Driving Towards Better Health

With each passing year, it seems we find ourselves a few steps closer to being able to own our own KITT from the 1980s television show Knight Rider. A recent research paper brings us along another step by describing something that sounds suspiciously like KITT’s medical scanner.

V2iFi is a compact, contactless, in-vehicle vital sign monitoring device that leverages radio frequency (RF) signals to capture vital signs with high sensitivity in real-time. It was built with low-cost commercial off-the-shelf components, making it easily deployable. V2iFi is also able to filter out noise caused by moving vehicles and passengers that prevented many previous systems from providing accurate vitals data.

Previous methods to collect in-vehicle vital signs broadly fall into two categories — systems that are camera-based or wearable sensor-based. Camera-based solutions have some drawbacks in that they do not preserve a user’s privacy, and have issues working well in low-light conditions. Wearable solutions can be cumbersome, and drivers must be mindful to attach the sensors (which can be uncomfortable) each time they get in the car before driving.

V2iFi is composed of an impulse radio (XeThru X4M05) and a Raspberry Pi single-board computer. This entire system is attached to the windshield, facing the driver. The radio transmits signals in the direction of the driver, and receives the returned reflected signals. Signals are first preprocessed to remove noise and to isolate signals from the driver. These signals are then fed into a novel Multi-Sequence Variational Mode Decomposition algorithm to separate breathing and heartbeat signals from noise. Finally, estimates of respiratory rate, heart rate, and heart rate variability can be calculated.

The vital sign data is capable of detecting scenarios indicative of driver drowsiness, which could trigger an alert to warn the driver. It is also possible for the system to detect health problems such as asthma, stroke, or heart attack.

Check out V2iFi being taken for a test drive in the following video.