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DOI 10.1007/s10544-007-9108-9
Abstract This paper presents a flexible wetness sensor because the percentage of elderly people in the populations of
whose detection signal, converted to a binary code, is developed countries is growing significantly. Some ailing
transmitted through radio-frequency (RF) waves from a elderly people, particularly paralyzed patients, must wear a
radio-frequency identification integrated circuit (RFID IC) to diaper when they are in bed. Unfortunately, most ailing
a remote reader. The flexible sensor, with a fixed operating patients wearing diapers are unable to replace the diaper by
frequency of 13.56 MHz, contains a RFID IC and a sensor themselves when the diaper gets wet. A wetness sensor can
circuit that is fabricated on a flexible printed circuit board immediately alert nurses or caretakers to replace a patient’s wet
(FPCB) using a Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System (MEMS) diaper as soon as it becomes wet. Such a quick replacement of
process. The sensor circuit contains a comb-shaped sensing the wet diaper can prevent ailing patients from getting a rash on
area surrounded by an octagonal antenna with a width of their skin or experiencing other discomfort. The same wetness
2.7 cm. The binary code transmitted from the RFIC to the sensor can also be applied to diapers worn by young babies at
reader changes if the surface conditions of the detector surface night. However, the application of such a wetness sensor is
changes from dry to wet. This variation in the binary code can impractical unless it is small, inexpensive, disposable, soft and
be observed on a digital oscilloscope connected to the reader. flexible, wireless, and passive.
Recent years have witnessed major progress in the
Keywords Sensor . RFID . Flexible . Wetness development of wireless sensor systems. Researchers have
shown that wireless sensor systems can be applied to many
applications in a variety of industries, including health care,
1 Introduction biomedical systems, transportation, and environmental
monitoring (Leung et al. 1986). Inexpensive radio frequen-
One of the major functions of sensors is to improve the quality cy identification (RFID) devices were commercialized
of health care. Elderly people, in particular, have an increasing with battery-free tags for logistics tracking and security
need for better health care at home or in nursing houses applications (Finkenzeller 2003). Integrating a Micro-
Electro-Mechanical-System (MEMS) pressure sensor with
C.-H. Yang : J.-H. Chien : B.-Y. Wang : P.-H. Chen (*)
a radio-frequency (RF) modulation technique produces a
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
National Taiwan University, wireless passive monitoring system for pressure monitoring
No. 1, Roosevelt Rd Sec. 4, (Huang and Oberle 1998). The power for a passive sensor is
Taipei 10617, Taiwan usually provided by a reader through inductive coupling. One
e-mail: phchen@ntu.edu.tw
study presented a microsystem utilizing inductive coupling
D.-S. Lee charging and data transfer through a backscatter-modulated
Department of Energy and Refrigerating Air Conditioning carrier and a transducer interface. This system can monitor
Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, environmental conditions through embedded capacitive trans-
Taipei 106, Taiwan
ducers (DeHennis and Wise 2005). All transducers for
C.-H. Yang temperature, pressure, and relative humidity sensing on a
email: taopdso@yahoo.com.tw single chip are realized using a silicon-on-glass process that
48 Biomed Microdevices (2008) 10:47–54
combines an anodic binding and a silicon–gold eutectic to creasing demand for small and reliable sensors capable of
achieve vacuum-sealed cavities with low-impedance electrical monitoring multiple environmental parameters. Systems that
feed-throughs. Another study developed a flexible wireless integrate sensors and RF technology on a single chip are
pressure sensor module for implanted blood pressure sensing therefore becoming increasingly important. Most RFID
using chip embedded flexible packaging (CEFP) technology devices use a backscatter modulation approach as their RF
(Shin et al. 2005). This flexible sensor can easily be attached transmission method. Backscatter modulation depends upon
to the outside of a blood vessel. the level of electromagnetic coupling between the reader
The aim of this study is to develop a novel wetness antenna and the RFIC antenna. A backscatter system is
sensor that is small, inexpensive, disposable, soft and similar to an air core transformer in which the reader
flexible, wireless, and passive. The sensor circuit was (interrogator) antenna serves as the primary coil and the
fabricated from a thin copper film on a soft plastic substrate RFIC antenna serves as the secondary coil. The reader
using a standard MEMS process. A 13.56 MHz passive broadcasts a carrier signal which induces a current in the
radio-frequency identification integrated circuit (RFID IC) RFIC antenna according to both Ampere and Faraday’s laws.
was packaged with the sensor’s circuit for transmitting The current induced by the electromagnetic field is called the
detection signals to the reader. induced current. This induced current depends on the
strength of the broadcast electromagnetic (EM) field from
the reader, the distance between the transmitting and tag
2 Operation principle antennas, and the orientation of the RFIC antenna in the
generated field. In most RFID applications, the AC current
Radio frequency identification (RFID) has been in use for induced in the RFIC antenna is rectified as the power source
decades. Recently, many applications have generated in- for the RFIC. This type of RFIC is called a “passive” RFIC,
Fig. 2 An equivalent circuit of
the RFID wetness sensor
Biomed Microdevices (2008) 10:47–54 49
Table 1 Values of physical and electrical properties in the simulation the RFIC requires adding a capacitor with a capacitance of
of the equivalent circuits of the RFID wetness sensor
C2 parallel to the RFIC antenna, forming a parallel resonant
1
Symbol Descriptions Value circuit. For jwL2 ¼ jwC 2
in Eq. 4, the circuit is in a resonant
state. The angular resonant frequency is given by
L2 Inductance of the sensor antenna 4.85 μH
R2 Resistance of the sensor antenna 4.4 Ω 1
w ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð5Þ
RL0 Resistance of the RFIC 4.7 kΩ L2 C2
C2 Tuning capacitance of RFIC 28 pF
2.3 Design of antenna and comb shape sensor were designed according to the simulated results obtained
form the Zeland IE3D and Agilent ADS and fabricated on a
For transmitting the information stored in the RFIC through flexible substrate, each with a different width and spacing
an inductively coupling process, it is necessary to emit the of the copper wire. There are 15 turns in an octagonal
EM wave through a coil (antenna). The operation frequency sensor antenna with an outer diameter of 2.7 cm. The width
of wireless communication in this study is 13.56 MHz in of the antenna’s copper metal line is 300 μm, and the
the ISM regulation. In this study, the RFIC chip (GT8160, spacing between copper lines is also 300 μm A comb shape
G-time Electronic Company) was made to serve as CMOS sensor was developed on the tag surrounded by the tag’s
RFID transponder IC that can operate in a frequency range antenna. In the sensing area, the width of the sensor’s metal
of 10 to 15 MHz frequency and it is optimized at an line is 300 μm and the spacing between the metal lines is
operational frequency of 13.56 MHz. also 300 μm.
The shape of the RFID sensor antenna is designed as an
octagon that surrounds a comb shape sensor. According to
Eq. 5, since the value of the capacitor built in the RFIC has 3 Sensor and RFIC antenna fabrication
been determined, the inductance of the present antenna in
this study should have a value of about 4.8 μH to match the All RFIC sensor fabrication procedures, including mask
capacitor of 28pF. Several different versions of the antenna design, lithography, wet etching, and wire-binding process-
oscillator at the frequency of 13.56 MHz, and an output pin proposed RFIC sensor has an operation frequency of
for receiving the RF signal. The reader is charged by a 5 V 13.56 MHz and a Q-factor of 10.05.
DC supplier and its output signal is observed in the form of The application related to care ailing elderly people in
voltage. this study is achieved. The transmitting range of the RF
The RFIC sensing surface was initially dry, and the
RFID wetness sensor was moved towards the reader slowly.
The RF signal of the sensor would change from dry to wet
when filter papers (Toyo Roshi Kaisha, Ltd) absorbing
enough water put on the sensor surface. The sensor also
indicated wetness when at least 3 μl of water were directly
placed on the sensing area of the sensor.
The measured waveform from the reader was observed
on the screen of an oscilloscope when the inductive
coupling occurred between the RFIC and the reader, as
Fig. 10(a) illustrates. To estimate the sensor is responsive-
ness when wrapped or covered, first a single layer and a
double layer of filter paper were placed over the sensor.
The surface condition of the sensor changed from dry to
wet as the single and double layers of filter paper absorbed
about 150 and 400 μl drop of water, respectively. It is
therefore sensitive enough to be suitable for application
related to caring for ailing elderly people. The response
time of the developed sensor was 20 μs when sufficient
water was placed on the filter paper covering the comb-
shaped sensing areas. Figure 10(b) shows the resulting
output data. Comparing Fig. 10(a) with Fig. 10(b) shows
that the D1 binary changed from “0” to “1” as the surface
condition of the sensor changed from dry to wet.
5 Conclusions
signal from the passive RFIC is about 15 cm. Therefore the Acknowledgment We deeply appreciate the financial support of the
National Science Council of Taiwan, Republic of China under contract
reader of the proposed system might be located under or
number NSC 95-2212-E-002-216.
near the bed since they might lie in bed for long time.
Furthermore, to extend the transmitting range of the
proposed system, we integrated a transmitter using blue-
tooth technology into the presented RF signal reader. The
References
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