The Indian Institutes of Technology have made us proud yet again. Recently, IIT Hyderabad announced the development of a 5mm chipset that can be worn as a pendant to monitor the heartbeat.
The chip can then send an alert to the user and the doctor on variations in heart rhythm if it requires medical attention. The chip with ’embedded intelligence’ helps maintain the medical history of the user. The technology, which has shown close to 95% accuracy during initial tests, will soon undergo field trials.
The chipset records heartbeats through ECG leads attached to a body and processes the data. If it finds variation from the normal rhythm of heart that requires medical help, it activates the rest of the chip. The chipset, which is connected to a smartphone, alerts the user through an installed application.
The app also alerts and transmits ECG signals to a doctor, whose contact details are stored. When there is no variation in heart rhythm, the rest of the chip does not get activated,thereby saving power.
Assistant professor at Advanced Embedded System and IC Design Laboratory Amit Acharyya said the technology has novelties, including an embedded intelligence that can interpret the difference between ECG abnormalities that may or may not require medical attention.
Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/IIT-Hyderabad-develops-pendant-that-can-monitor-heart-rhythm/articleshow/50735884.cms
“There are several wearable devices that can keep track of the heart rhythm. But they are all connected to a central server to which the ECG signals are transmitted and later interpreted by a professional,” Acharyya said. “Our chip does all of this, yet consuming as little as one milliwatt battery power,” he added. “When compared to a chip that can store five hours of data, our chip can save 35 hours of data in a compressed format,” said Acharyya.
Image Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/defaultinterstitial_as.cms
