Measuring Vital Signs From 40 Feet Away

Alexandra Carmichael

The US Department of Homeland Security has invented a Star Trek-like tricorder. Called the Standoff Patient Triage Tool (SPTT), it can measure pulse, body temperature, and respiration from up to 40 feet away. The obvious application is for emergency response teams, but why not have a tricorder stationed conveniently in your bedroom and office to monitor yourself, and ideally upload your physiological readings continuously to a data analytics website?

Here is an excerpt, and the whole news release is here:
The magic behind SPTT is a technology known as Laser Doppler Vibrometry, which has been used in aircraft and automotive components, acoustic speakers, radar technology, and landmine detection. When connected to a camera, the vibrometer can measure the velocity and displacement of vibrating objects. An algorithm then converts those data points into measurements emergency medical responders can use in their rapid assessment of a patient's critical medical conditions.

June 1, 2009, 1:18 PM 3 Comments
 

3 Comments

#1 | Tue, 06-23-09 05:54 | Rich Lewandowski

Wired article led me here, suggested this HealthMonitor creator visit:

http://reza.net/wordpress/?cat=4

 
#2 | Fri, 06-05-09 03:48 | Arin Crumley

This is fascinating, I’d love to use this in a documentary film situation to allow people to monitor their heart rate when various things occur to them. The information could be used in editing to quickly find all of the tense moments in the footage and to also possibly use the data points to trigger either an on screen display to key the audience into how the person is feeling or even trigger abstract animation based on even multiple characters.

Anyway, been thinking about this kind of stuff for a while and was turned onto this site by Seth Ludman and love the dialog happening here.

 
#3 | Tue, 06-02-09 10:21 | Gary Wolf

Great post - thank you. The intoxicating effect of the Tricorder on technical imagination continues to be felt!

 

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