A wearable Low-cost Measurement System for Estimation of Human Exposure to Vibrations

In this work we present a wearable, low-cost, low power device able to monitor health risks due to exposure to vibration of the hand-arm system, according to the ISO 5349-1 standard. The device is based on a small printed circuit board ('sensing board'), which can be embedded in a glove and contains two tri-axial MEMS accelerometers with different characteristics. The sensing board ensures a large measurement range, it is powered by a battery allowing 8 hours operations, and transmits measurement data via Bluetooth. This wearable device is connected to a 'base unit', attached with a belt at the waist of the operatorthat can store data, generate alarms and/or transmit them with a radio-interface. This paper discusses also the impact on measurement accuracy of the design choices needed to obtain a wearable device. In particular, the effects of sensors positioning and mounting were studied in the frequency domain.