Non-invasive Core Body Temperature Sensor for Continuous Monitoring

Lab-on-skin technology is one of the wearable devices that have been massively developed in recent years for continuous remote monitoring of health performance including core body temperature (CBT). The needs in supervising the CBT is crucial for medical purposes and athletes and army to avoid heat stroke due to high external temperature and physical exertion. The most accurate measurement of CBT is rectal or oesophagus temperature, but this invasive method is not applicable and comfortable for continuous monitoring. Thus, this research proposes a new development of the wearable temperature sensor by using single-heat-flux concept with integration of wireless transceiver module that can transmit data wirelessly to other devices. This paper provides CBT sensor device development and experimental results of the sensor on several parts of the body. Experiment reveals that CBT estimation on the forehead is the most reliable as it gives smallest mean difference between CBT device and a commercial clinical thermometer, 0.05° C whereas behind ear and wrist gives 0.15°C and 0.37°C.