A wearable sensing ECG T-shirt for ubiquitous vital signs sensing is proposed. The sensor system consists of a signal processing board and capacitive sensing electrodes which together enable measurement of an electrocardiogram (ECG) on the human chest with minimal discomfort. The capacitive sensing method was employed to prevent direct ECG measurement on the skin and also to provide maximum convenience to the user. Also, low power integrated circuits (ICs) and passive electrodes were employed in this research to reduce the power consumption of the entire system. Small flexible electrodes were placed into cotton pockets and affixed to the interior of a worn tight NIKE Pro combat T-shirt. Appropriate signal conditioning and processing were implemented to remove motion artifacts. The entire system was portable and consumed low power compared to conventional ECG devices. The ECG signal obtained from a 24 yr. old male was comparable to that of an ECG simulator.

Contact electrodes pose threats like inflammation, metal poisoning, and allergic reaction to the user during long term ECG procedure. Therefore, we present a novel noncontact electrocardiographic electrode designed through microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) process. The proposed ECG electrode consists of small inner and large outer circular copper plates separated by thin insulator. The inner plate enables capacitive transduction of bio-potential variations on a subject's chest into a voltage that can be processed by a signal processing board, whereas the outer plate shields the inner plate from environmental electromagnetic noise. The electrode lead wires are also coaxially designed to prevent cables from coupling to ground or electronic devices. A prototype ECG electrode has an area of about 2.324 cm 2 , is very flexible and does not require power to operate. The prototype ECG electrode could measure ECG at about 500 um distance from the subject's chest.