TIDAL feasibility project: Physiological validation of a novel photonic biosensor
Photonic sensors are devices that use light to detect and measure various physical factors, ranging from movement and temperature to pressure or even chemical composition. These photonic systems hold promise for enhancing our understanding of muscle biochemistry, physiology and pathology to improve human healthcare, including, for example, prosthetics and other assistive technologies. However, a significant challenge lies in creating a low-cost, easily accessible, wearable sensor.
Dr. Matthew Dyson and his team at Newcastle University, have developed and prototyped a photonic device for sensing muscle activity. This device boasts several advantages over existing technology:
Its components are readily available and very low cost.
It consumes less power.
The device has a compact footprint.
It is non-invasive.
Importantly, it provides reliable readings even in warmer climates, which not all sensors do.
The team has already demonstrated that this device can track changes associated with muscle activation in various parts of the body. But what precisely does it measure, and how sensitive is it?
To answer these questions, Dyson and his team embarked on a second stage of testing, funded by TIDAL N+. Their goal? To determine whether the sensor directly tracks muscle movement and position or captures simultaneous phenomena related to muscle activity. Additionally, their experiments aim to shed light on the specific muscle groups the sensor is suitable for and how skin tone affects readings during muscle activity measurement. This last point is crucial: the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted that optical biomedical sensors can have inherent ethnic biases, and the accuracy of pulse oximetry (which measures oxygen levels in the blood) depends on skin colour, so people with darker skins may have got inaccurate readings, potentially leading to poor medical decisions about appropriate treatment.
The information from this second round of tests will determine the possible applications for the sensor in healthcare and assistive technologies.