Wearable Sensor Technologies

The widespread adoption of consumer electronics—including wearable sensors and smartphones—has strengthened our ability to understand and intervene in many aspects of personal and population health and performance and create a critical path to health problem solving.

Wearable sensors in the form of smartwatches, bands, or rings are devices that monitor the activity and physiological parameters—such as heart rate or skin temperature—of the wearer. Marketed as exercise or lifestyle trackers to the general public, the measurements enabled by wearable devices can be translated into meaningful and actionable health information for individuals, clinicians, researchers, and the military. Using wearable sensors as data collection tools coupled with advanced data analytics can provide invaluable insights into the health status of individuals.

Wearable technology experts at RTI can help with the following:

• Identify, evaluate, and select the most appropriate wearable for use in your study

• Procure, configure, and distribute wearables for your study participants

• Obtain informed consent and onboard a distributed sample

• Create training or technical reference material for individuals or study staff

• Conduct validity or reliability testing to confirm or compare performance between wearable devices

• Inform advanced data analytics and visualization for reporting

• Develop custom algorithms based on health metrics needed for your study