# Non-contact Vital Signs Monitoring through Visible Light Sensing

**Authors:** Hisham Abuella, Sabit Ekin  
**arXiv:** [1807.05408](https://arxiv.org/abs/1807.05408)  
**Date:** 2018-07-14  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/arxiv-id/1807.05408v3/

## Key points

- The paper presents a non-contact vital signs monitoring system using visible light sensing (VLS) technology
- The system wirelessly senses respiration and heartbeat using only reflected incoherent light signals from a human subject
- It is an attractive, low-cost, and safe method for vital signs monitoring
- The VLS-based system uses a simple visible light source, photodetector, and data acquisition/processing unit
- Signal processing algorithms turn slight variations in reflected light power into accurate measurements of respiration and heart rate
- More than 94% accuracy was observed in test results compared to contact-based vitals monitoring devices
- This technology has potential to address numerous conditions and situations where vital signs are critical indicators such as sleep apnea and human computer interaction applications.
- The authors of the paper are Hisham Abuella and Sabit Ekin.
- VLS technology can be used effectively for non-contact vital sign monitoring with high accuracy levels comparable to contact-based devices while offering advantages such as safety and cost-effectiveness over other existing technologies.

## Summary

This paper presents a groundbreaking non-contact vital signs monitoring system that utilizes visible light sensing (VLS) technology. The system wirelessly senses respiration and heartbeat using only reflected incoherent light signals from a human subject, making it an attractive, low-cost, and safe method for vital signs monitoring. The VLS-based system is implemented by using a simple visible light source, photodetector, and data acquisition/processing unit. Developed signal processing algorithms turn slight variations in reflected light power into accurate measurements of respiration and heart rate. To assess the accuracy of the method, the results were compared with reliable measurements using a contact-based monitoring device (ground truth). More than 94% accuracy was observed in test results including both breathing and heartbeat rates in different scenarios as compared to state-of-the-art baseline methods such as contact-based vitals monitoring devices. This study represents a substantive departure from traditional non-contact vitals monitoring methods such as radio-frequency-based radars and imaging-based cameras. It has significant implications for the healthcare community since vital signs monitoring is ubiquitous in medicine. This technology has potential to address numerous conditions and situations where vital signs are critical indicators such as sleep apnea and human computer interaction applications. The authors of this paper are Hisham Abuella and Sabit Ekin whose work demonstrates that VLS based vitals monitoring innovation is indeed viable, powerful, attractive, low cost and safe. This research has made big contributions to this area by providing an alternative to traditional non contact vitals monitoring methods which will impact patients in their homes, doctor's offices large medical institutions and industries alike. Overall this study provides evidence that VLS technology can be used effectively for non contact vital sign monitoring with high accuracy levels comparable to contact based devices while offering advantages such as safety and cost effectiveness over other existing technologies.