SBIR Phase I: Smartphone-based Automated External Defibrillator

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to save lives through the proliferation of miniaturized automated external defibrillators that attach to smartphones. Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) will kill more than 325,000 Americans this year outside of the hospital. An SCA can cause death if it is not treated in minutes. If an AED is available, it can save a person's life; some estimates suggest a 27% increase in the number of people who could be saved if AEDs are available and used when needed. A miniaturized AED embedded in a smartphone case could save lives by making AEDs more available and ensuring those who carry them are reachable by emergency medical services. The strategy is to equip law enforcement, firefighters, EMS personnel, and potential citizen first responders with this device and use smartphone technology to ensure they are reachable when in proximity to someone experiencing an SCA. It provides an opportunity for a new paradigm in first response: AED carriers that can be located during the first critical moments of an SCA. Through this research, hundreds of thousands of lives can be saved each year. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will prove out the concept of a regulatory-compliant miniaturized AED that integrates with a smartphone. The work includes researching and designing components and electronics that will enable creation of this critical medical device and accomplish three overarching goals: (1) design and develop the miniaturized components, interconnects, firmware and software necessary to implement the hand-held AED Smartphone case in Phase Two by evaluating high voltage power supply and switching electronics and completing a power converter and switching design capable of generating the required energy from an on-board lithium-ion battery and supporting a bi-phasic waveform; (2) develop the smartphone software and firmware necessary to implement the device itself, guide a user through the emergency protocol, and send GPS information to EMS to allow them to locate proximal first responders; (3) integrate the hardware and software into a prototype that demonstrates a path to a form factor function unit in Phase 2. Research and designs of interconnects and encapsulation methods developed as part of this effort will offer insight into the miniaturization of myriad electronics both within and outside the medical domains. 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.