Temperature measurement of the body is a fundamental parameter to diagnose disease or to monitor the activity of a person. Unfortunately, standard methods cannot meet optimized requirements as the sensor cannot be closed to the point to measure, and the only alternative is intrusive methods. Besides, continuous measurement is close to impossible.
A company, called Bodycap, solved this challenge with a product e-Celsius. Bodycap designed a pill that is swallowed and perfectly safe for the body. Hence, the device is in the gastric system and in the perfect spot to measure the body temperature. Then, the temperature is transmitted wirelessly through a proprietary protocol at a radio frequency of 434MHz. An external stimulation triggers the sensor to start measurements and the pill can store up to 2,000 measurements and have a programmable sampling period from a few seconds to several minutes. The accuracy of each measurement can be down to 0.1C. The physical specifications of the pill are a size of 17.7m by 8.9mm and a weight of 1.7g.
The key medical applications for a temperature sensor of this kind are in the field of cardiology, orthopedics, post-traumatic cooling or chronotherapy where treatments are administered according to a schedule that corresponds to a person’s rhythms in order to maximize effectiveness and minimize side effects of the therapy.
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This wireless temperature sensor is not limited to medical application. This device can also be used for wellness. The temperature of the body is correlated to the activity of the body and the wireless temperature sensor can be part of an application to encourage people to maintain a sufficient level of activity.
The next step is practical application in sport. The most obvious application can be in endurance sports such as a triathlon. The e-Celsius can monitor hypothermia during the swimming portion and hyperthermia during cycling and running portion.
In high performance sport, the difference between winner and loser is often on marginal gains. eCelsius helps to optimize the training and recovering phase to gain this small extra percentage of performance for each individual. Tests are performed in some French soccer league teams and e-Celsius has proven particularly useful in monitoring players during the ice treatment phase of their post-game recovery. This innovative method uses cold temperatures to help the athlete recover more quickly from their physical exertions and to relieve associated aches and pains. For instance, five minutes in a bath at 8°C dramatically improved recovery, as it has a positive impact on physical condition and performance of athletes. With regular use, the physiological data on athletes should help in fine-tuning and tailoring training and development programs and significantly improve performance.
Finally, in order to decrease medical cost, hospital’s future will be more and more based on sensors following patients at home and not directly at the hospital. Wireless temperature sensors are the beginning of a new trend of devices that will revolutionize the way we deal with wellness or health issues.