In a typical blood pressure measuring device, the scale of the pressure meter ranges from 0 to 300 mmHg. The pressure meter has a rubber pump on it for inflating the cuff and a button for letting the air out. To measure blood pressure, the cuff is placed around the bare and stretched out upper arm, and inflated until no blood can flow through the brachial artery. Then the air is slowly let out of the cuff.
Read more: ViTrack: Cuffless Wearable for Continuous, Non-Invasive Blood Pressure Monitoring
Silicon Valley startup Blumio is giving the century-old blood pressure monitors an overhaul. Through an innovative sensor that can detect arterial tissue movements, Blumio makes it possible to measure blood pressure noninvasively and continuously.
Cuffless BP monitoring can be made possible with a pressure-less sensing modality that can capture arterial pressure waveform with the same sensitivity as applanation tonometry.
Blumio has developed a radar-based sensor to measure blood pressure. Radar presents unique properties that are very distinct from existing technologies for vital sign detection: an imperviousness to skin color, variations in ambient light and other physiologic conditions provides an advantage over existing sensor technologies.
Radar has been used in the past to assess vital signs. By measuring electromagnetic waves reflected from a target area of the body, it is possible to capture and record signals corresponding to respiration and blood circulation.
The millimeter-wave radar device, positioned near the radial artery does not need to be in direct contact with the skin. It interrogates the pulse by transmitting a 60 Hz signal directed towards the skin surface, reports AZO Sensors.
With the advent of lower power radar chipsets with high sensitivity and faster processors, Blumio is the first to combine the high sensitivity of a millimeter-wave radar with a wearable concept to create a new system for measuring arterial pulses at the wrist.
