August 13, 2005
A Black Box for People
From Science@NASA
When planes have a problem, the best way to understand what went wrong is to check its black box. It records exactly what was happening to the place at the time of the problem. NASA in partnership with engineers from Stanford, have developed something similar for people.
It's a compact, portable, wearable device -- a single piece of equipment that gathers a wide variety of vital signs. About the size of a computer mouse, a CPOD is worn around the waist. It's comfortable enough to be worn while sleeping. It's non-invasive. It takes only minutes to don. Importantly, it can track a person's physiologic functioning as they go about their normal routine -- they don't have to be tethered to some stationary device. It can store data for eight-hour periods for later downloading; alternatively, it can send it wirelessly, in real time, to some other device.
The CPOD typically tracks heart performance, blood pressure, respiration, temperature, and blood oxygen levels. Using three tiny accelerometers, it also tracks a person's movements -- it can tell whether they're running, for example, or spinning or tumbling.
And it can be reconfigured. If researchers choose, almost any kind of sensor could be plugged into the device. The CPOD could, for example, keep track of ambient air pressure, or monitor the concentrations of atmospheric gases.
Posted by rsk at August 13, 2005 12:30 PM