Inspired by premature babies, a new video system to monitor vital signs can handle low lighting, diverse skin tones, and movement.
The technique isn’t new, but engineering researchers in Rice University’s Scalable Health Initiative are making it work under conditions that had stumped earlier systems.
The new version, DistancePPG, can measure a patient’s pulse and breathing just by analyzing the changes in skin color over time. Where other camera-based systems have been challenged by low-light conditions, dark skin tones, and movement, DistancePPG relies on algorithms that correct for those variables.
