Heart monitor for your car could prevent accidents due to driver incapacitation

A team of scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems (IPMS) located in Germany have developed an electrocardiogram (ECG) that operates from within a driver’s seat in a car. According to the researchers, the device is meant to monitor the driver’s heart rate to prevent accidents due to driver incapacitation.

The idea behind the invention is that other than exhaustion, the researchers state that the number one cause of sudden driver incapacitation are heart attacks and other cardiovascular issues. The seat they’ve designed is meant to prevent those kinds of accidents, when working in concert with automated vehicle emergency response technologies, such as active breaking and emergency-stop assistance systems.

The IPMS heart rate monitoring seat could reduce traffic accidents when paired with autonomous emergency stopping systems.  Image source: Fraunhofer IPMS.

Impressively, the ECG in the car’s seat works without direct contact with the driver’s body. According to Andreas Heinig, Project Leader at Fraunhofer IPMS, the electrodes of the ECG can work through layers of clothing, which could provide a solution for long-term monitoring in other medical fields.

So how does everything come together? The system incorporates metal plates built into the seat, which work as a receiver for the body’s natural electromagnetic signals. The Fraunhofer team said that even through several layers of clothing, the system works well. The one challenge the group has ran into is differentiating between the weak signals given off by the body’s cardiovascular system and the more potent signals created by friction and interference.

To keep the stronger currents from reaching the circuit board that does the measuring, controlling voltage fluctuations before they enter the computer, a shield and electronic circuit has been put into place.

Though the team believes the focus of their design is on automotive applications, the implications of the technology are wide. It could be integrated into clothing, blankets, hospital beds, and other items to provide non-invasive heart monitoring.

Source: Gizmag