A Video-Based Non-Contact Method for Advanced Remote Cardiopulmonary Vital Sign Monitoring

The measurement of cardiopulmonary vital signs is fundamental to understanding the health status and cognitive capacity of the subject. These measures can give the observer crucial data to enable assessment of general health and fitness, physical and mental stress or fatigue, autonomic function, respiratory distress, or impending cardiac events. Vital signs are typically determined using contact-based sensors which are inappropriate for a number of operational use cases because they are physically restrictive or are overly distracting from the task at hand. Photoplethysmography (PPG) generates physiological response waveforms from contact-based sensors. Using advanced signal processing methods, a large number of physiological parameters may be extracted from these waveforms. Imaging photoplethysmography (iPPG) is a technique whereby similar waveforms may be obtained from remote video images of the subject. InteloMed has commercialized an FDA-cleared PPG analysis device, and is currently developing methods for video-based iPPG analysis. In this project, they will leverage this expertise to develop a complete iPPG analysis pipeline for advanced remote cardiopulmonary vital sign monitoring which may be implemented in a variety of hardware embodiments, as defined by the operational use case. The resulting devices will have commercial applications in telemedicine and remote crew monitoring.

iPPG is a simple and low-cost optical technique that uses existing vehicle infrastructure to continuously monitor the crew’s physiologic parameters without crew intervention. Because it requires only a simple consumer-grade camera (i.e. cell phone or webcam), potential applications include exploration pressure suits, ISS health maintenance systems, or manned aerospace vehicles. It can also be used to monitor

Non-NASA commercial and civilian applications include telemedical access for general care; use in remote environments; remote monitoring of home- or facility-based chronic disease patients; monitoring of bacterial infections to avoid septic onset; emergency and urgent care medicine for initial triage and ongoing monitoring; and early cardiac stress identification to avoid onset of cardiac events.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 4) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.