Design and Validation of an Eye-Blink Detection System with a 5.8-GHz Antenna-Based Sensor Integrated on Glasses

Over the last decades a series of new wearable and implantable technologies has emerged in the field of continuous monitoring for biomedical purposes. Since both median age and growth of the world population are increasing and will continue to do so, being able to assess the current state of the subject, without requiring the presence of a specialized professional, has become a key feature for the realization of new devices. Wearable technology consists of electronic devices that are worn on the body, built into clothes or sometimes implanted. They are designed to perform functions such as health monitoring or fitness tracking; usually compact and lightweight, these devices are easy to use and include examples like smartwatches, fitness trackers and smart glasses. Moreover, miniaturization techniques applied in the design phase of the device, together with an appropriate choice of the materials for the antenna and the substrate, make it possible to employ the device during the activities of daily life without impairing any function of the subject. The purpose of this project is to design a pair of smart glasses which can provide enough information to discriminate the current state of the subject’s eyes between “open” and “closed”, together with the possibility to address the transition time between the two states mentioned above and therefore a pair of smart glasses able to distinguish when a blink has occurred. To do so, a wearable dipole antenna embedded in the glasses frame will be used to ensure both continuity during the acquisition phase and the wearability factor. Data extracted from the antenna via a vector network analyser will be processed using MATLAB scripts to discriminate when a blink has occurred.