Non-invasive measurement technology
Ground-breaking research impacting on medical and commercial applications
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Robert Prance
Reader in Electronic Engineering
Research at the Centre for Physical Electronics and Quantum Technology has succeeded in developing a generic measurement technology that will enable doctors to obtain precise readings of the electrical activity of a patient’s heart without the need to connect the patient to equipment via conventional sensor pads and wires.
This ground-breaking development will have a significant impact on many medical and commercial applications, as well as transforming a patient’s experience of being examined.
The Electronic Potential Sensor (EPS) may be regarded as comparable to a magnetometer, which measures magnetic fields. The EPS, however, provides a non-invasive way of measuring the electric field. The sensor can give precise readings of electrical activity without being connected to the source, needing merely to be in close proximity to it. In many ways the EPS resembles the electroreceptors found in some fish, which they use for navigation and locating prey in murky water via disturbances in the local electric field.
As an example of the capabilities of this technology, we have been able to acquire electrophysiological signals from a distance of up to 40 cm, including heart beat and respiration signals. This development has led to some remarkable results and many new application areas. These include non-destructive testing of carbon composite materials to be used in testing for defects in aircraft more accurately; imaging the electrical properties of microchips; dry electrode body electrophysiology used to test for electrical impulses in the brain and muscles as well as the heart; novel readout options for nuclear magnetic resonance systems; and man/machine interfacing. EPS technology could also help to enhance magnetic resonance imaging techniques.
Conventional measurements with this degree of sensitivity require bulky bench-mounted laboratory instruments that are not sufficiently stable to operate in the electrically ‘noisy’ conditions that are commonplace. By contrast, the EPS is a small integrated sensor that uses ground-breaking techniques to allow it to operate in ‘noisy’ environments. The sensors may be deployed either individually or in groups or arrays to generate electrical images in real time. It is our belief that this non-contact technology will form the basis of new imaging instruments that will impact on both research and routine monitoring in many areas of science and technology.
