Without ANY direct connection to your body
Medscape:
How Wi-Fi Could Become an Invisible, No-Touch ECG
Wi-Fi signals bounce off humans in predictable patterns and can detect respiration and pulse, creating an invisible, whole-room health monitor that never touches the patient.
Wi-Fi signals already fill our homes, offices, and hospitals — invisible waves constantly transmitting data between routers and countless devices. Now researchers are exploring how ubiquitous signals could serve a secondary purpose in healthcare.
The concept is surprisingly straightforward: As Wi-Fi signals transmit through a room, they encounter human bodies and bounce off them in predictable patterns. These subtle disturbances in the signal can reveal movement, breathing patterns, and even heartbeats. Like invisible sonar constantly pinging through our spaces, Wi-Fi creates a field of information that, when properly decoded, can track the rhythms of human life.
“Wi-Fi signals can work as sensors, transparent sensors that you don’t see,” said Katia Obraczka, PhD, engineering professor at University of California at Santa Cruz. “Given that Wi-Fi is such widespread technology — you have Wi-Fi all over the place — it’s very convenient to use it to measure different things.”
For healthcare settings, this technology could address persistent challenges. Hospital patients who remove monitoring devices, elderly residents who forget to wear fall detection pendants, or children who won’t tolerate sleep study equipment might all be monitored through existing Wi-Fi infrastructure.
Emergency departments could assess breathing rates in waiting rooms, while rehabilitation centers might track mobility patterns without attaching sensors to patients. A triage station could obtain ECG measurements while patients simply wait in chairs. The technology promises continuous, passive monitoring without the compliance issues, skin irritation, or battery life concerns of wearable devices.“
While Pulse-Fi focuses on heart rate, researchers can measure multiple health parameters using Wi-Fi simultaneously by analyzing different patterns in signal disturbances. Qammer Abbasi, PhD, engineering professor at University of Glasgow, explained that the heartbeat creates tiny, rapid vibrations, whereas breathing produces larger, slower movements. Falls, body movements, and sleep pattern changes create even bigger displacements—each leaving its own signature in the Wi-Fi field.“
www.medscape.com
Medscape:
How Wi-Fi Could Become an Invisible, No-Touch ECG
Wi-Fi signals bounce off humans in predictable patterns and can detect respiration and pulse, creating an invisible, whole-room health monitor that never touches the patient.
Wi-Fi signals already fill our homes, offices, and hospitals — invisible waves constantly transmitting data between routers and countless devices. Now researchers are exploring how ubiquitous signals could serve a secondary purpose in healthcare.
The concept is surprisingly straightforward: As Wi-Fi signals transmit through a room, they encounter human bodies and bounce off them in predictable patterns. These subtle disturbances in the signal can reveal movement, breathing patterns, and even heartbeats. Like invisible sonar constantly pinging through our spaces, Wi-Fi creates a field of information that, when properly decoded, can track the rhythms of human life.
“Wi-Fi signals can work as sensors, transparent sensors that you don’t see,” said Katia Obraczka, PhD, engineering professor at University of California at Santa Cruz. “Given that Wi-Fi is such widespread technology — you have Wi-Fi all over the place — it’s very convenient to use it to measure different things.”
For healthcare settings, this technology could address persistent challenges. Hospital patients who remove monitoring devices, elderly residents who forget to wear fall detection pendants, or children who won’t tolerate sleep study equipment might all be monitored through existing Wi-Fi infrastructure.
Emergency departments could assess breathing rates in waiting rooms, while rehabilitation centers might track mobility patterns without attaching sensors to patients. A triage station could obtain ECG measurements while patients simply wait in chairs. The technology promises continuous, passive monitoring without the compliance issues, skin irritation, or battery life concerns of wearable devices.“
While Pulse-Fi focuses on heart rate, researchers can measure multiple health parameters using Wi-Fi simultaneously by analyzing different patterns in signal disturbances. Qammer Abbasi, PhD, engineering professor at University of Glasgow, explained that the heartbeat creates tiny, rapid vibrations, whereas breathing produces larger, slower movements. Falls, body movements, and sleep pattern changes create even bigger displacements—each leaving its own signature in the Wi-Fi field.“
How Wi-Fi Could Become an Invisible, No-Touch ECG
Wi-Fi signals bounce off humans in predictable patterns and can detect respiration and pulse, creating an invisible, whole-room health monitor that never touches the patient.
www.medscape.com
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