Breathing rate sensor ‘sticker’ wins collaboration award

A wearable sensor that monitors breathing has been recognised with a national innovation prize.

The PneumoRator has won the Healthcare and Medical Award at The Engineer's Collaborate to Innovate (C2I) Awards.

Developed by researchers in Southampton and Nottingham, the sensor can be worn on a person’s chest like a sticker. It continuously monitors their breathing rate.

The technology has the potential to provide a life-saving early warning system.

Celebrating collaboration

C2I Awards uncover and celebrate great examples of engineering collaboration. This is considered critical to solving many of the challenges and problems faced by society.

The awards are presented by The Engineer, a London-based monthly magazine. It covers the latest innovations in engineering and technology in the UK and internationally.

The PneumoRator team is a collaboration between researchers at the University of Southampton (UoS), University Hospital Southampton NHS FT (UHS) and Nottingham Trent University.

They are working with Zelemiq Ltd, a medical technology design and consultancy firm, to develop the device.

This work has been made possible by almost £1 million from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). It is being advanced within the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).

Professor Neil White is Co-Director of the Centre for Healthcare at UoS. He is working with Dr Harry Akerman, Consultant Anaesthetist at UHS, to trial the technology in Southampton.

Spotting the signs

Changes in breathing rate are often the first sign that a patient’s condition is getting worse.

Currently, the standard way to check a person's breathing (or respiratory) rate is to manually count the number of breaths they take in a minute. This requires a nurse to be actively checking it, meaning breathing rate cannot be continuously monitored.

The PneumoRator is a low cost, wearable device. It has been designed so that it is easy to use in hospital or at home.

The team’s research has shown that the PneumoRator is capable of continuously measuring the breathing rate of volunteers.

It can measure a person’s respiratory rate over long periods of time, allowing trends to be observed. This is not achievable using conventional manual breath counting.

A real team effort

The PneumoRator team were presented with the award at an award ceremony in London on the 26^th February.

Professor White, who is a Professor of Intelligent Sensor Systems at UoS and innovation champion for the NIHR Southampton BRC, said:

“We’re delighted to have won this national prize. These awards highlight the importance of working together, and I want to thank everyone who’s supported and believed in the PneumoRator project. Your help has made it possible for us to keep developing this technology.”