Contact-less Optical Vital Parameter Determination

Vital parameters are an important indicator of a person's state of health. Conventional devices such as ECG or pulse oximetry have the disadvantage that they are contact-based. In addition to the low wearing comfort, this poses a problem for people with sensitive skin, such as newborns or elderly. One solution is the optical, contact-less determination of vital parameters. The vital parameters are determined at the Chair of Digital Signal Processing and Circuit Technology in various wavelength ranges such as the visible wavelength range, the near infrared and the long infrared range.

The following vital parameters will be examined scientifically:

• Heart rate
• Respiration Rate
• Oxygen saturation
• Blood pressure

Fig 2: Representation of the heart rate over time using our method (blue) and a reference system (black)

The contactless determination of vital parameters results in a multitude of possible applications:

• Health monitoring in elderly care
• Training monitoring in rehabilitation
• Driver monitoring as safety aspect
• Triage in hospital
• Detection of emergencies such as early detection of sudden infant death syndrome
• Marketing research
• Sleep laboratory

Fig 3: Determination of the heart rate in the domestic environment

In the future, further vital parameters are to be considered and new fields of application opened up.