Radar technology measures your sleep contactless

How does the technology work, and what are the advantages compared to a sleep lab?

Our device is a box the size of your palm, which sits on the bedside table. Sleepiz offers a medical device as an integrated, end-to-end hardware and software solution, which allows the monitoring of various parameters during sleep in the patient¡¯s own bed at home. The device measures human vital signs in a non-contact manner, using low power electromagnetic waves to detect body movements based on the Doppler radar effect. This hardware, coupled with advanced machine learning algorithms, enables Sleepiz to achieve clinical grade assessment in analysing puls rate, breathing rate, and body movement, even when the patient wears pyjamas and is covered by a blanket. The data gathered is simultaneously transferred to our cloud platform. By providing doctors with automated reports and trend analyses, they are able to make decisions on next steps within minutes. For sleep labs and doctors, this system represents massive savings on time and costs. The current gold standard in the sleep lab requires trained staff to connect more than 30 cables to the patient - and remove them the next day. Specialists have to view all the footage taken in the sleep lab and interpret it.

With Sleepiz, doctors and medical staff gain time, new insights into their patients¡¯ sleep, and get data simultaneously. At the same time, there is no need to worry about charging batteries, disposable sensors or disinfecting medical devices. For patients, the advantages are convincing: no cables, no cameras, no sleeping in strange environments (all of which aren¡¯t conducive to good quality sleep at the best of times).

Can patients and/or sleep labs already use the device? Are collaborations in place?

We are currently collaborating closely with leading clinics in Switzerland and Europe. We have received the CE certification for medical devices and are working with sleep labs and clinics to carry out our clinical validation studies to prove the device¡¯s - and its algorithms¡¯ - diagnostic capabilities and utility. Following the European Medical Device Regulations, we aim to be ready to launch in the DACH region by June 2021. For Switzerland, we teamed up with a sensor provider for SpO₂ measurements (Oxygen saturation) to ensure reimbursement through Tarmed (Swiss medical tariff system). We have also received interest from key opinion leaders in other European markets and the US and, therefore, we are already preparing for expansion in the next years.

What are your plans for 2021 and what are your dreams for the near future?

We currently focus on respiratory diseases like sleep apnoea and work with pharma companies to monitor clinical trials. However, in the near future we plan to monitor the progression of chronic diseases and predict exacerbation (COPD) to enable faster intervention and better treatment.

At the moment, we are looking for physicians or life science companies who are interested in a demo or in teaming up with us.

The Sleepiz team

Sleepiz was founded by three PhDs from ETH Zurich and one masters¡¯ student from the University of St. Gallen. As of today, Sleepiz has grown to a team of over 30 people working on engineering, data modelling, signal processing and business development.