The medical industry has always been the sweet spot for RFID. One day, RFID applications in the medical field may far exceed retail sales.

Although retailers have benefited from RFID's high inventory accuracy and consumer engagement, medical use cases can save lives.

For example, researchers at Cornell University recently demonstrated a method for collecting blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory frequency data using RFID tags, similar to department store anti-theft tags on clothing and electronics.

RFID tags measure mechanical movement by transmitting radio waves that reflect the body and internal organs and are then detected by an e-reader that collects data from other parts of the room.

The system integrates near-field coherent sensing to better introduce electromagnetic signals into human tissue, allowing the tag to measure internal body motion, such as the heartbeat of a heartbeat or the pulsation of blood under the skin. The tags are powered by the electromagnetic energy provided by the central reader, and since each tag has a unique identification code that can be sent using its signal, only a central reader can monitor up to 200 people simultaneously.

"If this is an emergency room, then all incoming people can wear these tags, or simply place the tags in the front pocket and monitor everyone's vital signs," said Edwin Kan, a professor of electrical and computer engineering. Cornell University. "I will know exactly which person each vital sign belongs to."

The idea originated after Kan and his graduate student, Xiaonan Hui, visited the Center for Sleep Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian, where measuring vital signs can interrupt sleep patterns.

We are considering this technology already used in our laboratory and think we may get signals from these vital signs, said Mr Xu. "But after we figured out the theory and experimented, the signal quality is better than our prediction."

According to Kan, the signal is as accurate as an electrocardiogram or blood pressure cuff. He said he believes this technique can also be used to measure the eye movements produced by the human body and many other internal mechanical movements.

Kan and Hui plan to conduct more extensive tests with Dr. Ana Krieger, deputy chief physician and director of medical science at the Clinical Medicine Center for Clinical Neurology and Clinical Genetic Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. They also collaborated with professors professors gold int professor and Huiju Park from the Department of Fiber Science and Costume Design at Cornell, who demonstrated a method of embroidering labels directly on clothes using nanoparticle-coated fibers.

Hui envisions a future where clothing can monitor health status in real time, and users can do this with little effort.

For every piece of clothing we use every day, there may be labels. The phone reads your vital signs and will tell you some information about your condition on the day, said Mr. Xu.