Long-Term Wearable Touchless Radiofrequency Sensors for Cardiopulmonary Functions
Abstract
The computer can now know your personal voice and face, but can it know your ?heart? and ?breath,? if you allow it to? Most of the present sensors for heartbeat and respiration are uncomfortable to wear for the long-term due to skin touch, surface preparation, and motion constraint. Can we build a touchless ?radar? to collect those inside-body vital signs accurately and reliably? Many previous radio-frequency methods are based solely on body surface movement. When no tag is worn by the user, the detection is non-specific and vulnerable to any ambient motion. When an identification (ID) tag is worn, immediate skin contact was thought to be necessary, as the only signal deemed to be collectable is derived from body surface movement. Here we propose a new radio-frequency cardiopulmonary function monitoring device that has the potential for richer functionality and accuracy equivalent to or higher than conventional methods, but does not require direct touch of skin or motion restriction. This new sensor device can be comfortable and convenient for long-term health and wellness monitoring. The main principle of the new sensing operation is based on the radio-frequency ?antenna characteristics,? which have been known and used in the radar community for decades in the application of identification of friend or foe (IFF) and other security measure. Instead of retrieving a static geometrical feature from the antenna manufacturer, consider your heart and lung as parts of the transmitting antenna. The slow-varying vital signs will ride on the individual secure radio signals to be detected by the receiver. Thanks to the booming information technology development in the last 20 years, the proposed radio-frequency sensor will inherit low-cost, ready wireless network integration and privacy protection by taking advantages of the established manufacturing and network infrastructure. The small wearable sensor can be a passive tag with the size of a name card or wrist band or can be an active tag with size of a wrist watch or iPod. The passive tag will need no battery or maintenance, but will need an external reader. The active tag will be self-contained, but will need to include a battery on the unit though the power consumption will be at the level of a few milliwatts. Now imagine this radar sensor knows your cardiopulmonary function accurately and robustly 24/7, which enables the best ?Dr. Watson? to be not only your personal doctor, but can also compare your cardio and respiration symptoms as well as vital-sign characteristics to a gigantic global database to give you the right health advice always in time. You do not need to remember to measure your blood pressure or go for annual checkups for health conditions of the heart valves. Your asthma medicine or beta blockers can be automatically and adaptively applied with a closed-loop sensor-therapy method without worries of overdose or symptomatic oscillation. The sensor will also give you an evaluation of the degree of stress you are under and your present mood. It can not only tell you how well you have slept last night, but also help you sleep with closed-loop control of ambient factors. The success of this new sensor technology will definitely change your world! Topic Areas: (1) Cardiomyopathy; (2) Respiratory health; (3) Sleep disorders
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 05, 2019
- Source ID
- W81XWH1910004
Entities
People
- Edwin C Kan
Organizations
- Cornell University
- United States Army