About 10% of infants require some assistance to establish regular respirations at birth [1] sometimes leading to an inadequate intake of oxygen by the infant called perinatal asphyxia. Here, hypoxic–ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) due to acute perinatal asphyxia remains an important cause of neurodevelopmental deficits in childhood [2]. The first effective treatment for moderate to severe HIE is therapeutic hypothermia (TH) that has reduced death and disability [3,4]. However, a significant subset of mild HIE who are currently not recognized or offered any therapies develop cognitive impairment [5]. Here, a “Neurovascular Unit” approach [6] in newborns with HIE has been proposed to identify infants at risk for abnormal outcomes [7]. We are developing computational tools for a low-cost portable brain scanner to capture the neurovascular coupling (NVC) within the “Neurovascular Unit” [8].