Researchers Nivedita Bijlani, Tom Michaelis, João Jorge, and Mauricio Villarroel from the Podium Institute and the Institute of Biomedical Engineering have developed VitalCSI, a prototype contactless respiratory rate monitoring system that uses consumer-grade Wi-Fi to measure breathing without the need for wearable devices, cameras, or direct physical contact with athletes.
VitalCSI detects the subtle changes that breathing causes in everyday Wi-Fi signals and converts them into an accurate, continuous measure of respiratory rate. Because radio waves can travel through walls, the system can monitor breathing without requiring a direct line of sight. It also avoids recording images or audio, helping to preserve individual privacy. The technology was validated in a group of young university athletes. It represents an early step towards unobtrusive physiological monitoring during sleep, rest, and training.
The research behind VitalCSI has recently been published in MDPI Sensors: VitalCSI, a contactless respiratory rate monitoring system built on consumer-grade Wi-Fi.
Respiratory rate – the number of breaths taken per minute – is one of the earliest warning signs of clinical deterioration. Channel State Information (CSI) is fine-grained data that Wi-Fi devices already compute to assess the strength of a signal travels between transmitter and receiver. Subtle, breathing-induced changes in this signal can be decoded to measure respiratory rate.
