Smart, Wearable and Power-Controlled Mixed-Signal Platform for Screening and Follow-up of Cystic Fibrosis based on Real-Time Chloride Concentration Evaluation in Sweat

The paper presents a fully integrated wearable sensing system for real-time monitoring of chloride concentration in human stimulated perspiration, allowing accurate cystic fibrosis detection and follow-up monitoring. To improve wearability and comfort, fully flexible support has been employed for both the electrodes and the smart electronics. Novel design and manufacture for the ion-sensitive electrodes are here proposed, demonstrating Nernstian sensitivity in chloride concentration detection. The developed smart mixed-signal electronic platform embeds an analog read-out performing potentiometric measurements and digital section including a microcontroller and RF interface. This last section deals with the automation of sweat test processes, data processing, and the generation of suggestions to support diagnostics. The whole architecture is here described with emphasis on the power-management to achieve an extremely low power consumption and also on the capability of the system to allow a reasoning on the measured data and on the history of the patient. Finally, a case study based on experimental results is here reported, demonstrating the feasibility of the system, which can be comfortably worn due to its size, flexibility, and the biocompatibility of the materials used.