Frail pensioners needing round the clock care could be among the first users of Bluetooth wireless technology.

A vital signs monitoring system worn by the elderly or infirm has been created by engineering students at the Lulea University of Technology in P�rson, Sweden.

The students, led by P�r Svensson and Svante Johansson, created the sensor as a project on the final year project of an industrial electronics course.

Bluetooth is a wireless technology that lets gadgets fitted with transceivers exchange data.

Currently swapping data between mobiles phones, PCs, and handheld computers needs lots of cables.

The vital signs sensor is worn on the arm of a patient or pensioner and constantly monitors blood pressure and pulse.

The students are also working on a version of the sensor that can also monitor blood sugar.

The data it collects is sent to a PC via a Bluetooth base station. The PC regularly collates it and passes it on to care workers or a doctor so they can keep an eye on the health of the patient and spot any problems before they become life-threatening.

The PC instantly alerts the medical staff looking after the patient if blood pressure gets too high or low, or the pulse rate changes unexpectedly.

The students are planning to build 5-10 prototypes of the medical sensor and are looking for a partner to help them test the technology on real people.