Plessey Semiconductors has declared that it would demonstrate its Electric Potential Integrated Circuit (EPIC) sensor technology at Chicago’s Sensors Expo from June 6 to 8, 2011. The EPIC sensor is a new sensor technology area, which would measure changes in an electric field much like a magnetometer that detects changes in a magnetic field.
It needs no resistive or physical contact to take the measurements and would enable the development of ground-breaking products such as medical scanners, which are held near the patient’s chest to get in-depth and meticulous ECG readings or other devices that could view through walls. The sensor could be incorporated on a chip along with other features such as digital signal processing, data converters and wireless communications capacity.
According to Francois Pelletier, who is the Regional Sales Manager of Plessey Semiconductors, the EPIC technology is a significant addition to their smart sensor portfolio. He mentioned that the company offers demonstration kits for customers who can evaluate the potential of this new sensor technology.
The EPIC technology is highly sensitive and can recognize minute changes in the electric field, even those in the range of millivolts, at a distance and via solid walls. Hence, it could be utilized in the case of a fire situation to find out whether people are present in a room filled with smoke, even before opening the doors. The foremost EPIC product, the PS25150, is a solid state ECG sensor with extremely high impedance. It can be used for a number of applications such as emergency response diagnostics, non-critical patient monitoring, sports and other health devices. The sensor would be ready for sampling by September 2011. It could be utilized as a dry contact ECG sensor, wherein potentially hazardous low impedance circuits need not be used across the heart.
Source: http://www.plesseysemi.com