EKG Untethered
Wake up in the morning, stick a featherweight patch on your chest and tackle your day with the assurance that computers are keeping a constant eye on your ticker. That’s the vision moti-vating scientists at the Netherlands’ Holst Center, who are developing a next-gen EKG monitor that trumps competitors’ in size and convenience. “With conventional EKG systems, you have an electrode patch that is connected to a rigid box in your jacket pocket,” says Julien Penders, a program manager for the project. “We go one step further—the entire device can be worn on the surface of the body.” The secret behind the monitor’s ultracompact design is a chip that detects signals from the patch’s electrodes and readies them for wireless transmission to a com-puter. In most EKG sys-tems, this data-processing step siphons lots of juice, but the team’s smart chip is optimized for low power consumption, eliminating the need for bulky battery packs—and paving the way for its use as a preventive medicine. “The less intrusive the technology, the better,” Penders says. “You can monitor your heart rate by simply patching a flexible EKG to your chest.”
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