CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

More than 2 million people are at high risk of having heart attack. It would be helpful if

there was a way for these people to monitor their heart. This project focuses on how we

can overcome this problem and find a solution. Heart rate means the number of heartbeats

per unit of time, usually expressed as beats per minute (bpm). Human’s heart pounds to

pump oxygen-rich blood to muscles and to carry cell waste products away from tissues.

Heart rate can vary according to the demand of muscles to absorb oxygen and excrete

carbon dioxide changes, such as during exercise or sleep. It also varies significantly

between individuals based on fitness, age and genetics. That means heart must beat faster

to deliver more oxygen-rich blood. Medical professionals use heart rate for tracking of

patient’s physical conditions. Individuals, such as athletes, who are interested in

monitoring their heart rate to gain maximum efficiency from their training, also use it.

1.2 PROBLEM DEFINITION

The human health is one of the most important concerns in the world today. Everything

becomes meaningless when one becomes sick and dies due to improper Medicare. For

health reasons, people, governments and several voluntary bodies spend a lot of money to

ensure a better health condition for themselves and the entire populace. Scientists and

Engineers are always at work to device a means of supporting or sustaining a sound

health condition for all through the invention of numerous technologies both

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Electricaland Mechanical gadgets that are in use for health care delivery today. The heart

is a very delicate organ in the human body (once it stops beating, nothing else matters).

Thus, If early actions are taken (and on time) the heart condition can be managed

effectively and many patients can be cured and saved. The problem of patients slumping

and dying is associated with cardiovascular arrests and can be checkmated using this

sensitive and highly effective device (the IOT patient heartbeat monitor). This device has

an outstanding advantage that it is easy to handle and access. Heartbeat rate and body

temperature monitors are part of the most vital tools needed in first aid kit for saving

lives. Unlike the x-ray, the heartbeat and temperature monitor does not impose any

hazard to the human health. If the heat that is produced from metabolism cannot be

checkmated on time, it will cause a turbulent body temperature, which could be worse

than 40°C and lead to headache, vertigo, low blood pressure, high energy consumption,

unconsciousness and crocking up of body temperature regulation function. On the other

hand, when the produced heat is less than the dissipating heat, the body temperature

cannot hold on and it will result to a decrease in metabolism.

1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The major aim and objective of this project is to help the doctors and family members to

keep track of the heartbeat condition of their loved ones in the case of an abnormality in

the health condition (for those with heartbeat defects).

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1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT

There are various instruments available in the hospitals to keep track of the internal body

changes, but many of them have limitations regarding to maintenance, cost, size of

instruments, and mobility. This project is so significant because it is mobile, small in size,

cost effective, very easy to use, highly efficient performance, portable and light in weight

etc.It helps both the patient and the concerned doctor to take an appropriate action.

It is beneficial in terms of cost. It saves time and is very helpful to patients who live

alone. It offers a freedom of movement to patients. It has low power consumption

through the stability of its wireless data communication.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

The scope of this project is based on a pulse sensor and Arduino microcontroller; this

device will detect the pulse rate using the Pulse Sensor and will show the readings in

BPM (Beats per Minute) on the LCD display.

.1.7 PROJECT REPORT ORGANIZATION

The organization of the project report is well detailed and vast in its coverage. It covers

all the activities encountered during the research work.

Chapter One: is the introductory chapter, which covers the introduction, project

objectives, scope of the project and project organization.

Chapter Two: presents the literature review.

Chapter Three covers the construction work including the design methodology in block

diagram form.

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Chapter Four covers the testing and integration of the project design. The system testing

was first carried out in a laboratory.

Chapter Five: is the summary and conclusion, which includes the summary of

achievements, problems encountered during project design, and recommendation for

further improvement.

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 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 OVERVIEW

Vital signs derive its significance from the fact that they can be considered as an

indication of the person’s health. Any change in the measurements of these signs

indicates an abnormality in the physical condition of the patient. A considerable number

of medical conditions can be detected from variations in one or more of the vital sign.

The specialized devices for measuring the vital signs are not portable and can’t be found

anywhere. Hence, in this project, the concept of using potable heart rate monitor over the

internet as a diagnosing tool.

There are four vital signs which are standard in most medical settings:

1. Pulse rate.

2. Respiratory rate.

3. Blood pressure.

4. Body temperature.

Heartbeat rate means the number of heartbeats per unit time, usually expressed as beats

per minute (bpm). The human heart pounds to pump oxygen rich blood to the muscles

and carry cell waste products away from the tissues. Heartbeat rate can vary according to

the demand of the muscles to absorb oxygen and excrete carbon dioxide changes such as

5
during exercise or sleep. It also varies significantly between individuals based on age,

fitness and genetics. This means that the heart must beat faster to deliver more oxygen

rich blood. During exercise routines, the heartbeat rate gives a strong indication of how

effective the exercise is to the body.

The patient monitoring systems is one of the major improvements in the global health

care program because of its advanced technology. A patient monitoring system measures

the heartbeat by using embedded technology. This advancement in technology is highly

needed because many sick patients at the hospitals die because of high fever and heart

attacks. The trend of cardiovascular disease has shown that heart beat rate plays a key

role in determining the possibility of a heart attack while an increase in the body

temperature can induce fever on a patient. Heart diseases such as heart attack, coronary

heart disease, congestive heart failure, and congenital heart disease are the leading causes

of death for men and women in many countries. Most of the time, the aged people of the

society are more prone to heart disease problems than the younger ones. For people who

live alone with no one to monitor their health condition, this device offers an opportunity

to them for a constant monitoring of their health status, it is developed to monitor and

alert the doctors about the heartbeat and temperature condition of a patient. It is

developed to give patients a timely and proper healthcare.These days it is not easy for

doctors and the nurses to remain close to a patients bed side to monitor their health

condition. In the past, a huge and fixed monitoring device was used (only in the

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hospitals) to know the health status of a patient when on a bed. These monitoring devices

are only available in the hospitals and are constantly on the patient’s body. Many of them

are not user friendly so it is important that the doctors and family members will have a

handy device that can always monitor their patients when they are not around.

It is very important that the heartbeat is to be normal. That is 72 BPM. If there is any

abnormality, then the patient is in distress. Heartbeat rate means the number of heartbeats

per unit of time. The normal heartbeat rate of a resting person is about 70 bpm for adult

males and 75 bpm for adult females. The average heartbeat per minute for 25-year old

ranges between 140-170 beats per minute while for a 60-year old it is typically between

115-140 beats per minute and body temperature is 37 degree Celsius or 98.6 Fahrenheit.

Normally it is difficult to keep track of the abnormalities in the heartbeat count by

manual means. Patients are not well versed with the manual treatments, which the doctors

normally use for tracking the count of the heartbeat. Thus, there must be some kind of

device which would help patients and their family member to keep track of their health

by themselves. This sole reason is why this project presents a heartbeat monitoring device

using Arduino microcontroller. The concept of developing a microcontroller based

patient monitoring device is to have a simple home and hospital based pulse monitoring

device for sick person’s that are in critical condition and needs to be constantly or

periodically monitored by clinician or family.

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2.2 HEART

The heart is the main organ within the human body, which is responsible for pumping

blood throughout the body. It is located in the middle of the thorax, slightly offset to the

left and surrounded by the lungs. The heart is made up of two separate pumps: a right

heart that pumps blood through the lungs, and a left heart that pumps blood through the

peripheral organs as shown in Figure 2.1. At the same time, each of these hearts is a

pulsatile two chamber pump composed of an atrium and a ventricle. Each atrium is a

pump that helps in moving blood into the ventricle. Then the ventricles supply the main

pumping force that propels the blood either through the pulmonary circulation by the

right ventricle or through the peripheral circulation by the left ventricle. That blood

passes through the right ventricle and is pumped to the lungs where it is oxygenated and

goes back to the heart through the left atrium, and then the blood passes through the left

ventricle and is pumped again to be distributed to the entire body through. The heart also

consists of three major types of cardiac muscle: atrial muscle, ventricular muscle, and

specialized excitatory and conductive muscle fibers. The atrial and ventricular type is

differ from the specialized excitatory muscles in the method of contraction. The latter

muscles exhibit either automatic rhythmical electrical discharge or conduction of the

action potentials through the heart, providing an excitatory system that controls the

rhythmical beating of the heart. The cardiac events that occur from the beginning of one

heartbeat to the beginning of the next are called the cardiac cycle.

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 Figure 2.1: Structure of the heart and blood flow

2.2.1 Heart Rate

Heart Rate (HR) is the rate at which the heart beats and affected by the expansion of the

arterial wall with each every beat. The most prominent areas for the pulses are wrist

(Radial artery), neck (Carotidartery), inside of the elbow (Brachial artery), behind the

knee (Popliteal artery) and ankle joint (Posterior artery). The HR changes according to

age and the physical and psychological impacts on the body. Higher pulse rate indicates

the presence of abnormality in the body which can also be caused by other reasons such

as anxiety, anger, excitement, emotion, and heart disorders. The pulse rate of an

individual can help in determining various problems within the body, but it cannot be

used lone to diagnose an abnormality. The average heart rate is about 72 bpm

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forsedentary males and 80 bpm for sedentary females but these rates are often

significantly different for trained athletes.

Respiratory Rate
(Breathes/min)
Heart Rate
(BPM)
Age

0 – 5 months 90 – 150 25 – 40

6 – 12 months 80 – 140 20 – 30

1 – 3 years 80 – 130 20 – 30

3 -5 years 80 – 120 20 – 30

6 -10 years 70 – 110 15 – 30

11 – 14 years 60 – 105 12 – 20

14 + years 60 – 100 12 – 20

Table 2.1 Heart Rate and Respiratory Rate for Different Ages

2.2.2 Effect of Temperature on Heart Function

Variations in body temperature can cause a greatly variations in heart rate in a

proportional relationship. Decreased temperature can cause the HR to fall as low as a few

beats per minute when a person is near death when the body temperature range of 60° to

70°F. These effects assure the fact that heat increases the permeability of the cardiac

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muscle membrane to ions that control heart rate, resulting in acceleration of the self-

excitation process.

2.2.3 Heart Rate Measurements Methods

There are several methods to measure the heart rate, the most used methods:

 Radial: It is taking the Pulse on the Wrist by holding the palm of theright hand

facing upwards, placing the tips of the middle three fingers from the left hand on

the wrist joint and count the number of beats for six seconds. If we multiplied this

number by ten it gives the BPM.

Figure 2.2: Radial Method

 Carotid: It is taking the pulse on the Throat by placing two fingers (first and

second) lightly on the side of the throat just below the angle of the jaw. A pulse

would be felt from the jugular vein. Count the number of beats for six seconds.

Multiplying this number by ten will give the BPM.

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 Figure 2.3: Carotid Method

 Heart Rate Monitors: Many heart monitoring devices ensure a more accurate

measure of heart rate than manual methods. In most physical training situations

they are the preferred method. These devices advantages are:

1. Far more accurate than finger tests.

2. Give continuous and real-time readings that can be viewed via digital display.

3. When the heart rate is measured a simple formula can be used to work out whether the

individual is training at the right intensity:

220 - Age = Maximum Heart Rate

4. Small and lightweight to carry. Some can be programmed to sound an alarm or

warning when set heart rate ranges are breached

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 Figure 2.4: Heart Rate Monitors Method

2.3. ELECTROCARDIOGRAPH

Electrical current flows from the heart and a small fraction of it makes it way to the body

surface as the cardiac impulse go through the heart. Electrocardiograph or ECG for short

detects and records these electrical signals that are responsible for pumping blood by the

heart all around the body. A normal electrocardiogram is shown in Figure.

Figure 2.5: Normal ECG.

ECG is an indication of the patient’s heart health by recording the electrical activity to be

read by specialized doctors which able to extract vital signs from it. Hence, HR can be

calculated from ECG.

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2.4. PHOTOPLETHYSMOGRAPH

The PPG is a low-cost and portable technique for measuring blood volume changes by

collecting the variations in reflected or transmitted light. The blood pressure, blood

oxygen saturation, HR, cardiac output recently and information of the cardiovascular

system can be supplied with this technique. PPG experiences developments continuously,

some researchers have used digital cameras and others a smart phone to detect HR by

PPG technique. However, overcoming the motion artifact is a huge challenge for PPG as

it is sensitive it. Adaptive noise cancellation (ANC), which uses accelerometers as a noise

reference, is proposed in order to help in reducing the affection of motion artifact.

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 Figure 2.6: PPG of different conditions.

2.5. HEART ATTACK

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are disorders of the heart and blood vessels which they

include: 1. Coronary heart disease which is a disease of the blood vessels supplying the

heart muscle;

2. Cerebrovascular disease which is a disease of the blood vessels supplying the brain

3. Peripheral arterial disease which is a disease of blood vessels supplying the arms and

legs

4. Rheumatic heart disease which is damage to the heart muscle and heart valves from

rheumatic fever, caused by streptococcal bacteria

5. Congenital heart disease which is malformations of heart structure existing at birth

6. Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism which is blood clots in the leg veins,

which can dislodge and move to the heart and lungs.

Heart attacks and strokes are usually acute events and are mainly caused by a blockage

that prevents blood from flowing to the heart or brain. The most common reason for this

is a build-up of fatty deposits on the inner walls of the blood vessels that supply the heart

or brain. Strokes can also be caused by bleeding from a blood vessel in the brain or from

blood clots. The cause of heart attacks and strokes are usually the presence of a

combination of risk factors, such as tobacco use, unhealthy diet and obesity, physical

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inactivity and harmful use of alcohol, hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia. The

most important behavioral risk factors of heart disease are unhealthy diet, physical

inactivity, tobacco use and harmful use of alcohol. These risks affect raised blood

pressure, raised blood glucose, raised blood lipids, and overweight and obesity.

2.5.1 Symptoms of Heart Attacks

Often, there are no symptoms of the underlying disease of the blood vessels. A heart

attack or stroke may be the first warning of underlying disease. Symptoms of a heart

attack include:

 Pain or discomfort in the center of the chest

 Pain or discomfort in the arms, the left shoulder, elbows, jaw, or back.

In addition the person may experience difficulty in breathing or shortness of breath;

feeling sick or vomiting; feeling light-headed or faint; breaking into a cold sweat; and

becoming pale. Women are more likely to have shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting,

and back or jaw pain. The most common symptom of a stroke is sudden weakness of the

face, arm, or leg, most often on one side of the body. Rheumatic heart disease is caused

by damage to the heart valves and heart muscle from the inflammation and scarring

caused by rheumatic fever.

Rheumatic fever is caused by an abnormal response of the body to infection with

streptococcal bacteria, which usually begins as a sore throat or tonsillitis in children.

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Rheumatic fever mostly affects children in developing countries, especially where

poverty is widespread. Globally, about 2% of deaths from cardiovascular diseases is

related to rheumatic heart disease.

At least three quarters of the world's deaths from CVDs occur in low-and middle-income

countries. That is due to people in these countries often does not have the benefit of

integrated primary health care programs for early detection and treatment compared with

high-income countries.

People in low- and middle-income countries who suffer from CVDs have less access to

effective and equitable health care services which respond to their needs. As a result,

many people are detected late in the course of the disease and die younger from CVDs.

At macro-economic level, CVDs place a heavy burden on the economies of low-and

middleincome countries.

To reduce the burden of CVD in low-income implemented even in low-resource settings

have been identified by WHO (World Health Organization) for prevention and control of

cardiovascular diseases. They include two types of interventions: population-wide and

individual. According to WHO, population-wide interventions that can be implemented

to reduce CVDs include:

1. Comprehensive tobacco control policies

2. Taxation to reduce the intake of foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt

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3. Building walking and cycle paths to increase physical activity

4. Strategies to reduce harmful use of alcohol

5. Providing healthy school meals to children.

At the individual level, for prevention of first heart attacks and strokes, individual health-

care interventions need to be targeted to those at high total cardiovascular risk or those

with single risk factor levels above traditional thresholds, such as hypertension and

hypercholesterolemia. The former approach is more cost-effective than the latter and has

the potential to substantially reduce cardiovascular events. This approach is feasible in

primary care in low-resource settings, including by non-physician health workers.

2.6 MICROCONTROLLER

A microcontroller is a compact integrated circuit designed to govern a specific operation in an

embedded system. A typical microcontroller includes a processor, memory and input/output (I/O)

peripherals on a single chip. Sometimes referred to as an embedded controller or microcontroller

unit (MCU), microcontrollers are found in vehicles, robots, office machines, medical devices,

mobile radio transceivers, vending machines and home appliances among other devices.

2.6.1 Features of Microcontroller

A microcontroller's processor will vary by application. Options range from the simple 4-

bit, 8-bit or 16-bit processors to more complex 32-bit or 64-bit processors. In terms of

memory, microcontrollers can use random access memory (RAM), flash memory,

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EPROM or EEPROM. Generally, microcontrollers are designed to be readily usable

without additional computing components because they are designed with sufficient

onboard memory as well as offering pins for general I/O operations, so they can directly

interface with sensors and other components. Microcontroller architecture can be based

on the Harvard architecture or von Neumann architecture, both offering different methods

of exchanging data between the processor and memory. With a Harvard architecture, the

data bus and instruction are separate, allowing for simultaneous transfers. With a Von

Neumann architecture, one bus is used for both data and instructions. Microcontroller

processors can be based on complex instruction set computing (CISC) or reduced

instruction set computing (RISC). CISC generally has around 80 instructions while RISC

has about 30, as well as more addressing modes, 12-24 compared to RISC's 3-5. While

CISC can be easier to implement and has more efficient memory use, it can have

performance degradation due to the higher number of clock cycles needed to execute

instructions. RISC, which places more emphasis on software, often provides better

performance than CISC processors, which place more emphasis on hardware, due to its

simplified instruction set and, therefore, increased design simplicity, but because of the

emphasis it places on software, software can be more complex. Which ISC is used varies

depending on application. When they first became available, microcontrollers solely used

assembly language. Today, the C programming language is a popular option. MCUs

feature input and output pins to implement peripheral functions. Such functions include

analog-to-digital converters, liquid crystal display (LCD) controllers, real-time clock

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(RTC), synchronous/asynchronous receiver transmitter (USART), timers, universal

asynchronous receiver transmitter (UART) and universal serial bus (USB) connectivity.

Sensors gathering data related to humidity and temperature among others are also often

attached to microcontrollers.

2.6.2 Types of Microcontroller

Common MCUs include the Intel MCS-51, often referred to as an 8051 microcontroller,

which was first developed in 1985; the AVR microcontroller developed by Atmel in

1996; the programmable interface controller (PIC) from Microchip Technology; and

various licensed ARM microcontrollers. A number of companies manufacture and sell

microcontrollers, including NXP Semiconductor, Renesas Electronics, Silicon Labs and

Texas Instruments.

2.6.3 Applications of Microcontroller

Microcontrollers are used in multiple industries and applications, including in the home

and enterprise, building automation, manufacturing, robotics, automotive, lighting, smart

energy, industrial automation, communications and internet of things (IoT) deployments.

The simplest microcontrollers facilitate the operation of electromechanical systems found

in everyday convenience items, such as ovens, refrigerators, toasters, mobile devices, key

fobs, video games, televisions and lawn-watering systems. They are also common in

office machines such as photocopiers, scanners, fax machines and printers, as well as

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smart meters, ATMs and security systems. More sophisticated microcontrollers perform

critical functions in aircraft, spacecraft, ocean-going vessels, vehicles, medical and life-

support systems, and robots. In medical scenarios, microcontrollers can regulate the

operations of an artificial heart, kidney or other organ. They can also be instrumental in

the functioning of prosthetic devices.

2.6.4 Distinction between Microcontroller and Microprocessor

The distinction between microcontrollers and microprocessors has gotten less clear as

chip density and complexity has become relatively cheap to manufacture and

microcontrollers have thus integrated more "general computer" types of functionality. On

the whole, though, microcontrollers can be said to function usefully on their own, with

direct connection to sensors and actuators, where microprocessors are designed to

maximize compute power on the chip, with internal bus connections (rather than direct

I/O) to supporting hardware such as RAM and serial ports. Simply put, coffee makers use

microcontrollers, desktop computers use microprocessors.

Microcontrollers are less expensive and use less power than microprocessors.

Microprocessors do not have built in RAM, read-only memory (ROM) or other

peripherals on the chip, but rather attach to these with their pins. A microprocessor can be

considered the heart of a computer system, whereas a microcontroller can be considered

the heart of an embedded system.

21
 CHAPTER THREE

CONSTRUCTION

3.0 INTRODUCTION

The design of the Heartbeat Monitoring system was divided into two stages, the hardware

design and the software design. The design stages were carried out consecutively. The

software can be designed first and hardware later, but there is no general procedure for

electronic design that uses both hardware and software design process. Since the design is

based on use of microcontroller there is always the need for writing, compiling codes and

burning it into the microcontroller. The microcontroller used in the design is Arduino

Uno R3 microcontroller. Modular based approached were used in the design and

construction process. Each stage were built and tested before proceeding to next stages.

The assembly of electronics components started after testing all the components. Each of

the components was inserted into holes on the Arduino board while some other

components were mounted on Veroboard. The components were mounted on the board

by passing their terminals through the holes on the Vero board on the conducting part.

Initially, we intend using printed circuit board, etching a plane board for the construction

but because of time constraint we have no other choice than to use already available Vero

board. The construction stages and different parts of the design are explained in the next

22
section. Each of stage is shown in detail using simplified circuit diagram in subsequent

sections.

3.1 HARDWARE DESIGN

The hardware stages consist of the following circuits

i. Arduino Uno R3 Microntroller

ii. The heart rate Sensor circuit

iii. Power Supply Circuit

POWER SUPPLY
UNIT
HEARTBEAT SENSOR

LCD DISDPLAY

ARDUINO UNO

Fig.3.0 Block diagram of Overall System Design

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3.1.1 Arduino Uno Microntroller

Arduino Uno is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega328P (datasheet).

It has 14 digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6

analog inputs, a 16 MHz quartz crystal, a USB connection, a power jack, an

ICSP header and a reset button

"Uno" means one in Italian and was chosen to mark the release of Ardu ino

Software (IDE) 1.0. The Uno board and version 1.0 of Arduino Software (IDE)

were the reference versions of Arduino, now evolved to newer releases. The

Uno board is the first in a series of USB Arduino boards, and the reference

model for the Arduino platform; for an extensive list of current, past or outdated

boards see the Arduino index of boards

Fig.3.1 Diagram of Arduino Uno Board

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 3.1.2 Arduino Power

The Arduino Uno board can be powered via the USB connection or with an

external power supply. The power source is selected automatically.

External (non-USB) power can come either from an AC-to-DC adapter (wall-

wart) or battery. The adapter can be connected by plugging a 2.1mm center -

positive plug into the board's power jack. Leads from a battery can b e inserted

in the GND and Vin pin headers of the POWER connector.

The board can operate on an external supply from 6 to 20 volts. If supplied with

less than 7V, however, the 5V pin may supply less than five volts and the board

may become unstable. If using more than 12V, the voltage regulator may

overheat and damage the board. The recommended range is 7 to 12 volts. The

power pins are as follows:

 Vin: The input voltage to the Arduino/Genuino board when it's using an

external power source (as opposed to 5 volts from the USB connection or other

regulated power source). You can supply voltage through this pin, or, if

supplying voltage via the power jack, access it through this pin.

 5V: This pin outputs a regulated 5V from the regulator on the board. The board

can be supplied with power either from the DC power jack (7 - 12V), the USB

connector (5V), or the VIN pin of the board (7-12V). Supplying voltage via the

5V or 3.3V pins bypasses the regulator, and can damage the board.

25
 3V3: A 3.3 volt supply generated by the on-board regulator. Maximum current

draw is 50 mA.

 GND: Ground pins.

 IOREF: This pin on the Arduino/Genuino board provides the voltage reference

with which the microcontroller operates. A properly configured shield can read

the IOREF pin voltage and select the appropriate power source or enable voltage

translators on the outputs to work with the 5V or 3.3V.

3.1.3 Arduino Memory

The ATmega328 has 32 KB (with 0.5 KB occupied by the bootloader). It also

has 2 KB of SRAM and 1 KB of EEPROM (which can be read and written with

the EEPROM library).

 Input and Output

See the mapping between Arduino pins and ATmega328P ports. The mapping

for the Atmega8, 168, and 328 is identical.

Each of the 14 digital pins on the Uno can be used as an input or output,

using pin Mode, digital Write, and digital Read() functions. They operate at 5

volts. Each pin can provide or receive 20 mA as recommended operating

condition and has an internal pull-up resistor (disconnected by default) of 20-

50k ohm. A maximum of 40mA is the value that must not be exceeded on any

I/O pin to avoid permanent damage to the microcontroller.

In addition, some pins have specialized functions:

26
 Serial: 0 (RX) and 1 (TX). Used to receive (RX) and transmit (TX) TTL serial

data. These pins are connected to the corresponding pins of the ATmega8U2

USB-to-TTL Serial chip.

 External Interrupts: 2 and 3. These pins can be configured to trigger an

interrupt on a low value, a rising or falling edge, or a change in value. See the

attach Interrupt () function for details.

 PWM: 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 11. Provide 8-bit PWM output with the analog Write ()

function.

 SPI: 10 (SS), 11 (MOSI), 12 (MISO), 13 (SCK). These pins support SPI

communication using the SPI library.

 LED: 13. There is a built-in LED driven by digital pin 13. When the pin is

HIGH value, the LED is on, when the pin is LOW, it's off.

 TWI: A4 or SDA pin and A5 or SCL pin. Support TWI communication using

the Wire library.

The Uno has 6 analog inputs, labeled A0 through A5, each of which provide 10

bits of resolution (i.e. 1024 different values). By default they measure from

ground to 5 volts, though is it possible to change the upper end of their range

using the AREF pin and the analog Reference () function. There are a couple of

other pins on the board:

 AREF: Reference voltage for the analog inputs. Used with analog Reference

27
 Reset:Bring this line LOW to reset the microcontroller. Typically used to

add a reset button to shields which block the one on the board.

3.3 POWER SUPPLY CIRCUIT

A power supply is a hardware component that supplies power to an electrical device. A

power supply can be given from the battery or from a hardware circuitry which converts

the AC supply into the DC supply or step-down AC to step-up AC and vice-versa. The

power supply circuit used is equipped with an adjustable voltage regulator to adjust the

output according to what we neede for the output. We needed just 5v for the nodeMCU

microcontroller.The circuit diagram is shown below in Fig.3.4. The main supply of 220V

is fed directly to the centre tapped transformer. This transformer step downs the 220V

supply to 12V which is then rectified through a bridge rectifier.The bridge rectifier gives

a continuous pulsating DC signal. Then capacitors are used to filter the pulsating signal

into a smooth non-pulsating DC. Finally, the voltage is regulated using a regulator IC

LM317.

Fig.3.2: A regulated Power supply circuit

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3.3.1 Circuit Design of Interfacing Heartbeat Sensor with Arduino

The circuit design of Arduino based Heart rate monitor system using Heart beat Sensor is

very simple. First, in order to display the heartbeat readings in bpm, we have to connect a

16×2 LCD Display to the Arduino UNO.

The 4 data pins of the LCD Module (D4, D5, D6 and D7) are connected to Pins 2, 3, 5

and 6 of the Arduino UNO. Also, a 10KΩ Potentiometer is connected to Pin 3 of LCD

(contrast adjust pin). The RS and E (Pins 11 and 12) of the LCD are connected to Pins 1

and 1 of the Arduino UNO.

Next, connect the output of the Heartbeat Sensor Module to the Analog Input Pin (Pin

A0) of Arduino.

Fig.3.3: A Circuit Diagram of the heart rate monitoring System

29
3.3.2 Principle of Heartbeat Sensor

The principle behind the working of the Heartbeat Sensor is Photoplethysmograph.

According to this principle, the changes in the volume of blood in an organ are measured

by the changes in the intensity of the light passing through that organ.

Usually, the source of light in a heartbeat sensor would be an IR LED and the detector

would be any Photo Detector like a Photo Diode, an LDR (Light Dependent Resistor) or

a Photo Transistor. With these two i.e. a light source and a detector, we can arrange them

in two ways: A Transmissive Sensor and a Reflective Sensor. In a Transmissive Sensor,

the light source and the detector are place facing each other and the finger of the person

must be placed in between the transmitter and receiver.

Reflective Sensor, on the other hand, has the light source and the detector adjacent to

each other and the finger of the person must be placed in front of the sensor.

3.4 Software Design

Microcontrollers, such as the Arduino Uno, are controlled by software and they do

nothing until they have a program inside them.The programs are written on a PC using

the Arduino Independent Development Environment (IDE). When programming the

microcontrollera usb cable is needed to connect the Arduino circuit to a PC.

30
 3.4.1 Programming the Arduino Board

The Arduino Uno can be programmed with the (Arduino Software (IDE)). Select

"Arduino/Genuino Uno from the Tools > Board menu (according to the

microcontroller on the board). The ATmega328 on the Arduino Uno comes

preprogrammed with a bootloader that allows one to upload new code to it

without the use of an external hardware programmer. It communicates using the

original STK500 protocol.

The ATmega16U2 (or 8U2 in the rev1 and rev2 boards) firmware source code is

available in the Arduino repository. The ATmega16U2/8U2 is loaded with a

DFU bootloader, which can be activated by:

 On Rev1 boards: connecting the solder jumper on the back of the board (near the

map of Italy) and then resetting the 8U2.

 On Rev2 or later boards: there is a resistor that pulling the 8U2/16U2 HWB line

to ground, making it easier to put into DFU mode.

31
 CHAPTER FOUR

TEST, RESULT AND DISCUSSION

4.1 TEST

Testing is the last step which comes after thorough analysis of the various sections

explained in chapter three. At this stage, the component values specified in the analysis of

each were used to realize the section on the Veroboard. The testing was carried out using

standard electronic testing equipment like multimeter, voltmeter etc.

4.2 PRECAUCION TAKEN DURING SOLDERING AND TESTING

4.2.1 SOLDERING

I. Soldering iron was unplugged whenever not in used to avoid damage.

II. All cables and materials that do not require soldering were all kept out of reach from

the soldering iron.

III. Too much of heat were not applied on each component to avoid damage.

4.2.2 TESTING

I. Cables were properly plugged in to avoid loose contact, which may result in arching.

II. Proper safety precautions were also ensured to avoid electric shock in the event of

current leakage during testing.

32
III. Proper earthling of the hands was done before touching any of the ICs to avoid the

damage of the chips due to electrostatic discharge.

4.3 SYSTEM OPERATION

The heart beat sensor circuit diagram comprises a light detector and a bright green LED.

The LED needs to be of super bright intensity because maximum light passes and spreads

if a finger placed on the LED is detected by the detector.

Now, when the heart pumps blood through the blood vessels, the finger becomes slightly

more opaque; due to this, less amount of light reaches from the LED to the detector. With

every heart pulse generated, the detector signal gets varied. The varied detector signal is

converted into an electrical pulse. This electrical signal gets amplified and triggered

through an amplifier which gives an output of +5V logic level signal. The output signal is

then directed by a LCD display which shows the heartbeat rate in BPM.

33
 CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 CONCLUSSION

The heart rate monitoring system designed was successfully implemented. After

uploading the code to Arduino UNO and Powering on the system. The Arduino asks us to

place our finger in the sensor. Finger was placed (except the Thumb) in the sensor. Based

on the data from the sensor, Arduino calculates the heart rate and displays the heartbeat in

bpm.While the sensor is collecting the data, one needs to sit down and relax and do not

shake the wire as it might result in faulty values.

After the result is displayed on the LCD, if another test wants to be performed, then the

power need to be restarted.

5.2 RECOMMENDATION

For future enhancements, sensors such as temperature can be introduced into the system

and also, a Wi-Fi module can be incorporated into the system so that the heart rate can be

monitored online which in turn makes the heart rate monitoring system even more

intelligent. It can also be improved to make use of battery which serves as a backup in

case of power failure.

This project can be used as an inexpensive alternative to Smart Watches and other

expensive Heart Rate Monitors

34
 REFERENCE

Techniques for accurate ECG Signal Processing "in EETimes Design.

www.eetimesdesign.comMay 2011

Ajay B. &Umanath K. (2011) “Techniques for accurate ECG Signal Processing " in

EETimes Design. www.eetimesdesign.com. Retrieved April 8, 2013.

How the MIO Alpha heart monitor works " in FW: Thinking Blog

www.fwthinking.comMay 2013

Cardiovascular disease on the prowl in Nigeria " in Health Section, Vanguard

Newspaper. www.vanguardngrMay 2009

Ogundipe S. (2009) " Cardiovascular disease on the prowl in Nigeria " in Health Section,

Vanguard Newspaper. www.vanguardngr.com Retrieved April 7, 2013.

Home Monitoring of Heart Device May be safe " for WebMD HealthNews.

www.webmd.comMay 2011

Laino C (2011). “Home Monitoring of Heart Device May be safe "for WebMD

HealthNews. www.webmd.com. Retrieved April 2, 2013.

New Heart Monitoring Device May Prevent Hospitalization, empower patients with heart

failure “in Heart Center News. www.massgeneral.com

Jagmeet, P. S. (2010) " New Heart Monitoring Device May Prevent Hospitalization,

empower patients with heart failure " in Heart Center News.

www.massgeneral.com. Retrieved April 2, 2013.

35
Ira M. &Mandeeo S. (2013). " Study on AFE Chip Based ECG Data Acquisition " in

International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software

Engineering www.ijarcsse.com Retrieved on May 29, 2013.

Microcontroller Based Heart Rate Using Fingertip Sensors

Sharief.F, Liena.E &Samah.M. (2011)." Microcontroller Based Heart Rate Using

Fingertip Sensors " from University of Khartoum Engineering Journal (UofKEJ)

www.uofk.edu/uofkej Retrieved February 01, 2013.

Analogue Electronics: Heart Monitor " inIEEEXplore www.ieee.com

An implementation of a real-time and parallel processing ECG features extraction

algorithm in a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)

https://www.electronicshub.org/heartbeat-sensor-using-arduino-heart-rate-monitor/

https://www.instructables.com/id/Pulse-Sensor-With-Arduino-Tutorial/

https://www.how2electronics.com/heartbeat-pulse-bpm-rate-monitor-using-arduino-

pulse-sensor/

36
 APENDIX A

SOURCE CODE

#include LiquidCrystal.h
lcd(6, 5, 3, 2, 1, 0);
int data=A0;
int start=7;
int count=0;
unsigned long temp=0;
bytecustomChar1[8]={0b00000,0b00000,0b00011,0b00111,0b01111,0b01111,0b01111,0b0111;
bytecustomChar2[8]={0b00000,0b11000,0b11100,0b11110,0b11111,0b11111,0b11111,0b1111;
bytecustomChar3[8]={0b00000,0b00011,0b00111,0b01111,0b11111,0b11111,0b11111,0b1111;
bytecustomChar4[8]={0b00000,0b10000,0b11000,0b11100,0b11110,0b11110,0b11110,0b1110;
bytecustomChar5[8]={0b00111,0b00011,0b00001,0b00000,0b00000,0b00000,0b00000,0b0000;
bytecustomChar6[8]={0b11111,0b11111,0b11111,0b11111,0b01111,0b00111,0b00011,0b0001;
bytecustomChar7[8]={0b11111,0b11111,0b11111,0b11111,0b11110,0b11100,0b11000,0b1000;
bytecustomChar8[8]={0b11100,0b11000,0b10000,0b00000,0b00000,0b00000,0b00000,0b0000;
void setup() { lcd.begin(16, 2);
lcd.createChar(1, customChar1);
lcd.createChar(2, customChar2);
lcd.createChar(3, customChar3);
lcd.createChar(4, customChar4);
lcd.createChar(5, customChar5);
lcd.createChar(6, customChar6);
lcd.createChar(7, customChar7);
lcd.createChar(8, customChar8);
pinMode(data,INPUT);
pinMode(start,INPUT_PULLUP);
}

37
void loop()
{ lcd.setCursor(0, 0); lcd.print("Place The Finger");
lcd.setCursor(0, 1); lcd.print("And Press Start");
while(digitalRead(start)>0);
lcd.clear(); temp=millis(); while(millis()
lcd.setCursor(7, 0);
lcd.write(byte(2));
lcd.write(byte(3));
lcd.setCursor(9, 0);
lcd.setCursor(6, 1);
lcd.write(byte(5));
lcd.setCursor(7, 1);
lcd.write(byte(6));
lcd.setCursor(8, 1);
lcd.write(byte(7));
lcd.setCursor(9, 1);
lcd.write(byte(8));
while(analogRead(data)
while(1); }

38
 APENDIX B

HEART RATE AND RESPIRATORY RATE FOR DIFFERENT AGES

Instant Heart
Rate Monitor

Rate Monitor
Digital Heart

Cardiograph
Application/

Heart Rate

Pedometer
And Heart
Runtastic
Number

Gender
Rate

Age
1 93 89 89 72 89 22 F
2 72 73 73 58 71 22 F
3 72 78 76 69 72 19 F
4 104 97 - 58 99 18 F
5 121 107 - 85 110 18 F
6 111 112 - 54 109 20 F
7 79 80 - 84 89 18 F
8 84 86 - 54 85 22 F
9 101 87 - 80 88 18 M
10 102 89 - 54 90 19 M
11 77 76 - 65 89 18 M
12 77 73 - 57 77 22 M
13 92 77 - 50 94 22 M
14 103 106 - 50 108 21 M
15 87 76 - 77 76 22 F
16 72 67 - 58 78 19 M
17 86 82 - 81 87 20 M
18 108 103 - 84 95 19 M
19 102 104 - 79 92 22 F
20 87 91 - 80 84 19 M
Table 2.2: Heart Rate and Respiratory Rate for Different Ages
Note: for Runtastic heart rate monitor, it does not allow more than three attempts per day.
Cardiograph
Application/

Heart Rate

Heart Rate

Pedometer
And Heart
Runtastic
Number

Monitor
Instant

Rate

39
 1 4.3% 4.3% 22.5% 4.3%
2 1.3% 1.3% 19.4% 1.3%
3 8.3% 5.5% 4.1% 0%
4 6.7% - 44.2% 4.8%
5 11.5% - 29.7% 9%
6 0.9% - 51.3% 1.8%
7 1.2% - 6.3% 12.6%
8 2.3% - 35.7% 1.1%
9 13.8% - 20.7% 12.8%
10 12.7% - 47.0% 11.7%
11 1.2% - 15.5% 15.5%
12 5.1% - 25.9% 0%
13 16.3% - 45.6% 2.1%
14 2.9% - 51.4% 4.8%
15 12.6% - 11.4% 12.6%
16 6.9% - 19.4% 8.3%
17 4.6% - 5.8% 1.1%
18 4.6% - 22.22% 12.0%
19 1.9% - - 22.5% 9.8%
20 4.3% - 8.0% 3.4%

Table 2.3: Heart Rate and Respiratory Rate for Different Ages

It was found that “Instant Heart Rate Monitor” received the highest accuracy and

“Cardiograph” received the lowest accuracy. From this study we can conclude that

“Instant Heart Rate Monitor” is more accurate application compared to the digital heart

rate monitor and other applications. Depending on the findings and conclusions it was

found that:

 The patient should know the types of applications and how they are used.

 The patient should know which applications give accurate results compared to

other applications.

40