Significance: Monitoring the movement and vital signs of patients in hospitals and other healthcare environments is a significant burden on healthcare staff. Early warning systems using smart bed sensors hold promise to relieve this burden and improve patient outcomes. We propose a scalable and cost-effective optical fiber sensor array that can be embedded into a mattress to detect movement, both sensitively and spatially.

Aim: Proof-of-concept demonstration that a multimode optical fiber (MMF) specklegram sensor array can be used to detect and image movement on a bed.

Approach: Seven MMFs are attached to the upper surface of a mattress such that they cross in a 3  ×  4 array. The specklegram output is monitored using a single laser and single camera and movement on the fibers is monitored by calculating a rolling zero-normalized cross-correlation. A 3  ×  4 image is formed by comparing the signal at each crossing point between two fibers.

Results: The MMF sensor array can detect and image movement on a bed, including getting on and off the bed, rolling on the bed, and breathing.

Conclusions: The sensor array shows a high sensitivity to movement, which can be used for monitoring physiological parameters and patient movement for potential applications in healthcare settings.