Wearable system for monitoring breathing and walking that comprises textile-based capacitive sensors at multiple positions.

Moderate exercise can improve physical fitness and promote overall health. Walking is an activity that individuals can easily perform independently without location limitations, and this activity is a form of aerobic exercise that can enhance health and improve cardiovascular fitness. This study developed a system containing a self-developed controller, smart clothing, and electrode-containing insoles (provided by Ming Young Biomedical Corp.) to measure capacitance changes during the wearer's movement. Such measurement enables the acquisition of respiratory and walking waveform signals, which are recorded and stored for subsequent signal analysis, processing, and application. Synchronous chest and abdominal waveforms were obtained when young individuals were tested walking at various speeds. The abdominal respiratory cycles measured using the self-developed system were compared with those measured using a commercially available Nox T3s respiratory inductance plethysmography clinical device. These measurements exhibited reasonably high agreement, with the correlation coefficient being approximately 0.989.