Breathing is a process most of us take for granted, and its failure is a medical emergency. Providing personalized respiratory support is a huge challenge: Every patient has different metabolic needs, different respiratory anatomy and physiology, and a different natural breathing rhythm. Studies have shown that many patients are not ventilated in a way that supports their natural respiratory rhythm, potentially leading to grave consequences ranging from patient trauma due to a loss of autonomy over one’s own respiration over severe lung injury to death.

Our vision is a mechanical ventilator that…

1. Monitors a patient’s own respiratory activity during mechanical ventilation,
2. Identifies a model of the patient’s respiratory system, and
3. Uses this information to optimally align ventilator support with the patient’s needs by using advanced control techniques.

More specifically, we…

• Apply advanced signal processing techniques to measurement modalities such as camera signals, respiratory surface EMG measurements and esophageal pressure measurements to obtain reliable measurements of respiratory activity.
• Model all aspects of the respiratory system, including respiratory mechanics and lung properties, gas exchange, and respiratory control mechanisms.
• Use modern control techniques such as model-predictive control (MPC) to design advanced ventilator control schemes based on these models and measurements.