Research Projects

Neonatal monitors track essential physiological parameters in critically ill preterm or full-term newborns with disorders due to organ immaturity. Alarmingly, India has the highest incidence (13%) of preterm birth, with around 3.5 million babies born prematurely each year. In addition, statistics indicate that 85% of preterm babies die due to complications within a few days of birth. Continuous monitoring of these preterm babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) provides critical metrics for early diagnosis of adverse occurrences, and immediate intervention taken in response to this observation improves the survival rates of preterm neonates and promotes healthy growth. However, in the current setting, adhesive skin electrodes are used to record significant clinical parameters. The placement of these adhesive sensors and the abundance of wires cause discomfort to preterm neonates and reduce their range of motion. This hardware system also interferes with routine and specialized procedures in clinical care. In addition, when these electrodes are removed or replaced, they may result in skin irritation and severe pain due to their adhesive nature. Therefore, alternative non-invasive, non-adhesive wearable physiological sensor is essential to offer safe and convenient care to enhance the developmental period of preterm neonates. This research aims to establish a low-cost, embroidered textile electrode (textrodes) integrated with a flexible thermoelectric power generator that functions as a sensing tool for the non-invasive screening of neonates. For this, textrodes are embroidery patterned and fabricated on the crib blankets using conductive threads that are hand-stitched and machine-sewed. The patterned textrodes are tested for their characteristics and conductive properties in capturing the physiological signal of interest. Further, flexible circuits for Thermo-Electric Generator (TEG) leg would be designed to make the device self-powered. The developed TEG would be optimized, fabricated, and integrated into the crib blankets. Dedicated signal conditioning circuits would be constructed for the engineered textrodes that require specialized amplifiers and filters to remove the artifacts and noises from the physiological signal. The conditioned signal would be digitized and transmitted using low-power Bluetooth technology for storage and analysis. The recorded signals would be given to a trained artificial intelligence model for capturing the variations and alarming the doctors in the case of emergency or adverse events. This project also aims to collaborate with neonatologists from nearby hospitals for real-time data collection and validation of the integrated device.