Remote, Noninvasive, Cardiac Activity Tracer (RENCAT)

Blood circulation carries vibrations due to heart beat to every part of the body. These vibrations result in minute displacements that are measured by the detector. Defective closures lead to backflow of blood into chambers leading to heart beat slowdown. Displacement strength is indicative of vibration strength which in turn is indicative of heart beat. Weak vibrations at toes, for example, indicate poor circulation of blood as in the case of diabetic issues. Similarly, in other parts of the body, this unit would help in early detection of diabetes and other diseases by noninvasively monitoring blood circulation at various regions of a human body. As such, this unit would detect precursors for diseases. For astronauts and other operatives, this device could remotely provide the status of their cardiac cycles during physical activities. The device consists of a laser transmitter, photo-EMF detector and interferometric architecture which provides motion detection. Motion detection aids in measuring displacements. There is also a "speckle tolerant" property allowing data to be collected from conformal and rough target surfaces such as garments. Surface preparation is not needed such as in ECG and other cases. The novel Photo-EMF detector will be able to measure displacements of less than 1 pm. NASA Langley Research Center has developed a novel laser vibrometer sensor for monitoring cardiac activities remotely and non-invasively, specifically heart functions of valve/chamber opening and closing cycles (cardiac cycles). The device provides precise magnitude and timing information, noninvasively and away from the heart region without interference by patient garments.