SBIR Phase II: Cover-2: Hydration monitoring in athletes

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力侧重于运动员的安全和表现。中暑被称为“无声杀手”，是导致高中和大学运动员死亡的三大原因之一。该项目的目标是开发一种可穿戴系统，用于对运动员进行无创、实时的水合监测，以防止严重脱水。这项创新的一个关键特点是采用了一种新型的可穿戴传感器，能够捕捉根据每个运动员独特的生理特征量身定制的生物阻抗测量值，以实现个性化的安全。结合深度学习方法和基于云的分析，可穿戴系统可以在运动员接近不利或危及生命的情况之前向运动工作人员发送早期警报信息。商业潜力将为体育科学界提供新的见解，以定制运动员的活动，管理休息时间，并调整运动员的补水行为。该项目产生的潜在结果将最大限度地减少不必要的运动员死亡，降低医疗费用，并最大限度地减少长期健康状况的风险。该项目解决了市场对无创、实时、基于现场的运动员水合作用评估的需求。由于长期暴露在炎热和潮湿的条件下，在参加运动期间引起急性失水（脱水），导致不利的健康状况。脱水会在四个关键领域影响运动员的健康：心血管压力、认知障碍、体温调节失败和中暑。目前基于现场的方法的局限性包括使用手动（例如，体重图）或侵入性评估（例如，尿液测试）。该公司完全集成的可穿戴传感器执行生物阻抗光谱，用于非侵入式实时水合监测。连续测量产生每个运动员独特的生物阻抗剖面，捕获细胞外水和细胞内水的波动。这项创新将使运动教练能够深入了解运动员的安全、健康和表现。第二阶段的目标包括：1)构建基于云的平台；2)提升可穿戴传感器的功能和灵敏度；3)将专有的深度学习算法部署到云端进行大规模监控。此外，团队将对潜在客户进行beta测试。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project focuses on athlete safety and performance. Heat stroke, known as the silent killer, represents one of the top three causes of fatalities among high school and collegiate athletes. The goal of this project is to develop a wearable system for non-invasive, real-time hydration monitoring of athletes to prevent severe dehydration. A key discriminator of the innovation employs a novel wearable sensor capable of capturing bioimpedance measurements tailored to the unique physiological characteristics of each athlete for personalized safety. Coupled with deep learning methods and cloud-based analytics, the wearable system could send early alert messages to the athletic staff before an athlete approaches adverse or life-threatening conditions. The commercial potential will provide the sports science community with novel insights to customize player activities, manage rest periods, and adjust athlete hydration behaviors. Potential outcomes derived from the project will minimize unnecessary athlete fatalities, reduce medical costs, and minimize the risk of long-term health conditions.This project addresses the market need for the non-invasive, real-time, field-based hydration assessment of athletes. Acute water loss (dehydration) during sports participation induced by long-term exposure to hot and humid conditions leads to adverse health conditions. Dehydration impacts an athlete’s health in four critical areas: cardiovascular stress, cognitive impairment, thermoregulation failure, and heat stroke. Limitations of current field-based methods include the use of manual (e.g., weight charts) or invasive assessments (e.g., urine tests). The company's fully integrated wearable sensor performs bioimpedance spectroscopy for non-invasive, real-time hydration monitoring. Continuous measurements generate a bioimpedance profile unique to each athlete that captures the fluctuations from the extracellular water and intracellular water compartments. This innovation will give athletic trainers insight into their athletes’ safety, health, and performance. Phase II objectives include: 1) building the cloud-based platform, 2) advancing the functionality and sensitivity of the wearable sensor, and 3) deploying the proprietary deep learning algorithms to the cloud for large-scale monitoring. In addition, the team will perform beta testing with potential customers.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.