The goal of the MedIT exoskeleton project is the development of a novel active orthotic therapy device for hemiplegic motion impaired people using special flexible actuators.
GlukoSys
Funded by: BMWI (ZIM)
Period: 01/2019 - 12/2020
The aim of the project "GlukoSys" is the development of a system for monitoring and intervention of the blood glucose level in critical ill patients.
InHeart
Funded by: BMBF
Period: 07/2017 - 06/2019
The aim of inHeart is to integrate a therapy system into the information system of the clinic. This System should support physicians with the treatment of heart assisted patients. Following therapeutic steps will be suggested on the basis of vital signs, the patient’s history and actual parameters of the heart pump. With the help of inHeart treatments should be individualized to the patient despite increasing demands on clinical staff.
NAVPANI
Funded by: BMBF
Period: 05/2017 - 04/2019
Assessment of vital parameters of preterm neonates is an important part of any comprehensive healthcare, especially in ICU. At present several of the vital parameters can be ascertained only by invasive methods. Invasive methods are painful and may lead to infection and or side effects. Parameters such as heart rate, breathing rate, oxygen saturation in arterial blood can be obtained noninvasively but the sensors of these techniques have to be in contact with the body and connected by wires. Such an arrangement can cause avoidable discomfort to the patient. Ease of application, minimal or no discomfort coupled with reduced risk of infection and side effects make noncontact diagnostic methods more sought after than the invasive or even non-invasive methods of medical diagnostics. Both the German and Indian teams involved in this proposal are dedicated centers of excellence in healthcare in general and focus particularly on non-invasive and non contact diagnostic methods. The present proposal is to perform cooperated research in developing noncontact methods of diagnosing vital parameters of neonates, especially neonates in intensive care units (ICU).
HealthBed
Funded by: European Comission / EIT Health
Period: 03/2017 - 12/2017
Beds and the bed environment can become a rich source of health-relevant data using contactless monitoring technologies. With appropriate instrumentation, they allow the collection of vital sign data during sleep and while awake and they can reveal important insights into sleep quality and presence of sleep disorders. We are developing new contactless sensor technologies for unobtrusive monitoring of vital signs and sleep to be used in people’s homes and in professional care settings. With this, we will take vital signs monitoring to places where they are currently not monitored, such as non-ICU hospital wards and homes.
vulnusMON
Funded by: BMBF
Period: 01/2017 – 09/2020
vulnusMON aims for the development of a holistic approach to support medical personnel as well as patients in the field of wound care. This includes the investigation of sensor concepts for the continuous and automated observation of wounds as well as the development of algorithms for their diagnosis.
ADAS & ME
Funded by: European Comission
Period: 09/2016 - 09/2019
ADAS & ME will develop Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) that incorporate driver/rider state, situational/ environmental context, and adaptive interaction to automatically transfer control between vehicle and driver and thus ensure safer and more efficient road usage.
UnoSeco
Funded by: German Research Foundation ("Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft", DFG)
Period: 07/2016 - 06/2018
The goal of this project is the investigation of methods of multimodal bio-signal processing for vital sign estimation. The focus lies on the development of a methodology that is independent of the sensing method and especially considers non-contact and unobtrusive modalities, which in general are very susceptible to disturbances. However, in contrast to traditional clinical instrumentation they can potentially be integrated into objects of everyday life.
Digital Lifestyle Germany – Malaysia
Funded by: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Period: 01/2016-12/2019
Practical Lectures for students of the UTM will be read as part of the practical partnership “Digital Lifestyle Germany – Malaysia”. The interaction of industry and university is an essential characteristic of a German engineering education and should be established in Malaysia.
Hydrozephalus
Funded by: German Research Foundation ("Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft", DFG)
Period: 01/2016 - 12/2017
The goal of this project is to study the craniospinal dynamic compliance (dV/dt / dp/dt) in connection to Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH) in order to develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for this disease
Contact-free monitoring of pulmonary function using magnetic induction for newborns in an incubator
Funded by: German Research Foundation ("Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft", DFG)
Period: 01/2015 - 06/2017
Goal of this project is the contact-free monitoring of ventilation of newborn infants within an incubator. By using the magnetic induction technique breathing could be measured locally. This allows continuous detection of lung diseases in clinical scenarios without the need of complex and expensive measurement technologies.
Sektor BIS
Funded by: German Research Foundation ("Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft", DFG)
Period: 01/2015 - 09/2017
The aim of “Sector BIS” is to detect lung pathologies with the help of bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS). Sectional diseases of the lung should be localized due to additional usage of middle electrodes, which can be integrated in ventilation tubes. Therefore an early detection of these lung pathologies should be possible, particularly in ventilated patients.
Smart PPG
Funded by: BMWI
Period: 11/2014 - 04/2017
It's the aim of the SmartPPG project to develop and validate a multi-sensor measurement system. For this, all established PPG-based arterial and venous diagnostic routines will be combined into a single device. Besides classical diagnsotic routines like muscle punp test, venous occlusion test, arterial oxygen saturation and local perfusion, also innovative parameters like the local oxygen metabolism will be developed and implemented.
Predicting hypoglycemia and arrhythmias in the vulnerable patient with diabetes and chronic kidney disease
Funded by: ERS Boost Fund Projekt
Period: 10/2014 - 03/2017
The aim of this project is to predict hypoglycemia and arrythmias in patients who suffer from diabetes and chronic kindey disease.
Automated ARDSnet-protocol-ventilation
Funded by: German Federal Ministry of Commerce (BMWI, ZIM)
Period: 10/2014 – 09/2017
The aim of the project "autoARDSnet" is to develop an automated ventilation mode for the protocol-based application of lung-protective ventilation. Thus, the advantages of improved treatment quality according to randomized studies (reduction of mortality) and the better use of human resources are combined.
Funded by: German Research Foundation ("Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft", DFG)
Period: 06/2014 - 04/2017
The aim of the DFG project "SICOSI" is the development of a sensor-integrated, smart surgical instrument for craniotomy (opening of the skull). By using bioimpedance measurements, which are recorded during the craniotomy with electrodes integrated into the saw-blade, the surgeon can be warned, if penetration of the skull impends, so that an injury of the underlying soft tissue is avoided.
Funded by: German Federal Ministry of Commerce (BMWi, ZIM)
Period: 02/2014 – 06/2016
The aim of the project is to develop a system, which measures the bloodflow and adaptively control functional electrical stimulation for the activation of the skeletal-muscle pump.
Cooperative control of the extracorporeal lung assistance and the ventilation during the therapy of ARDS "ECLA-Vent"
Funded by: German Research Foundation ("Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft", DFG)
Period: 08/2013 - 03/2018
The aim of the DFG project "ECLA-Vent" as part of the “Smart Life Support 2.0” application package is the development of a cooperative control of the artificial ventilation and the extracorporeal lung assistance for the patient orientated therapy of the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS).
OR.net
Funded by: German Federal Ministry of Research (BMBF)
Period : 09/2012 – 01/2017
The aim of the project is to develop, evaluate and convert basic concepts for the safe dynamic networking of components of the ICU and the clinic into standardization activities in the pre-competitive field of medical technology research and development.
Ear-Biofeedback-Systems
Funded by: BMWI
Period: 08/2012 – 01/2015
The aim of the project is the development of an ear-biofeedback system for monitoring and treatment of vegetative disfunctions.
NF-Home: Development of a novel EEG-based Neurofeedback System for Home Use
Funded by: BMWI
Period: 04/2012 – 09/2015
The aim of the project is to develop a portable Neurofeedback device for home use especially for children with ADHD.
UroWatch - Impedance Cystovolumetry
Funded by: German Federal Ministry of Research (BMBF)
Period : 02/2012 – 12/2015
This project aims at the development of a non invasive system for monitoring of filling level of urinary bladder.
OXIvent: Oxygen on demand during clinical ventilation
Funded by: German Federal Ministry of Research (BMBF)
Period: 09/2011 – 08/2014
According to the framework of the project, design and implementation of control for SaO2 and etCO2 during clinical ventilation will be carried out.
AhRecovery
Supportet by: The state of North Rhine - Westphalia and European Regional Development Fund ( ERDF )
Period: 06/2011 - 09/2014
The aim of this project is to develop an intelligent ventricular assist device that automatically adapts its output to the patient's needs to achieve best therapy for the patient and reduce the workload of the clinical staff.
Project partners: Abiomed Europe GmbH, Aachen Bytec Medizintechnik GmbH, Stolberg Institut für Versuchstierkunde, RWTH Aachen Klinik für Kardiologie, Universitätsklinikum Essen (Westdeutsches Herzzentrum)
Funded by: German Federal Ministry of Research (BMBF)
Period: 01/2011 – 05/2013
The project is aiming at the development of a milling process control using bioimpedance spectroscopy for removing bone cement during the revision of artificial hip joints.
Cardiac Neuromodulation
Funded by: German Research Foundation ("Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft", DFG)
Period: 10/2010 - 12/2014
The aim of the DFG project "Cardiac Neuromodulation" is the development of an electric neurostimulating system for the selective increase of the parasympathetic nervous system in the sinoatrial node achieving a dynamic decrease of a high resting heart rate.
SmartOR: Innovative communication and network architecture for the modular integrated OR of the future
Funded by: German Federal Ministry of Commerce (BMWi, ZIM)
Period: 06/2010 – 05/2013
During the smartOR project the anesthsiologists workplace will be integrated into the smartOR network.
Kontaktlose Überwachung der Lungenfunktion mittels magnetischer Induktion bei Neugeborenen im Inkubator
Funded by: German Research Foundation ("Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft", DFG)
Period: 06/2010 - 05/2013
Goal of this project is the contact-free monitoring of ventilation of newborn infants within an incubator. By using the magnetic induction technique breathing could be measured locally. This allows continuous detection of lung diseases in clinical scenarios without the need of complex and expensive measurement technologies.
Biomon-HF - Biomonitoring in heart failure
Supported by: The state of North Rhine - Westphalia and European Regional Development Fund ( ERDF )
Period: 05/2010 - 04/2013
The aim of this project is the development of an individualized night biomonitoring for outpatient management of heart failure.
Project partner: Philips Research Laboratories GmbH Department of Cardiology (Internal Medicine I), University Hospital Aachen IEM GmbH Takeda Pharma GmbH Forschungszentrum Jülich, Central Institute for Electronics biomon-hf
HuBTex
Funded by: BMWi ZIM
Period: 05/2010 - 10/2011
To enhance washability of textile electrodes, a coating has been developed that increases the number of possible washing cycles drastically.
LAVIMO - long term monitoring of vital parameters using an in-ear sensor
Funded by: BMBF
Period: 04/2010 - 12/2011
The objective of the LAVIMO project is the assessment of cardio-vascular function using an in-ear sensor, which has been previously developed in the IN-MONIT BMBF project. Using optoelectronic measurement concepts, vital parameters are assessed continuously in a sleep laboratory or operating room under clinical conditions. These vital signs include oxygen saturation, heart rate, heart rhythm, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, vessel condition and perfusion. This project further incorporates data analysis, detection of medically relevant parameters, evaluation of parameter dependencies and implementation of methods for risc detection.
Multimodal Monitoring for the Hemodialysis Treatment
Supported by: ERS Boost Fund Project
Period: 01/2010 - 12/2012
The project aims to establish a multimodal system for continuous monitoring of patient’s hemodynamic behavior based on bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS), electrocardiogram (ECG), infrared thermography, physiological modeling, and other external sensors. It offers immediate registration of several physiological parameters as well as the incidence of hypotensive episodes. Post (statistical and regression) analysis will reveal possible relationships between suggested parameters and observed complications. Fluid and solute transport kinetics will be developed based on a set of physiological models describing the main underlying activities at cellular and tissue level. The multimodal software package will enable in-advance planning of the complete HD procedure with focus on identification any possible intradialytic hemodynamic instability.
SensoPaL - Sensorintegrierte Patientenlagerung
Supported by: Das Land Nordrhein-Westfalen und die Europäische Union im Rahmen des Europäischen Fonds für regionale Entwicklung
Period: 01/2010 – 04/2012
The goal of this project is the development of an innovative patient couch with integrated sensors which allow a contactless measurement of the electrical heart activity and a magnetic tracking of instruments and catheters.
iToilette
Funded by: BMWi ZIM
Period: 08/2009 - 09/2011
The intelligent toilet is targeted to daily monitoring of patients suffering from dementia. While they might forget to take measurements with conventional devices, the "call of nature" ensures use of the sensors embedded in the intelligent toilet.
iSHUNT: Intelligent Mechatronic Implant for Hydrocephalus Therapy
Funded by: German Federal Ministry of Research (BMBF)
Period: 01/2009 – 08/2013
This project aims at the development of a pressure-controlled liquor drainage system that can be fully implanted.
Electronic Shunts for Hydrocephalus Therapy
Supported by: START Nachwuchsprogramm der Medizinischen Fakultät, RWTH Aachen
Period: 08/2008 - 08/2010
Within this project, a large animal model for research in implantable intracranial pressure sensors is investigated and established.
HeartCycle – Compliance and effectiveness in HF and CHD closed-loop management
Supported by: EU (IP, 7th framework)
Period: 03/2008 – 2013
This large integrated EU project aims at a technology-supported solution for cardiovascular disease management incorporating two feedback loops. The first loop is patient-centered and aims at autonomous delivery of therapy employing proper automatic decison support to the chronic patient. The second, cascaded loop involves medical staff and allows to tune and adapt the therapeutic scheme based on the actual therapeutic results.
The overall goal is to improve the delivery of therapy for cadiovascular diseases and to reduce the costs of health care. The project unites 18 partners from industry and academia and has an overall budget of 20,7 Mio. € .
Harnblasenfüllstand
Supported by: Manfred-Sauer-Stiftung
Period: Herbst 2007 - Sommer 2008
The goal of this project is to develop a technique for measuring the urine volume inside the bladder of paraplegic patients. Together with clinical partners from the University of Heidelberg, MedIT is conducting a preclinical trial in paraplegic patients and healthy volunteers.
Perioperative monitoring of ventilation and perfusion using electrical Impedance tomography
Electric impedance tomography offers the opportunity to functionally image both ventilation- and perfusion-in-duced changes in transthoracic impedance. However, changes in impedance due to ventilation are ca. 10 times larger than those induced by perfusion. Thus, often perfusion is hidden by the larger signal contents of venti-lation.
The aim of this project is to develop algorithms to seperate these two sources and to create a method for regional ventilation and for regional perfusion imaging.
Non-contact monitoring of heart and lung activity using magnetic induction
Magnetic impedance measurements are contact-free and bear the potential to monitor heart and lung without cabling. To increase robustness and measurement accuracy as compared to single coil systems, in this DFG funded project a planar multi-coil measurement system acting as a planar magnetic tomograph is developed and tested
Smart Shunts for Hydrocephalus Therapy
Suppported by: Holste Stiftung der RWTH Aachen
Period: 08 /2007 - 08/2008
This project aims at developing an implant prototype which allows to measure intracranial pressure and body acceleration and to transmit these data to the outer world.
Smart Life Support
Funded by: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Period: 08/2007 - 07/2010
The DFG funded "Smart Life Support" is a joint research effort of six engineering institutes and clinics from RWTH Aachen University. The overall goal is the development of methods for automatic control of life supporting machines. It consists of three joint projects, namely “PhysioMod”, “SmartECLA” and “HeartControl”.
MedIT is active in two of these projects. The goal of the project “HeartControl” is to develop strategies for control of blood flow in ventricula assist devices (VAD) and total artificial hearts (TAH).
By contrast, "Smart-ECLA" deals with patient-adaptive con-trol of gas and blood flow in extracorporal lung assist devices.
NutriWear: Textile System to Monitor Nutrition and Hydration Status
Funded by: BMBF
Period: 03/2007 – 03/2010
This project aims at developing a textile, wearable measurement system that allows to monitor nutrition and hydration status (the Aachen “Thirst Sensor”).
The NutriWear system is meant to allow long term measurements of elderly patients and will be optimized regarding robustness in work and day-to-day life applications.
DFG-Exzellenzcluster UMIC (Ultra High-Speed Mobile Information and Communication) "Mobile and Wearable P2P Information Management in HealthNet Applications"
Funded by: DFG-Exzellenzcluster UMIC (Ultra High-Speed Mobile Information and Communication)
Period: 11/2006 – 06/2012
As part of the DFG excellence cluster UMIC, the so called "HealthNet" framework shall consist of several mobile sensor-based health services. In the near future, this ultrafast HealthNet shall connect medical staff, nurses and patients and shall provide all necessary information anytime and anywhere.
A micro-optic device for monitoring of heart and lung activity is developed that can be worn in the auditory canal. The underlying technical principle is reflective oxygen saturation measurement.
Non-contact monitoring of infants using magnetic impedance measurement - 2. Excellenceacademy medical engineering
Supported by: Start-Programm des UK Aachen
Period: 01/2006 - 06/2008
Proper monitoring of preterm infants includes the measurement of heart and lung activity, typically by using cable- and electrode-bound techniques. However, due to the premature status of skin development, electrode detachment may irritate the skin and cause ulcers or nekrosis.
Magnetic impedance measurements are contact-free and bear the potential to monitor heart and lung without cabling. Together with clinical partners from the clinic of neonatology, this technique is evaluated in piglet studies.
This project aimed at establishing the technology for contact-free magnetic impedance measurements and at the develop-ment of a measurement device capable of monitoring heart and lung activity in infant models (piglets) as well as in adults and dummy.
Telesupervision in anesthesia
Supported by: Start-Programm des UK Aachen
Period: 07/2005 - 06/2007
Within the scope of this research project, a technical concept for supervision of anesthesia interns in training has been developed which allows the consultant in charge to commu-nicate via voice and video channel with the intern, watch all vitalparameters on his tablet PC and switch between several operation theatres instantaneously.
Technik – Kultur – Alter. Zukunftstechnologien für Mobilität und Gesundheit (TEKLA)
Supported by: Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Forschung des Landes Nordrhein–Westfalen sowie die mexikanische Regierung
Period: 07/2005 – 12/2006
The goal of this project has been to develop methods and a test scenario (future lab) for proper design of products for the silver generation (50+). Several partners from liberal arts and engineering backgrounds cooperated in this project. The application scenarios included mobility (driver assist devices), health (personal health care) and communication (cell phones, PC and Internet).
