A NEW sensing system can provide constant monitoring to protect against sudden infant death. It could also be used to monitor patients with breathing difficulties and even as a warning system to wake drivers who have fallen asleep.
Dr Domenico Zito, of the Tyndall National Institute in Cork, developed the system in collaboration with a research group in Italy.
It is based on a type of radar, which means the sensor does not have to touch the patient. It is highly sensitive and can detect very small movements, including the beating of a heart.
It has been tested on humans and has been proven safe, said Dr Zito, a Stokes lecturer in microelectronic engineering and director of a research group at Tyndall. “The next stage is to commercialise this technology.”
The system uses “ultra-wide- band pulsed radar” to detect movement. “We can detect movements below one centimetre. It is very precise,” Dr Zito said.
It could be used to monitor breathing and give an alarm in possible cases of sudden infant death syndrome, or oversee respiration in a patient with a lung condition, he said. “The main focus of our research was to provide wireless monitoring in respiratory diseases.”
Drivers could also use it to detect changes in the pattern of their breathing and issue a warning should they fall asleep.
Other research groups have used forms of radar for contact-free monitoring, but this was the first such use of high-speed pulsed radar, Dr Zito said. It emits bursts of low energy radar lasting just 30 billionths of a second. “This is also the first time that this form of radar has been integrated into a single silicon chip,” he added.
The radar signals can pass into the body, which means a baby monitor would continue to work even as the child moved in its sleep. It also offered the possibility of use as a form of connectionless heart monitor. The technology was completely safe, reaching power levels just one millionth of that from a mobile phone, he said.