IEEE Awards Pontosense for Outstanding Achievement in Wireless Sensing

Toronto, December 19th, 2022

Pontosense, a leader in wireless sensing, is proud to announce that the IEEE has selected its Wireless Intelligent Sensing (WISe) solution for its HITC Award for Excellence in Hyper-Intelligence (Industrial Impact Award). This award recognizes the revolutionary innovation in wireless vitals sensing and hyper-intelligent systems.

This honor recognizes Pontosense's extraordinary contributions to developing a millimeter wave (mmWave) radar capable of wirelessly monitoring biometric vitals such as heart rate, breathing, and heart rate variability. This innovation, WISe, uses AI to understand surrounding individuals, removing unwanted noise and extracting key biometric variables.

Early attempts to use radar systems to sense physiological signs date back decades, including work by J.C. Lin and others. At the time, and until recently, every unwanted movement of the body had a profound impact on reflected signals and resulted in inaccurate data. 

Today, thanks to Pontosense co-founder and CTO Professor Yihong Qi and his team, contactless vital sign detection and HRV monitoring is a reality. Biometrics accuracy is comparable to medical-grade devices, even in noisy environments. Pontosense is the first and only in-market mmWave wireless sensor used in the automotive industry for child presence detection and driver monitoring use cases. 

For Pontosense's CIO Muxin Ma, “This revolutionary technology has immediate and future applications: current government regulations stipulate that cars must be able to detect children left behind. WISe will save the lives of hundreds of children every year. In the future, companies will leverage biometrics to identify new opportunities for developing value-added services.”

“Autonomous vehicles are just around the corner, and in-cabin sensing is unleashing new revenue stream opportunities for the industry, allowing for personalized, human-centered enhanced in-car experiences”, says Yihong. He adds, “For example, sensors' health metrics can predict emergencies. If the car is autonomous, how will it slow down if the passenger feels sick? The cars of tomorrow need in-cabin biosensing to thrive.”

This achievement is the culmination of decades of research and inventions from Professor Qi, including hundreds of patents and breakthroughs in antenna development, RF and EMC measurement, DSP algorithm, and smart data analytics.

This technology saves lives, accelerates the future of mobility, empowers innovations across most industries, and pushes the foundation of human-machine interactions. Due to this invention, the world will become more human-aware and more understanding of health metrics, leading to a safer and more fulfilling future.

About Pontosense

Pontosense saves lives and improves wellness through millimeter-wave sensing. The AI-powered module wirelessly measures heart rate, breathing, and biometrics with medical-grade accuracy. Pontosense is the only in-market wireless sensor to provide medical-grade accuracy on all key biometrics. Applications include mobility and cars, life-saving detection of children, and driver/passenger emergency detection. In a home, this technology enables the elderly to live independently by providing private, real-time monitoring for washrooms, bedrooms, and sleep applications. Proudly Canadian and built by lifelong engineers, Pontosense also has offices in Japan, Germany, and China.