{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,3]],"date-time":"2026-06-03T16:07:46Z","timestamp":1780502866980,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,3,25]],"date-time":"2018-03-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1521936000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In this paper, we present a new mobile wireless communication platform for real-time monitoring of an individual\u2019s breathing rate. The platform takes the form of a wearable stretching T-shirt featuring a sensor and a detection base station. The sensor is formed by a spiral-shaped antenna made from a multi-material fiber connected to a compact transmitter. Based on the resonance frequency of the antenna at approximately 2.4 GHz, the breathing sensor relies on its Bluetooth transmitter. The contactless and non-invasive sensor is designed without compromising the user\u2019s comfort. The sensing mechanism of the system is based on the detection of the signal amplitude transmitted wirelessly by the sensor, which is found to be sensitive to strain. We demonstrate the capability of the platform to detect the breathing rates of four male volunteers who are not in movement. The breathing pattern is obtained through the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) which is filtered and analyzed with home-made algorithms in the portable system. Numerical simulations of human breath are performed to support the experimental detection, and both results are in a good agreement. Slow, fast, regular, irregular, and shallow breathing types are successfully recorded within a frequency interval of 0.16\u20131.2 Hz, leading to a breathing rate varying from 10 to 72 breaths per minute.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s18040973","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,3,26]],"date-time":"2018-03-26T03:43:29Z","timestamp":1522035809000},"page":"973","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":32,"title":["A Portable Wireless Communication Platform Based on a Multi-Material Fiber Sensor for Real-Time Breath Detection"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1830-9730","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mourad","family":"Roudjane","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Optics, Photonics and Lasers (COPL), Department of Physics, Universit\u00e9 Laval, Qu\u00e9bec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Simon","family":"Bellemare-Rousseau","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LABioTRON Bioengineering Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Research Centre for Advanced Materials (CERMA), Universit\u00e9 Laval, Qu\u00e9bec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mazen","family":"Khalil","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Optics, Photonics and Lasers (COPL), Department of Physics, Universit\u00e9 Laval, Qu\u00e9bec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada"},{"name":"LABioTRON Bioengineering Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Research Centre for Advanced Materials (CERMA), Universit\u00e9 Laval, Qu\u00e9bec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3053-3356","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stepan","family":"Gorgutsa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Optics, Photonics and Lasers (COPL), Department of Physics, Universit\u00e9 Laval, Qu\u00e9bec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1766-7528","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Amine","family":"Miled","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LABioTRON Bioengineering Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Research Centre for Advanced Materials (CERMA), Universit\u00e9 Laval, Qu\u00e9bec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Younes","family":"Messaddeq","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Optics, Photonics and Lasers (COPL), Department of Physics, Universit\u00e9 Laval, Qu\u00e9bec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,3,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Lumb, A.B. (2016). Physiology Of Pulmonary Disease. Nunn\u2019s Applied Respiratory Physiology, Elsevier Health Sciences. [8th ed.]."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Sebel, P., Stoddart, M., Waldhorn, R.E., Waldman, C., and Whitfield, P. (1985). Respiration: The Breath of Life. Human Body, Torstar Books."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Murray, J.F. (1985). The Basis for Diagnosis and Treatment of Pulmonary Disease. The Normal Lung, W.B. Saunders Co.. [2nd ed.]."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Walker, H.K., Hall, W.D., and Willis Hurst, J. (1990). The History, Physical, and Laboratory Examinations. Clinical Methods, Butterworths. [3rd ed.]."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"50","DOI":"10.23937\/2469-5823\/1510050","article-title":"A Narrative Review: Why is Respiratory Rate the Neglected Vital Sign?","volume":"2","author":"Elliott","year":"2016","journal-title":"Int. Arch. Nurs. Health Care"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"45","DOI":"10.1016\/j.aenj.2016.12.003","article-title":"Accurate respiratory rates count: So should you!","volume":"20","author":"Flenady","year":"2017","journal-title":"Australas. Emerg. Nurs. J."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gupta, M., and Qudsi, H. (2013, January 5\u20137). Low Cost Thermistor based Respiratory Monitor. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Northeast Bioengineering Conference, Syracuse, NY, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/NEBEC.2013.111"},{"key":"ref_8","unstructured":"Fabiola, A.C. (2012). Respiratory Monitoring System Based on the Thoracic Expansion Measurement. [Master\u2019s Thesis, Department of Electrical Engeering, University of South Florida]."},{"key":"ref_9","unstructured":"Bello, P.J., Darling, C.J., and Lipoma, T.S. (2011, January 12\u201314). SOMNUS: A Sleep Diagnostics Shirt Employing Respiratory Patterns Through Chest Expansion. Proceedings of the International Conference on Design of Medical Devices, Minneapolis, MN, USA."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Grlica, J., Martinovi\u00fc, T., and D\u017dapo, H. (2015, January 13\u201315). Capacitive Sensor for Respiration Monitoring. Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE Sensors Applications Symposium, Zadar, Croatia.","DOI":"10.1109\/SAS.2015.7133567"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"93","DOI":"10.1186\/1475-925X-10-93","article-title":"Non-contact respiratory monitoring based on real-time infrared thermography","volume":"10","author":"Abbas","year":"2011","journal-title":"Biomed. Eng. Online"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"126","DOI":"10.4015\/S1016237205000202","article-title":"Design and clinic monitoring of monitoring of a newly developed non-attached infant apnea monitor","volume":"17","author":"Hsu","year":"2005","journal-title":"Biomed. Eng. Appl. Basis Commun."},{"key":"ref_13","unstructured":"Zhu, Z., Fei, J., and Pavlidis, I. (2005, January 19\u201321). Tracking Human Breath in Infrared Imaging. Proceedings of the 5th IEEE Symposium on Bioinformatics and Bioengineering (BIBE\u201905), Minneapolis, MN, USA."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bartula, M., Tigges, T., and Muehlsteff, J. (2013, January 3\u20137). Camera-based System for Contactless Monitoring of Respiration. Proceedings of the 2013 of the 35th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), Osaka, Japan.","DOI":"10.1109\/EMBC.2013.6610090"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tan, K.S., Saatchi, R., Elphick, H., and Burke, D. (2010, January 21\u201323). Real-time vision based respiration monitoring system. Proceedings of the 2010 7th International Symposium on Communication Systems, Networks and Digital Signal Processing (CSNDSP 2010), Newcastle, UK.","DOI":"10.1109\/CSNDSP16145.2010.5580316"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fletcher, R., and Han, J. (2009, January 7\u201312). Low-cost differential front-end for doppler radar vital sign monitoring. Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest, Boston, MA, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/MWSYM.2009.5165949"},{"key":"ref_17","first-page":"791","article-title":"Through-wall bio-radiolocation with uwb impulse radar: Observation, simulation and signal extraction","volume":"4","author":"Liu","year":"2011","journal-title":"IEEE J-STARS"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Li, W., Tan, B., and Piechocki, R.J. (2016, January 22\u201327). Non-Contact Breathing Detection Using Passive Radar. Proceedings of the 2016 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICC.2016.7511389"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Al Khalidi, F.Q., Saatchi, R., Burke, D., and Elphick, H. (2010, January 21\u201323). Facial tracking method for noncontact respiration rate monitoring. Proceedings of the 2010 7th International Symposium on Communication Systems, Networks an Digital Signal Processing (CSNDSP 2010), Newcastle, UK.","DOI":"10.1109\/CSNDSP16145.2010.5580320"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"523","DOI":"10.1002\/ppul.21416","article-title":"Respiration rate monitoring methods: A review","volume":"46","author":"Saatchi","year":"2011","journal-title":"Pediatr. Pulmonol."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"110","DOI":"10.1109\/JSEN.2014.2339739","article-title":"Weft-knitted strain sensor for monitoring respiratory rate and its electro-mechanical modeling","volume":"15","author":"Atalay","year":"2015","journal-title":"IEEE Sens. J."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"10267","DOI":"10.1002\/adma.201603679","article-title":"Machine-Washable Textile Tribo electric Nano generators for Effective Human Respiratory Monitoring through Loom Weaving of Metallic Yarns","volume":"28","author":"Zhao","year":"2016","journal-title":"Adv. Mater."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1858","DOI":"10.1109\/JSEN.2017.2651073","article-title":"A Low-Power Wireless Piezoelectric Sensor-Based Respiration Monitoring System Realized in CMOS Process","volume":"17","author":"Mahbub","year":"2017","journal-title":"IEEE Sens. J."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"246","DOI":"10.1109\/JSEN.2011.2158416","article-title":"Medical Textiles With Embedded Fiber Optic Sensors for Monitoring of Respiratory Movement","volume":"12","author":"Witt","year":"2012","journal-title":"IEEE Sens. J."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"602","DOI":"10.3390\/bios5030602","article-title":"Smart Textile Based on Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors for Respiratory Monitoring: Design and Preliminary Trials","volume":"5","author":"Ciocchetti","year":"2015","journal-title":"Biosensors"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6037","DOI":"10.1109\/JSEN.2017.2731788","article-title":"Smart Textile Based on 12 Fiber Bragg Gratings Array for Vital Signs Monitoring","volume":"17","author":"Presti","year":"2017","journal-title":"IEEE Sens. J."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1600032","DOI":"10.1002\/admt.201600032","article-title":"User-Interactive and Wireless-Communicating RF Textiles","volume":"1","author":"Gorgutsa","year":"2016","journal-title":"Adv. Mater. Technol."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2457","DOI":"10.1109\/TAP.2016.2546959","article-title":"Emissive Properties of Wearable Wireless-Communicating Textiles Made from Multimaterial Fibers","volume":"64","author":"Gorgutsa","year":"2016","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ravichandran, R., Saba, E., Chen, K.-Y., Goel, M., Gupta, S., and Patel, S.N. (2015, January 23\u201327). WiBreathe: Estimating Respiration Rate Using Wireless Signals in Natural Settings in the Home. Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications (PerCom), St. Louis, MO, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/PERCOM.2015.7146519"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1774","DOI":"10.1109\/TMC.2013.117","article-title":"Monitoring Breathing via Signal Strength in Wireless Networks","volume":"13","author":"Patwari","year":"2014","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Mob. Comput."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kaltiokallio, O., Yigitler, H., Jantti, R., and Patwari, N. (2014, January 15\u201317). Non-invasive respiration rate monitoring using a single COTS TX-RX pair. Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Information Processing in Sensor Networks, Berlin, Germany.","DOI":"10.1109\/IPSN.2014.6846741"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kaltiokallio, O., Yigitler, H., Jantti, R., and Patwari, N. (arXiv, 2013). Catch a Breath: Non-invasive Respiration Rate Monitoring via Wireless Communication, arXiv.","DOI":"10.1109\/IPSN.2014.6846741"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Guay, P., Gorgutsa, S., LaRochelle, S., and Messaddeq, Y. (2017). Wearable Contactless Respiration Sensor Based on Multi-Material Fibers Integrated into Textile. Sensors, 17.","DOI":"10.3390\/s17051050"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"35","DOI":"10.1042\/cs0910035","article-title":"Impact of changes in respiratory frequency and posture on power spectral analysis of heart rate and systolic blood pressure variability in normal subjects and patients with heart failure","volume":"91","author":"Sanderson","year":"1996","journal-title":"Clin. Sci. (Lond.)"},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"95","DOI":"10.1016\/S0301-0511(98)00029-5","article-title":"Changes in heart rate and respiration rate in patients with vestibular dysfunction following head movements which provoke dizziness","volume":"49","author":"Yardley","year":"1996","journal-title":"Biol. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"33","DOI":"10.1119\/1.4755780","article-title":"Radiometry and the Friis Transmission Equation","volume":"81","author":"Shaw","year":"2013","journal-title":"Am. J. Phys."},{"key":"ref_37","unstructured":"Fawwaz, T.U., Michelssen, E., and Ravaioli, U. (2010). Fondamental of Applied Electromagnetics, Pearson. [6th ed.]."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"216","DOI":"10.1109\/TAP.1963.1138043","article-title":"Effects of a Surrounding Conducting Medium on Antenna Analysis","volume":"11","author":"Moore","year":"1963","journal-title":"Antennas Propag. IEEE Trans."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1001","DOI":"10.1109\/TMTT.2008.919373","article-title":"Design of a Dual-Band Implantable Antenna and Development of Skin Mimicking Gels for Continuous Glucose Monitoring","volume":"56","author":"Karacolak","year":"2008","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech."},{"key":"ref_40","unstructured":"3D Content Central (2018, February 06). Human Heart. Available online: http:\/\/www.3dcontentcentral.com."},{"key":"ref_41","unstructured":"FCC (2018, February 06). Body Tissue Dielectric Parameters, Available online: https:\/\/www.fcc.gov\/general\/body-tissue-dielectric-parameters."},{"key":"ref_42","unstructured":"Italian National Research Council (2018, February 06). Body Tissue Dielectric Parameters. Available online: http:\/\/niremf.ifac.cnr.it\/tissprop\/htmlclie\/htmlclie.php."},{"key":"ref_43","unstructured":"Youn, K.A., Wise, A.J., DeSaix, P., Kruse, D.H., Poe, B., Johnson, E., Johnson, J.E., Korol, O., Betts, J.G., and Womble, M. (2013). The Respiratory System. Anatomy and Physiology, OpenStax College."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/18\/4\/973\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T14:58:27Z","timestamp":1760194707000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/18\/4\/973"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2018,3,25]]},"references-count":43,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,4]]}},"alternative-id":["s18040973"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s18040973","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2018,3,25]]}}}