Battery Free Smart Bandage based on NFC RFID

Technology
Yi Li*, Neil Grabham, Abiodun Komolafe and John Tudor
Smart Electronic Materials and Systems Group, School of Electronics and Computers Science, University of Southampton,
Southampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom, SO17 1BJ
*Corresponding e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract— We have realised a wireless battery free smart Lee [3] reported, in 2011, a capacitive humidity sensor
bandage for home and hospital use to monitor skin wound configured to provide a voltage output coupled to an RFID
temperature and humidity. The smart bandage is powered system. The use of a capacitive humidity sensor, rather than
wirelessly by Radio Frequency (RF) energy based on Near- a resistive sensor, reduced power consumption. The research
Field Communication (NFC) Radio-Frequency Identification used a Proxima RF EVB90129 assembled printed circuit
(RFID) technology which also communicates the measured evaluation board of the Melexis MLX90129 sensor tag IC.
temperature and humidity data. A smart bandage in this form Zepeda [4] reported, in 2014, a smart bandage based on
provides simple wound monitoring for the user at home and RFID technology for the measurement of temperature and
healthcare professional to monitor groups of patients.
galvanic skin response. A single chip RF430FRL152H
Investigations have been undertaken on antenna design, circuit
device from Texas Instruments handled the sensor signal
design and bandage system integration. Fabrication is based on
photolithography and etching of a copper coated Kapton.
conditioning, processed the sensor data, enabled data logging
of the sensor data via onboard ferroelectric random access
Keywords—smart bandage; battery free; NFC RFID memory and provided the RF communication link through
technology; bio-sensing; wireless power transfer; NFC. The smart bandage was powered by the proximity of
an RF field running at the 13.56 MHz NFC resonant
frequency. Figure 1 shows the realised smart bandage
I. INTRODUCTION
prototype’s circuitry.
Wearable electronics and e-textiles have been under research
for nearly twenty years with a major driving force being
healthcare applications. Bandages originated as a barrier that
simply stopped dust, dirt and other environmental
contaminants getting into a wound. Recently, bandages
began to incorporate electronic functionality and are termed
a “Smart Bandage” [1]. Wounds are a very complex
biological system with several biomarkers which can be
electronically monitored to better understand and improve
the healing progress. A smart bandage aims to monitor
wound condition and report to the healthcare practitioner to Fig. 1. Realised prototype of smart bandage circuit, from Zepeda [4].
allow an informed decision on treatment removing the need
to remove the bandage to inspect the wound. Removal of the Vincente [5] reported, in 2016, a wearable temperature-
bandage for wound inspection can cause damage to the monitoring smart bandage specifically focussing on the
wound, increase the likelihood of infection, and uses planar NFC antenna and the optimisation of the
valuable staff time. A smart bandage may also be used by the communication distance. The RFID device was an
patient to assess his/her own skin wound condition. RF430FRL152H microcontroller from Texas Instruments
operating with communication standard NFC/ISO 15693.
A typical smart bandage contains sensors which are used
The antenna geometry was rectangular with an area of 40 ×
to monitor the healing of a wound to the skin. The bandage
25 mm and two full loops with an inductance of 700 nH. The
may be made of woven fabric or be in the form of a non-
maximum communication range was up to 10 cm, depending
woven plaster. Typical parameters which it is desirable to
on the device acting as the data reader. Figure 2 shows the
sense are: temperature, humidity, pH, glucose, pulse and
realised smart bandage, which was realised on an unspecified
oxygen saturation [2]. These parameters allow the
flexible substrate. The smart bandage was encapsulated with
monitoring of wound healing and any onset of infection. In
a fine gauze to avoid electrical contact with the user’s skin.
addition to the sensors, the smart bandage requires a power
source and a means to communicate the sensed information
back to the healthcare provider or patient. Incorporation of a
battery-based power supply is problematic since the battery
has a finite lifetime, is large, and rigid, even if in the coin cell
format. Also, the inclusion of a battery adds to e-waste and
may cause additional requirements for disposal. Attaching
wires to the bandage to communicate data is also impractical,
since the wearer is then tethered to the measurement system.
Therefore, the smart bandage should be battery free and
communicate the sensed data wirelessly.
Fig. 2. Prototype of the smart bandage for temperature sensing, from
This work is supported in part by the UK Engineering and Physical Vincente [5].
Sciences Research Council – EPSRC (EP/S005307/1) and NIHR Medical
Devices and Vulnerable Skin NetworkPLUS (EP/N02723X/1).
1

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 Pereira [6] reported, in 2018, a near-field communication B. RFID System Selection
tag on a paper substrate with a screen-printed, 13.56 MHz NFC and Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) communication
antenna, and a carbon-based temperature sensor with RFID are the two most widely used commercial
associated conductive tracks. The feasibility of using screen- implementations of RFID technology. The performance and
printing to realise an NFC tag on paper was demonstrated by benefits of each of the different operating frequencies suit
coupling these components to a commercial microprocessor different specialised applications. They are defined by their
which was mounted using pick and place techniques and two different operating frequency ranges:
laser ablation. This minimised the thickness of the system.
The AMS SL13A chip was used in a quad flat no leads 1. NFC falls in the high frequency range and operates
(QFN) package. Lazaro [7] published, in 2018, a survey of at 13.56 MHz.
battery free near field communication sensors to conclude 2. UHF typically operates in the range of 433 MHz, or
the state of the art in battery free NFC sensing system. All 860 to 960 MHz.
the quoted papers in reference [7] are dated from 2014
onwards. Therefore, the battery free NFC sensing technology TABLE I. BELOW SUMMARIES THE MAIN FEATURES OF THE TWO
has been very recently developed, and novel to smart RFID APPROACHES.
bandage application. Features Frequency Range (Hz)
In this paper, we report a novel, battery free, smart NFC (13.56 MHz) UHF (433, 860-960 MHz)
bandage based on NFC RFID technology. The novelties arise Maximum Up to 60 dBμA/m 2W in EU
from (1) The novel fabrication process achieved using effective radiated
1W in US
photolithography and etching on copper coated Kapton to power
make a flexible, fine-line, circuit and (2) Prototyping the Maximum ~10 cm Around 1 to 15 metres
smart bandage by embedding the flexible and functional transceiving range
circuit on Kapton into a conventional wound dressing (3) All Reader Mobile phone with Specialised UHF reader
wound dressing’s physical properties, including breathability requirements NFC function connected to a power supply for
long range communication
are well maintained. This paper firstly explains the details of
the conventional wound dressing and the comparison of the Volume read rate One tag at a time Multiple tags at the same time
existing two RFID systems for use in smart bandage Key points Good transmission Due to shorter wavelength, not
application. Then fabrication and testing results are described through medium to good at passing through
high water content metal/water items
and discussed for the desired performance. Finally, the items
conclusion leads to the continuing work to further advance
Applications Library books, ID Electronic tolls charge, parking
and complete the smart bandage system towards clinical cards, tickets, business access control, asset location
trials and commercialisation. cards, data extraction, tracking.
digital payment

II. SMART BANDAGE DESIGN

The different operating frequencies of the two
A. Smart Bandage Form Factor approaches lead to the different transceiving ranges. It is
A commercially available adhesive wound dressing with noted here that the transceiving range, quoted in the table
a dimension of 80mm by 150mm was chosen to be the above, is based on passive RFID, which absorbs power
carrier of the smart bandage system as shown in Figure 3. through the antenna from the electromagnetic field
This is a typical size used for many wounds. Its product code transmitted from the RFID reader to power the sensor tag.
is FL0123, supplied by ValueAid. The dressing area in the However, semi-passive and active RFID with a local battery
middle of the dressing is 90mm by 40mm, which therefore embedded in the RFID patch can significantly extend the
becomes the maximum design of the antenna coil. Thus we transceiving range. However the use of an embedded battery,
can embed the smart bandage system under the dressing to in essence, negates the advantages of the RFID approach
hide the electronics. since alternative data transmission approaches can be used
which offer advantages compares to RFID. The aim of this
project is to investigate a battery free smart bandage, so the
semi-passive or active RFID system is not considered
further.
The NFC approach detects and reads via high frequency
RF wireless power transfer, which limits the maximum
distance between the reading equipment and the smart
bandage to 10 cm. However, NFC is now a standard feature
on the majority of today’s smartphones. Therefore, the NFC
RFID technology approach is more suitable for private
household use. The most convenient method for this
approach is to use a smart phone to deliver the power via
Fig. 3. Plan view of the form-factor of a typical bandage (or wound NFC technology, then use the smart bandage to sense and
dressing) transmit the data back to the smartphone also via NFC
technology, with no additional equipment required other than
the NFC-enabled smart phone.
The UHF approach detects and reads via UHF RF
wireless power transfer, which hugely extends the distance

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between the reading equipment and the smart bandage to 15 a Finetech Fineplacer Lambda commercial pick and place
m. However, the UHF reader requires specialised reading tool designed to handle components of minimum dimensions
equipment to be installed requiring significant investment to of 0.1 x 0.1 x 0.1 mm. Figure 4 shows the plan view of the
deploy the system to be able to detect and read the smart flexible functional circuit on a Kapton substrate. Then the
bandage. Therefore, the UHF approach is more suitable for functional circuit is then trimmed into a loop shape so as to
use in a hospital or care home. By using UHF RFID be able to embedded into the conventional wound dressing to
technology, the reader can collect data from several hundred achieve the first prototype of our smart bandage, as shown in
smart bandages simultaneously. Therefore this solution Figure 5.
offers maximum value in application with multiple bandages
with a long range, thus justifying the investment costs of the
central UHF RFID reader.
Since it is the simplest and lowest cost option in terms of
reading equipment, we decided to implement an NFC RFID
technology based smart bandage for use in a home-use
application. In contrast, a UHF RFID technology based smart
bandage requires high costs in respect of the purchase of a
commercial scale UHF RFID reader with multiple UHF
RFID embedded smart bandages to demonstrate the UHF
RFID technology. However, the fabrication technology
Fig. 4. Plan view of the prototype on copper coated Kapton, fabricated
implemented in this project is applicable to both NFC and by photolithography and etching process.
UHF approaches for the realisation of a smart bandage.
Having chosen NFC RFID technology, the next stage is
to select an NFC RFID transponder integrated circuit (IC)
from commercially available products. The two most widely
used commercially available NFC RFID transponders
operating at 13.56 MHz are the Melexis MLX90129 and the
Texas Instruments RF430FRL152H. Both ICs have an
onboard inbuilt temperature sensor, and both allow the
connection of additional external sensors. However, it should
be noted that these sensors must be capable of being powered
by the RFID technology, so they must be low power sensors
such as capacitive or resistive based sensors. The
MLX90129 was chosen for our device since a Fig. 5. Plan view of the prototype smart bandage with embedded
comprehensive evaluation board is available. In addition to battery free wireless temperature and humidity sensing functionality.
the NFC RFID transponder a Sensirion SHT30-ARP low-
power combined humidity and temperature sensor was
incorporated into the design to provide information regarding IV. SMART BANDAGE TESTING
the wound’s humidity. The fabricated and embedded smart bandage within the
wound dressing was tested with an NFC RFID reader from
III. SMART BANDAGE FABRICATION the Proxima RF NFC Evaluation Kit, in an open-space lab.
A copper coated Kapton substrate was used as a flexible The smart bandage prototype can be triggered by tapping it
substrate for the battery free smart bandage system. The on the reader. The external temperature sensor shows
copper clad Kapton substrates were patterned using a wet representative temperature changes in parallel to the
copper etch and a photoresist masking layer. The copper integrated temperature sensor within the RFID transponder
coated Kapton was mounted on a 150 mm diameter silicon against external environment temperature change. At the
handling wafer using a wet resist bonding layer and was same time, the external humidity sensor shows representative
patterned using contact based photolithography. Some air humidity changes against external humidity level changes.
bubbles were trapped between the copper-coated Kapton and
the handling wafer, but these were found not to affect the V. CONCLUSIONS
resolution of the fabricated circuits. Using stronger adhesive This research work has achieved a fully functional smart
reduces the prevalence of these bubbles, but this makes the bandage circuit, based on NFC RFID technology, on a
separation of the Kapton sheet from the wafer more difficult. flexible Kapton substrate suitable for integration in a textile
A 6 μm thick film of AZ9260 positive photoresist was bandage. Its temperature and humidity response has been
deposited (spin speed of 3000 rpm for 30 seconds and oven tested. Future work will focus on software development of
baked for 3 minutes at 110 °C) and patterned using an EVG the user interface to allow the user to interact, access and
620T contact mask aligner with a 20 seconds exposure at an decode live data from the smart bandage.
energy density of 8.88 mW/cm2. The resist was developed by
immersion in a 1:4 solution of AZ400K developer and water
for 5 minutes. The copper was then patterned in a PCB etch ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
crystal solution (Sodium Peroxidsulfate) at 45 °C for 8 This work is supported in part by the EPSRC Funding
minutes, followed by rinsing in de-ionised water and (EP/S005307/1) and the EPSRC-NIHR Medical Devices and
cleaning with acetone to strip the remaining resist. Vulnerable Skin NetworkPLUS (EP/N02723X/1).
Components were then mounted on the filament circuit using

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 [4] R. Zepeda, R. Mena, Design of an NFC Enabled Bio-Patch Solution,
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