Annual Report 2007

Investigating the Causes of Asthma Attacks TRI researchers have developed a sensor system that continuously monitors the air around people prone to asthma attacks. Worn in the pockets of a vest, the new system could help researchers understand the causes of asthma attacks. “We are investigating whether we can go back after an asthma attack and see what was going on environmentally when the attack started,” said Charlene Bayer, a GTRI principal research scientist. The research was supported by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and initial funding from the GTRI Independent Research and Development (IRAD) program. The battery-powered system fits into the pocket of a vest and contains commercially available sensors that were integrated into a single system by Mark Jones, chief executive officer of Keehi Technologies. G “The device weighs less than one pound including batteries. It takes a measurement of air every two minutes, stores the data in on-board memory and then sleeps to conserve battery power,” noted Jones. The sensors measure airborne exposure to formaldehyde, carbon dioxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, temperature, relative humidity and total volatile organic compounds. In addition, a special mesh filter collects particles that are counted and analyzed at the end of the sampling period. Bayer and GTRI research scientist Robert Hendry calibrated and tested the sensors in a large room-sized chamber that simulates real-world environmental conditions inside buildings. Coupled with sensitive mass spectrometers, the chamber allows changing indoor air chemistry to be studied in detail. Six adult volunteers have tested the vest for comfort and the effectiveness of the sensor system under actual use conditions. And that has already brought benefits for one volunteer, whose vest detected higher volatile organic exposures in his home than anywhere else. That led researchers to discover a pollutant pathway from the volunteer’s basement garage into the living areas that was allowing automobile exhaust and gasoline fumes to invade the house. With future funding, Bayer hopes to develop a smaller and more sensitive sensor system, test the current vest in population studies of asthmatic children, and develop software to process the sensor data as they are collected. A new wearable sensor system will help researchers better understand the causes of asthma attacks. 1 www.gtri.gatech.edu http://www.gtri.gatech.edu

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Annual Report 2007

Annual Report 2007 Contents From the Director Research at GTRI Defense and Security Health and Human Systems Energy and Environment Manufacturing Technologies Information and Communication Technologies GTRI Around the World Interdisciplinary Research Centers The Laboratories of GTRI Georgia Tech Ireland GTRI by the Numbers GTRI and Georgia Tech Supporting Breakthrough Research GTRI Professional Education The People of GTRI

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