Bioimpedance spectroscopy is very useful in biomedical field as a safe and non-invasive technique. A stable and safe excitation current below than 0.5 mA for load impedances changing from 100 Ω to 10 kΩ in the full β-dispersion range from kHz up to 1 MHz is a big challenge for the design of the current source addressed by this thesis. For a good stability and high accuracy, the source should have a high output impedance. Different current source types in “current-mode approach” and “voltage-mode approach” were investigated and compared for usability in bioimpedance measurement systems. The “voltage-mode approach” with grounded load was proven to be more suitable and stable for biomedical measurements. Thereby the Tietze and the Howland circuit in dual configuration with negative feedback have shown the lowest error of the output current and the highest output impedance, where the improved Howland circuit in dual configuration with negative feedback is preferred because it has a simple structure, high accuracy and good stability. We suggest to improve the stability of the Howland circuit in dual configuration with negative feedback by introducing compensated operational amplifiers and to reduce stray capacitances at higher frequencies by adding gain compensation capacitor. We reach thereby an accuracy of 0.5% at low frequency and 0.9% at 1 MHz. With the realized accuracy of the designed voltage controlled current source, one decisive prerequisite for portable bioimpedance measurement system is achieved. In order to select the appropriate excitation signals for short measurement time, a comparative study of signals and their parameters was carried out. It leads to the selection of binary chirp signal as a suitable excitation signal due to its short measurement time about 100 μs, low crest factor lower than 2.8 and an energy efficiency higher than 54% in a very noisy signal. Simulation results show that the designed enhanced Howland current source excited by the binary chirp signal has low error and flatness in the whole range. / Die Bioimpedanzspektroskopie gewinnt aufgrund ihrer besonderen Eigenschaften als nicht-invasive, schonende Messmethode zunehmend an Bedeutung im biomedizinischen Bereich. Dabei ergeben sich besondere erausforderungen für den Entwurf der Stromquelle zur Realisierung eines stabilen und sicheren Anregungsstroms. Gefordert ist eine hohe Genauigkeit bis zu einem Maximalstrom von 0.5 mA in einem Frequenzbereich, der der β-Dispersion entspricht, von wenigen kHz bis hin zu 1 MHz. Die Stabilität muss bei variablen Lastimpedanzen im Bereich von 100 Ω bis 10 kΩ gewährleistet sein. Dafür muss die Stromquelle eine hohe Ausgangsimpedanz aufweisen. Diese Arbeit fokussiert auf den Entwurf von spannungsgesteuerten Stromquellen. Verschiedene Arten von Stromquellen wurden untersucht und verglichen. Der 'Voltage-Modus-Ansatz' mit Masse-referenzierter Last hat sich als besser geeignet und stabiler für biomedizinische Messungen erwiesen. Die Tietze-Schaltung und diese Howland-Schaltung zeigen dabei die niedrigsten Fehler des Ausgangsstroms und die höchste Ausgangsimpedanz. Im direkten Vergleich besitzt die verbesserte Howland-Schaltung doch eine einfachere Struktur, höhere Genauigkeit und bessere Stabilität und wird daher gegenüber der Tietze-Schaltung bevorzugt. Um weitere Stabilitätsverbesserungen bei der Howland-Schaltung zu erreichen, werden zwei Maβnahmen vorgeschlagen. Zum einen werden kompensierte Operationsverstärker eingeführt und zum anderen wird der Einfluss von Streukapazitäten bei hohen Frequenzen minimiert indem die Verstärkung mit Kondensatoren kompensiert wird. Durch diese Maβnahmen wird eine Genauigkeit von 0.5% bei niedrigen Frequenzen und 0.9% bei 1 MHz ermöglicht. Mit dem neuen Entwurf der spannungsgesteuerten Stromquelle ist ein entscheidender Meilenstein für die Realisierung tragbarer Messsysteme der Bioimpedanz erreicht. Um eine kurze Messzeit zu realisieren wurde eine vergleichende Studie von Anregungssignalen und deren Signalparameter durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass binäre Chirp-Signale aufgrund der reduzierten Messzeit, des niedrigen Crest-Faktors unter 2.8 und hohe Energieeffizienz von mehr als 54% bei hohem Rauschlevel besonders geeignet sind. Simulationsergebnisse zeigen, dass die entwickelte Howland-Stromquelle zusammen mit einem binären Mehrfrequenzsignal den geringsten Amplitudenfehler im gesamten Frequenzbereich realisiert.

A growing number of factors, including the costs, technological advancements, an ageing population, and medical errors are leading industrialised countries to invest in research on alternative solutions to improving their health care systems and increasing patients’ life quality. Personal Health System (PHS) solutions envision the use of information and communication technologies that enable a paradigm shift from the traditional hospital-centred healthcare delivery model toward a preventive and person-centred approach. PHS offers the means to follow patient health using wearable, portable or implantable systems that offer ubiquitous, unobtrusive bio-data acquisition, allowing remote access to patient status and treatment monitoring. Electrical Bioimpedance (EBI) technology is a non-invasive, quick and relatively affordable technique that can be used for assessing and monitoring different health conditions, e.g., body composition assessments for nutrition. EBI technology combined with state-of-the-art advances in sensor and textile technology are fostering the implementation of wearable bioimpedance monitors that use functional garments for the implementation of personalised healthcare applications. This research studies the development of a portable EBI spectrometer that can use dry textile electrodes for the assessment of body composition for the purposes of clinical uses. The portable bioimpedance monitor has been developed using the latest advances in system-on-chip technology for bioimpedance spectroscopy instrumentation. The obtained portable spectrometer has been validated against commercial spectrometer that performs total body composition assessment using functional textrode garments. The development of a portable Bioimpedance spectrometer using functional garments and dry textile electrodes for body composition assessment has been shown to be a feasible option. The availability of such measurement systems bring closer the real implementation of personalised healthcare systems. / <p>QC 20130405</p>

Title: Monitoring of influence of individual segments of a teaching unit of physical education on fitness of girls from seventh grade of elementary school. Aim: The aim of the empirical part is to monitor the proportional representation of the motoric activities during the time given in the lessons of physical education of the seventh grade girls, and along with the chosen methods of testing of these individuals, to prove or disprove possible influence of the composition of the P.E. lessons on the chosen segments of their fitness. Methods: Various methods were used for testing the considered sample. These were the standardized motoric tests (intense forward bend when sitting, place-jump with legs together, endurance in a pull-up, hand grip) which investigate the chosen segments of the fitness. Another method used was the bioimpedance which measures the parameters of body composition. The data were recollected quantitatively and the results were also processed quantitatively by means of statistic parameters, such as arithmetic mean, variation span and determinative deviation. Results: From the results of the work emerged that as far as the chosen motoric activities and their influence on the chosen segments of the fitness are concerned, during the time given only the segment of flexibility in...