Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants
École de technologie supérieure
$203,491.00
New signal processing, circuits and materials for robust and affordable capacitively-coupled electrocardiography
FY 2018-19
Summary
The electrocardiogram (ECG) is one of the best tools available to clinicians to diagnose heart disease. Unfortunately, it is unsuitable for long-term monitoring because present-day systems use adhesive electrodes and cumbersome wires to connect to the patient. In recent years, a new contactless capacitively-coupled ECG (cECG) technology has been proposed, which uses capacitive effects to unobtrusively capture the heart's electrical signals. Not only does this greatly improve patient comfort by avoiding the electrodes' adhesion to the skin, the electrodes can be integrated into a mattress allowing for convenient long-term monitoring. *This project is partnership between three professors across two universities and two industrial partners, namely SIG.NUM Pre-emptive Health Care and SPERA Medical Technologies. SIG.NUM has a prototype cECG system that is presently advancing through the regulatory milestones and clinical trials. Although it is a great step forward for patient comfort and enabling long-term monitoring, several research challenges have been identified whose resolution will help SIG.NUM develop a very-low-cost cECG. The research will focus on novel signal processing algorithms and custom integrated circuits to capture the heart's electrical signals and decrease the device's sensitivity to body movements. *SPERA Medical Technologies is investigating ECG signals in conjunction with genetic markers for cardiac disease. Their involvement in the project will ensure that the ECG signals measured by the next-generation of contactless system will have the signal quality needed to early diagnosis of cardiac disease.*In addition to NSERC, this project is supported by MEDTEQ, Quebec's Consortium for Industrial Research and Innovation in Medical Technology.*Over the course of the project, six PhD students, two MASc students and one post-doctoral fellow will be trained to address state-of-the art challenges in microelectronics, sensors, distributed signal processing and printable circuit materials.
Program
Collaborative Research and Development Grants
Recipient
Location
Quebec, Canada
Recipient Type
Academia
Type
Grant
Source
NSERC's Awards Data
As published
Application id
514369-2017
Name nom
Gagnon, Ghyslain
Department département
Génie électrique
Organization id
53
Institution établissement
École de technologie supérieure
Province en
Québec
Province fr
Québec
Country en
CANADA
Country fr
CANADA
Fiscal year exercice financier
2018
Competition year année de concours
2017
Award amount
203491
Program id
CRDPJ
Program name en
Collaborative Research and Development Grants
Program name fr
Subventions de recherche et développement coopérative
Group en
Research partnerships programs
Group fr
Programmes de partenariat
Committee code
96
Committee name en
RPP Internal Decision Cttee
Committee name fr
Cté de décision interne - PPR
Area of application code
1101
Area of application group en
Health, education and social services
Area of application group fr
Santé publique, éducation et services sociaux
Area of application en
Human health (including medically-related psychological research)
Area of application fr
Santé publique (y compris recherche psychologique liée à la médecine)
Research subject code
2506
Research subject group en
Electrical and electronic engineering
Research subject group fr
Génie électrique et électronique
Research subject en
Electron devices
Research subject fr
Dispositifs électroniques
Partie
1
Nb partie
2
Application title
New signal processing, circuits and materials for robust and affordable capacitively-coupled electrocardiography
Keyword
NSERC
Application summary
The electrocardiogram (ECG) is one of the best tools available to clinicians to diagnose heart disease. Unfortunately, it is unsuitable for long-term monitoring because present-day systems use adhesive electrodes and cumbersome wires to connect to the patient. In recent years, a new contactless capacitively-coupled ECG (cECG) technology has been proposed, which uses capacitive effects to unobtrusively capture the heart's electrical signals. Not only does this greatly improve patient comfort by avoiding the electrodes' adhesion to the skin, the electrodes can be integrated into a mattress allowing for convenient long-term monitoring. *This project is partnership between three professors across two universities and two industrial partners, namely SIG.NUM Pre-emptive Health Care and SPERA Medical Technologies. SIG.NUM has a prototype cECG system that is presently advancing through the regulatory milestones and clinical trials. Although it is a great step forward for patient comfort and enabling long-term monitoring, several research challenges have been identified whose resolution will help SIG.NUM develop a very-low-cost cECG. The research will focus on novel signal processing algorithms and custom integrated circuits to capture the heart's electrical signals and decrease the device's sensitivity to body movements. *SPERA Medical Technologies is investigating ECG signals in conjunction with genetic markers for cardiac disease. Their involvement in the project will ensure that the ECG signals measured by the next-generation of contactless system will have the signal quality needed to early diagnosis of cardiac disease.*In addition to NSERC, this project is supported by MEDTEQ, Quebec's Consortium for Industrial Research and Innovation in Medical Technology.*Over the course of the project, six PhD students, two MASc students and one post-doctoral fellow will be trained to address state-of-the art challenges in microelectronics, sensors, distributed signal processing and printable circuit materials.
