Showcase your ideas and collaborate with fellow students by entering the 2027 Signal Processing Cup challenge. The Signal Processing Cup (SP Cup) student competition, presented by the IEEE Signal Processing Society, gives students the opportunity to create a team and work together to solve real-life problems using signal processing methods. After students submit their work, three final teams will be selected to present their work live at ICASSP 2027 and compete for the grand prize of $5,000!

This year’s challenge invites young innovators to develop technology-driven solutions that improve healthcare access through camera-based vital sign monitoring. Using only a smartphone camera, systems can estimate metrics such as heart rate, blood oxygen levels, and blood pressure by analyzing subtle changes in facial skin, offering significant potential for telehealth, remote communities, disaster-response settings, and at-home care.

The opportunity lies in making these solutions reliable in real-world conditions. While existing systems perform well in controlled environments, factors such as poor lighting, varied skin tones, low-cost devices, aging skin, facial coverings, and multiple people in view can significantly impact accuracy.

Participants are challenged to create robust, fair, and scalable solutions that can extract vital signs from ordinary RGB video without contact-based sensors or cloud-dependent processing. This challenge invites young innovators to develop technology-driven solutions that improve healthcare access through camera-based vital sign monitoring. Using only a smartphone camera, systems can estimate metrics such as heart rate, blood oxygen levels, and blood pressure by analyzing subtle changes in facial skin, offering significant potential for telehealth, remote communities, disaster-response settings, and at-home care.

The Team registration deadline is 25 October 2026. Find out how to form a team and register here.

Visit the SPS Cup page for more information and details.