Novel wearable uterine contractions detection using positive force measurement

Clinically, a bedside monitor is generally used to check uterine contractions of pregnant women. It is mainly used as basis of assessment for the later period of pregnancy. Due to the large dimensions of the monitoring apparatus, it cannot quickly monitor daily unexpected situations for pregnant women. In view of this scenario, this research established a novel wearable device for the monitoring of uterine contractions. A new sensing structure for positive force measurement (PFM) was proposed to improve accuracy and avoid unnecessary signal interference from shaking. This device also makes use of the advantage of the low-power transmission of Bluetooth 4.0 coupled with a smart-phone equipped with an APP that automatically uploads data to the cloud. Experimental results showed that the design proposed in this study could enable pregnant women to accurately detect contraction signals without interference from shaking and noise. Moreover, it could be used continuously for eight hours with a low data transmission loss rates (< 2%) within 2 m.