SBIR Phase I: A Wearable Non-Invasive Deep Tissue Thermometer

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to measure biological temperatures for many important problems in health care, by advancing a novel temperature sensor. In the near term, a wearable, non-invasive sensor can prevent heat stroke and exhaustion for at-risk cohorts, such as the US military, which suffers from 2800 annual cases of heat stroke in active-duty personnel. Furthermore, heat stroke early warning could diminish injuries and deaths among U.S. high school and college athletes and 7.4 million first responders who typically operate under stressful conditions. Beyond heat stress, this thermometer can monitor elevated brain temperature during the critical hours following stroke or traumatic brain injury (affecting 4.8 million patients per year), which can cause additional brain damage and permanent disabilities. The proposed sensor can directly measure tumor temperature during heating therapy, potentially improving clinical outcomes for some of the 1.8 million patients per year by 20-40% while reducing dosage of debilitating chemicals and radiation. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will demonstrate a novel, non-invasive temperature sensor capable of accurately measuring deep tissue temperature several centimeters below the skin, wherever placed. The proposed sensor detects small microwave signals in a noisy environment by incorporating 20+ signal processing and noise reduction methods with technologies similar to those used in radio astronomy. Non-invasive brain temperature measurement is particularly important as the brain generates and manages its own critical operating temperature, and elusive as it can only be inferred from surrogate measurements without directly cutting into the skull. Direct brain temperature monitoring with a wearable device may provide early warning of many health conditions. 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.