About

With over one million people suffering from chronic respiratory conditions in Finland alone, there is a critical and growing demand for accessible, continuous breathing monitoring. Though respiratory rate is one of the earliest and most important indicators of patient deterioration, this is rarely monitored continuously in clinical and even home settings because existing solutions require complex systems. Our goal is to develop RespiRate, a robust algorithm designed for non-invasive respiration rate calculation that remains accurate and easy to use for extended periods.

Results

RespiRate, the intelligence brain in a sensor, detects tiny body movements caused by breathing, enabling small, non-intrusive motion sensor units to function as a respiratory monitor. It allows contact-free, continuous and lost-cost respiratory monitoring that can be integrated into beds, chairs or care environments without disturbing the patients through effective isolation of rhythmic physiological signals from ambient interference. This intelligent brain provides reliable, scalable, accessible and real-time respiratory diagnostics to improve patient safety and long-term care without adding any complexities.

Future Development

The team seeks to improve the functionality of the algorithm by making it more robust against sudden motion and distraction when calculating respiration rate by removing noise and other interference caused by the body in motion. Testing of the algorithms in ambulance settings and other movement scenarios would be considered with a more diverse test participants.

Technologies Used

RespiRate was primarily developed using Python programming with data collected using a motion sensor unit device.

Deliverables

Measuring Protocol Schematic of Motion Sensor Unit Device Python Code (Algorithms developed)