Mobile human monitoring
19 Dec, 2011
Television viewers can witness cold weather clothing tested to the extreme thanks to the innovation of Cambridge-based technology company Hidalgo.
Channel 5’s The Gadget Show called on Hidalgo to help with an experiment in which three presenters were put into an environmental test chamber and the thermostat was dropped to minus 40o Celsius.
Hidalgo’s EquivitalTM EQ02 LifeMonitor was relied on to provide comprehensive body monitoring including the core body and skin surface temperatures of presenters Pollyanna Woodward, Jon Bentley and Ortis Deley. Its real time measurements gave a scientific basis for the testing of clothing by Berghaus, Columbia and Burton and ensured the presenters didn’t risk exposure or hypothermia in the process.
Equivital’s EQ02 LifeMonitor incorporates a miniaturised body-worn sensor that senses, records, processes and transmits data from the human body. As well as temperature, its wide ranging data includes ECG, respiration rate and activity that can all be used to derive relevant actionable information.
The technology has already been used by a range of organisations including Oxford Radcliffe Hospital to monitor patients’ ambulatory health without traditional wired devices, and the US Marine Corps during operational duty in Iraq.
A product for consumers to monitor their own health and wellbeing is due to be launched in 2012.
Andrew Parkes of The Gadget Show said: “By using the EquivitalTM system, we could continuously chart, in real time how each of the presenters were coping and how each of the different sets of clothing was faring during the test. The system had no impact on the wearer and being wireless monitoring could be done outside of the chamber easily”
“The environmental chamber is used by the Ford Motor Company to test cars for extreme weather conditions and it was extremely cold in there, as low as -40 degrees C.” Hidalgo expert Jafar Yousef was on hand during the making of the programme to ensure any questions about the EQ02 LifeMonitor could be answered.
“It was great to be able to help with the Gadget Show,“ Jafar commented. “Measuring body temperature is just one use of this highly versatile system but it was very valuable for the experiment being conducted.”
The clothing brand found to be the most effective in the test will be unveiled on The Gadget Show, which airs on Channel 5 on December 19 at 8pm.
Click here to view a preview of the show.
Ends
For further information please contact:
Ben Walsh:
01954 233 430
Notes to Editors
Hidalgo is a wireless innovations company based in Cambridge, UK. Since being founded in 1998 it has built up a reputation of developing innovative wireless monitoring technologies and associated sensors for use in healthcare, home energy metering and wireless communications.
Hidalgo has been part of the Jaltek Group since 2008 and now specialises solely in the development and manufacture of the Equivital products used for advancing mobile human monitoring applications.
Hidalgo’s mission is to advance the capabilities of Equivital mobile human monitoring products in order to make them more widely accessible to professional and consumer users. Through Equivital, Hidalgo wants people to have the knowledge and power of utilising information about themselves.
Further information can be found at www.equivital.co.uk