Methods for the metrological characterization of wearable devices for the measurement of physiological signals: state of the art and future challenges

Wearable devices are rapidly spreading in many different application fields and with diverse mea-surement accuracy targets. However, data on their metrological characterization are very often missing or obtained with non-standardized methods, hence resulting in barely comparable results. The aim of this review paper is to discuss the existing methods for the metrological characteriza-tion of wearable sensors exploited for the measurement of physiological signals, highlighting the room for research still available in this field. Furthermore, as a case study, the authors report a customized method they have tuned for the validation of wireless electrocardiographic monitors. The literature provides a plethora of test/validation procedures, but there is no shared consensus on test parameters (e.g. test population size, test protocol, output parameters of validation proce-dure, etc.); on the other hand, manufacturers rarely provide measurement accuracy values and, even when they do, the test protocol and data processing pipelines are generally not disclosed. Given the increasing interest and demand of wearable sensors also for medical and diagnostic pur-poses, the metrological performance of such devices should be always considered, to be able to adequately interpret the results and always deliver them associated with the related measurement accuracy. center dot The sensor metrological performance should be always properly considered. center dot There are no standard methods for wearable sensors metrological characterization. center dot It is important to define rigorous test protocols, easily tunable for specific target applications.