SBIR Phase II: Contactless and portable heart-rate device based on magnetic sensing technology

这个小型企业研究(SBIR)项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种新型的磁性传感器并制作原型，该传感器能够连续检测由人体心脏产生的微小磁性信号。这项拟议的技术可以在不接触皮肤的情况下检测心率和心脏波形，这与基于标准心电图仪的设备相反，标准设备需要不舒服的电极、粘合剂和胸带才能操作。此外，该技术的制造成本低，易于小型化。该项目的目标是提供一种非接触式、不引人注目和舒适的方式来评估心脏状况，供运动爱好者用于健身心脏监测，以及需要准确、连续和长期心脏监测解决方案的心脏病患者。这项拟议的技术可以很容易地与手镯、智能手表集成在一起，或者简单地放在口袋里，同时不断地测量心脏功能。它的体积小，成本低，使这项技术得到广泛应用，并易于与现有可穿戴设备集成。此外，知道心脏病是发达国家的主要死亡原因，我们相信我们的低成本和易于使用的设备将对公众健康和预防医学产生积极影响。因此，更好的预防性护理将有助于降低医疗成本。拟议的项目将侧重于开发一种基于磁心动图(MCG)的新型磁性传感器，用于连续和便携地监测人体心脏。几十年来，便携式心电图仪一直局限于心电图仪传感器。心电图不适合连续的心率监测(例如老年患者在家中使用)，因为它需要患者S胸口上的导电(粘合)电极。相比之下，心电图仪可以无创、非接触地准确记录人体的心跳。我们提出了一种新颖的、芯片级的、高灵敏度的磁强计，它可以进入和扩大便携式心电心电监测市场。该二期工程的目标是继续优化磁感应技术，启动可实时记录心脏信号的样机和演示单元的开发，为医疗诊断提供一种新的非接触式心率和心脏波形测量方法。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Research (SBIR) project is to develop and prototype a novel magnetic sensor capable of continuous detection of the small magnetic signals generated by the human heart. The proposed technology enables heart-rate and heart waveform detection without any contact to the skin, contrary to standard electrocardiograph (ECG) based devices that require uncomfortable electrodes, adhesives and chest straps to operate. Furthermore, this technology can be manufactured at low cost and easily miniaturized. The goal of the project is to provide a contactless, unobtrusive and comfortable way to evaluate the heart condition, to be used by sports enthusiasts for fitness heart monitoring, and for heart disease patients that require an accurate, continuous and long-term heart monitoring solution. The proposed technology is designed to be easy integrated with bracelets, smart-watches, or simply placed in a pocket, while constantly measuring the heart function. Its small size and low cost enables the broad use of this technology and easy integration with available wearables. Moreover, knowing that heart disease is the main cause of death in developed nations, we believe our low cost and easy to use device will have positive impact on public health, and on preventive medicine. Better preventive care will consequently help to lower healthcare costs. The proposed project will focus on the development of a novel magnetic sensor for continuous and portable monitoring of the human heart, based on magnetocardiography (MCG). Portable cardiography has been limited to electrocardiography (ECG) sensors for decades. ECG is not suitable for continuous heart-rate monitoring (e.g. for in-home use by elderly patients) since it requires conductive (adhesive) electrodes on the patient?s chest. In contrast, MCG can accurately record the human heartbeat non-invasively and contactless. We propose a novel, chip-scale, highly sensitive magnetometer that can enter and expand the portable ECG heart-monitoring market. The goal of this Phase II project is to continue the optimization of the magnetic sensing technology, and start the development of prototypes and demonstration units that can record the heart signals in real time, providing a new and contactless way to measure heart-rate and heart waveform for medical diagnosis.