EAGER: Non-invasive monitoring of arterial parameters via model-based analysis of arterial pulse signals measured by a microfluidic-based tactile sensor

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With cardiovascular diseases being the leading cause of death worldwide, there is an ever-increasing need for non-invasive monitoring of cardiovascular health and physiology. To be effective and widely used, monitoring methods must be relatively simple, affordable, and accurate. This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) project seeks to develop a novel method for non-invasive monitoring of the cardiovascular system using a microfluidic-based tactile sensor and associated model-based analysis. This project will also reveal sensor-artery interaction physics that is critical for achieving accurate and repeatable measurements. If successful, this method will revolutionize cardiovascular health assessment and tracking by 1) allowing early detection and timely intervention and treatment assessment of cardiovascular diseases, thus reducing morbidity/mortality rates and lowering healthcare costs; and 2) offering a reliable, affordable, and convenient tool to the medical field to conduct extensive clinical studies and large epidemiological surveys to understand cardiovascular physiology and pathology. This project will also train students with fundamental scientific knowledge and experimental skills, and implement several outreach activities, including research open houses and summer-camps for local high school students.In this project, a microfluidic-based tactile sensor with location-insensitive configuration is used to measure the pulse signal in an artery at the skin surface. By treating the measured pulse signal as a vibration signal, the arterial wall is modeled as a second-order dynamic system. Consequently, the associated model-based analysis allows estimation of three arterial parameters (elasticity, viscosity and radius of the arterial wall) from only one measured pulse signal. The overall goal of this project is to gain fundamental understanding on how estimated arterial parameters and their concomitant changes depend on the sensor design under different subject-specificity (Body Mass Index and age) and to establish correlations of the estimated values with other CV system parameters. The technical objectives of the project are to: 1) experimentally investigate the dependence of estimated arterial parameters and their changes on the sensor design under different subject-specificity; 2) assess the measurement accuracy and repeatability by relevant medical readings; 3) based on the experimental results and relevant engineering principles, establish a theoretical framework on quantitative relations of the estimated values of arterial parameters to the sensor design under different subject-specificity; and 4) examine correlations of estimated arterial parameters and their changes with other CV parameters.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.