A remote sensing machine to measure vital signs will be used in the next Olympic games
DONT be surprised if while watching the
Atlanta Olympic games later this year,
you get the image of an ECG
(Electrocardiogram - graph showing a
persons heart conditions) on
your TV screen. These would be
the vital signs of the athlete, who
is performing, being measured by
a motion detector placed at a distance.
Designed a decade ago at the
Georgia Institute of Technology,
Atlanta, the motion detector did
not see the light of the day till
recently because of the institutes
internal problems. It was originally designed with Pentagon
backing to monitor the vital signs
of fallen soldiers from across a
battlefield. Now the Olympic
organisers, who have helped in its
revival, think it can spice up some
of the dull sporting events.
The motion detector can pick
up any faint movements in the
chest from a distance. Earlier
field trials have shown that it can
pick up movements successfully
from 300 metres away. It picks up chest
motion caused due to breathing and
also the subtle vibrations caused by the
pumping action of the heart.
Patented by Georgia Tech, the
devise can replace medical diagnostic
equipment like the ECG or even the
physical contact of the patient with the
doctor or nurse, when measuring heart
functions.
The motion detector has other uses
as well. When mounted above a baby's
crib it could become a wireless monitor
and sound off an alarm when the child's
vital signs begin to weaken. Or, it could
be finely tuned so as to help rescue
teams sift through earthquake or building collapse rubble. The tool could also be used by military personnel in order
to find out the number of people in a
room or as part of a lie detector test.
As of now, there is no updated prototype ready for real-life testing and it is not even clear whether all the 8- 10 prototypes required during the Games would be ready by July 19, when the
Games begin. Georgia Tech has -assigned
a team of graduate students with a professor to produce a workable model
before the Olympics from the original
prototypes.
The original prototypes resemble a
topless VCR full of soldered circuitry'
which is attatched to a megaphone-like
antenna for receiving and giving out
microwave signals. The Signals are
processed and recorded on paper
scrolls. For some months now, the students have been trying to route the sensor signals through a digital-processing
computer chip. The resultant signals
Show up as waves on the computer
screeb with peaks denoting heartbeats
and valleys the breaths.
According to the Georgia Tech project director, Jim Toler, it is not going to be an easy task to tap the full potential of
the monitor, with just the students
working on it. The motion detector has
a long way to go, and its development
will require more money. Toler believes
that eventually, medical researchers may
be able to translate the monitors signals
into the detailed information produced
by EKG machines, which determine not
only heart and breathing rates but
also the nature of blood-flow blockages
and the extent of damage to the heart
muscles.
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