Hardware design of wearable pregnancy health monitoring device

Abstract

Wearable technology is a research hotspot in information technology. It has fostered the evolution of new business models, offering academia and industry new opportunities for growth and playing a vital role in enhancing quality of life and promoting economic and social development. Wearable technology is widely applied in areas such as healthcare, elder care, fitness, bioengineering, mobile communications, fashion, culture, education, and industry. It continually shapes new industrial structures and expands the potential for innovation in smart hardware products. At the same time, as the aging population in East Asian countries like Singapore becomes an increasingly serious issue, governments are intensifying efforts to promote childbirth. This creates significant development potential for pregnancy monitoring. However, the currently available mature and commercially viable pregnancy monitoring devices are limited in variety, with most being Doppler-based Fetal Heart Rate (FHR) monitors. These devices are not only expensive, but they also pose potential health risks to the fetus due to the ultrasound waves they emit. As a result, they are unsuitable for widespread adoption as wearable pregnancy monitoring devices. Based on this, this paper presents the hardware design of wearable pregnancy health monitoring devices. The design collects two effective signals, Fetal Heart Sound (FHS) and Electrohysterogram (EHG), in a non-invasive manner through key circuit components. It successfully applies advanced wearable health monitoring technology to the field of pregnancy monitoring.