Abstract:
The achievement of a healthy indoor environ- ment—an indispensable requirement for human well-being—relies on the establishment of good air quality conditions and thermal...Show MoreMetadata
Abstract:
The achievement of a healthy indoor environ- ment—an indispensable requirement for human well-being—relies on the establishment of good air quality conditions and thermal comfort levels. This study addresses the development of a healthcare-focused Internet-of-Things (IoT) system for the cardiac assessment using photoplethysmography (PPG) and ballistocardiography (BCG) that can be applied in any indoor environment. Results from its experimental application include the analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) and respiratory status from a group of young adults under different thermal conditions and relative humidity (RH) levels. The final goal was to investigate the effects of short-term exposure to different air temperature and humidity conditions on human thermal comfort based on the analysis of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity. The experiment took place in a regular and nonisothermal office environment. Simulations based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) were conducted to estimate heat distribution and select the optimal locations for the environmental sensor nodes’ placement. Results indicated that activation of the parasympathetic system was more notable in short-term exposures to environments with different air temperatures (24 °C–30 °C) than with different levels of RH (50%–70%). Changes in ambient air temperature led to the activation of thermal regulatory reflexes and thermal discomfort, perceived by an increase in the ratio of low frequency to high frequency (LF/HF) at higher air temperature exposures. In addition, HRV parameters were used to train machine learning models on predicting if the user is in a thermally comfortable environment or a discomfortable environment (hot or humid), having achieved an 87% average accuracy.
Published in: IEEE Sensors Journal ( Volume: 22, Issue: 23, 01 December 2022)
Funding Agency:
Instituto de Telecomunicações, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE), Lisbon, Portugal
Mariana C. Jacob Rodrigues (Graduate Student Member, IEEE) was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in December 1996. She received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in telecommunications and computer engineering from the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE), Lisbon, in 2017 and 2019, respectively, where she is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in information science and technology with the Instituto de Telecomunicações.
She is currentl...Show More
Mariana C. Jacob Rodrigues (Graduate Student Member, IEEE) was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in December 1996. She received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in telecommunications and computer engineering from the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE), Lisbon, in 2017 and 2019, respectively, where she is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in information science and technology with the Instituto de Telecomunicações.
She is currentl...View more
Instituto de Telecomunicações, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE), Lisbon, Portugal
Octavian Postolache (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iaşi, Iaşi, Romania, in 1999, and the University Habilitation degree from the University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal, in 2016.
He is currently a Professor with the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Lisbon, where he is a Senior Researcher with the Instituto de Telecomuni...Show More
Octavian Postolache (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iaşi, Iaşi, Romania, in 1999, and the University Habilitation degree from the University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal, in 2016.
He is currently a Professor with the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Lisbon, where he is a Senior Researcher with the Instituto de Telecomuni...View more
Instituto de Telecomunicações, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE), Lisbon, Portugal
Francisco Cercas (Senior Member, IEEE) has more than 39 years of professional experience, including teaching at high school and industry as a Research Engineer at CENTREL EID, Monte da Caparica, Portugal, from 1982 to 1983 before entering the academic career in 1984. He lectured at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Lisbon, Portugal, for 15 years, and, then, at the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Lisbon, whe...Show More
Francisco Cercas (Senior Member, IEEE) has more than 39 years of professional experience, including teaching at high school and industry as a Research Engineer at CENTREL EID, Monte da Caparica, Portugal, from 1982 to 1983 before entering the academic career in 1984. He lectured at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Lisbon, Portugal, for 15 years, and, then, at the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Lisbon, whe...View more
Contents Instituto de Telecomunicações, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE), Lisbon, Portugal
Mariana C. Jacob Rodrigues (Graduate Student Member, IEEE) was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in December 1996. She received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in telecommunications and computer engineering from the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE), Lisbon, in 2017 and 2019, respectively, where she is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in information science and technology with the Instituto de Telecomunicações.
She is currently a Researcher with the Instituto de Telecomunicações. Her research interests include ambient-assisted living environments, heart rate variability and cardiorespiratory activity monitoring, and sensor networks for environmental and biomedical applications.
Mariana C. Jacob Rodrigues (Graduate Student Member, IEEE) was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in December 1996. She received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in telecommunications and computer engineering from the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE), Lisbon, in 2017 and 2019, respectively, where she is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in information science and technology with the Instituto de Telecomunicações.
She is currently a Researcher with the Instituto de Telecomunicações. Her research interests include ambient-assisted living environments, heart rate variability and cardiorespiratory activity monitoring, and sensor networks for environmental and biomedical applications.View more
Instituto de Telecomunicações, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE), Lisbon, Portugal
Octavian Postolache (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iaşi, Iaşi, Romania, in 1999, and the University Habilitation degree from the University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal, in 2016.
He is currently a Professor with the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Lisbon, where he is a Senior Researcher with the Instituto de Telecomunicações. He acts as an active coordinator and a member of national and international research projects, particularly Portuguese and EU projects. He has authored or coauthored ten patents, ten books, 18 book chapters, and more than 400 papers in international journals and proceedings of international conferences with a peer-to-peer review. His fields of interest are smart sensors and the Internet of Things (IoT) for biomedical, environmental and precision agriculture applications, intelligent transportation, wireless sensor networks and sensor networks, and artificial intelligence applied automated measurement systems.
Dr. Postolache is active in the IEEE Organization, where he serves as the Chair of the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society-Technical Committee-13 (IMS TC13) (https://ieee-ims.org/technical-committee/tc-13) and the IEEE IMS Portugal Chapter.
Octavian Postolache (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iaşi, Iaşi, Romania, in 1999, and the University Habilitation degree from the University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal, in 2016.
He is currently a Professor with the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Lisbon, where he is a Senior Researcher with the Instituto de Telecomunicações. He acts as an active coordinator and a member of national and international research projects, particularly Portuguese and EU projects. He has authored or coauthored ten patents, ten books, 18 book chapters, and more than 400 papers in international journals and proceedings of international conferences with a peer-to-peer review. His fields of interest are smart sensors and the Internet of Things (IoT) for biomedical, environmental and precision agriculture applications, intelligent transportation, wireless sensor networks and sensor networks, and artificial intelligence applied automated measurement systems.
Dr. Postolache is active in the IEEE Organization, where he serves as the Chair of the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society-Technical Committee-13 (IMS TC13) (https://ieee-ims.org/technical-committee/tc-13) and the IEEE IMS Portugal Chapter.View more
Instituto de Telecomunicações, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE), Lisbon, Portugal
Francisco Cercas (Senior Member, IEEE) has more than 39 years of professional experience, including teaching at high school and industry as a Research Engineer at CENTREL EID, Monte da Caparica, Portugal, from 1982 to 1983 before entering the academic career in 1984. He lectured at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Lisbon, Portugal, for 15 years, and, then, at the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Lisbon, where he has been a Full Professor since 2012. He was the President of the University’s Scientific Council, ISCTE-IUL, from 2015 to 2018, the School Dean with the Iscte School of Technology and Architecture (ISTA), Lisbon, from 2010 to 2013, and the President of the Departamento de Ciências e Tecnologias da Informação (DCTI) from 2007 to 2010. He is or was a Researcher with the Centro de Análise e Processamento de Sinais (CAPS), Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores (INESC) (https://ati.ec.europa.eu/technology-centre/inesc-instituto-de-engenharia-de-sistemas-e-computadores), Satellite Centre, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, U.K., and the Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT), ISCTE-IUL, where he leads the Radio Group IT-IUL. He is a coauthor of a new class of codes named TCH (Tomlinson, Cercas, and Hughes) and more than 200 publications, including one patent, five book chapters, 27 journal articles, more than 150 conference papers, and several international research reports. He supervised seven Ph.D. completed theses and many MsCs and final year projects at both IST and ISCTE-IUL. He has participated in several national and international projects. He was a National Delegate of four COST European projects. His research interests include satellite and mobile communications, coding theory, spread spectrum communications, and related topics.
Dr. Cercas was a National Coordinator of Telecommunications at Ordem dos Engenheiros from 2014 to 2022.
Francisco Cercas (Senior Member, IEEE) has more than 39 years of professional experience, including teaching at high school and industry as a Research Engineer at CENTREL EID, Monte da Caparica, Portugal, from 1982 to 1983 before entering the academic career in 1984. He lectured at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Lisbon, Portugal, for 15 years, and, then, at the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Lisbon, where he has been a Full Professor since 2012. He was the President of the University’s Scientific Council, ISCTE-IUL, from 2015 to 2018, the School Dean with the Iscte School of Technology and Architecture (ISTA), Lisbon, from 2010 to 2013, and the President of the Departamento de Ciências e Tecnologias da Informação (DCTI) from 2007 to 2010. He is or was a Researcher with the Centro de Análise e Processamento de Sinais (CAPS), Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores (INESC) (https://ati.ec.europa.eu/technology-centre/inesc-instituto-de-engenharia-de-sistemas-e-computadores), Satellite Centre, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, U.K., and the Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT), ISCTE-IUL, where he leads the Radio Group IT-IUL. He is a coauthor of a new class of codes named TCH (Tomlinson, Cercas, and Hughes) and more than 200 publications, including one patent, five book chapters, 27 journal articles, more than 150 conference papers, and several international research reports. He supervised seven Ph.D. completed theses and many MsCs and final year projects at both IST and ISCTE-IUL. He has participated in several national and international projects. He was a National Delegate of four COST European projects. His research interests include satellite and mobile communications, coding theory, spread spectrum communications, and related topics.
Dr. Cercas was a National Coordinator of Telecommunications at Ordem dos Engenheiros from 2014 to 2022.View more
