Mobile Perinatal Monitoring System

This project aims to develop a mobile-health system for unborn babies, using non-invasive easy-to-operate devices linked to a mobile phone. The mobile system detects the baby’s and mother’s heartbeat and placental blood flow. The data collection will be performed during routine prenatal check-ups. The potential benefits include the development of a new mobile Health system, which can improve the care provided to mothers in rural and remote settings, through remote access by doctors to maternal and foetal wellbeing indicators. Pregnant women and babies would benefit from earlier detection of potential complications, which could lead to earlier referrals. The successful outcome of this research could provide in-home foetal monitoring which will be more convenient for the mothers especially in remote regions. The clinicians can then monitor the growth and health of the baby remotely, which is also reassuring for the mothers. This could ultimately save babies’ lives by enabling life-saving treatments through early detection of abnormalities, and provide economical savings in hospital and ambulance cost by planning in advance for the mode and facilities required for delivery and postnatal care. Ethics approval has already been obtained. The technology has been developed and is approved for use in Australia. This project is run with the Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering. Regarding location: Some parts are flexible, but you will need to be in Bairnsdale and other parts of Gippsland for the data collection phase of this project. Please discuss this project if you are interested but unsure about the travel.