Wearable Sensor-Based Detection of Influenza in Presymptomatic and Asymptomatic Individuals.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for early detection of viral infections in symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals to allow for timely clinical management and public health interventions. METHODS: Twenty healthy adults were challenged with an influenza A (H3N2) virus and prospectively monitored from 7 days before through 10 days after inoculation, using wearable electrocardiogram and physical activity sensors. This framework allowed for responses to be accurately referenced to the infection event. For each participant, we trained a semisupervised multivariable anomaly detection model on data acquired before inoculation and used it to classify the postinoculation dataset. RESULTS: Inoculation with this challenge virus was well-tolerated with an infection rate of 85%. With the model classification threshold set so that no alarms were recorded in the 170 healthy days recorded, the algorithm correctly identified 16 of 17 (94%) positive presymptomatic and asymptomatic individuals, on average 58 hours postinoculation and 23 hours before the symptom onset. CONCLUSIONS: The data processing and modeling methodology show promise for the early detection of respiratory illness. The detection algorithm is compatible with data collected from smartwatches using optical techniques but needs to be validated in large heterogeneous cohorts in normal living conditions. Clinical Trials Registration. NCT04204493.

Wafer-Level Vacuum Packaging of Smart Sensors.

The reach and impact of the Internet of Things will depend on the availability of low-cost, smart sensors-"low cost" for ubiquitous presence, and "smart" for connectivity and autonomy. By using wafer-level processes not only for the smart sensor fabrication and integration, but also for packaging, we can further greatly reduce the cost of sensor components and systems as well as further decrease their size and weight. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art in the wafer-level vacuum packaging technology of smart sensors. We describe the processes needed to create the wafer-scale vacuum microchambers, focusing on approaches that involve metal seals and that are compatible with the thermal budget of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuits. We review choices of seal materials and structures that are available to a device designer, and present techniques used for the fabrication of metal seals on device and window wafers. We also analyze the deposition and activation of thin film getters needed to maintain vacuum in the ultra-small chambers, and the wafer-to-wafer bonding processes that form the hermetic seal. We discuss inherent trade-offs and challenges of each seal material set and the corresponding bonding processes. Finally, we identify areas for further research that could help broaden implementations of the wafer-level vacuum packaging technology.