Toumaz Technology, a company based on Imperial College London research, won the electronic category in the prestigious 2007 Institution of Engineering Technology (IET) Innovation Engineering Award for its Sensium Ultra Low-Power Wireless Body Monitoring System, better known as the ‘digital plaster’.

Toumaz Technology’s disposable digital plaster sticks to a patient’s chest and has an ultra low power wireless smart sensor in a silicon chip attached to the plaster, which monitors in real-time a range of vital signs like ECG, body temperature, respiration and physical activity.

This information is processed and sent to a base station where an electronic medical record is kept. When needed, the information is instantly downloaded by a health practitioner to a mobile phone for analysis.