Touchless Respiratory Monitor Preliminary Data and Results

Respiratory rates and tidal volumes in a microgravity environment are crucial measurements for astronauts. Current technology such as respiratory inductance plethysmography (RIP), capnography, spirometry and pulse-oximetry, besides not directly measuring respiration, also suffer from lagging data, drifting values and/or degrees of invasiveness to the patient and health care workers. To overcome these issues, we developed a touchless respiratory monitor that both measures abdominal and chest excursions and changes to respiratory flow. This system incorporates a remote thermal sensor measuring temperature changes of a mask worn by the subject and a LiDAR system measuring the chest and abdomen movements. Initial data was collected on three subjects in an IRB approved study. The data collected includes RIP, Capnometry, Spirometry and Pulse-oximetry as the standards for comparison. A LiDAR puck was aimed at the chest and abdomen of the subject and a thermal sensor at the facial region of the subject while they lay resting in a bed. Direct comparison of the data is performed. Initial data shows high correlation between the RIP and average LiDAR measured tidal volume as well as the tidal volume from spirometer to the LiDAR calculated tidal volume. Thermal sensor respiratory data shows high correlation with the capnometer data. In order to adapt the LiDAR system for a resting astronaut in microgravity to obtain similar results, we would require the use of multiple LiDAR pucks to simultaneously measure both the anterior and posterior of the chest and abdomen.