FIT participates in a new pan-European project dealing with monitoring of human health and transport automation

A new European project called NextPerception, which was launched this May, focuses on two interesting areas: intelligent monitoring of patients' health and the development of automated driving. Participants from European institutions include researchers from BUT, specifically from the Faculty of Information Technology, CEITEC BUT and from the Department of Biomedical Engineering of FEEC.

The project financial aid in the amount of EUR 30 million should advance the science of early diagnostics of patients with deteriorating medical condition. At the same time, the project aims at opening new pathways leading to improved safety of pedestrians and cyclists as part of the automated transport of the future.

The researchers from FIT BUT are focusing on this specific part of the project. "We want to focus on the detection of road users as well as the research into monitoring of vital signs using the millimetre-wave radar technology," says Lukáš Maršík who participates in the project. The task of our colleagues from CEITEC BUT who co-operate with the Department of Biomedical Engineering of FEEC, is to develop wearable systems (wearable devices). These systems will enable not only evaluation of people's sporting activities but also user's vital signs and health.

Sensing technology has become an important part of our everyday life. People are increasingly relying on complex intelligent systems in their decision-making processes. This is evident not only in the healthcare sector, where these systems monitor even the smallest changes of patient's medical condition, but also in the area of road transport, where autonomous driving systems take over the control of vehicles. "Decision-making is being increasingly passed over from people to the machines. Even potentially risky areas, such as healthcare or road transport, are not exempted from this trend. It is therefore crucial to make sure that sensing and decision-taking technologies are safe and reliable," says Johan Plomp, project manager from Finnish VTT Technical Research Centre, who is the main project co-ordinator and defends the importance of the NextPerception project.

A total of 43 institutions and companies participate in the NextPerception project; for more information go HERE.