WELMO · Wearable Electronics for Effective Lung Monitoring

Lung related diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia and asthma are considered the main causes of death in the EU. The current management of such diseases only allows a momentary patient assessment at the time point of out-clinic visit or hospitalization. Short-term trends in disease development, either deterioration or improvement, are not accessible. Continuous and real-time monitoring, especially in remote settings (e.g. patients’ homes) is not available. Additionally the devices used for monitoring the patients are massive, expensive, uncomfortable and difficult to operate, thus requiring specialized personnel. Several of them also rely on patients´ cooperation and compliance to guarantee proper examination results. The incorporation of novel electronics in garments presents great potential for addressing these challenges. More specifically, the adoption of Application-Specific-Integrated-Circuits (ASICs) neatly integrated in a comfortable and washable wearable is the key that makes the accurate and effective (in terms of both, cost and quality of life) continuous monitoring of lung diseases feasible. The 42-month project WELMO aims at developing and validating a new generation of low-cost and low-power miniaturized sensors, integrated in a comfortable vest, enabling the effective and accurate monitoring of the lungs, through the simultaneous collection of sound and electrical impedance tomography (EIT) signals with the same sensors that can be combined, processed and linked with specific clinical outcomes by applying innovative algorithms, making the systematic, accurate and real-time evaluation of respiratory conditions possible. The impact, acceptance and usability of WELMO will be validated in a realistic setup through the execution of two 6-month pilot studies. In addition, a business study will be carried out, aiming to the mid-term exploitation of the proposed solution.