VOCORDER

AIM (WHAT)

The project VOCORDER’s ambition is to develop a tool for the unobtrusive monitoring of human health and the identification of early signs of disease through continuous assessment, monitoring, and analysis of human breath. Concretely, the project has the following three strategic objectives: (i) to provide a solution for easy-to-use breath analysis able to monitor the health of individuals in various settings; (ii) to develop and demonstrate the beyond state-of-the-art technologies needed to implement the VOCORDER breath analysis apparatus; and (iii) to develop a health monitoring apparatus that can be integrated into people’s everyday lives.

METHODOLOGY (HOW)

To achieve its ambition, VOCORDER combines novel mid-infrared laser sources, new readout scheme, and AI processing. More specifically, the project implements a laser-based mid-infrared spectroscopy-based detection of complex biomarkers, namely volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath. This technique allows for the development of smaller and lighter breath analysers. VOCORDER will also introduce explainable AI analytics and advanced data processing techniques in breath analysis.

 
IMPACT (WHY)

VOCORDER will make significant contributions towards establishing a healthcare system in which individuals are accompanied continuously and unobtrusively thanks to health monitoring technology. The consortium has also set up a detailed dissemination, communication, and exploitation plan which will allow the partners to effectively reach a variety of stakeholders, from professional associations and investors to decision makers and the public. 

ABSTRACT:

VOCORDER develops innovative components based on disruptive technologies that aims to render breath analysis testing a holistic, highly efficient health monitoring apparatus that can be seamlessly integrated into everyday life. The project capitalizes on recent developments on mid-infrared lasers and moves the technology well beyond the state-of-the-art to demonstrate at TRL5 a highly efficient multiple species (gases) breath analysers that can, with a 5 sec use of the device, and the use of artificial intelligence-based signal processing, conclude on the health status of the individual, just like the fictional Star Trek Tricorder. To record and analyze the maximum amount of information on the individual health status completely unobtrusively, exhaled breath is among the most convenient body fluids as can be obtained at large quantities, practically without any causing discomfort to the user, with strong potentially to seamlessly integrate into everyday life.  Exhaled breath contains more than 1’000 substances which can serve as efficient biomarkers, the measurement of concentration of which can provide a clear provision of the health status of the individual while the diagnosis of some diseases or pathological process in human body can be obtained early. For a truly seamlessly integration in a plethora of settings, VOCORDER examines the ways to render the final instrument compact and potentially inexpensive