Introduction

The Research Ring by Senstream is a revolutionary research platform that enables the capture of high-quality data from numerous physiological signals on a single, small, user-friendly device. Research-grade in a friendly consumer form factor, the Research Ring collects electrodermal activity (EDA, aka GSR) data, pulse (with an optical sensor), electrocardiogram (ECG), and temperature.

For years, researchers have hoped for a way to gather physiological and other data “in the wild,” in everyday settings and situations with their study participants. This has generally not been feasible because data acquisition hardware and software has historically required large, computer-connected signal acquisition systems, and lab-friendly (but not user-friendly) systems, cables, sensors and software. While more portable systems have evolved, the problem with many of them is that they do not capture high quality data that researchers can use for peer-reviewed studies.

The Senstream Research Ring is a product that gives researchers new horizons. If the researcher wants to study a user’s psychophysiological and other contextual data, they can give the Research Ring to a study participant along with a companion mobile application and start collecting data. This “mobile first” approach is also cloud-friendly. The data is collected on the phone and can be immediately stored on the cloud when a data collection session ends.

In addition to being a stand-alone research tool the Senstream Research Ring can also be synchronized with AcqKnowledge (BIOPAC’s data acquisition and analysis tool) in real time or imported into AcqKnowledge asynchronously from the mobile application. AcqKnowledge offers a vast array of powerful analytical tools.