Body area network monitors arousal level

IMEC Annual Research Review Meeting – Leuven – Belgium

Leuven, Belgium – October 14, 2008 – In the framework of Holst Centre, IMEC
developed an ambulatory arousal monitor. The new research concept uses a
combination of body parameters to monitor a person’s arousal level. The
compact form factor and the long battery lifetime allow the use of the
arousal monitor in new application domains such as mobile gaming and
clinical trials.

Being able to measure and analyze the emotional state can be of great value
for a variety of applications in the entertainment and medical sector. For
example, online avatars can automatically adapt to a player’s state of mind
without him having to actively indicate it in a game menu. Or, in drugs
screening, being able to objectively quantify parameters such as stress can
complement the more subjective indication and gradation of traditional
tests.

IMEC’s approach within its Human++ program at Holst Centre uses a body-area
network that measures four body parameters to detect a person’s emotional
state. The body-area network consists of two small wireless sensor nodes
that communicate to a PC acting as a base station. The wireless sensor
nodes take care of ultra-low power digital signal processing and wireless
communication of the measured data. The first wireless sensor node is
integrated in a chest belt and measures respiration and ECG
(electrocardiogram or heart activity) based on IMEC’s proprietary
single-channel biopotential ASIC. The second node is integrated in a
wristband and consists of a commercial sensor for skin temperature and a
dedicated circuit board measuring the galvanic skin conductance between two
fingers. The physiological measurements are combined and interpreted in the
software running on the base station where an indication about the person’s
arousal is derived in real time.

The entire system consumes twenty times less power than a comparable
Bluetooth device, allowing several days of autonomy on a commercial
prismatic Li-Ion battery. Future research will focus on making the system
fully autonomous, e.g. by using energy harvesters that produce electricity
from body-heat; increasing the amount of local computing done within the
sensor nodes; increasing the amount of parameters that can be measured;
improving the robustness and reliability and including ultra-low power
wireless RF communication.

IMEC’s platform serves as a research demonstrator to showcase and evaluate
the underlying technology and building blocks. Partner companies – and
possible other interested parties – can use and commercialize the
technology in future product generations, which can be situated in all
sorts of other scenarios and domains than the ones named above.

This news release and picture can be downloaded at:
http://www2.imec.be/imec_com/body_area_network_monitors_arousal_level.php?y
ear=2008&month=10

About IMEC
IMEC is a world-leading independent research center in nanoelectronics and
nanotechnology. IMEC vzw is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, has a sister
company in the Netherlands, IMEC-NL, offices in the US, China and Taiwan,
and representatives in Japan. Its staff of more than 1600 people includes
more than 500 industrial residents and guest researchers. In 2007, its
revenue (P&L) was EUR 244.5 million.
IMEC’s More Moore research aims at semiconductor scaling towards sub-32nm
nodes. With its More than Moore research, IMEC looks into technologies for
nomadic embedded systems, wireless autonomous transducer solutions,
biomedical electronics, photovoltaics, organic electronics and GaN power
electronics.
IMEC’s research bridges the gap between fundamental research at
universities and technology development in industry. Its unique balance of
processing and system know-how, intellectual property portfolio,
state-of-the-art infrastructure and its strong network worldwide position
IMEC as a key partner for shaping technologies for future systems.
Further information on IMEC can be found at www.imec.be.

About Holst Centre
Holst Centre is an independent open-innovation R&D centre that develops
generic technologies for Wireless Autonomous Transducer Solutions and for
Systems-in-Foil. A key feature of Holst Centre is its partnership model
with industry and academia around shared roadmaps and programs. It is this
kind of cross-fertilization that enables Holst Centre to tune its
scientific strategy to industrial needs.
Holst Centre was set up in 2005 by IMEC (Flanders, Belgium) and TNO (The
Netherlands) with support from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and
the Government of Flanders. It is named after Gilles Holst, a Dutch pioneer
in Research and Development and first director of Philips Research.
Located on the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, Holst Centre benefits from
the state-of-the-art on-site facilities. Holst Centre has over 100
employees (growing to over 200 by 2010) and a commitment from over 15
industrial partners.
Visit us at www.holstcentre.com

Contacts :
IMEC : Katrien Marent – Corporate Communications Director – Tel +32 16 28
18 80 – Mobile: +32 474 30 28 66 – Email: Katrien.Marent {at} imec(.)be

Barbara Kalkis, Maestro Marketing & PR, T : +1 408 996 9975,
kkalkis {at} compuserve(.)com

Holst Centre: Koen Snoeckx – Communication Manager – Tel +31 40 277 40 91 -
Mobile: +31 612 71 98 43 – Email: Koen.Snoeckx {at} holstcentre(.)com
-ends-

Photo: Wireless body area network for arousal monitoring: physiological
signals are monitored, wirelessly transmitted and analyzed to extract, in
real-time, the arousal level characteristic of one’s emotional state.