Monitoring sympathetic activity by thermal infrared imaging

A novel system that incorporates non-contact and non-invasive physiological monitoring of the human autonomic nervous activity is presented. The autonomic activity is recorded through its effects on cutaneous temperature. The sensing element is a thermal camera that is employed as a computer peripheral. Through bioheat modeling of facial imagery, almost the full range of vital signs can be extracted, including localized blood flow, cardiac pulse, breath rate, and sudomotor response. These physiological informations can then be used to draw inferences about a variety of health symptoms and psychological states. This research aims to realize the notion of sustained health monitoring for ubiquitous ailments and emotional states.