Multimodal Flexible Fiber Antenna Sensor for Physiological and Environmental Sensing

The real-time monitoring of a patient's health condition during medical operations is crucial to the patient's comfort, safety, and treatment success. While there are many advanced biomedical devices on the market that monitor various physiological parameters, they are limited with respect to sensitivity, accuracy, compatibility, and durability. It is vital to improve physiological monitoring limitations to minimize potential trauma, discomfort, and complications after surgery. Fiber device technology enables the designing of fiber-embedded sensors that provide higher sensitivity, accuracy, and spatial resolution through its complex cross-sectional geometry and material properties [1]. Thermally drawn polymer fibers offer high flexibility, durability, and better compatibility, making integrating fiber sensors into fabrics and biomedical devices easier [2].<br/>Here we present the first sub-terahertz fiber antenna sensor capable of high spatial resolution, high sensitivity, and large dynamic range physiological monitoring and cyber-physical interfacing. The sensitivity and spatial resolution of the fiber sensor are high enough for practical operations such as integrating the flexible fiber sensor into medical devices. The fiber sensor monitors physiological and environmental signals in real-time, where the sensing modality, either physiological or environmental, is defined by the electronics used to control the order of the mode coupled to the fiber sensor. While the high sensitivity of the fiber sensor is derived from its unique geometry, materials, and unique manufacturing approach [3], its spatial resolution results from the frequency decomposition of the reflected signal off the sensing point along the fiber and thus is the function of the operation bandwidth. Our multimodal flexible fiber sensor is a better candidate for improved monitoring of patients' well-being and better patient care than the current sensors used in minimally invasive operations. The application area of our fiber sensor is not limited to the biomedical field but also smart fabrics, cyber-physical and human-robot interactions, and environmental detections due to its ability to perform selective, multimodal measurements.<br/><b>References</b><br/>[1] van der Elst, L., Faccini de Lima, C., Gokce Kurtoglu, M. <i>et al.</i> 3D Printing in Fiber-Device Technology. <i>Adv. Fiber Mater.</i> 3, 59–75 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42765-020-00056-6<br/>[2]Faccini de Lima, C., van der Elst, L.A., Koraganji, V.N. <i>et al.</i> Towards Digital Manufacturing of Smart Multimaterial Fibers. <i>Nanoscale Res Lett</i> 14, 209 (2019).<br/>[3]Gumennik, Alexander. <i>VERY LARGE-SCALE INTEGRATION FOR FIBERS (VLSI-Fi)</i>. US20210333131A1.04.23.2021