The Electronic Systems (ES) group within the Department of Electrical Engineering of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) seeks to hire an outstanding PhD candidate within the field of remote vital signs monitoring.
Project descriptionCommoditization of digital cameras in visibile, nIR and thermal infra-red spectral ranges has led to the discovery of a relatively large variety of techniques to measure physiological parameters in an entirely contactless manner, using these cameras. Within the UMOSA project we will explore two contactless techniques, namely speckle vibrometry and remote thermography because each has a unique measurement principle, and consequently, they provide a relatively broad range of complementary physiological parameters.
In this PhD project, you will investigate how remote thermography (rTG) can be used for sleep monitoring. Nasal air flow is a standard measurement in polysomnography and is typically done with oro-nasal thermistors which are cumbersome to wear. To address this problem, the usefulness of rTG sleep monitoring has been already been demonstrated but measurement continuity is often compromised due to obfuscation of the nasal area by blankets, masks or simply because the patient turns her face away. Current thermal cameras are rather expensive so a multiple camera solution is not preferred. Also, thermal cameras often have relatively large viewing angles to increase the chance that the face is in view. As result, the small nasal area is imaged poorly and the measurement is qualitative rather than quantitative. To address these drawbacks, you need to develop in this PhD project a narrow field rTG device which could be placed at several location/viewing angles guaranteeing continuous nostril visibility and hereby solving the main limitation preventing the use of rTG in continuous remote vital signs monitoring.
PhD student on remote sleep monitoringThe Electronic Systems (ES) group within the Department of Electrical Engineering of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) seeks to hire an outstanding PhD candidate within the field of remote vital signs monitoring.
Project descriptionCommoditization of digital cameras in visible, nIR and thermal infra-red spectral ranges has led to the discovery of a relatively large variety of techniques to measure physiological parameters in an entirely contactless manner, using these cameras. Within the UMOSA project we will explore two contactless techniques, namely speckle vibrometry and remote thermography because each has a unique measurement principle, and consequently, they provide a relatively broad range of complementary physiological parameters.
In this PhD project, you will investigate how camera based monitoring can be used to monitor the respiratory flow in sleep patients. The ultimate goal is to detect and quantify the severity of sleep apnea using such remote monitoring techniques. To be able to differentiate between obstructive and central apnea, respiratory effort and airflow have to be measured simultaneously. To this end you will combine and extend existing camera based remote thermography (rTG) and remote PPG techniques. One of the major challenges in building real world systems based on these remote sensing principles lays in the detection of the relevant body parts (i.e., nostrils, skin, chest) while the patient is partially covered with sheets and might be turning around while sleeping.
For this purpose novel AI-based detection and tracking algorithms need to be developed. Your PhD project should result in a technical demonstrator that is validated in a real sleep clinic with real patients.
Departments and collaboratorsThe Electronic Systems group consists of seven full professors, ten assistant professors, several postdocs, about 40 PDEng and PhD candidates and support staff. The ES group is world-renowned for its design automation and embedded systems research. It is our ambition to provide a scientific basis for design trajectories of electronic systems, ranging from digital circuits to cyber-physical systems. The trajectories are constructive and lead to high quality, cost-effective systems with predictable properties (functionality, timing, reliability, power dissipation, and cost). Design trajectories for applications that have strict real-time requirements and stringent power constraints are an explicit focus point of the group. Within this area, prof.dr.ir. G. de Haan and dr.ir. S. Stuijk have developed various novel remote vital signs monitoring algorithms and their embedded implementations.
The UMOSA project team is designed to combine extensive knowledge in the key fields. The project team includes partners from Philips and the Kempenhaeghe sleep hospital. As part of this project, the PhD candidate will work closely with these partners to ensure that the developed techniques are suitable for use in clinical practice.