PFI-TT: A Novel Wireless Sensor for Continuous Monitoring of Patients with Chronic Diseases

这一创新技术转化伙伴关系(PFI-TT)项目的更广泛影响是推进无电池、无线、可植入的传感器，特别关注监测早期心力衰竭患者。无电池植入式传感器在临床应用中发展迅速，因为它们具有接近零功耗的优势，有可能实现长寿命和免维护操作。已开发出几种无线生物医学植入物，用于动态监测人体内的生理参数，使慢性病(如心力衰竭、眼病或脑损伤)的管理成为可能，并提高患者的生活质量。尽管植入式传感器有潜在的好处，但在使用射频信号准确可靠地检测生理参数方面面临着巨大的挑战。该项目将跨学科的商业、研究和教育努力结合在一起，开发一种高性能、高能效和可靠的生物遥测系统。这项研究的目的是实现来自可穿戴医疗设备和生物植入物的生物信号的实时采集和无线传输。该项目将开发一种奇偶时间(PT)对称的生物遥测系统，该系统提供了使用超小型便携式读取器对植入式微传感器进行射频解调的新方法，从而能够以高精度、前所未有的分辨率和良好的可靠性对生理体征进行实时、连续的无线监测。新冠肺炎疫情加速了无线健康技术的增长，预计这种增长将远远超过疫情。该PFI项目为未来的医疗物联网(IoT)系统实现了微型和隐蔽的微传感器和生物植入物，这些系统需要低成本、高能效和无处不在的操作。该团队将把受非厄米量子物理启发的PT对称生物遥测研究转化为体外/临床无线生物传感，并最终实现商业化。先进的无线传感器和系统将影响多个医疗电子和外科设备行业，包括心力衰竭的肺动脉监测，青光眼治疗的眼压监测，以及重症监护病房的颅内压监测。此外，可穿戴和生物植入的无线传感器还可以连接到不同的5G和B5G蜂窝网络，使基于云/边缘的智能系统能够协作地感知、收集和处理传感数据的信息。该项目由创新伙伴关系(PFI)计划和既定的激励竞争研究计划(EPSCoR)联合资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is in advancing battery-free, wireless, implantable sensors, with a particular focus on monitoring patients with early-stage heart failures. Battery-free implantable sensors have been growing rapidly in clinical uses because they have the advantage of near zero power consumption, potentially allowing for long-lifetime and maintenance-free operation. Several wireless biomedical implants have been developed for dynamic monitoring of physiological parameters in human bodies, enabling the management of chronic diseases (e.g. heart failure, eye disease, or brain injury) and improving patients' quality of life. Despite their potential benefits, implantable sensors face a significant challenge in accurately and reliably detecting physiological parameters using radio-frequency (RF) signals. This project will bring together commercial, research and education efforts across disciplines to develop a high-performance, energy-efficient, and reliable biotelemetric system. The purpose of the research is to enable real-time acquisition and wireless transmission of biological signals from wearable medical devices and bioimplants.This project will develop a parity-time (PT)-symmetric biotelemetry system that provides new ways to use RF interrogation of an implantable microsensor using an ultracompact, portable reader, enabling real-time, continuous wireless monitoring of physiological signs with high accuracy, unprecedented resolution, and good reliability. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the growth of wireless health technologies, and this growth is expected to continue far beyond the pandemic. This PFI project enables miniature and unobtrusive microsensors and bioimplants for future healthcare Internet-of-Things (IoT) systems, which require low-cost, energy-efficient, and ubiquitous operation. The team will translate research on PT-symmetric biotelemetry inspired by non-Hermitian quantum physics into in-vitro/clinical wireless biosensing, and, ultimately, commercialization. Advanced wireless sensors and systems will impact multiple medical electronics and surgical equipment industries, including pulmonary artery monitoring in heart failure, intraocular pressure monitoring for glaucoma management, and intracranial pressure monitoring in the intensive care unit. Additionally, the wearable and bio-implantable wireless sensors can also be connected to heterogeneous 5G and B5G cellular networks, enabling the cloud/edge-based intelligent system to cooperatively sense, collect, and process the information of the sensed data.This project is jointly funded by the Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.