A control cycle for the automatic assisted positioning of auscultation sensors

The correct positioning of wearable biomedical sensors is crucial in the use of any automatic measurement systems. The effects of an inaccurate positioning can compromise the quality of the acquired vital waveforms, like phonocardiograms, and can make ineffective any healthcare application which uses wearable sensors. To solve this issue, this paper proposes an innovative control cycle for a control cycle to assist patients during the positioning of an auscultation sensor, a digital stethoscope, for a healthcare monitoring application. The control cycle runs on a user-friendly app and, through the use of a smartphone camera, suggests the auscultation sites overlapping the active camera view. In this way, the patient has a real-time feedback to ensure the correct positioning of the sensor.