Noninvasive online urine sugar sensing in daily life

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K12772
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 90150:Medical assistive technology-related
• Research Institution: Hiroshima Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Ohtani Kozo 広島工業大学, 情報学部, 教授 (40351978)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 尿糖 / 光センシング / モニタリングシステム / 健康管理

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this project, we aimed to develop a system that can non-invasive sense and monitor the condition of diabetic patients in their living environment. This system involves attaching an optical sensor to the outside of a seated toilet and measuring the refractive index and absorbance of urinary sugar to indirectly estimate the concentration, deriving the urinary sugar value from the estimated concentration, and allowing it to be checked on a mobile device.
In this term, we established a refractive index measurement method using an optical angle sensor and inverse ray tracing. We also verified the accuracy of the method for estimating the concentration of glucose, the main component of urinary sugar from absorbance. As a result, we found that it was possible to measure glucose concentration with a resolution of about 1%. However, we were unable to develop a function that would allow the estimated data to be monitored on a mobile device.

Free Research Field

センサ工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

従来，尿糖計を腰掛便器に組み込む技術はいくつか提案されているが，その多くは機械的機構によって尿をサンプルして分析ユニットへ送る手法である．したがって，装置が複雑であり，すでに普及している腰掛便器に組み込むことは難しい．それに対し，本研究の成果は，センサユニットを腰掛便器に外付けするだけで計測できる点に大きな特色がある．非接触であり，分析ユニットも不要なためメンテナンス性にも優れている．スマートフォンなどの携帯端末にアプリケーションをインストールすればデータの蓄積，閲覧も可能となり，今後の普及にもアドバンテージがある．将来的には医療機関と連携した健康管理システムとしての有用性も期待できる．