Chen Zhang from the Department of Quality Assurance and Machine Vision at TU Ilmenau, headed by Prof. Gunter Notni, has received the "Edmund Optics Educational Award" 2020, endowed with 7,000 euros, in the "Gold" category.
Together with Jan Sperrhake from the Institute for Applied Physics at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and Maria Nisser from the University Hospital Jena, the Ilmenau-based young scientist was honored for their joint research project "Neovital".
The core of the concept is an optical sensor that can measure vital parameters such as heart rate, blood oxygen content and respiratory volume without contact by combining high-resolution, real-time 3D sensor technology and nano-optical filters. It is to be used to avoid having to wire premature babies unnecessarily for medical examinations. The measurement is carried out without connecting the newborns to devices or cables at a distance of a few meters.
The award-winning project was funded as a graduate project within the framework of the "3Dsensation" research alliance. The alliance currently includes 20 research institutes and 45 companies from all over Germany.