DETECTING VASCULAR CONDITIONS IN ANIMAL BODIES

1 . A method for determining vascular conditions in an animal body, the method comprising:

placing each of a plurality of 3D-printed sensing devices at a location on the animal body, wherein each of the plurality of 3D-printed sensing devices comprises a piezoresistive transducer to detect a pulse occurring at the location, the plurality of 3D-printed sensing devices comprising at least a first 3D-printed sensing device and a second 3D-printed sensing device placed at a first location and a second location on the animal body, respectively, the first and the second locations being separated by predefined distance;

receiving, from the first 3D-printed sensing device, a first binary signal indicative of occurrence of a first pulse corresponding to a systolic motion;

receiving, from a second 3D-printed sensing device, a second binary signal indicative of occurrence of a second pulse corresponding to the systolic motion;

computing a time difference between the first pulse and the second pulse; and

comparing the time difference to a reference time difference value to determine presence of a vascular condition between the first location and the second location.

2 . The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a binary signal corresponding to a systolic motion of the animal heart from each of the plurality of 3D-printed sensing devices;

computing a blood flow rate in the animal body based on the binary signal received from each of the plurality of 3D-printed sensing devices; and

determining a vascular condition in the animal body based on the blood flow rate.

3 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the reference time difference value is one of a time difference value measured in the animal body in absence of a vascular condition and a standard time difference value predefined for healthy animal bodies.

4 . The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an identification code from each of the plurality of 3D-printed sensing devices; and

determining a location of each of the plurality of 3D-printed sensing devices on the animal body based on respective identification codes received from each of the plurality of 3D-printed sensing devices.

5 . The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising generating an alert notification to indicate the presence of the vascular condition based on the comparing.

6 . The method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the alert notification is further communicated to a remote communication device.

7 . A 3D-printed sensing device for detecting vascular conditions in an animal body, the 3D-printed sensing device comprising:

a binding layer to attach the 3D-printed sensing device to a part of an animal body; and

a sensor layer, extruded atop the binding layer, the sensor layer comprising:

a piezoresistive transducer to generate an electrical signal based on a pulse detected in the part of the animal body, wherein the electrical signal is a binary signal having a logical high value at an instant of occurrence of the pulse in the part of the animal body, the binary signal being agnostic of a strength of the pulse;

an amplification module to amplify the electrical signal to provide an amplified signal; and

a transmitter unit, coupled to the amplification module, to transmit the amplified signal to a monitoring device associated with the 3D-printed sensing device.

8 . The 3D-printed sensing device as claimed in claim 7 further comprising a photovoltaic cell layer to provide power to the piezoresistive transducer, the amplification module and the transmitter unit.

9 . The 3D-printed sensing device as claimed in claim 7 , wherein an identification code is hardwired into the 3D-printed sensing device.

10 . The 3D-printed sensing device as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the transmitter unit is to transmit the identification code to the monitoring device.

11 . The 3D-printed sensing device as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the sensor layer further comprises a field programmable tag to store an identification code associated with the 3D-printed sensing device.

12 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions for printing a 3D-printed sensing device, executable by a processing resource of a 3D-printing device to:

print a binding layer to attach to a part of a animal body;

extrude a flexible substrate layer on the binding layer; and

print a sensor layer on the substrate layer, wherein the sensor layer comprises:

a piezoresistive transducer to generate an electrical signal on detecting a pulse in the part of the animal body;

an amplification module to amplify the electrical signal; and

a transmitter unit to transmit the amplified signal to a monitoring device associated with the 3D-printed sensing device.

13 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 12 comprising instructions executable to print a photovoltaic cell layer atop the sensor layer.

14 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 12 comprising instructions executable to create a field programmable tag in the sensor layer, wherein the field programmable tag stores an identification code.

15 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 13 comprising instructions executable to extrude a protective layer over the photovoltaic cell layer.