials perspective.

In India, there is a growing concern of the heart diseases and deaths due to heart failure. The severity of the problem can be minimised by efficient heart rate monitoring which can be used to provide before time caution to cater heart attack. Wearable sensor can be designed to sense the pulse. The sensor can be either placed near to heart or on the wrist to sense pulses and send pulse signals to the doctors. Such sensor should adhere to the skin for sufficiently long period without causing etching to the patient. It should also be bendable and stretchable like skin. This paper is a part of the research work carried out to develop patch type sensor, which is termed as Electronic Tattoo (ET). In pursuit for development of ET, we came across various designs and candidate materials which can be used for the ET. Thus, in this paper, we describe the process of selecting best suited method and material for the ET. It may also be noted that the sensor development is governed by the prevailing IEEE 802.15.6 standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]