Research teams at the Khalifa University of Science and Technology have succeeded in creating a radar to diagnose vital signs for individuals, as part of the university's efforts to support the response to the Corona virus (Covid 19).
It also developed an emergency respirator, and a comprehensive unit was designed to produce 250 copies per day.
And she was able to start converting a patent for a device to help pregnant women follow the fetus into an economic product that reduces their access to hospitals, to avoid possible exposure to infection, in addition to working on research on the epidemiological behavior of the Covid 19 virus.
In detail, the university confirmed that innovations in health care, designed to combat the spread of infectious diseases, such as the emerging coronavirus, are extremely important in these exceptional circumstances, noting that researchers from the university's Micro Systems Center published a research paper explaining how radar is used to detect vital signs in Individuals without direct contact, as researchers' efforts focused on how to get rid of wires and electrodes used to diagnose patients, and then evolved to search for applications related to this technology to contribute to reducing the spread of the Corona virus.
The university revealed that a team of its researchers has developed a system to diagnose the health of individuals in public places without the need for direct communication, which contributes to stopping the spread of epidemics in the future.
Under the supervision of the associate professor of electronic engineering, Dr. Bakr Muhammad, the team developed a radar-based system to detect vital signs, through which body temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure can be monitored remotely.
The outbreak of the Corona virus also strengthened the role of researchers in developing the prototype, for use in diagnosing the health status of large groups of individuals.
The university pointed out that its contribution to tackling the emerging corona virus, also included, the success of a research team from the university’s Center for Innovation in Health Care Engineering in developing a prototype of an artificial respirator, with a view to addressing the conditions caused by the Corona virus, in addition to establishing a unit to produce respiratory devices that operate with compressed air , To meet the increasing demands of respirators around the world.
The professor of biomedical engineering and director of the Center for Innovation in Healthcare Engineering at the university, Dr. Cesar Stephanini, said that the development of the prototype of the device took five days, and that the materials from which it was made are available locally, indicating that its economic cost does not exceed hundreds of dollars.
He added that the clinical trials of the device will be conducted in the coming weeks.
He continued that «the number of units that we aim to produce from the respirator, is 250 devices per day, to cover the needs of patients, and that we be able to meet the global requirements with this technology, as the project embodies a significant achievement for the university.
"We seek to make our project capable of fighting the Corona epidemic, through which we aim to develop the prototype of the respirator in less than two weeks, and to design a comprehensive production unit," Stephanini added. And our research team based on the project has the theoretical and engineering expertise necessary for manufacturing, "noting that the university's research team, consisting of engineers and experts from various disciplines," is currently working on preparing the requirements for establishing a production unit for these devices in Abu Dhabi. "
The university pointed out that its contribution to tackling the emerging coronavirus, includes Dr. Joan Acuna, associate professor of epidemiology and population health at Khalifa University, working on research on the epidemiological behavior of viruses, their diagnosis and prevention, where he used the emerging corona virus (Covid-19) as an example In his research as a type of coronavirus, he talks about the reasons for its rapid spread.
Twinkle Hart
Khalifa University affirmed that it is within the framework of its keenness to provide an integrated journey of success for its students from the undergraduate stage through conducting research at the graduate level, and to convert innovation to a successful application that can be beneficial from it. With the Khalifa Center for Innovation, it granted a patent and embraced an innovative project called Twinkle Hart », which is a home device that a pregnant mother uses to monitor her fetus’s heartbeat without the need to visit specialists, which provides their safety and reduces hospital visits.
She noted the development of the technology for this project by the associate professor of biomedical engineering, Dr. Ihsan Khanduker, followed by the granting of an intellectual property license to the emerging Advanced Research Projects Company, founded by a university graduate, Saeed Al Tunaiji.
The development of the prototype of the respirator took five days, and the materials from which it was made are locally available.