System Integration of Multi-Source Wearable Sensors for Non-Invasive Blood Lactate Estimation: A Data Fusion Approach

Blood lactate (BLa) concentration is a pivotal biomarker of exercise intensity and physiological stress, which provides insights into athletic performance and recovery. However, traditional lactate measurement requires invasive blood sampling, which presents significant limitations, including procedural discomfort, infection risks, and impracticality for continuous monitoring. Though non-invasive measurements of BLa concentration have emerged, most rely on a single physiological indicator like heart rate and sweat rate, and their accuracy and reliability remain limited. To address these limitations, this study proposes an innovative multi-sensor fusion framework for non-invasive estimation of BLa. By leveraging the inherent multisystem and multidimensional coordination of human physiology during exercise, the framework integrates a range of physiological signals (e.g., heart rate variability and respiratory entropy) and biomechanical signals (e.g., motion data). We proposed a stacking ensemble model that leverages the complementary strengths of these signals and achieved exceptional predictive performance with near-perfect correlation (R2 = 0.9661) while maintaining high precision (MAE = 0.1816 mmol/L) and robustness (RMSE = 0.5891 mmol/L). Furthermore, the model’s exceptional capability extends to blood lactate threshold detection with 98.15% classification accuracy, which is a critical metric for training intensity optimization. This approach provides a robust, non-invasive solution for continuous exercise intensity monitoring, demonstrating significant potential for optimizing athletic performance through real-time physiological assessment and data-driven training modulation.