STTR Phase I: Motion Tolerant Near-field Radio Frequency Sensors for Non-invasive Monitoring of Chronic Health Conditions

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project lies in its potential to transform how chronic cardiopulmonary conditions are monitored and managed outside clinical settings. Chronic illnesses, such as heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, affect millions of people in the United States and account for significant healthcare costs due to frequent hospitalizations. Further, low-income Americans are more likely to suffer from chronic illnesses and often lack reliable access to healthcare. This project proposes a novel technology that enables cost-effective, continuous, and convenient monitoring of critical cardiopulmonary metrics in the home. By providing a low-cost, comfortable, and maintenance-free alternative to existing monitoring tools, this technology has the potential to reduce hospitalizations, improve quality of life, and decrease healthcare costs. The ability to offer a scalable remote patient monitoring solution to incentive value-based care and address the growing demand for innovative, patient-centric health technologies creates a novel commercial opportunity from the Phase I STTR work. This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project focuses on developing a non-invasive radiofrequency sensing technology for home-based monitoring of heart and lung function. The proposed system uses advanced sensing methods to measure critical physiological parameters without the need for skin contact or maintenance, improving the convenience, scalability, and accuracy of existing methods. The research objectives include designing improved antennas for ambulatory use, improving signal processing techniques to mitigate interference, and validating the system’s accuracy against clinical benchmarks. The anticipated results include a robust and reliable sensor design capable of delivering clinically relevant data in real-world conditions, bringing the current technology status closer to its commercial success. This work lays the foundation for next-generation health monitoring tools that can integrate seamlessly into existing remote patient monitoring programs and help manage chronic diseases more effectively. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.