Toronto: Scientists have developed a radar system that can wirelessly monitor the vital signs of patients, eliminating the need to hook them up to any machines. Housed in a device smaller than a cellphone, the new technology records heart and breathing rates using sensitive radar waves that are analysed by sophisticated algorithms embedded in an on-board digital signal processing unit.
Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada developed the system to monitor sleep apnea patients by detecting subtle chest movements instead of connecting them to equipment in labs via numerous cumbersome wires. “We take the whole complex process and make it completely wireless,” said George Shaker, an engineering professor at Waterloo. “And instead of a clinic, it could be done in the comfort of your own bed and run daily for continuous monitoring,” Shaker said in a statement.
The radar unit was mounted to the ceiling over the bed of more than 50 volunteers as they slept normally in a model long-term care apartment. The system, which collects and analyses data from radar waves that are reflected back to the unit from the bodies of patients, achieved results over 90 per cent as accurate as standard
hard-wired equipment. —PTI
