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Grant support

This work was supported in part by the Grant BES2016-077291 and in part by the Spanish Government Project under Grant RTI2018-096019-B-C31. The associate editor coordinating the review of this article and approving it for publication was Prof. Subhas C. Mukhopadhyay.

Analysis of institutional authors

Lázaro Guillén, Antonio RamonAuthorBoada, MartíAuthorVillarino Villarino, Ramón MariaAuthorGirbau, DavidAuthor
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Article

Battery-Less Smart Diaper Based on NFC Technology

Publicated to:Ieee Sensors Journal. 19 (22): 10848-10858 - 2019-11-15 19(22), DOI: 10.1109/JSEN.2019.2933289

Authors: Lazaro, Antonio; Boada, Marti; Villarino, Ramon; Girbau, David

Affiliations

Rovira & Virgili Univ, Dept Elect Elect & Automat Engn, Tarragona 43007, Spain - Author

Abstract

Modern disposable diapers are carefully designed to transport fluid away from the skin to prevent irritation and dermatitis. These devices are used not only for babies. In fact, they are increasingly used for the elderly since both average life expectancy and the number of people who need special care are increasing. Diapers must be changed to prevent skin rash caused by the skin being exposed to wetness for a long time and to high the pH levels of urine. However, it is not easy to check the state of diapers (of babies or the elderly) without removing the baby's or the elderly's clothes. In this paper, we propose a smart diaper equipped with a battery-less near field communication (NFC) tag. Moisture is detected by changes in capacitance between two electrodes located on the back sheet of the diaper, while capacitance is determined from the charge time through a high-value resistor using a microcontroller. The change in capacitance as a function of the wet conditions is simulated and measured. The tag is based on an NFC IC with energy harvesting. The power required to feed the electronics and microcontroller is obtained from the magnetic field generated by a smartphone with NFC used as a reader. A simple model is proposed to estimate the volume of urine in the diaper. We compare this approach with others in the literature and study how the capacitance is affected by the body and the materials.

Keywords
Biological tissuesCapacitive sensorsConstantDielectric-propertiesMoisture sensorNear field communicationsPhRadiofrequency identificationSensorSmart diaperSystemTag

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Ieee Sensors Journal due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2019, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Instrumentation. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.03. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 1.21 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-05-18, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 21
  • Scopus: 26
  • Google Scholar: 38
  • OpenCitations: 23
Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-05-18:

  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 47 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

    It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

    Leadership analysis of institutional authors

    There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Lázaro Guillén, Antonio Ramon) and Last Author (Girbau Sala, David).