Wearable Beat to Beat Blood Pressure Monitor, Phase I

A key component of NASA's human exploration programs is a system that monitors the health of the crew during the space missions. The wearable physiological monitor proposed by Linea Research Corporation can be used to continuously observe the beat to beat blood pressure. The monitor can be used to observe the physiological effect of various countermeasures against prolonged exposures to reduced gravitational environments. The proposed device will allow the monitoring of the pharmacological effect on blood pressure over prolonged periods. Currently, beat to beat monitoring of blood pressure is done primarily in hospital settings through invasive procedures involving percutaneous insertion of catheters into the radial or brachial arteries. While non-invasive beat to beat blood pressures based on either the Penaz method or arterial applanation tonometry are currently available, they each have limitations. In addition, all monitors are based on large stationary equipment that requires the subject to be immobile. Successful implementation of the proposed program will result in an accurate wearable beat to beat blood pressure measurement. More »