A chest band with fibre optic sensors measures breathing and mean heart rate with small errors, and an archer can wear it while shooting
2 studies
The summary today
The band's accuracy has been measured by a single Italian study, from 2019, alongside a preparatory paper by the same group that chose where to place the sensors. An elastic band with fibre Bragg grating sensors was first tested on nine volunteers, against a flowmeter for breathing and a photoplethysmograph for heart rate, and then worn by two archers over four shooting sessions at 70 metres. On the volunteers the figures are good: breathing rate comes out with a mean error under 2 per cent, from both the chest and the abdominal sensor, and heart rate under 6 per cent, with the chest more accurate, 3.92 against 5.74. The single heartbeat is another matter: compared beat by beat, the chest sensor can be off by 11 to 12 beats per minute and the abdominal one by more than 22, and heart rate was measured during breath-holding, not with a bow in hand. During the shooting sessions there was no reference instrument at all: the study shows that the phases of the shot can be recognised in the chest signal, not how accurate that signal is while shooting. The preparatory paper explains why the band sits where it does: on four archers' chests, during the shot, the right upper rib cage deforms by up to 58 per cent, too much for the sensors. It is a feasibility test, and the claim should be read that way.
Also phrased as: "wearable sensors in archery"; "measuring an archer's breathing"; "heart rate while shooting"; "chest strap for archers"; "smart textile sensors"
In practice
There is growing talk of measuring heart rate and breathing on the shooting line with wearable sensors, to see what happens in the body in the seconds before release.
Evidence
-
2019
For Equipment tests Published later
A band with fibre Bragg grating sensors tested on nine healthy volunteers, 4 men and 5 women, during quiet breathing and breath-holding: mean absolute percentage error of 1.92 per cent from the chest and 1.97 from the abdomen for breathing rate against the flowmeter, and 3.92 and 5.74 per cent for heart rate against the photoplethysmograph. The band was then worn by two archers, each over two sessions of six arrows at 70 metres, one practice and one scored.
Cardio-Respiratory Monitoring in Archery Using a Smart Textile Based on Flexible Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors · Daniela Lo Presti, Chiara Romano, Carlo Massaroni, Jessica D'Abbraccio, Luca Massari, Michele Arturo Caponero, et al.
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2019
Context Equipment tests Published later
Beat-by-beat analysis on 149 beats from the nine volunteers, measured during breath-holding: limits of agreement from minus 11.15 to plus 12.48 beats per minute for the chest sensor (R² 0.91) and from minus 22.54 to plus 22.65 for the abdominal one (R² 0.76). The average is fine, the single beat is not: anyone using this sensor to study heart rate in the seconds before release would have to allow for that margin. For breathing, position matters little: R² 0.99 from the chest and 0.98 from the abdomen, limits of agreement around plus or minus 0.8 breaths per minute in both cases; for the heart it matters, with an error of 3.92 per cent from the chest against 5.74 from the abdomen. No reference instrument was used during shooting; in the chest signal the shooting actions are clearly distinguishable, while the abdominal trace is more irregular.
Cardio-Respiratory Monitoring in Archery Using a Smart Textile Based on Flexible Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors · Daniela Lo Presti, Chiara Romano, Carlo Massaroni, Jessica D'Abbraccio, Luca Massari, Michele Arturo Caponero, et al.
-
2019
Context Equipment tests Published later
Preparatory work by the same group, presented at a conference. With a 42-marker motion capture on the chest of four archers, two men and two women, the right upper rib cage deforms by up to 58 per cent during the shot, against values between 0 and 8 in quiet breathing, enough to risk damaging the sensors there; the authors therefore pick one line that deforms by more than 8 per cent with breathing in all four and another that stays between 3 and 16 during the shot. The bands, then tried on two volunteers simulating the shot, record breathing and, only during breath-holding, the movements due to the heartbeat, with no comparison against a reference instrument.
A wearable system based on fiber Bragg grating for monitoring respiratory and heart activity of archers · Chiara Romano, Daniela Lo Presti, Emiliano Schena, Carlo Massaroni, Domenico Formica, Michele A Caponero, Calogero M Oddo, Jessica D’Abbraccio, Luca Massari, Umile G Longo, Alessandra Berton
Status history
- 2019 Reported The only test arrives: a band with fibre optic sensors, validated on nine volunteers, estimates breathing rate with a mean error under 2 per cent and heart rate under 6, and is then worn by two archers while shooting. Beat by beat the chest band can be off by 11 to 12 beats per minute, and there was no reference during the shooting. In the same year a preparatory paper by the group explains where to place the sensors, choosing the areas on four archers' chests that do not deform too much during the shot, but it adds no accuracy measurements. A single feasibility study: reported.
Related
Related articles
Research lines
Cite
Campagna, M. (2026). A chest band with fibre optic sensors measures breathing and mean heart rate with small errors, and an archer can wear it while shooting (Version 3). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/fibre-optic-chest-band-breathing-heart-rate
@misc{campagna2026_fasciasensorirespirobattito,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {A chest band with fibre optic sensors measures breathing and mean heart rate with small errors, and an archer can wear it while shooting},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/fibre-optic-chest-band-breathing-heart-rate},
note = {Version 3; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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