Wearable sensing technologies offer promising solutions for non-intrusive monitoring in healthcare, fitness, and assistive applications. This thesis investigates respiration monitoring using off-the-shelf, commercially available stretchable conductive fabric as the sensing element, eliminating the need for numerous embedded components. Resistance changes from thoracic expansion are acquired in real time using Keysight EDU34450A Digital Multimeter and compared against (i) a force-sensing belt and (ii) audio-based respiration detection. Results show close alignment in breath timing and rate, followed by a discussion of noise during speech and placement sensitivity. The work outlines a path toward comfortable, scalable wearables with wireless integration.
smart fabrics, e-textile, breath monitoring
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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