QUB Builds Tiny Antenna for Wireless Patient Monitoring
Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) have developed an innovative antenna which may soon allow doctors to monitor a patient’s condition without a trip to the hospital.
Biosensors are already routinely used to monitor the vital signs of patients with cancer and other serious medical conditions while they are staying in treatment facilities. Because the antennas, wires and battery size required to gather and transmit the information are too inconvenient and bulky for patients to wear once they leave the hospital, patients must often return to their physician’s office multiple times for routine follow-ups.
Now, electronics experts at QUB have designed a low-profile wireless antenna measuring less than 5mm which is capable of radiating a signal powerful enough to make remote patient monitoring feasible.
With conventional on-body antennas, the majority of the signal is lost because it’s either transmitted away from or absorbed by the patient’s own body. QUB’s device radiates signals out the side of the antenna rather than the end enhancing the signal’s ability to “creep” the surface of the skin. And unlike traditional wireless antennas, QUB’s device is small enough to be easily incorporated into a wound dressing or the patient’s clothing while they’re engaged in everyday activities.
This new patch-style antenna will be used to further wireless body area network (WBAN) technologies currently under development. In WBAN networks, the antenna signal transmits data from biosensors attached to different parts of the patient’s body to a control unit which stores the data. The information collected on the control unit can then be remotely accessed by healthcare providers 24 hours a day using a computer or mobile phone.
QUB has submitted a patent application on one of the antenna designs and more are predicted to follow. As one of the project leaders said,
“We could change the way that a range of illnesses, injuries and conditions are monitored, perhaps within five years.”
Dr William Scanlon
Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology, QUB
The QUB project was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
Source: EPSRC (UK)
Related Links: ScienceDaily; Science Foundation Ireland
Technorati Tags: bioelectromagnetics; electronic health records; health IT; Northern Ireland; telemedicine
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