Meerkat: Monitoring key activity and physiology of neonates V1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Meerkat: Monitoring key activity and physiology of neonates in intensive care
IRAS ID
285615
Contact name
Kathryn Beardsall
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of cambridge
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 31 days
Research summary
This is a single centre feasibility study designed to optimise and evaluate the use of a non-contact physiology monitoring system in the neonatal intensive care unit. A camera is mounted above the incubator/cot and records anonymised, real-time depth and colour images. Custom built processing software analyses the images to detect the position of the baby. Once the position is determined, certain physiological parameters, such as activity, respiratory rate, and heart rate, can be derived.
The study comprises two parts. Part 1 is designed to determine which of two camera models is best suited for use in the NICU, and to record data that can be used to calibrate the software algorithms. This is required because the software is built on algorithms that are calibrated on adults, as no neonatal data is currently available. Part 2 is designed to evaluate the performance of the system. Extracted features related to movement and activity will be compared against the colour images. Other extracted physiological parameters will be compared with standard clinical measures from the vital sign monitor.
This study will show the feasibility of the use of computer vision as a tool for continuous, automatic non-contact monitoring of physiology in neonatal intensive care.
REC name
North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/NW/0194
Date of REC Opinion
7 Jul 2021
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion