Project Leads:

 WearLab, Ruoyu Zhang,Ph.D. (Accelerated, Secure, and Energy-Efficient Computing Laboratory (ASEEC)

This project explored the development and early testing of a soft, e-textile–based wearable system to support individuals who may not sense or recognize bladder fullness. People with impaired bladder sensation often rely on guesswork or external schedules, which can lead to anxiety, loss of confidence, and involuntary urination in everyday life.

We developed Privée, a discreet garment that adapts bioimpedance spectroscopy—traditionally confined to clinical environments—into a wearable format for continuous, real-time monitoring. The system integrates an embroidered eight-electrode textile array into the inner lining of the garment at the lower abdomen. As the bladder fills, changes in electrical impedance caused by conductive urine are captured by the textile electrodes and transmitted through integrated e-textile lines to a compact, detachable hardware module. D

Publications: 

Zhang, R., Fang, R., Fang, C., Homayoun, H., & Goncu Berk, G. (2023, October). Privee: A wearable for real-time bladder monitoring system. In Adjunct Proceedings of the 2023 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing & the 2023 ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computing (pp. 291-295).

Zhang, R., Fang, R., Zhang, Z., Hosseini, E., Orooji, M., Homayoun, H., & Goncu-Berk, G. (2023, June). Short: Real-time bladder monitoring by bio-impedance analysis to aid urinary incontinence. In Proceedings of the 8th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Connected Health: Applications, Systems and Engineering Technologies (pp. 138-142).