Monitoring vital body signs using RFID tags

No visit to the doctor is complete without the blood-pressure cuff that half pinches off your arm or a cold stethoscope on your chest. But what if your vital body signs could be collected without physical contact while you are in the waiting room or comfortably in your own home? The engineers from Cornell University (US) have developed a method to collect blood pressure, heart rate and respiration rate with the aid of cheap RFID tags. The tags measure the mechanical movements by sending radio waves that are reflected by the body and internal organs. These are subsequently detected and collected by an electronic reader that is located elsewhere in the room.