Monitoring breathing with smart fabrics

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.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Computer Science

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Isa, Hajara-Yasmin

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kravets, Robin H

• smart fabrics, e-textile, breath monitoring

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 Hajara-Yasmin Isa

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132479

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132479