Real-time diffuse correlation spectroscopy with on-chip correlators for measuring human cerebral blood flow and brain function

Real-time diffuse correlation spectroscopy with on-chip correlators for measuring human cerebral blood flow and brain function

Journal of Innovative Optical Health Sciences

10.1142/S1793545826500203

https://doi.org/10.1142/s1793545826500203

Quan Wang, Yuanyuan Hua, Chenxu Li, Zhizheng Yuan, Jing Wang, Ahmet T. Erdogan, Hanqing Chen, Xunting Huang, Maciej Wojtkiewicz, Alistair Gorman, Mingliang Pan, Yuanzhe Zhang, Yining Wang, Neil Finlayson, Renzhe Bi, Robert K. Henderson, Zhen Yuan, David Day-Uei Li

22 May 2026

Wang, Q., Hua, Y., Li, C., Yuan, Z., Wang, J., Erdogan, A. T., Chen, H., Huang, X., Wojtkiewicz, M., Gorman, A., Pan, M., Zhang, Y., Wang, Y., Finlayson, N., Bi, R., Henderson, R. K., Yuan, Z., & Li, D. D.-U. (2026). Real-time diffuse correlation spectroscopy with on-chip correlators for measuring human cerebral blood flow and brain function. Journal of Innovative Optical Health Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1142/s1793545826500203

Diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) is a noninvasive optical technique that probes microvascular blood flow in deep tissues. Here, we present and validate a new on-chip hardware correlator for high-speed DCS measurements. The correlator is embedded in a custom-built [Formula: see text] single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) array named ATLAS, which computes intensity autocorrelation functions directly on-chip at a sampling rate of 116[Formula: see text]Hz — the fastest DCS acquisition reported to date. Unlike conventional DCS systems that suffer from low light throughput and therefore cannot resolve cardiac pulsations at source-detector separations ([Formula: see text]) beyond 30[Formula: see text]mm, our massively parallel on-chip architecture computes autocorrelations within each macropixel, eliminating the data-throughput bottleneck. This enables high-SNR, real-time detection of pulsatile blood flow even at [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]mm on the human forehead. In phantom experiments at [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]mm, ATLAS-DCS achieves a 12-fold improvement in signal-to-noise ratio over a conventional single-channel DCS instrument while operating at 116[Formula: see text]Hz. In human subjects, we resolve functional hyperemia during a mental arithmetic task at [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]mm. Furthermore, we integrate ATLAS-DCS with a frequency-domain near-infrared spectroscopy (FD-NIRS) module, enabling simultaneous monitoring of blood flow and tissue oxygenation. With this combined system, we can concurrently resolve core hemodynamic parameters. The on-chip parallelized DCS design substantially improves detection speed, depth sensitivity, and real-time capability, paving the way for wearable, high-speed cerebral blood flow monitoring in both clinical and research settings.

Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

There was no specific funding for the research done

https://oar.a-star.edu.sg/communities-collections/articles/22458

1793-5458
1793-7205

A*STAR Skin Research Labs

https://doi.org/10.1142/s1793545826500203