SBIR Phase I: Smartphone-based Automated External Defibrillator

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)Phase I project is to save lives through the proliferation of miniaturized automated externaldefibrillators that attach to smartphones. Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) will kill more than 325,000Americans this year outside of the hospital. An SCA can cause death if it is not treated inminutes. If an AED is available, it can save a person's life; some estimates suggest a 27% increasein the number of people who could be saved if AEDs are available and used when needed. Aminiaturized AED embedded in a smartphone case could save lives by making AEDs moreavailable and ensuring those who carry them are reachable by emergency medical services. Thestrategy is to equip law enforcement, firefighters, EMS personnel, and potential citizen first responderswith this device and use smartphone technology to ensure they are reachable whenin proximity to someone experiencing an SCA. It provides an opportunity for a new paradigm infirst response: AED carriers that can be located during the first critical moments of an SCA.Through this research, hundreds of thousands of lives can be saved each year.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will prove out the concept of aregulatory-compliant miniaturized AED that integrates with a smartphone. The work includesresearching and designing components and electronics that will enable creation of this criticalmedical device and accomplish three overarching goals: (1) design and develop the miniaturizedcomponents, interconnects, firmware and software necessary to implement the hand-held AEDSmartphone case in Phase Two by evaluating high voltage power supply and switchingelectronics and completing a power converter and switching design capable of generating therequired energy from an on-board lithium-ion battery and supporting a bi-phasic waveform; (2)develop the smartphone software and firmware necessary to implement the device itself, guidea user through the emergency protocol, and send GPS information to EMS to allow them tolocate proximal first responders; (3) integrate the hardware and software into a prototype thatdemonstrates a path to a form factor function unit in Phase 2. Research and designs ofinterconnects and encapsulation methods developed as part of this effort will offer insight intothe miniaturization of myriad electronics both within and outside the medical domains.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.