While many of you rely on e-cigarette devices to keep away from the dangers of tobacco use, aside from managing nicotine intake, you likely aren’t digging any deeper into your current vaping habits. For example, did you know that places, people, and experiences contribute to your prevailing e-cig use and continued smoke-free lifestyle? Since transitioning to vaping has proven to be a life-changing event, read about how researchers are using new technology to fill gaps in their vaping knowledge.
Everything you need to know about the device
Cornell Tech, a technology, business, law, and design campus located on Roosevelt Island in Manhattan, New York City, has developed a new tool that’s attracting a lot of attention among researchers.
Contributing to e-cigarette studies worldwide, the device known as PuffPacket has been designed to monitor electronic cigarette inhalations by yielding valuable information like when and where the user vapes, how deeply they’re inhaling and exhaling, and how much nicotine they’re consuming in each session. Considered to be the first of its kind, the accessory can be attached to various nicotine-delivery e-cigarettes, which is helpful to researchers who’re used to dealing with an assortment of brands of e-cigs.
Why did the team develop the product?
“There’s been a jump in the prevalence of e-cigarette use, especially in recent years, but we don’t really understand how people are using it,” said Alexander Adams, a doctoral student in information science at Cornell Tech.
Adams is part of the team that developed PuffPacket, a hardware and software research platform that leverages technology already built into each e-cigarette to track their usage. The system manages signals within the e-cigs devices to directly measure and track nicotine consumption levels and is even able to use Bluetooth technology to calculate the frequency, intensity, and duration of each inhalation. This information is then augmented using the user’s smartphone-based location tracker, which will determine where the user is and what activity they’re doing – such as walking, standing or driving – to help identify potential patterns among users. The most interesting part is that the information is also beneficial for the user, as it can be integrated into other mobile health tracking systems!
“The lack of continuous and objective understanding of vaping behaviors led us to develop PuffPacket,” he said. “To enable proper measurement, monitoring, tracking, and recording of e-cigarette use, as opposed to…self reports.”
The team presumes that if their inventive device can help vapers monitor their nicotine consumption levels and habits, it will allow them to determine how to better manage their cravings. Also, e-cigarette studies will greatly benefit from PuffPacket by understanding the driving forces behind each puff of vapor.
How does PuffPacket work?
The accessory affixes directly onto vaping devices and can sync with most cell phones, which allows vapers to yield more accurate results than methods that would require them to manually track their vaping habits. PuffPacket is activated by an inhale through an e-cigarette device which sends an electrical signal to “wake up”, allowing the gadget to save battery power when it’s not in use.
Do you plan to start conducting your own e-cigarette studies using the PuffPacket? Drop a comment below to explain what you would like to know about your vaping habits.
