Radar Device Monitors Baby's Breathing

Engineers have built a prototype monitor that focuses on a baby's breathing. If the baby's chest stops moving, the crib-mounted monitor detects the problem and sends an alarm to a portable unit kept by the parents.

The system works by using Doppler radar to remotely scan the in-and-out movement of the baby's chest due to respiration. Commonly, Doppler radar technology is used for navigation or tracking the movement of objects--aircraft or precipitation, for example.

Jenshan Lin, a University of Florida (UF; Gainesville, FL. USA) professor of electrical and computer engineering and the principal investigator of the Doppler radar technology used in the monitor said, "It's a step beyond just watching the baby through a video link or hearing it cry."

Produced by students in Professor Lin's department, the small-book-sized device attaches to the crib just like a standard monitor. A remote station with red, blue, green, and yellow lights, indicate the status of the baby's vital signs, the battery life of the station, and confirm the station's wireless connection to the crib monitor. The station emits a loud alarm and flashes a red light when the monitor detects that the baby's breathing activity has fallen below a preset threshold, or that he or she has stopped breathing.

Parents buy millions of baby monitors each year in the United States alone, but most transmit only sounds or video images of the baby--both useful, but only if a parent is listening or watching. Some recently available monitors also monitor babies' movements and breathing, but Professor Lin said that he is not aware of any on the market that use wireless technology.

The size of the electronics in the system was reduced so that they fit on a fruit fly-sized microchip, potentially enabling the remote monitor to be used in cell phones. That could turn the phones into portable life-sign detectors useful, for example, for friends and family who wish to monitor elderly relatives living alone, he said.

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