Non-contact bedsore detection using numerical human models

Bedsores are localized injuries to the skin and subcutaneous tissue caused by prolonged pressure on the skin and decreased blood flow. Early treatment of bedsores can shorten the treatment period. In our research, an antenna is placed between a bed and a mattress, with the aim to detect bedsores in the early stage by non-contact microwave detection. In this paper, we reproduced bedsores in the sacral region of a numerical human model (Taro) provided by the NICT (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology), and detected the bedsores using a patch antenna in the 10.525 GHz band. As a result, it was confirmed that the bedsores could be detected even in the numerical human model. In the future, we plan to develop a method for detecting early stage bedsores such as Stage I, develop a phantom that simulates the numerical human model, and conduct measurement experiments to evaluate the validity of the simulation.