Radio waves can identify sleep disorders

May 14, 2019

The quality of sleep is an important factor to guarantee the good health of people. What is harmful is that the measures taken by these objects are often very limited. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a new technology to measure the quality of sleep via radio waves. Anyone having trouble sleeping can have their sleep patterns examined in a laboratory and identify sleep disorders.

MIT researchers have developed a new technology combining Artificial Intelligence and radio waves. The principle consists of interpreting the sleep movements of patients in order to provide a diagnosis closer to reality.

Low radio waves identify sleep disorders to avoid inconveniencing the patient

The system is based on a low-power radio transmitter, the size of a laptop computer associated with an artificial intelligence (AI) that analyzes the data. Installed in a room where a person sleeps, the device emits a signal whose waves are reflected by the body. The slightest movement modifying their frequency, their analysis makes it possible to determine vital signs such as the pulse and the rhythm of respiration.

The study conducted by the prestigious research institute mobilized 25 patients on which the researchers observed a hundred nights. the system has been able to identify the three phases of sleep with an accuracy of 80% which, according to the researchers, is equivalent to that of the EEG systems. But the great advantage of their invention is that it does not impose any constraints on the patient who could even use it at home. This creates much closer examination conditions.

“Imagine that your Wi-Fi router knows when you’re dreaming and can verify that you have enough deep sleep that is needed to build memory. This seemingly curious proposal comes from Professor Dina Katabi of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). With a team of researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, she developed a sleep monitoring device that does not use any physical equipment installed on the body.

Currently, sleep disorders are performed in the hospital and involve the use of electroencephalography (EEG). The quality of the results largely depends on the patient’s ability to sleep in an unknown environment by overcoming the discomfort caused by the electrodes attached to him. This is where the innovation proposed by MIT has the potential to revolutionize this discipline.

A real breakthrough for MIT sleep control

For now, the only devices that can have a clear idea of ​​the quality of sleep of its users were the activity tracker wristbands type FitBit or Apple Watch. However they do not deliver any expertise but just data like heart rate, breathing or sleep time. The device uses radio waves, it consumes much less than Wi-Fi and requires no calibration. This will allow to observe the patients while leaving them at home.

In addition, specialists could use it to monitor continuously and remotely sleep disorders related to Alzheimer’s disease, insomnia, sleep apnea or epileptic seizures that occur when no one is sleeping.