Human++ - biomedical electronics
Wearable health and comfort monitoring
Autonomous sensor nodes can be used to create a body-area network that is worn on the body and that monitors vital body parameters in an unobtrusive way during daily life. When alarming values are reached, a caregiver can be contacted.
This is an especially promising technology for elderly people wishing to stay in their own homes longer independently and for diagnosis and follow-up of chronic diseases.
Sensor networks are also beneficial for sports applications allowing coaches to assess the data of their athletes in real-time. And in gaming or e-learning a feedback loop can be generated between body parameters and the system, making the application much more attractive to the user.
To increase the autonomy and unobtrusiveness of tomorrow’s medical devices and ambient sensor networks, imec focuses its research on:
- Creating wearable or implantable patient-friendly systems using innovative packaging and integration technologies: for example, ultra-thin-chip embedding in flexible and/or stretchable packages, chip-in-wire technology, and 3D out of-plane integration.
- Improving the biocompatibility of implants to guarantee long-term operation and to reduce adverse reactions.
- Making the devices autonomous by reducing the power consumption of the active components and using energy harvesting so that no batteries need to be replaced.
- Wireless communication of measured data to the outside world.
This research is carried out in the framework of Holst Centre, an open innovation initiative set up by imec and the Dutch research institute TNO.