Centre for Pervasive Sensing funds new projects

Imperial’s Centre for Pervasive Sensing releases its first round of seed funding - News

By Colin Smith
31 August 2007

A world where miniature, unobtrusive sensors monitor the health of patients with chronic health conditions in the comfort of their own home has come one step closer, thanks to money pumped into vital research at Imperial College London.

The College’s Centre for Pervasive Sensing has released its first round of seed funding, distributing £80,000 to seven Imperial based projects which are making advances in wireless sensor networks—from healthcare to environmental engineering.

One research group will use their grant to test a body sensor which has important healthcare applications. Dr Louis Atallah, from the Department of Computing, and Dr Nick Hopkinson, from the National Heart and Lung Institute, will trial a prototype sensor on 15 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, better known as chronic bronchitis or emphysema.

The sensor, attached to the ear, will remotely monitor patient oxygen, heart and temperature levels as they go about their daily lives. A constant stream of patient data will be immediately collected and transmitted to the team for analysis.

“The potential impact of this technology on healthcare is enormous. In the future, many patients could be monitored in the comfort of their homes and medics will have constant real time access to vital data needed for monitoring patient recovery. This type of information is extremely valuable. Seed funding will allow us to trial our sensors on 15 patients and take this technology to the next level,” said Dr Nick Hopkinson.

A 3-D virtual digital campus project has also received funds. The Imperial College Digital Campus project team will install a network of sensors on buildings around the Imperial College South Kensington Campus including the Institute of Biomedical Engineering Building, Huxley Building, Sir Alexander Fleming Building and the Queen’s Tower. A 3-D digital map will be constructed in Google Earth showcasing the College’s unique mixture of contemporary and neo-renaissance buildings.

“Google recently ran the Build Your Own Campus in 3D Competition. More than 4,000 US college campuses were created. Inspired by this competition, we decided to map the South Kensington Campus and showcase remote sensing technology at the same time,” said Dr Benny Lo, project researcher and member of the Centre for Pervasive Sensing’s management team.

Other projects receiving funds include work on pervasive sensing in total knee replacement; environmental monitoring of building structures; electrochemical sensors for measuring water quality and flow velocity; remote monitoring of spreading brain depolarisation; and cost effective traffic and road condition monitoring.

Dr Julie McCann    from the Department of Computing and Dr Ivan Stoianov from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering managed the seed grant review process. Commenting about the importance of funding, Dr McCann said:

“Funding recipients demonstrate the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to research in pervasive sensing. Seed funding will help to kick-start new initiatives, provide scientific leadership, attract new investment and help establish a focal point of outreach to industry.”

Commenting about further funding from the Centre, Dr Stoianov said:

“A call for further proposals will happen later this year with grant announcements in February 2008. We are looking forward to supporting and working on future novel ideas.”

Professor Guang-Zhong Yang   , who is the chair of the Centre for Pervasive Sensing, said it was important that the College could now focus on further developing this research. He said:

“Imperial has an established record in pervasive sensing research and I am pleased that we now have the capability to coordinate and distribute funding to projects College wide.”

The Centre for Pervasive Sensing was launched 1 July 2007. The purpose of the Centre is to bring together researchers within the College to integrate, identify and develop technologies in pervasive sensing.