New-Tech Europe Magazine | March 2018

If you would like to read the technical paper entitled "Robust wireless capacitive ECG system with adaptive signal quality and motion artifact reduction," (2016 IEEE International Symposium on Medical Measurements and Applications), then please contact us via www. imecmagazine@imec.be Authors: Biography Chris Van Hoof Chris Van Hoof leads imec’s wearable health R&D across 3 imec sites (Eindhoven, Leuven and Gent). Imec’s wearable health teams provide solutions for chronic- disease patient monitoring and for preventive health through virtual coaching. Chris has taken wearable health from embryonic research to a business line serving international customers. Chris likes to make things that really work and apart from delivering industry-relevant qualified solutions to customers, his work has already resulted in 4 imec startups (3 in the healthcare domain). After receiving a PhD from the KU Leuven in 1992 in collaboration with imec,

sensors. Or capacitive sensors can be incorporated into the mattress of a (hospital) bed. Working with the manufacturers of these products, we are now looking to see how this technology for taking health readings can be put to further good use. This also opens the door to new applications outside the hospital – for monitoring drivers or pilots, for example, or for use in at-home care situations for the early detection of heart problems that might save many people’s lives. “Of course, the aim is not to replace the existing medical monitoring infrastructure in a hospital with these sensors. Think of them more as an addition, with the sensors enabling the body’s vital signs to be monitored at all times – even in situations where this monitoring is either not possible or not practical at the moment.” Want to know more? This research is part of the imec. iChange program, which is developing hardware and software for wearables and ‘beyond wearables’. One example of this is the MUSEIC chip family, developed by imec, and which is unique on account of its compactness, low energy consumption and low production cost. Developments at the moment are mainly for taking contact readings and are used in applications such as sticking plasters, bracelets and headsets. These chips are now being adapted to allow non- contact readings to be recorded.

Chris has held positions as manager and director in diverse fields (sensors, imagers, 3D integration, MEMS, energy harvesting, body area networks, biomedical electronics, wearable health). He has published over 600 papers in journals and conference proceedings and has given over 60 invited talks. He is full Biography Tom Torfs Tom Torfs graduated as an electronics engineer from KIH De Nayer, Belgium in 2001. In 2010 he obtained a master’s degree in engineering – biomedical technology – from K.U. Leuven, Belgium. He has worked at imec since 2001 as systems researcher, architect and principal engineer, designing compact wireless autonomous systems based around imec wireless, sensor and packaging technologies, focusing on sensors for biomedical applications and body area networks. Tom has (co-)authored over 50 publications, 12 as lead author and has two patents to his credit. www.tom.torfs@imec.be professor at the KU Leuven. www.chris.vanhoof@imec.be

Chris Van Hoof

Tom Torfs

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