Team 11: NeoNatalytics

Neonate is a term that refers to a newborn mammal less than 4 weeks old. The neonatal data we are working with have been divided into 3 groups: full-term babies, premature babies, and babies born from mothers who have ingested opioids during pregnancy. Our project focuses on the feeding behavior of these patients, whose feeding reflexes consist of a suck and swallow, interrupted by breathing intervals. The NeoNur, a previous senior design invention, tracks the sucking pressure of an infant who is feeding over time. The goal of this project is to explore the feeding characteristics of the three groups of neonates using digital signal processing. Because our information is limited, we will be using a Morlet Wavelet analysis to decipher our data. The Morlet splits the signal into wavelet components over time and over multiple scales. From this, we will receive many coefficients that represent the amplitude of the wavelength at certain times. We will then be able to see how much the signal is changing, and better examine the irregularities of the signals, i.e. the variability of the feeding patterns.