Draper Laboratory is an American not-for-profit research and development organization, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts; its official name is The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. The laboratory specializes in the design, development, and deployment of advanced technology solutions to problems in national security, space exploration, health care and energy.
From whiteboard concept to fielded systems, Draper engineers design, develop and deploy advanced technology solutions for the world’s most difficult and important problems.
More than a thousand engineers and scientists — experts in fields ranging from GN&C to microfabrication — bring a multidisciplinary advantage to system design. The breadth and depth of our expertise enable us to take on almost any challenge.
The expertise of the laboratory staff includes the areas of guidance, navigation, and control technologies and systems; fault-tolerant computing; advanced algorithms and software systems; modeling and simulation; and microelectromechanical systems and multichip module technology.
Innovations –
Draper Is Developing a Noncontact Sensor that Measures the Body’s Hidden 3D Bioelectric Field
CAMBRIDGE, MA—Every year millions of Americans undergo an electrocardiogram to diagnose heart disease. The medical test, standard in doctors’ offices and operating rooms, has been around for decades, but a new technology may redefine the ECG—enabling direct measurement of the heart’s three-dimensional (3D) bioelectric field.
Jesse Wheeler, head of MedTech and Analytics at Draper, says, “Traditional ECG systems are likely missing important diagnostic information because they measure one-dimensional (1D) voltage signals, which are shadows of the underlying 3D electric field produced by the body. Draper’s E-field sensor is designed to directly measure the hidden 3D electric field produced by the heart.”
Wheeler says the new sensor is a breakthrough for another reason. Unlike traditional ECG systems, it doesn’t use electrodes or leads. It measures 3D bioelectric fields without contact with the body. Wheeler describes the sensor as “a millimeter-scale, noncontact, electrode-less and lead-less E-field sensor.”
Single-photon detector (SPD)
Shows promise for improving the way LiDAR systems detect vehicles and objects on the road and enhancing applications in imaging, bioscience, surveillance and quantum communications.
