WEBOING · UWB wearable apparatus for bone fracture imaging and recovering monitoring
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2018-10-01 → 2020-09-30
- EU contribution
- €195,455
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
UWB wearable apparatus for bone fracture imaging and recovering monitoring
The low-power transmission levels of ultra wideband (UWB) technology alongside its advantageously large bandwidth makes it a prime candidate to address problems in various areas including short range high data rate communications and radar applications. In addition to these application schemes, other fields where UWB technology would be deemed appropriate are under investigation. Particularly, interest has grown in the utilization of UWB radar in medicine and healthcare applications. Wearable health-monitoring systems are becoming very popular, especially for permitting non-invasive diagnosis. Moreover, recent advances in UWB hardware technology have enabled the possibility of achieving the large bandwidth, which is required for higher resolution imaging and detection. Several unique properties of UWB, including its non-ionizing signals, low cost and the ability to penetrate through media (air, skin, bones and tissues) have transformed it into an ideal candidate to be used as a novel medical imaging technology. UWB imaging has attracted growing attention, especially for its applicability to breast cancer detection, motivated by the significant contrast in the dielectric properties at microwave frequencies of normal and malignant tissues. Current research in UWB breast imaging can be divided mainly into microwave tomography and microwave radar techniques. Several microwave breast apparatus have been constructed; some of them are now in the clinical validation process. Recently, microwave image has also been applied for imaging of human forearms, skin cancer detection, and bone imaging. To the best of our knowledge, an UWB apparatus for the purpose of bone fracture assessment does not exist. Extension of UWB imaging to bone fracture assessment is one goal of WEBOING. This, on an engineering side, pave the way for the construction of an apparatus, which has been designed to be portable. More in detail, a virtual array will measure the scattered signal outside the portion of the body under investigation; next, the electromagnetic field behaviour inside such body portion will be reconstructed using Huygens Principle (HP), and from such behaviour, the imaging of the bone fracture will be performed. UWB signals allow all the information in the frequency domain to be utilized by combining the information from the individual frequencies to construct a consistent image. After having performed fracture imaging, UWB signals will serve the purpose of monitoring a bone lesion by considering reflection/transmission coefficients.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Global changes in healthcare funding, an increasingly ageing demographic, explosions of new technologies are converging to transform our relationship with healthcare. Breakthrough innovations formed outside traditional healthcare industries are needed to change business models, reshape the future for better health outcomes and value for consumer. Thus, research on novel diagnostic and monitoring imaging modalities is essential. UWB imaging has recently emerged as one of the most promising non-invasive imaging modalities of the last two decades. Its low cost, non-ionising characteristics justify the considerable interest of the scientific community. Extension of microwave imaging to bone fracture assessment is one goal of WEBOING proposal. In this contest, the design of UWB wearable apparatus for bone fracture imaging and recovering monitoring will allow to perform imaging without exposing patients to dangerous X-rays. The portable nature of the apparatus, will allows its use in site of accidents. In fact, simple microwave antennas coupled with a laptop-integrated Vector Network Analyser (VNA) are required, giving the methodology simplicity in manufacturing and a very a low cost; this aspect is even more significant if related to conventional techniques. Imaging of the bone fracture will be performed for the first time by appropriately reconstructing the electromagnetic field at UWB frequencies. Electromagnetic field reconstruction will be performed combining Modes concept and Huygens principle, which represents a new and unconventional procedure. Moreover, the same UWB antennas will also allow fracture recovering monitoring; in fact, by embedding the antennas in the plaster cast, it will be possible to perform bone imaging on periodic base without having to remove the plaster cast itself. Since the apparatus will use safe UWB rather that dangerous non-ionising radiation, examination can be repeated any time and in any condition.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY LBG · LondonCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union