28
ACES Newsletter 2019 - University of Peradeniya
ACES Newsletter 2019 - University of Peradeniya
NON-INTRUSIVE
INFANT SLEEP
APNEA DETECTION SYSTEM
But when the babies are affected with the
condition they tend to not get up and keep
on sleeping which may risk their lives.
A
group of students from E10 batch
of the computer engineering
department (Dulanja Wijethunga,
Dinidu Bathiya, Sasith Wiranja, under the
supervision of Prof.Roshan G. Ragel and Dr.
Rajitha Navaratne) has engaged in a final
year project on using image processing to
analyze behavior with respect to breathing
patterns. Inspired by the fact how the
existing algorithms can be used to give
certain inferences about breathing, a group
of students from E14 batch, Gihan Jayatilaka,
Harshana Sumedha, Suren Sritharan and
Pankayaraj Pathmanathan decided to build
up on this idea and build a device and an
intelligent algorithm to detect infant sleep
apnea as their unified embedded systems
project under the supervision of Prof.
Roshan G.Ragel and Dr.Isuru Nawinne.
They have proposed a non-invasive solution
based on video processing. The infant is
observed by a video camera that is connected
to a single-board computer (Raspberry pi)
which analyzes the video feed to diagnose
breathing anomalies. The camera is turned
to a proper orientation for the observation
using a robotic arm.
"The project that started as a
unified embedded system project
which is a core component
in the third year academic
curriculum was able to win several
competitions and awards"
Within a short time, the group was able
to come up with a preliminary image
processing algorithm to detect sleeping
apnea and has also built a user-friendly
web interface. The project that started as a
unified embedded system project which is a
core component in the third year academic
curriculum was able to win several
competitions and awards.
The project was further improved with the
involvement of Nuwan Jaliyagoda, a 3rd
year undergraduate from the Department
of Computer Engineering and Anupamali
Willamula from the Electrical and
Electronics Engineering Department of the
University of Peradeniya.
Sleep Apnea is a serious disorder caused by
the interruption of breathing during sleep.
This can cause people to stop breathing for
several times even hundreds if not treated
properly. It can affect people of any age. The team was able to emerge the 1st
runner up at the first-ever Narrowband
Internet of Things Hackathon in Srilanka
which was organized by the Dialog Axiata
PLC in collaboration with the Ideamart. In
this competition, which was held on the 17th
of March 2018, the teams were supposed to
build a product that utilizes the narrow-band
communication channel. The team built up
a baby monitor with sleep apnea detection
abilities that communicated the health report
notifications through this communication engineering and medical researchers.
channel.
The team also emerged as the winner at the
United Nations development project – SLIIT Codefest 2018 which was organized by
innovation branch called applications for the Faculty of Computing of Sri Lanka Institute
Hackadev 2018 social innovation challenge. of Information Technology (SLIIT) .
The group applied along with 700+ groups
from around the country. They got selected to IEEE R10 Humanitarian Conference came to
the 5-day social innovation camp (with 30 other Sri Lanka in 2018 after being hosted in many
groups) in Beruwala. The camp turned out to countries in Asia-Australia region. The team
be a grueling debate between the speakers submitted a research paper about the project
who value the social aspect of the products to the conference and the product competition
and the team's focus on technical innovation. organized parallelly to the conference.
The team refined the social/user aspects of Although the paper gets rejected, the product
the project and got selected to the top 14 track submission advanced to the skype viva
teams to advance to the seed funding round. in which the team is selected for the top 5
But they decided to drop out and pass on the teams and was invited to the finals. The team
opportunity for the next team who would be showcased its hardware design, intelligent
more aligned in the social innovation instead algorithms and the web interface for easy
access. They justified their design against a
of technical innovation.
panel of judges consisting of top researchers
University of Moratuwa IEEE EMBS chapter from IEEE R10 and investors. The team won
organized the first-ever biomedical product the first place in R10 HTC that was held from
competition, Brainstorm 2018 on the 5th of 6th to 8th December 2018 and even won an
October at the IESL auditorium. The team additional grant to develop the even won an
competed with an improved version of the additional grant to develop the product.
algorithm and more sophisticated hardware.
Then, the baby monitor was smart enough to This project was also accepted for IEEE
detect the sleeping pattern of the baby, analyze International Conference on Industrial and
the breathing pattern properly, track the baby Information Systems (ICIIS) conference
if s/he moves and provides reports. This was 2019. The project was also supported by Dr.
coupled with the completed web interface. The Elkaduwe and Dr. Alawathugoda by providing
team was able to win the 2nd place among all their opinions on different evaluations.
participating teams (from medical faculties,
biomedical engineering departments etc)
after facing a final viva from biomedical
29