The for profit small business concern, Tricorder Array Technologies LLC., will develop, in partnership with the University of Alabama at Birmingham, SIDECARe?, (Sensing and Integrating Data for Environmental Conditions in Animal Research). This device will automate collection of relevant data that will enhance consistency in animal models used to study human health treatment research. Our innovative device application is set to improve research animal care at the cage level on a massive cost- effective scale. SIDECARe? will be a wireless device that will collect data from a specific cage and communicate it to a database. Sensors in the device will isolate the cage environment and report collected data. Data collected will include Date / Time, Room #, Temperature, Humidity, Light, Motion Detection and Sound from observations in the cage. The device will have embedded algorithms for real-time interpretation of sensor data. The data collected will upload from each device to a cloud-based database; where additional algorithms will operate on this data and create timely reports and real-time alerts to the animal research facility?s animal care staff and/or research PI as appropriate.
Aim 1. Select and Validate Critical Components for SIDECARe?. Milestone 1) Final selection of optimal SIDECARe? components for cage monitoring and wireless communication; Milestone 2 enclosure integrated with components into a package compatible with exposure to animals, universal applicability to varied cage styles, and integration into cage processing workflows.
Aim 2. Integrate and Validate Proof of Concept of SIDECARe?. Milestone 3) Implementation of SIDECARe? firmware for low-power data collection, reduction, and transmission for determination of specific indicators; Milestone 4) SIDECARe? wireless communication system integrated with facility?s WiFi network and animal management database; Milestone 5) Perform short-term, in-field demonstration of SIDECARe?. Milestone 5. Perform short-term, in-field demonstration of SIDECARe?.
Tricorder Array Technologies, seeks NIH support to develop the novel tool SIDECARe? (Sensing and Integrating Data for Environmental Conditions in Animal Research), which will improve animal care at research institutions. This device will automate collection of relevant data that will enhance consistency in animal models used to study human health treatment research. Our innovative device application is set to improve research animal care at the cage level on a massive cost-effective scale.
