Smart Patch for Life Support Systems
SP4LIFE

About the Project


The project addresses several key priorities of the SPS programme tackling with the medical countermeasures to terroristic attacks with numerous injured victims and defence against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear agents threats inducing respiratory and cardiovascular disorders in high-stress combat situations.

Early detection and rapid contrast of physical threats such as the one concerning respiratory and cardiovascular system is inevitably the first line of defence to reduce casualties and increase the safety of operating personnel and civilians. The wearable sensing platform developed in this project will increase the detection and contrast capability of the above-mentioned disorders to at least 90% of reliability in terms of correct disorder classification while reducing the detection time to the order of minutes. Also, a platform having similar characteristics and working principles can help creating a new tool to counteract and remediate in loco and rapidly the effects of the exposure to various critical situations, including CBRNs’ one.

This patch-like device prototype also enables assessment of sudden degradation of victim’s health condition after different types of attacks. Continuous measurement and analyses of victim’s vital parameters and real-time calculation of derived vital parameters will revolutionize detection of critical changes in victim’s health status after initial triage. Emergency crews will be able to better understand dynamics of on-site situation, prioritize activities and timely direct resources to help ones in need. Quantitative data will be available during system testing and evaluation. The platform will be adjustable to specific needs of NATO units in combat conditions.

Being disposable, this enhanced patch-like device, together with the whole system can be made available to civil population, greatly enhancing the local social confidence towards NATO missions in the – sometimes – hostile operating scenarios.

The Objectives of the Project

  • Develop wearable monitoring platforms with: a.) sensitive respiration, heartbeat and auditory sensors based on graphene, and b.) ECG, SpO2, BP and body temperature sensor modules

  • Create a biocompatible wearable body-sensing interface hosting electronics, alarm, low-power transmission for light-weight, portable applications

  • Create a software that will generate alert in real time, at the moment of critical physiological parameter changes or changes of the triage medical status according to START algorithm

  • Use Artificial Intelligence to create unsupervised software capable of real-time diagnostics and rapid countermeasures’ selection

  • Analyze existing (AS-IS) processes and consider their re-design (TO-BE processes) in organization of patient management on the site of accident with respect to wearable monitoring technology being developed

  • Create a network of young scientists training in soft and hard skills in the wearable electronics for biomedical applications

Partners


Institute of Measurement Science, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia is dedicated to basic research in measurement science, methods for processing of measured data and development of measurement systems for biomedicine and material science. It offers advisory and expert services, publishes the journal Measurement Science Review and provides postgraduate education. For the project, the long term expertise of the Department of Biomeasurements in model-based diagnostics of the cardiac electrical activity will be utilized.
NATO country Project Director: Assoc.prof. Milan Tyšler, Email: tysler@savba.sk

Institute for Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy University of Belgrade, Serbia is the oldest scientific institution in the country, established in 1859. The multidisciplinary Centre for Microelectronic Technologies addresses fundamental research and applications in the fields of sensors, MEMS, nanotechnologies, photonics, plasmonics and semiconductor technologies. Recently, graphene has become a material of interest with applications in various research directions.
Partner country Project Director: Dr. Marko Spasenović, Email: spasenovic@nanosys.ihtm.bg.ac.rs

Universite Libre de Brussels, Belgium is a private research university working around various scientific fields. The Department of Physical-Chemistry of the Faculty of Engineering has many collaborations, including those with ESA, in the field of physics of multi-scale, multi-phase and multi-component fluid systems. New collaborations have been started on sensing platforms for biomedical applications based on stretchable biopolymers.
Co-Director: Dr. Carlo Saverio Iorio, Email: carlo.iorio@ULB.be

University “Ss Cyril and Methodius”, Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, Skopje, North Macedonia. The Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering (FCSE) within UKIM, is the largest and most prestigious faculty in the field of computer science and technologies in North Macedonia. FCSE broadens its expertise in many domains, especially in Data science, in building different models using machine learning and deep learning techniques.
Co-Director: Dr. Ana Madevska Bogdanova, Email: ana.madevska.bogdanova@finki.ukim.mk

Faculty of Medicine in Bratislava, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia was established in 1919 as the first and founding faculty of the university. Its education and research is oriented on four main areas: neuroscience, cardiovascular diseases, oncological diseases, and metabolic, endocrine, and inflammatory diseases. In the project, experts from emergency medicine clinics will be involved.
Co-Director: Prof. Oto Masár, Email: ottomasar@gmail.com

Documents

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Flyer


Booklet


List of Publications


Events

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Workshop No.6
February 15-16, 2024
The workshop took place in Brussels, Belgium in the ULB premises. The goal of the workshop was to review current project status, to present the project results to NATO SPS office representatives, to discuss task for the remaining project time and to prepare final documents. The participants also had the opportunity to visit the laboratories of the hosting ULB partner. Program and Minutes WS6 Gallery
Project Presentation on NATO event
November 21, 2023
On the occasion of the official visit of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to Serbia, a presentation of the SP4LIFE project supported by the Science for Peace and Security program took place in the Holiday Inn hotel in Belgrade. News Event Gallery
Workshop No.5
September 24-26, 2023
The workshop took place in Ohrid, North Macedonia. The goal of the workshop was to discuss achievements of the Milestone 4, and define tasks and time schedule for the last six months of the project. Part of the workshop were laboratory activities within WP1, WP2 and WP3 oriented to development of Android software for communication with the patch, processing of the ECG, PPG and breathing signals (including methods using AI) and its implementation in the controlling tablet. Program and Minutes WS5 Gallery
Workshop No.4
February 21-24, 2023
The workshop took place in Bratislava, Slovakia. The goal of the workshop was to review current achievements of the Milestone 3, and precise methodological, hardware and software solutions and define tasks for the next six months until Milestone 4. Part of the workshop were laboratory activities oriented to hardware design (within WP1 and WP2) and software development (within WP3). The participants also had the opportunity to visit the laboratories of the host IMS institute. Program and Minutes WS4 Gallery
Workshop No.3
September 28, 2022
The workshop was organized as part of the 14th ICT Innovations Conference 2022 that was held in Skopje, North Macedonia, as a virtual event using the ZOOM platform. Program and Minutes WS3 Gallery
Workshop No.2
June 6-7, 2022
The workshop took place in Belgrade, Serbia. During the workshop, the partners discussed the results of first two milestones and planned activities for the next milestone. The participants also had the opportunity to visit the laboratories of the host ICTM institute and see the progress of the graphene sensors development. Program and Minutes WS2 Gallery
Workshop No.1
September 28, 2021
The workshop was organized as part of the 13th ICT Innovations Conference 2021 that was held in Ohrid, North Macedonia, as a virtual event using the MS Teams platform. Program WS1 Gallery
Kick-off Meeting
March 10, 2021
The Kickoff meeting was organized as a virtual event using the ZOOM platform. Co-directors of all partners, project coworkers as well as NATO SPS office representative participated in the event. Agenda Kickoff Gallery

NATO SPS Program

Science for Peace and Security


The SPS Programme promotes civil security-related practical cooperation based on scientific research, innovation and knowledge exchange. It links the scientific community to NATO through civil science cooperation that addresses emerging security challenges. Through SPS activities, civilians – including researchers, academics and experts – play an important role in helping the Alliance identify, understand and respond to vulnerabilities and threats.

The SPS Programme offers unique ways to engage networks of scientists, experts and government officials from NATO member and partner countries in meaningful, practical cooperation with tangible results and deliverables contributing to technical and scientific advancement. These networks develop and implement collaborative SPS activities tackling challenges such as cyber defence, counter-terrorism, energy and environmental security, and defence against CBRNE agents. Initiatives include developing security-related advanced technologies in fields such as quantum, sensing and detection, artificial intelligence and autonomy, and also address human and social aspects of security such as the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.

The SPS Programme provides the Alliance with a channel for non-military communication among scientists and other experts, including in situations or regions where other forms of dialogue are difficult to establish. It enables NATO to become actively involved in such regions, often serving as the first concrete link between NATO and new partners.

The SPS Programme has evolved continuously since its foundation in 1958. A comprehensive reorientation of the Programme took place in 2013, which gave SPS a renewed focus on larger-scale strategic activities beyond purely scientific cooperation.


Contacts to Participating Institutions


Institute of Measurement Science
Slovak Academy of Sciences

Dúbravská cesta 9, 841 04 Bratislava, Slovakia
Phone: +421 2 5910 4511
Email: umersekr@savba.sk
Web: https://um.sav.sk/en

University of Belgrade
Inst. for Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy
National Institute of the Republic of Serbia

12 Njegoševa Street, Belgrade, Serbia
Phone: +381 11 3640 230
Email: ihtm@ihtm.bg.ac.rs
Web: https://www.ihtm.bg.ac.rs/en

Universite Libre de Brussels

Av. Franklin Roosevelt 50, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
Phone: +32 2 650 21 11
Email: interface@ulb.ac.be
Web: https://www.ulb.be/en/ulb-homepage

University “Ss Cyril and Methodius”
Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering

ul. Ruger Boskovik 16, 1000 Skopje, North Macedonia
Phone: +389 2 329 3293
Email: contact@finki.ukim.mk
Web: http://www.ukim.edu.mk/en_struktura_contact.php?inst=48

Comenius University in Bratislava
Faculty of Medicine in Bratislava

Špitálska 24, 813 72 Bratislava, Slovakia
Phone: +421 2 9011 9466
Email: dekan.sekretariat@fmed.uniba.sk
Web: https://www.fmed.uniba.sk/en/

SPS Programme
Emerging Security Challenges Division
NATO HQ

Bd Leopold III, 1110 Brussels, Belgium
Email: sps.admin@hq.nato.int
Web: https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/78209.htm