Respiration is an invaluable signal that facilitates the real-time observation of physiological dynamics. In recent years, the advancement of noncontact measurement technology has gained momentum in capturing physiological activities in natural settings. This technology is anticipated to be found not only in humans but also in nonhuman primates. Currently, the predominant noncontact approach for nonhuman animals involves measuring vital signs through subtle variations in skin color. However, this approach is limited when addressing areas of the body covered with hair or when working in outdoor settings under fluctuating sunlight. To overcome this issue, we focused on noncontact respiratory measurements using millimeter-wave radar. Millimeter-wave radar systems, which employ millimeter waves that can penetrate animal fur and estimate respiration-derived periodic body motion, exhibit minimal susceptibility to sunlight interference. Thus, this method shows potential for conducting noncontact vital measurements in natural and outdoor settings. In this study, we validated a millimeter-wave radar methodology for capturing respiration in outdoor-housed rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). The radar was positioned beyond the captive enclosure and maintained at a distance >5 m from the target. Millimeter waves were transmitted to the target, and the reflected waves were used to estimate skin surface displacement associated with respiration. The results revealed periodic skin surface displacement, and the estimated respiratory rates weres within the reported range of respiratory rates for rhesus macaques. These results suggest the potential applicability of millimeter-wave radar for noncontact respiration monitoring in outdoor-living macaques without anesthesia or immobilization. The continued advancement of noncontact vital measurement technology will contribute to understanding primate mental and physical dynamics during their daily life.

In recent years, the proliferation of wearable healthcare devices has marked a revolutionary shift in the personal health monitoring and management paradigm. These devices, ranging from fitness trackers to advanced biosensors, have not only made healthcare more accessible, but have also transformed the way individuals engage with their health data. By continuously monitoring health signs, from physical-based to biochemical-based such as heart rate and blood glucose levels, wearable technology offers insights into human health, enabling a proactive rather than a reactive approach to healthcare. This shift towards personalized health monitoring empowers individuals with the knowledge and tools to make informed decisions about their lifestyle and medical care, potentially leading to the earlier detection of health issues and more tailored treatment plans. This review presents the fabrication methods of flexible wearable healthcare devices and their applications in medical care. The potential challenges and future prospectives are also discussed.

Vital signal renovation plays an important role in a wide range of applications, including signal analysis and diagnosing diseases through it. Therefore, it is salient to get the main content of the vital signal. In this research, a new approach to the problem of noise removal from vital signals is presented based on random optimization through Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) sampling. For this purpose, the problem of noise omission from the vital signal is described as a Bayesian squared minimization problem, and considering a non-parametric random approach to solve this problem, the Monte Carlo Markov Chain noise omission approach is flexibly adapted to the noise detection domain in vital signals. To test the performance of the proposed method, four types of vital signals have been used: Medical images, ECG electrocardiogram signals, EEG brain signals as well as ENG nerve and muscle signals. The results of the experiments show that the use of sampling technique based on Gaussian distribution and, retrieving the signal based on the weighted average in the selected samples allows a more accurate estimate of the ideal signal. This more accurate estimation minimizes the difference between the actual and the retrieved signals. As a result, in addition to reducing the mean error squares, the signal-to-noise ratio increases.

Doppler radar for monitoring vital signals is an emerging tool, and how to remove the noise during the detection process and reconstruct the accurate respiration and heartbeat signals are hot issues in current research. In this paper, a novel radar vital signal separation and de-noising technique based on improved complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (ICEEMDAN), sample entropy (SampEn), and wavelet threshold is proposed. First, the noisy radar signal was decomposed into a series of intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) using ICEEMDAN. Then, each IMF was analyzed using SampEn to find out the first few IMFs containing noise, and these IMFs were de-noised using the wavelet threshold. Finally, in order to extract accurate vital signals, spectrum analysis and Kullback-Leible (KL) divergence calculations were performed on all IMFs, and appropriate IMFs were selected to reconstruct respiration and heartbeat signals. Moreover, as far as we know, there is almost no previous research on radar vital signal de-noising based on the proposed technique. The effectiveness of the algorithm was verified using simulated and measured experiments. The results show that the proposed algorithm could effectively reduce the noise and was superior to the existing de-noising technologies, which is beneficial for extracting more accurate vital signals.

Polysomnography (PSG) is considered as the gold standard for determining sleep stages, but due to the obtrusiveness of its sensor attachments, sleep stage classification algorithms using noninvasive sensors have been developed throughout the years. However, the previous studies have not yet been proven reliable. In addition, most of the products are designed for healthy customers rather than for patients with sleep disorder. We present a novel approach to classify sleep stages via low cost and noncontact multi-modal sensor fusion, which extracts sleep-related vital signals from radar signals and a sound-based context-awareness technique. This work is uniquely designed based on the PSG data of sleep disorder patients, which were received and certified by professionals at Hanyang University Hospital. The proposed algorithm further incorporates medical/statistical knowledge to determine personal-adjusted thresholds and devise post-processing. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm is highlighted by contrasting sleep stage classification performance between single sensor and sensor-fusion algorithms. To validate the possibility of commercializing this work, the classification results of this algorithm were compared with the commercialized sleep monitoring device, ResMed S+. The proposed algorithm was investigated with random patients following PSG examination, and results show a promising novel approach for determining sleep stages in a low cost and unobtrusive manner.