Electrical cardiac monitoring in the head for helmet applications

In order to improve the emergency response of medical services to motorcycle accidents, the EU-funded i-VITAL project has developed an integrated system for providing real-time vital sign readings to emergency teams so that an adequate emergency response can be prepared in advance. The use of helmets is compulsory and they already include other enhanced functionalities (such as Bluetooth hands-free headset, or even GPS support). However, ECG has been performed almost solely through skin contact to both sides of the body, whereas direct electrical heart signal monitoring (ECG-like) in helmets remains an unsolved problem. This paper presents the work and results on ECG-like measurements in the head area using EPIC sensors. This work was part of the i-VITAL project research, with the goal of constructing a novel vital sign monitoring system for seamless integration into helmets.