Wearable Sensor for Monitoring Respiratory Failure in Sleep Disorders

Background & Unmet Need

• Sleep-related breathing disorders affect about 34% of men and 17% of women, and are characterized by episodes of disrupted breathing at night1
• Many of these disorders, most notably sleep apnea, may cause symptoms such as daytime sleepiness, waking up at night, snoring, heart damage, and even increased risk of car accidents
• The gold standard for diagnosis of sleep disorders is a laboratory sleep study, which requires a subject to spend a night sleeping in a clinical center
• At-home diagnostic tests have been developed but do not diagnose all cases of sleep apnea and may have to be confirmed with laboratory studies
• Other chronic respiratory disorders, as well as acute respiratory events like those caused by addiction, require improved and portable respiratory monitoring
• Unmet Need: Comfortable and unobtrusive wearable device capable of detecting respiratory events

Technology Overview

• The Technology: A non-invasive, non-contact and low-cost wearable sensor that uses a near-field coherent (NCS) sensing multiplexing antenna to monitor respiratory failure and provide alert signals
• The NCS techniques work on the principle that body movement can be clearly and unambiguously retrieved from the RF antenna characteristics, and then be correlated with vital signs
• PoC Data: The vital signs are digitally recorded and broadcasted by the tag in the outdoor environment, and a ceiling-mounted reader connects to the sensing tag to retrieve the wearer’s vital signs (Fig. 1)
• The sensor successfully detects different respiratory events (Fig. 2)
• The initial data showed that the invention’s accuracy in cardiopulmonary functions is comparable to respiratory inductive plethysmography (RIP) and phonocardiogram (PCG) measurements (Fig. 3)

Technology Applications

• Detection of sleep-related breathing disorders (e.g., sleep apnea, obesity hypoventilation syndrome)
• Monitoring respiratory health and recovery in patients with respiratory disorders such as COPD or Covid-19
• Detection of respiratory events in opioid users

Technology Advantages

• No immediate skin contact or tension belts
• Minimal constraint of user range of motion
• Cost-effective: Anticipated cost per unit < $5 under mass production
• Equivalent accuracy compared to RIP, ECG, and phonocardiogram (PCG)
• Minimal RF radiation for user safety and limited interference to other wireless modules