A wireless monitoring technology developed at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa has reaped yet another award, earning the 2008 North American Technology Innovation of the Year Award from growth company consultant Frost & Sullivan.

The technology now being refined by Kai Sensors Inc., a company with offices in the Manoa Innovation Center, is capable of remotely monitoring heartbeats, breathing and other vital physiological signs at the same time.

Kai Sensors' system is a platform technology with powerful capabilities that will be applied to a wide spectrum of applications in the healthcare, automotive and homeland security markets, said Frost & Sullivan in a press statement.

The company previously was awarded the Emergency Technology Award at the 2007 TechConnect Summit in Silicon Valley and was among the technologies featured at the World's Best Technologies Showcase in May. More recently, the company said it secured a contract worth up to $850,000 from the U.S. Army. The company is to develop sensor and communication technology on a single chip in the first phase of the contract.

The technology has the ability to detect heartbeats through walls and is being considered for use in homeland security screening to determine individuals who should be scrutinized further.

Frost & Sullivan said the technology represents a "significant milestone" for patient monitoring and diagnostics, allowing the monitoring of patients who would benefit from fewer wire connections and the elderly.

The award is presented annually to companies that have carried out new research that resulted in innovations that have or are expected to bring significant contributions.