Abstract
Abdominal circumference changes due to breathing by the respiratory muscle activity such as diaphragm, which would partially represent the lung volume variation. The present study introduced conductive rubber molded in a cord shape incorporated with a patient's pants. The conductive rubber cord operated as a displacement transducer to measure the lung or abdominal volume changes. Signal extraction circuitry was developed to obtain the volume and its derivative(or the flow) signals followed by wireless transmission based on the Zigbee communication protocol in a size of $65mm{\times}105mm$ easily put in pocket. Breathing frequency was accurately evaluated and breath pattern analysis seemed feasible, since respiratory behaviours such as maximal inspiration and cough were well identified. Remote wireless receiver module also enabled to monitor both volume and flow signals during resting breathing on a PC terminal.
