Design and Fabrication of Arduino Based Heart Rate Monitoring

System Using Reflectance Photoplethysmography

Mubarak Riaz

A final year project report submitted in partial fulfilment

of the regulations for the award of BEng (Hons) in Electrical and
Electronics
Engineering at the University of Sunderland
2018

i
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this report, submitted to University of Sunderland, UK as a partial

fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Electrical and Electronics Engineering has
not been submitted as an exercise for a degree at any other university.

I also certify that the work described here is entirely my own except for excerpts and summaries
whose sources are appropriately cited in the references. This report may be made available
within the university library and may be photocopied or loaned to other libraries for the
purposes of consultation.

14 December 2018
___________
Mubarak Riaz
(159051092/ SUKD-1503574)

ii
 APPROVAL SHEET

This thesis entitled:

“Design and Fabrication of Arduino Based Heart Rate Monitoring System using Reflectance
Photoplethysmography”

Submitted by:

Mubarak Riaz (159051092 / SUKD-1503574)

In requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,

University of Sunderland, UK has been accepted.

Supervisor: Ir. Permesh Lal Jethi A/L Amrick Lall

Signature: ___________________
Date: 14 December 2018

Module Leader: Mrs Anis Fariza Md. Pazil

Signature: ___________________
Date: 14 December 2018

iii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In the name of Allah, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful

First and foremost, praise and thanks to Allah, whose blessing enabled me to accomplish this
project.

I wish to express my deepest appreciation to my supervisor Ir. Permesh Lal Jethi A/L Amrick
Lall for his guidance, helpful suggestion, close supervision and moral encouragement to
complete this task.

A special thanks to my beloved Parents, my brothers Aftab Riaz and Fuad Riaz for their
constant support and suggestions with regards to my studies and project.

My sincere appreciation also extends to all my fellow for their assistance and motivation
throughout the studies.

Finally, my sincerely thanks to all those who directly or indirectly helped me to complete this
project.

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 ABSTRACT

This project is carried out to design and develop a low-cost Arduino based Heart beat
monitoring system by applying the principle of reflectance mode Photoplethysmography
(PPG). PPG is a non-invasive diagnostic method, that provides the information about the
variations in cardiac activity through changes in blood volume using a light source and
detector. As the heart beats, the blood is pumped throughout the body, resulting in rate change
of blood volume inside the finger and wrist artery. Optical sensing mechanism is used to detect
the variations of blood around the fingertip and wrist. The developed system goes through
three phases. In the first phase, the sensor detects the pulse through the fingertip and wrist, and
in second phase, the signal is sent for amplification, filter and then digitizing. The final Phase
is where the Arduino Uno receives the digitized signal through serial port communication,
where the heart rate is calculated, and BPM measured will be displayed as a result. The
proposed system uses two sensors for detection, SEN-11574 and designed ADC circuit of
different wavelengths of light sources, i.e. 560 nm, and 910 nm (Green and Infrared LED) and
the performance was compared over the finger and wrist. It was concluded that Green LED
could be used at finger site and infrared LED at wrist site for measurement. For wireless
communication protocol, Bluetooth HC-05 module was used to send the data packets (BPM)
to an android device, where the results are displayed. The proposed monitoring system gave
fair BPM values when compared with standard heart monitoring device. By and large, the
system gives an accuracy of 92 % with accurate and precise measurement values.

v
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION ii

APPROVAL SHEET iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv
ABSTRACT v
TABLE OF CONTENTS vi
LIST OF TABLES x
LIST OF FIGURES xii
LIST SYMBOLS / ABBREVIATION xvi

PAGE

CHAPTER 1 1
INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Overview 1
1.2 Background 1
1.2.1 Project Implementation 2
1.2.2 Monitoring process 3
1.3 Problem statement 4
1.4 Objectives 5
1.5 Project scope 5
1.6 Organization of the thesis 7
Chapter 2 8
Literature review 8
2.1 Overview 8

vi
2.2 Heart 9
2.3 Heart rate 10
2.3.1 Manual Heart Rate Measurement Methods 11
2.3.2 Wrist or Radial Method 12
2.3.3 Neck or carotid 12
2.4 Types of heart rate monitors 13
2.4.1 Electrocardiography (ECG) 13
2.4.2 Pressure sensing method 15
2.4.3 Phonocardiograph 17
2.4.4 Summary of heart monitoring systems 18
2.5 Bioelectrical Signals 19
2.6 Photoplethysmography 21
2.6.1 Principle of PPG 21
2.6.2 AC/DC components 21
2.6.3 PPG Sensing Method 22
2.7 Photoplethysmography Modes and Properties 25
2.7.1 Transmittance mode 25
2.7.2 Reflectance mode 25
2.7.3 Modeling of the PPG Signal (LED) 27
2.7.3 Light wavelength 27
2.7.4 Selection and properties of LED source 28
2.7.5 Temperature Exposure 31
2.8 Wearable technologies 32
2.8.1 Miniaturization 33
2.8.2 Networking 33
2.8.3 Energy efficiency 34
2.8.4 Digitization 34
2.8.5 Robustness 35
2.9 Study the performance of PPG sensor 36
2.9.1 Optical noise 36
2.9.2 Location of sensor on body 37
2.9.3 Skin tone 38

vii
 2.10 Main controller 38
2.11 Wireless communication 39
2.11.1 Medium to Long Range Data Transmission 39
2.11.2 Short Range Data Transmission 40
2.11.3 Bluetooth 40
2.11.4 Bluetooth hc-05 41
2.12 Summary of the literature 42
CHAPTER 3 43
Research Methodology 43
3.0 Overview 43
3.1 Compiling Information 44
3.2 Project Structure 44
3.2.1 Planning 45
3.2.2 Designing 45
3.2.3 Testing 45
3.2.4 Troubleshooting 46
3.3 Flowchart 46
3.4 Selection of design for optical pulse circuit 48
3.4.1 Infrared LED 49
3.4.2 Photodiode 49
3.4.2.1 Selection of load Resistors for Emitter and Detector 50
3.4.3 Low pass filter and Amplifier 51
3.4.4 Pulse Sensor (SEN-11574) 53
3.5 Simulation tool 54
3.5.1 Design of Pulse Circuit in Proteus software 54
3.5.2 Arduino as a main controller 59
3.5.2.1 Power 60
3.5.2.2 Memory 61
3.5.2.3 Communication 61
3.5.2.4 Input and Output 61
3.5.2.5 LCD 16x2 62
3.5.2.6 Simulating Arduino with Heart Sensor 63

viii
 3.6 Bluetooth for Wireless Data Transmission 68
3.6.1 Designing of HC-05 with Heart Monitor 69
3.7 Hardware Implementation 73
3.7.1 Project cost estimation 75
3.8 Project Framework 76
3.8 Project Management 77
Chapter 4 80
Results and Analysis 80
4.1 Overview 80
4.1.1 Block Diagram 81
4.2 Design Results and Data collection 81
4.2.1 SEN-11574 Heart Rate Monitor 85
4.2.2 Signal Conditioning Circuit for Heart Rate Monitor 88
4.2.3 Heart beat detection (BPM) 89
4.3 SEN-11574 heart monitor Results 90
4.3.1 Index finger 90
4.3.1.1 Subject at Rest 91
4.3.1.2 Subject at Motion 92
4.3.2 Wrist 93
4.3.2.1 At Rest 93
4.3.2.2 At motion state 94
4.4 Infrared LED and Photodiode as Sensing probe 96
4.4.1 Index finger 97
4.4.1.1 Rest State 97
4.4.1.2 Motion State 98
4.4.2 Wrist 99
4.5 Heart Rate Detection using Standard Device 101
4.5.1 Mobile application 101
4.5.2 Results Accuracy 104
4.6 Behavior of AC/DC components 106
4.6.1 Normal Temperature (25 °C) 106
4.6.2 Hot Temperature (35 °C) 107

ix
 4.8 Bluetooth Communication System 108
Chapter 5 112
Conclusion and Recommendation 112
5.0 Overview 112
5.1 Conclusion 112
5.2 Recommendations 115

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE TITLE PAGE

2.1 Average Heart and Respiratory Rate for Different Age 11

2.2 Bioelectrical Signals Characteristics 20
2.3 PPG measuring Devices at Different sites of Body 24
2.4 Comparison Table for Three signals of Different Wavelengths with
ECG signal 30
2.5 Correlation coefficient of PPG signals at Different Temperatures 32
2.6 Range, Frequency and Power comparison for wireless
communication technologies 41
3.1 Arduino UNO Technical Specifications 60
3.2 Arduino Pins Function 61
3.3 Pin Labelling Of LCD 62
3.4 Pin Connection Between Pulse sensor and Arduino Uno 66
3.5 Pin Connection Between LCD and Potentiometer 67

x
3.6 Pin Connection between LCD and Arduino 67
3.7 Bluetooth HC-05 Technical Specification 68
3.8 HC-05 Pin Functions 69
3.9 HC-05 Simulated Properties 70
3.10 Pin connection Between HC-05 (COM1) and Arduino 73
3.11 Project Budget Cost 75
4.1 Comparison of BPM Values at Finger Site 100
4.2 Comparison of BPM Values at Wrist Site 100
4.3 Comparison of BPM Values with Standard Heart Rate Mobile
Application 103
4.4 Range test Result For HC-05 Module 110

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Title PAGE

1.1 Hospital Setup for Monitoring Heart Rate 2

1.2 Proposed wireless and Portable System for Health Monitoring 3
1.3 Steps Involved in Bio signal Monitoring 4
1.4 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) 6
2.1 Heart Architecture 10
2.2 Radial Method 12
2.3 Carotid Method 12
2.4 ECG Waveform 14
2.5 Typical ECG circuit 15
2.6 Pressure Waveform 16
2.7 Pressure Sensing Circuit 16
2.8 Heart sounds 17
2.9 Phonocardiograph System Circuit 18
2.10 Bioelectrical Signals 19
2.11 AC/DC Components 22
2.12 PPG circuit Chip 23
2.13 PPG Transmittance Mode 25
2.14 PPG Reflectance Mode 26
2.15 Light absorbed during Reflective PPG 26
2.16 Penetration Depth of Short and Long wavelength 27
2.17 Wavelengths of Green, Blue and Infrared LED 28
2.18 AC/DC Ratio of Light Intensity on Wrist and Forehead 29
2.19 Motion Artifact ratio on wrist and Forehead 29
2.20 PPG signal comparison at Room temperature 31
2.21 PPG signals comparison with ECG 32
2.22 Biometric Approach for Wearable health Monitoring Application 33

xii
2.23 High Sensitivity Phototransistor 34
2.24 Adaptive Noise Cancellation Functionality 36
2.25 Signals Amplitude at stationary 37
2.26 Pulse variation at Stationary and Moving State 38
3.1 Structured Model for HRM Project 44
3.2 Flowchart Demonstration of Methodology 47
3.3 Infrared LED 49
3.4 Photodiode 50
3.5 Sensor Composed of IR Emitter and Detector 50
3.6 Pulse Signal Measured from Vo output of Detector by Placing 51
finger
3.7 Sallen-Key Structure with Butterworth Low Pass Filter 52
3.8 High Pass filter to Amplify AC Component 53
3.9 Schematic of Pulse Sensor (SEN-11574) 54
3.10 Schematic of Pulse Signal Conditioning Circuit 55
3.11 Waveform from Oscilloscope for Testing Optical circuit 55
3.12 Selection of Heart Beat Test Sensor 56
3.13 Selection of Heart beat Sensor Library 57
3.14 Voltage Test for the Sensor 57
3.15 Pulse Waveform Result from Oscilloscope 58
3.16 Arduino Pin Labels 59
3.17 LCD 16x2 62
3.18 Arduino Coding Demonstration 63
3.19 Exporting Compiled Library of Coding 64
3.20 Hex file For Coding 64
3.21 Uploading coding Hex.file in Proteus Software 65
3.22 Simulation Test for Arduino with Sensor 66
3.23 Pin Labelling HC-05 68
3.24 Library Selection HC-05 69

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3.25 Configuring Setting COM1 and COM2 70
3.26 Serial Port Driver Configuration 71
3.27 Simulated Schematic for Heart Monitoring System 72
3.28 Project Framework 76
4.1 Block Diagram for Result and Analysis 81
4.2 Arduino Coding for BPM Measurement 82
4.3 Void Setup 82
4.4 Void Loop 83
4.5 Void Loop 83
4.6 Arduino Code Testing 84
4.7 Bluetooth Library Interface with BPM coding 85
4.8 Simulation Result for SEN-11574 based Heart Monitor Design 1 86
4.9 Simulation Result for BPM Detection and Telemetry Monitoring 86
system
4.10 Hardware Setup for Heart Rate monitoring System (Design 1) 87
4.11 Simulated Signal Conditioning Circuit Design for HRM 88
4.12 Hardware Setup for Design for Design 2 Heart Monitor System 89
4.13 Demonstration of Finger Placement 90
4.14 Waveform from Serial Plotter 91
4.15 Result of Signal Produced from Finger at Motion State 92
4.16 Result of Signal Produced from Wrist at Rest 94
4.17 Output Signal from Wrist at Motion State 95
4.18 Design 2 working for HRM 96
4.19 Waveform Produced from Design 2 at Rest State 97
4.20 Signal During Activity 98
4.21 Signal Result on Wrist for Design 2 99
4.22 BPM Detection from Mobile Application at Rest 101
4.23 BPM detection from Mobile during Exercise 102
4.24 Line Chart Presentation for BPM Values 103

xiv
4.25 Accuracy and Precision of System 105
4.26 Comparison Graph for BPM Values 105
4.27 Green LED signal at 25°C 106
4.28 Infrared LED Signal at 25°C 106
4.29 Decrease in AC Component at 35°C 107
4.30 Decrease in DC Component 107
4.31 Bluetooth Communication at Receiver Port (Android) 108
4.32 BPM data at Receiver side 109
4.33 Bluetooth transmitter and Receiver 110

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 LIST OF SYMBOLS / ABBREVIATIONS

PPG Photoplethysmography
BPM Beats Per Minute
ADC Analog to Digital converter
HRM Heart Rate Monitor
Ω Ohm (Resistive Load)
IR Infrared
AC Alternating current
DC Direct current
IF Forward current
Nm Nanometer
δ Penetration depth
λ Absorption coefficient
ASR Artifact to signal Ratio
IBI Inter-beat Interval

xvi
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Overview

The following chapter gives a brief introduction about the heart rate monitoring systems and
bioelectrical signals in the industry of biotelemetry and telemedicine. It mentions out the
different types of technologies or ways that can be build or implemented to monitor health
status of human being. Moreover, short description is given about the quality of signals
generated from the heart beat. Along with this, the problem statement of the project is reported,
followed by the objectives of the project have been stated that will overcome the challenges
caused in heart monitoring systems. Lastly, for the development of the project, the scope of
the project is illustrated including the organization of the thesis.

1.2 Background

Over the past years, heart rate has been becoming an essential parameter which is linked with
the cardiovascular system of the human beings. There are several ways of measuring the heart
conditions of the people; i.e. through the ECG waveform or pulse generated from different
body parts. The basic theory behind the cardiovascular system is the rhythmic expansion and
contraction of an artery as blood is forced through it by the regular contractions of the heart.
Heart rate, which is also known as pulse, is the number of times a person heart beats per minute.
The heart rate is dependent on the condition of one’s heart, size of the body, age, the person
doing any activity or being at rest etc. Any of these actions would cause the variability of heart
beat rate. Result shows the average adult heart beat ranges from 60-100 bpm.

1
However, researchers are making an extensive effort to find the best solution for the monitoring
of the heart. Moreover, wireless heart rate monitors based on the photoplethysmography (PPG)
have been immensely contributing in diagnostic of health, as an important asset in hospitals,
clinics and homes. The following (PPG) technology have an advantage in the detection of heart
disorders and for the treatment of the people who suffers from various types of diseases. These
include, diabetes, arrythmia, and blood pressure. The following figure 1.1, shows the hospital
setup for monitoring health status of a patient where the hub shows the parameters being
measured.

Figure 1.1: Hospital setup for monitoring Heart Rate

One of the advantages of the wireless health monitoring devices is that it reduces the cost and
primarily setup at hospitals. Moreover, the need for having a visit to the hospital can be
minimized by having portable heart rate monitors. It gives the advantage to an individual to
have a pre-checkup anywhere without visiting the hospital.

1.2.1 Project Implementation

The driving force behind this project is to contribute beneficial effort to improve the healthcare
monitoring devices where the patient can use these instrumentation devices independently and

2
comfortably at their own home or workplace. The main purpose is to provide a medical device
that can benefit society to a relatively large extent.

The present technology consists of electrical and optical heart monitors. One of the methods is
the attachment of bulky strap around one’s chest. On the other side, optical monitors require
no use of strap around the chest and is more convenient in terms of comfort/measurement than
the electrical method. However, the best way of measuring heart rate is through the pulse,
which uses the concept of LED and photo-sensors. More research must be made to avoid the
obstacles in sensing the heart i.e. using the (PPG) technology, which over the last few years is
being promoted to make the technology reliable and efficient. The focus is to have a system
installed in hospitals where the measurement of different health parameters can be measured,
and the data be transferred wirelessly to a distant receiver (for hospitals: Nurse room) as shown
in Figure 1.2.

Figure 1.2: Proposed Wireless and portable system for health monitoring

1.2.2 Monitoring process

Bio signals are measurable signals produced by the body that can be monitored and related to
the health and status of bodily organs. Despite the diversity in the electronics devices used for
sensing bio signals and communication platforms employed in transmitting them, almost all

3
wireless wearable monitors have the same working method as illustrated in Figure 1.3. A
typical wearable device goes through the following steps to achieve monitoring:

• Sensing: The bio signal of interest is detected, and a proportional electrical response is
produced.

• Amplification: The small electrical response generated by the sensing component is

amplified to a level suitable for analysis.

• Digitization and Storage: The amplified bio signal is digitalized with an analog to digital
converter and then stored in a memory device.

• Data Transmission: The stored data is transmitted over a wireless communication platform.

Figure 1.3: Steps involved in bio signal monitoring

1.3 Problem statement

With the advancements in biotechnology, the standard heart rate monitoring system have raised
great attention in terms of its use in hospitals and clinics. However, the use of this concept
gives rise to portable heart rate monitors (HRM). On contrary, there are several issues in the
field of biotelemetry, one of which is the brainstorming of bioelectrical signals generated from
the (HRMs). The heart signals obtained from such portable devices might not be that accurate
compared to the standard at hospitals. Another problem arises in optical heart monitors, is the
accurate placement of the sensors around the body parts, i.e. knowing which part of the body
gives the greatest or least amplitude of the pulse. Furthermore, the interferences such as noise,
skin tone, the crossover problem gives bad results in optical HRMs. When compared to

4
standard heart monitors, the performance of wearable pulse oximeters lacks in terms of
calculating heart rate giving huge errors in detection.

1.4 Objectives

The main objective of the project is to build an improved Arduino based heart rate monitor
using Bluetooth communication for sending data wirelessly, which will be helpful for the
individuals by using it anywhere easily at hospitals, home, office, schools etc. as an alert before
any serious issues.

The aim of the project is to study and perform research in the department of
biotelemetry devices, i.e. (PPG) and other principles related heart monitor systems. By and
large, the main objectives of the project are stated below:

 To design and develop improved heart rate monitor using two different modules; standard
Pulse sensor and IR pulse module.
 To design and develop wireless communication system between heart rate monitor and
mobile phone using Bluetooth HC-05 module.
 To analyze and study the performance of the sensor placement on different sites of body:
index finger and wrist, under two conditions i.e. Rest and Exercise.

1.5 Project scope

The foremost focus area of the project is to undergo a deep research about the cardiac
monitoring based on the principles of photoplethysmography (PPG) and knowing the other
related methods for heart monitoring. After this brainstorming step, the main scope of the
project is to design and simulate the heart beat sensor using Proteus as a simulation software.
After the simulation step, the development of heart rate monitors will be done through suitable
programmed coding in Arduino. Two PPG based monitoring circuits will be implemented for
sensing heart Beats per minute (BPM). First method will mainly consist of standard pulse
sensor that uses Green LED as a light source whereas the second method uses an infrared light
emitting diode (IR LED) and a phototransistor instead of Green light source for detection of
pulse. However, both of these circuits will be interfaced with an Arduino microcontroller. The
5
next step is the programming of an Arduino with the help of suitable coding to operate the
circuit.

Furthermore, performance of the pulse sensor would be compared and analyzed in terms of the
accurate placement of the sensor and the difference of using Green LED or IR LED. For the
signal analysis, the performance of the device will be tested by placing the sensor on finger
and wrist of the subject. Moreover, the conditions set for measuring pulse are: the subject
(Person) being at rest and then performing activity.

6
1.6 Organization of the thesis

The thesis consists of five chapters whereas the overview of all five chapters are as follows:

Chapter 1 gives a short introduction on the background of the project, followed by the
objectives and scope of project that is carried in the execution of the project. Further, chapter
2 describes the basic theory of heart monitoring systems using principle of
Photoplethysmography (PPG) and other monitoring methods. The literature also mentions out
other related research works in the field of PPG based heart monitoring devices. Besides,
Chapter 3 focuses on the methodology of designing and simulating the two types of monitoring
devices in software called ‘Proteus’: first design uses standard Pulse sensor SEN11574,
whereas, the second design is comprised of infrared LED and photodiode for sensing and a
Bluetooth module for sending data to mobile phone. The hardware implementation is also
carried out. Furthermore, Chapter 4 illustrates the results obtained from heart monitor, i.e. heart
beats detection. A deep analysis is carried out on the PPG signals generated from the device
under certain conditions: rest and Exercise. By and large, Chapter 5 details out the conclusion
on the project results, and then finally the recommendations for the future work is discussed.

7
 Chapter 2

Literature review

2.1 Overview

To have a good understanding of the project, the following chapter mentions the previous
studies and workings in the field of cardiac monitoring system. It also mentions out the detailed
review of different heart rate measurement methods, mainly focusing on the
Photoplethysmography (PPG) heart monitoring properties. The performance of the different
pulse sensors will be mentioned by undergoing through several research papers. The
information and data gathered from this research will be a useful guide to proceed in doing this
project.

Besides that, the main idea of this project is to extract heart beats from the pulse sensor
and to use wireless UART protocol for real-time monitoring, and hence the following literature
would give a good concept of biotelemetry devices. In addition, the review will also emphasize
on the microcontrollers and UART communication protocol related to the project. The review
is divided into four major parts:

 Heart rate
 Heart Rate Monitoring system
 Photoplethysmography HR monitor
 Communication and Microcontroller

8
2.2 Heart

The heart is the main organ of the human body, which pumps the blood throughout the body.
It is in the center of the thorax, slightly to the left, surrounded by the lungs. The heart consists
two separate pumps; a right side pumps the blood from one side of the lungs to other, whereas,
left side pumps the blood through the outer organs as shown in Figure (2.1). At the same time,
each of these is a pulsatile of two chamber pumps made up of an atrium and a ventricle. The
atrium helps in moving blood into the ventricle, where the ventricles supplies 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.

The blood is passed through the right ventricle and is pumped to the lungs where it is
oxygenated and returns 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. It has been
recorded, that each ventricle has a capability of ejecting approximately 70 ml of blood per beat.

The heart also consists of three major types of cardiac muscle: ventricular muscle, atrial
muscle, and specialized excitatory and conductive muscle fibers. The atrial and ventricular
types differ from 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, which provides an excitatory system that controls the rhythmic
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 (John E. Hall,2015).

9
 Figure 2.1: Heart Architecture

2.3 Heart rate

Heart is relatively small, about the size of fist, and typically weighs about 9 to 12 ounces. Heart
rate is often labelled as the number of heart beats in one minute, typically expressed as beats
per minute (BPM). Most often, HR is considered the pulse rate, however, Heart rate and pulse
rate technically differs as the HR measures rate of ‘heart beats’, whereas the pulse rate
measures the rate of palpable blood pressure. Furthermore, the most important locations to
measure the pulse are fingertip, wrist, neck (carotid artery), elbow. Higher pulse rate denotes
the presence of abnormality in the body which are caused by the several reasons such as,
emotions, heart disorder, body temperature, anxiety etc. Pulse rate helps an individual to
identify various problems in the body (Measuring Heart Rate, http://ww.ACS.co.uk,
November 2016).

According to the studies, the average male heart beat’s approximately around 70 to 72
(BPM). Whereas, the average for adult female is between 78 to 82 (BPM). The difference is
due to the size of the heart, which is usually smaller in females than males. This means, smaller
the size of the heart, less blood is pumped with each beat. Therefore, the heart needs to beat at

10
a faster rate for small sized heart. At stationary position, human organs and tissues needs a
constant level of blood flow to give life-sustaining oxygen and nutrients. 5000 ml per minute
is the average level of blood flow required for an adult, with an ejection volume of about 70
ml blood. The ventricles need to beat just over 70 times per minute, ejecting 70 ml with each
beat, to achieve a flow rate of 5000 ml of blood per minute. The table (2.1) below shows the
heart rate of different age.

Table 2.1- Average heart and respiratory rate for different age

Age Heart rate Respiratory

(BPM) rate
(Breathes/mint)

Newborn 120-160 30-50

6-12 90-140 20-30

months

1-14 80-130 15-30

years

14 + 60-100 12-20
years

2.3.1 Manual Heart Rate Measurement Methods

There are number of ways to measure the heart rate manually by knowing the pulse, but the
calculated HR won’t be accurate compared to the standard devices. Although, one can have an
idea of determining the pulse in critical situations. The most used methods are:

11
2.3.2 Wrist or Radial Method

This method is used to know the pulse at wrist. This is done by holding the palm of the hand
facing upward, placing the two middle fingers on the wrist joint and number of beats are
counted for six seconds. The number of beats counted in these six seconds should be multiplied
by ten giving the BPM and rough idea about the patients’ cardiac status can be found. The
figure (2.2) clearly shows the radial artery location. (Michael R. Neuman,2010).

Figure 2.2 - radial method

2.3.3 Neck or carotid

This method is performed by placing first two fingers gently on the side of the throat just below
angle the jaw and a pulse can be felt from the jugular vein. The Number of beats is counted for
six seconds and then should be multiplied by ten giving the BPM, where rough idea about the
patients’ cardiac status can be found.

Figure 2.3 - carotid pulse

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2.4 Types of heart rate monitors

Globally, cardiovascular diseases continue to be the critical issue for deaths, killing more than
any other disease. This calls for the development of convenient continuous cardiac monitors
that will constantly record the readings of the heart activity. These systems can be divided into
two different main categories, i.e. electrical method and optical methods. The main difference
is that the functioning of the bio sensors, each using unique methodologies.

Nowadays, heart rate monitors have progressed by finding applications in diverse

areas from optimizing athletic performance to monitor health for those employed in risky
professions like firefighters. Number of technologies are used for heart rate monitoring. These
includes ballistocardiographs, pulse oximeters, electrocardiograph and phonocardiogram. Of
these, the electrocardiogram (ECG), is a primary monitoring technique.

2.4.1 Electrocardiography (ECG)

A typical ECG signal has several sub-waves which indicate the steps in the cardiac rhythm
(S.Bowbrick,2006). The heart cycle initiated by the cells in the tissue is called the sinoatrial
(SA) node. The SA node is referred as the pacemaker of the heart, as it sends an impulse to the
cells in the atria which causes atrial contraction, represented by the ‘P’ wave in Figure (2.4).
Once the atria are depolarized, the cells in the atrioventricular (AV) node causes the ventricles
to depolarize. The ventricle contraction is represented by the ‘QRS complex’. The T-wave
represents the relaxation of the ventricles.

The most common parameter produced from the ECG signal is the heart rate which conveys
the frequency of the cardiac cycle. Whereas, R wave is the most prominent of part of the wave,
the heart rate can be measured by calculating the time between successive R-R peaks.

13
 Figure- 2.4- ECG waveform.

Furthermore, standard or portable ECG readings is still being corrupted by number of electrical
interferences from surrounding instruments, for example, effects of mains supplies, noise
caused due to electrode noise, muscle contraction, movement artifacts or noise artifact caused
during the conversion of ADC process in instrumentation circuit.

For the calculation of the heart rate, the ECG must be processed from the analog
(Amplification, common mode voltages suppression and filtering) and digital (filtering)
domains. These tasks are usually performed by number of microcontrollers in real time. Figure
(2.5) depicts the working of heart rate monitor where CMRR is rejected by the INSAMP and
then the pre-amplification stage is taken to improve noise immunity.

14
 Figure 2.5 – Typical ECG circuit.

Alongside, an antiphase signal is also utilized. Moreover, the circuit consists of a buffer
amplifier and an inverting amplifier for overcoming and cancelling interference. Voltage level
shift is set to detect the hands moment placed on the electrodes. The threshold circuit detects
this moment. The output EKG signal from INSAMP is passed through high pass filter buffer
amplifier. ADC digitizes the signal and later the signal is surpassed through filters where the
pulse calculation generates the heart rate.

2.4.2 Pressure sensing method

The change in blood pressure and blood vessels are triggered by the rhythmic contraction and
relaxation of the heart. On the other side, the pulsation of blood vessels is sensed by piezo or
pressure sensors placed at the wrist. The variation observed in pressure is utilized in blood
pressure monitor to measure the heart rate. Figure (2.6), shows the pulses generated from the
pulsation of the blood vessels and are obtained in BP monitors called oscillometric pulse.

15
 Figure 2.6: Pressure waveform

The pressure or piezo sensor detects the pressure signal and later the signals are amplified and
filtered to extract the heart beat signals. Lastly, the signal is digitized by ADC, where the timer
is used as source to calculate the heart rate.

Figure 2.7: Pressure sensing circuit

16
2.4.3 Phonocardiograph

Sounds are produced form the opening and closing of valves in heart during the contraction
and dilation, audible through a stethoscope. The sounds produced are rhythmic to heart beat
and can be sensed by using microphones. Other than normal heart signals, Murmurs type of
the sounds are also recorded having different spectral characteristics Figure 2.8.

Figure 2.8: Heart Sounds

A sensitive microphone connected to the diaphragm is used to detect the heart sound signals.
The signals generated are amplified and is passed through a filter for external noises. At the
same time, murmurs signals are also filtered from ADC data where Lub and Dub signals can
be used for the heart rate calculation Figure 2.9.

17
 Figure 2.9: Phonocardiograph system circuit

2.4.4 Summary of heart monitoring systems

Before the initiation of the project, it is important to review the fundamentals of heart activity,
Different types of heart monitoring principles have been studied to gain a better review and
knowledge for the development of the project. However, these types of monitors are utilized
for standard use for better results. Biotelemetry is the solution for better health monitoring for
avoiding death risks, and the need for portable, low cost, wearable and good accuracy heart
monitors demand is increasing day by day.

From the studies, the rate or blood flow and blood pressure plays an important role in
detecting heart rate. Therefore, for constantly regulating these parameters, an optical device
called pulse rate monitor which is a noninvasive method, through which heart rate and oxygen
saturation can be obtained. It imposes the fundamental and principles of

18
photoplethysmography (PPG). The basic principle of PPG follows the optical detection of
blood volume changes at the microvascular bed of tissue.

Admittedly, the wearable pulse sensor (PPG) have a simplicity when compared to the
other types of heart monitors but there are some obstacles that still needs to be improved for
better accuracy and use. Moreover, an extensive review is made on the principles of the PPG
based pulse sensor circuits, that will clarify the concept of the project and will help in
development of heart rate monitor.

2.5 Bioelectrical Signals

Different organs generates different types of bioelectric signals when measured. These are
given specific identifications; electrocardiogram signals are produced from heart,
electroencephalograms (EEG) are measured for brain, electromyogram (EMG) are measured
from muscle activity and electrooculograms (EOG) are measured from eye activity and
photoplethysmography (PPG) also measures the heart rate by pulsation. Typical examples of
graphical representations of these bioelectric signals are shown in Figure 2.10.

Figure 2.10: Bioelectrical signals

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 The hardware device used to measure different bio signal works in a similar way of
sensing. For each measurement, conductive electrodes are placed on the skin close to the organ
that is being monitored. In practice, the electrodes detect a mixture of bio signals due to various
organs. However, Figure 2.10 shows different bio signals measured as summarized in Table
2.2. Biopotential signals vary in their amplitude, shape and frequency due to different organs.
To obtain the bio signal of interest, the sensed electric potential (biopotential) is first amplified
with an appropriate voltage gain.

The amplified signal is then passed through specific filters for the desired bio signal.
Further, analog to digital converters is used to digitize the filtered. However, the same approach
and techniques can be adapted for other bioelectric signals.

Table- 2.2 Bioelectrical Signals Characteristics

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2.6 Photoplethysmography

2.6.1 Principle of PPG

Light traveling through human body tissues are absorbed by number of parts of the body,
including skin pigments, bones, arterial blood and venous blood. The changes in blood flow
happens in the arteries and arterioles. Research shows that more blood volume is spotted in
arteries during the systolic phase of the cardiac cycle compared to diastolic phase. These
optical sensors detect the changes in blood flow i.e. variation in the detected light intensity at
bed of microvascular tissue (Alen.J, 2007).

2.6.2 AC/DC components

Figure (2.11) below shows the overview of PPG waveform, containing of direct current (DC)
and alternating current (AC) components. The DC part of PPG waveform is dependent on the
transmitted light and reflected optical signal from the tissues, which is then also dependent on
the tissues structure and average blood volume of both arterial and venous blood. Nevertheless,
the DC component varies with respiration.

The other AC component depicts variation in the blood volume that shows up between
systolic and diastolic phases of cardiac cycle; although its frequency relies on the heart rate
superimposed on the DC component. Thus, the reflected type PPG needs to contain a small
DC component and a large AC component.

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 Figure 2.11- AC/DC component

2.6.3 PPG Sensing Method

This is a noninvasive method which involves LED source that emits light into tissue and the
reflected light from the tissue is collected by a photo-detector. Many vital signs are then
recorded such as heart rate, SPO2, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate and BP. The measured
signal represents the pulsatile blood volume changes of peripheral microvascular induced by
pressure pulse within each cardiac cycle. The sensor must be in contact with the skin for
measuring different parameters.

Research shows that the pulse sensing unit can be integrated from larger to smaller
wearable gadgets, i.e. textile shirts, watches, glove or data logger for the unobtrusive
measurement. Figure (2.12) shows the brief circuit working of the pulse sensing unit to
measure the heart rate.

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 Figure 2.12 – PPG circuit chip

As it can be seen from PPG chip, that an IR LED is being excited to avoid low frequency
interference, where the light being received is filtered using band pass filter with synchronous
demodulator.

Additionally, this signal is digitized by ADC and further software are implemented to shape
the pulse. The placement of the PPG measuring sensor can be varied on body sites for
measurement, but different locations would have different measured data. Table (2.3) below
shows PPG measuring devices with measured parameters.

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 Table 2.3 - PPG Measuring Devices at Different Dites of the Body

Latterly, (Jae et al.,2009), introduced a contactless sensor for PPG measurement integrated
with the clothes. The circuit was constructed characterize the intensity of light for different
types of clothing’s. In fact, (M. Z. Poh and D. J. McDuff, 2011), proved that by using a simple
digital camera, HR and Respiratory rate are derived from PPG signal by capturing subjects
face.

The method showed the accuracy was affected by the sample rate of the camera, i.e.
(30 frames per second); restricting the resolution of the blood volume detected. Furthermore,
the technology has the limitation till the digital camera, that means if there is no camera, no
face detection and neither PPG signals can be captured for deriving HR of the subject. In the
project development, the limitations for the monitor will be increased by using an LED as
source of PPG signals.

The same concept will be used to build the project; however, two different LEDs will be
reviewed including their properties in pulse sensing for better accuracy for the heart monitoring
because the light intensity plays an important role in measuring pulse under different
conditions.

24
 Moreover, research exhibits that the signal conditioning circuit should be designed
such that it consumes low power and compact with increased accuracy. This is done by having
different amplifiers, low and high pass filters to avoid interferences for smooth output signal.

2.7 Photoplethysmography Modes and Properties

There are two types of PPG sensors that can be used to estimate the Heart rate HR.

2.7.1 Transmittance mode

In this type of mode, the source (LED) and detector are being placed opposite to each other.
The function of photo detector depends on the incident light intensity. In addition,
photodetector is made up of semiconductor material, therefore its resistance decreases when
light is subjected on it. When heart muscles contracts, the blood pumps and this result increase
of blood volume across the finger.

Figure 2.13: PPG Transmittance mode

2.7.2 Reflectance mode

In this type of mode, the source (LED) and the detector are being placed on the same side of
the sensor. The distance between the source and detector affects the working of PPG sensor.
25
This structure lacks in accuracy because some of the reflected light is not absorbed by
photodetector as shown in Figure (2.14). This is because photodetector might not be placed
under a distance where the light reflects from the skin. Therefore, main focus of the project
will also be the distance to which the photodiode is to be placed.

Figure 2.14: PPG Reflectance mode

When blood is pumped by the heart, volume of blood flow is increased. Thus, blood absorbs
more emitted light and intensity of reflected light becomes lower Figure 2.15. Otherwise,
volume of blood flow decreases intervals between to pump blood by the heart. Emitted light is
absorbed slightly, and intensity of light is high Figure 2.15.

Figure 2.15: Light Absorbed During Reflective PPG

26
2.7.3 Modeling of the PPG Signal (LED)

2.7.3 Light wavelength

Various source of lights can be used in PPG sensors having different number of wavelengths.
Over the years, researcher studied the optical characteristics and penetration depth of the light
in human body; within the confines of visible region, the supreme absorption peak corresponds
to the blue region of spectrum, following green -yellow region (wavelength 500-600 nm),
corresponding red blood cells. Melanin powerfully absorbs the light having shorter
wavelength.

It has been found that the penetration depth of the light is determined by the
wavelength and distance between the light (LED) and photodetector. Moreover, lights such as
yellow and green show the largest modulation depth with pulsatile blood absorption. It is not
just that color lights are used for sensing, but Infrared light (IR) are also used in several PPG
sensors. Taking the measurement for deep tissues blood flow, i.e. blood flow in muscles,
requires the use of IR light. Figure 2.16 shows the vascular arrangement and the penetration
depth of light of different wavelengths.

Figure 2.16: Penetration Depth of Short/Long wavelength

27
The Beer– Lambert Law states, that the penetration depth depends mainly on the absorption of
hemoglobin, and thus, light of shorter wavelengths such as blue or green light penetrates less
than light of longer wavelengths such as infrared.

2.7.4 Selection and properties of LED source

There are two types of motion artifacts; tissue deformation in human body and light
interference. In (V. Vizbara and A. Sološenko,2013), three different sources of LED light
were taken for comparison; performed on two different sites having wavelengths of 465 nm,
520 nm and 940 nm i.e, blue, green and infrared LEDs respectively.

Figure (2.17) below shows the ranges of light wavelengths i.e, from 400 to 1000 nm, for the
depth of skin penetration.

Figure 2.17 –Wavelengths of Green, Blue and Infrared LED

The depth of light penetration is calculated by;

28
Where δ is penetration depth, in mm;

μa(λ)= absorption coefficient in cm-1, and μs(λ) = scattering coefficient in cm-1.

Moreover, in same experimental study, PPG sensor was tapped three times during the
recordings as an artifact. Figure (2.18) and (2.19) shows the artifact to PPG signal ratio
performed on wrist and forehead. Three criteria were chosen for the comparison of the PPG
signals: root mean square (RMS) value of PPG signal before artefact, pulsating to stationary
tissue component ratio (AC/DC) and artefact to signal ratio (ASR).

Figure 2.18: AC/DC ratio of light intensity on (a) wrist and (b) forehead

Figure 2.19: Motion Artifact Ratio on (a) wrist and (b) forehead

29
The results showed that green LED is suitable for sensing pulse at the wrist; as it can penetrate
deep to sense blood pulsations which is not influenced by the DC component of tissues. In
addition, all three sensors gave better results on the forehead because of thin layer tissue. It
was found that infrared light gave more penetration reflecting more energy than the blue and
green led. However, the artifacts appear to be more at the wrist or index finger compared to
the forehead, resulting in pulse rate variations and bad quality of PPG signal estimation.

Therefore, more reference study must be performed for analyzing the possible
technique for motion artifact cancellation in PPG signal. Additionally, the finger index and
wrist should be key locations for sensing, as the wearables technology must meet the comfort
requirement also. Both of the sensing areas should give best result when measured with sensing
devices.

Moving onto the paper (Kenta Matsumura and Kenichi Yamakoshi, 2013), three signals
were being subjected to motion along with ECG signal. Below Table (2.4) shows the
comparison of the signals generated by different colors LED and ECG signal used as a
reference.

Table 2.4: Comparison Table for Three signals of different lights with ECG Signal

HR-ECG vs PR- HR-ECG vs PR- HR-ECG vs PR- Blue

Red LED Green LED LED

Baseline 0.999*** 0.999*** 0.999***

Horizontal 0.967*** 0.999*** 0.991***

motion

Vertical 0.995*** 0.999*** 0.992***

motion

30
Again, it was concluded that green light is useful for monitoring heart rate pulses in terms of
susceptibility to motion artifact, making it the most robust measurement method, followed by
Red and blue.

2.7.5 Temperature Exposure

Temperature plays an important role during the PPG recordings. A study was performed where
the two PPG signals; i.e., (Green light and Infrared light) and ECG signal, were compared
under the two different temperatures (Toshiyo Tamura& Masaki Sekine,2014). The two
conditions set were; room temperature and low temperature of 15 degC. The results below in
Figure (2.20) and Figure (2.21) depicts that green light performs better at low temperatures
compared to infrared.

Figure 2.20: PPG Signal comparison at room temperature

31
 Figure 2.21: PPG signals comparison with ECG

The comparison Table (2.5) below, shows the difference correlation of green and infrared PPG
pule at normal and low temperature.

Table 2.5: Correlation Coefficient of PPG Signals at Different Temperatures

Temperature Green Infrared

At room temperature 0.98 ± 0.02 0.97 ± 0.03

25°C

At skin temperature 0.97 ± 0.03 0.75 ± 0.23

below 15 °C

2.8 Wearable technologies

With the aging technologies, it is important to boost the implementation of unobtrusive

wearable medical devices for daily life usage. Key technologies terms were summarized by
Zhangs research team as “MINDS” ((Miniaturization, Intelligence, Networking,

32
Digitalization, Standardization). A brief overview has been studied in development of
“MINDS” technologies (Y. T. Zhang,2008).

2.8.1 Miniaturization

It is an important factor that strengthens the easiness of using wearable devices, resulting in
long term monitoring. Furthermore, compactness of medical devices can be achieved by using
the concept of inductive powering, which uses the RF powering to power the sensor, and thus
the batteries can be removed (S. Mandal, L. Turicchia, 2010).

2.8.2 Networking

This is an essential part of wearable devices that helps in delivering good-quality and high-
efficiency in healthcare departments. However, BSN (body sensor network) have made
extensive progress over the decades. Yet there are obstacles that includes; network security,
user mobility, communication protocols for energy efficient transmissions. A novel method
was presented based on biometric characteristics.

As wearable sensors capture the physiological signals, a encrypt scheme is built by

(Poon et al.,2006) using the inter-pulse intervals (IPIs) as the biometric characteristic to
encrypt the symmetric key as shown in Figure (2.22). The results depicted error rate of 2.5 %,
where the physiological signals were sampled at 1000 Hz and codded into 128-bit binary
sequences.

Figure 2.22: Biometric Approach for Wearable health monitoring Application

33
2.8.3 Energy efficiency

This is an important parameter that affects the design and usability of the wearable deice,
mainly for long term monitoring systems. In addition, an infrared phototransistor was
developed having relatively high sensitivity, having organic bulk heterojunction as shown in
Figure (2.23 (a,b)). The results revealed that responsivity achieved by the device was 10^5
AW −1 which is then implemented in PPG measurements, Figure (2.23 (c,d)).

The device used a low-power light source and thus resulted in low power consumption of the
sensor (Y. Zhang, and N. Zhao,2013).

Figure 2.23: High Sensitivity Phototransistor

2.8.4 Digitization

It is important to digitalize the analog signals secured from the device attached to the body for
the data analysis. Due to the rigorous power constraints of wearable devices, the sampling rate
should be minimized to save power whilst not compromising the diagnostic accuracy. For

34
example, the sampling rate for ECG should be no less than 125Hz; otherwise, it will affect the
accuracy of measurements (H. Feichtinger, J. Romero,2012).

2.8.5 Robustness

Artificial intelligence enables autonomic functions of wearable devices, such as sending out
alerts and supporting decision making. Artificial intelligence may also refer to as context-
awareness and user adaption. Various classification methods such as hidden Markov model,
artificial neural networks, support vector machines, random forests, and neuro-fuzzy inference
system have been extensively applied for various healthcare applications.

One of the major problems for wearable sensors is motion artifacts. The reduction of motion
artifact is still a challenging problem for the development of wearable system due to the
overlapping of its frequency band with the desired signal.

(Chung et al., 2011), presented a patient-specific adaptive neuro-fuzzy interference

system (ANFIS) motion artifacts cancellation for ECG collected by a wearable health shirt.
With ANFIS, it was able to remove motion artifacts for ECG in real time. Experimental study
performed, where an accelerometer was embedded in an earring PPG sensor to obtain motion
reference for adaptive noise cancellation. Although adaptive filtering has shown to be an
effective method, it requires extensive processing time, which hinders its real-time
applications.

Extensive advancements are made for the development of heart rate monitors, i.e, standard or
wearable devices. With each new concept of HR monitoring systems, there have been
foundational challenges that impacts the accuracy of Heart monitors. However, for each of
these challenges, several algorithms and studies have been introduced to minimize the
obstacles.

35
2.9 Study the performance of PPG sensor

2.9.1 Optical noise

Noise have been the most technical issue in the development of heart signals. For the digital
signal processing of PPG signals, it is prominent to have signals without any interferences,
such as noises. When the skin absorbs the light, small fraction of photons is reflected to sensor
with noise, and only 1/10th or 1/100th of photons are modulated by heart pumped blood flow.
Whereas, the rest of light is dispersed into non-physiological parts, such as bones, muscles etc.
Therefore, a novel solution is proposed for checking the quality of PPG signal by using
adaptive noise cancellation (ANC) technique Figure 2.24.

The results show that the developed method estimated Heart rate in real time in the
presence of noise. Additionally, the same concept can be used to detect the blood oxygen
saturation (SpO2), with noise present. The other solution is the design of the sensor, where an
appropriate wavelength of light should be selected in order to have specific amount of
scattering alongside with flexible amplifiers can be used in order to cancel out the optical
noises.

Figure 2.24: Adaptive noise cancellation functionality

36
2.9.2 Location of sensor on body

The interest for wearable heart monitors is another important factor in the field of healthcare
sensors. Several HR devices have been developed, but the issue in finding the best placement
of sensor on the body remains, as one of the main concerns for the accuracy of HR estimation.
According (Yunjoo Lee, Hyonyoung Han, and Jung Kim, 2008-2018), an experiment was
performed by having reflective type PPG sensor to measure the pulse rate from different
locations of the body, i.e, wrist, neck, ear, finger and forehead.

Influence of Motion artifacts on each data obtained from several locations was
compared as shown in Figure 2.25. Lastly, the results showed that forehead is the best option
for the sensor to detect the Pulse rate because of less motion artifact. Moreover, the wearable
devices should have better results, when placed on finger or wrist because of its convenience.

Figure 2.25: Signals amplitude at stationary (mv)

In the stationary condition, the peak-to-peak normalized amplitude of signals from the
forehead, ear, neck, wrist, finger and toe are 0.84, 0.38, 0.32, 0.57, 0.79, 0.21 mV, respectively.

Pulse rates are estimated by counting the number of pulses in a minute and comparing
the results from the two states of stationary and moving conditions. The pulse rate is measured
in Pulses Per Minute (PPM). Figure 2.26 summarizes the experimental results of pulse changes
of stationary and moving conditions. The experimental results show that each location of the
body has 70 pulse/minute, which is the same as an ECG for a reference signal.

37
 Figure 2.26: Pulse variation at Stationary/Moving condition

2.9.3 Skin tone

Humans have a diverse range of skin tones. Different skin tone absorbs light differently and
each skin tone will thus be categorized by a different absorption spectrogram. It has been
founded, that darker skin absorbs more green light, which presents a problem because optical
HR monitors use green LED as emitters, limiting their ability to accurately measure heart rate.

2.10 Main controller

The main controller also known as the peripheral interface controller (PIC) is a type of
microcontroller that is used in electronics devices. The PIC was built to develop the task of the
I/O operations from a computer’s device. The controller consists of processor, memory, and
storage. To enable I/O functions and processes, a PIC must consist of built in memory, data
bus and the suitable microprocessor to run the system.

Arduino is an open-source platform that is used for electronic projects. It is used as a

main controller in the project, where it reads input signal from various type of electronics
components such as sensors and converts the input signal to the desired output signal by

38
running the output device such as a motor. Arduino Uno consists several important steps that
is used in programming the system.

Serial Begin

For serial data transmission, Serial begin is used to set the data rate in Bits per second. This is
referred as baud rate in serial monitor that communicates with the computer.

Void Setup

Void setup function is where the Arduino IDE executes the program at once throughout the
coding.

Void Loop

Void loop is used to control the execution of the Arduino program. The coding used in this
loop repeats until the program is ended in coding. This might include the conditional statements
such as, IF Else, Case or while Loop.

2.11 Wireless communication

2.11.1 Medium to Long Range Data Transmission

ZigBee is a wireless communication technique that is used for low-speed and medium range
data transfer. ZigBee has been proposed as a wireless platform for several health monitoring
devices (Shrenik Vora and Timothy Kurzweg,2016). It is easy to implement and provides a
medium for communication between different devices. However, as can be seen from Table
(2.6), the power required to transmit a single data packet is very high, making ZigBee difficult
to use for wearable devices.

39
 WLAN or cellular technologies are more suitable for transmitting sensor data over
long ranges. They are capable of compacting data more densely in each packet, but components
and power required for these communications make them prohibitive for continuous
transmission from a bio signal sensor.

2.11.2 Short Range Data Transmission

The transmission methods discussed in this section are used for short range communication
within a room or a small building between a sensor and a data collection hub like a cell phone.
Bluetooth and specially Bluetooth low energy (BLE) are widely used for data transmission
from bio signal sensors. These technologies are very attractive for personalized wearable
monitoring due to the pervasiveness of Bluetooth compatible smart devices like phones and
tablets (Dhaval Bhatt and Tarulata Chauhan,2014).

It should be noted that power saving measures like alternating between data
transmission and idle modes are often applied which introduce an inherent latency in the
system and prevent continuous monitoring.

ANT/ANT+ is a proprietary technology that is designed to meet the needs of wearable sensor
networks. Researchers have focused at following technology deeply for its utilization in
wearable monitors. Even though Bluetooth and ANT are low power transmission technologies,
the requirement for local power means that sensors need to have batteries. Wearable systems
decrease the system down time for recharging or battery.

2.11.3 Bluetooth

Bluetooth technology has been considered as a low-cost, dependable, and power proficient for
interfacing electronic gadgets in a short range. Bluetooth is a great communication protocol
for wireless connection since its equipped for transmitting information at about 1 MB/s while
consuming 1/100th of the energy of Wi-Fi. HC-05 and HC-06 is a Bluetooth module that is
good with Arduino microcontroller. This module fills in as a module on Arduino.

40
The advantage of Bluetooth is this advice does not require a clear line of sight between the two
gadgets. The fact that this device requires no links and wires is something that has made it so
prominent. With such a significant number of gadgets overwhelming in human life today, the
requirement for cluster free technology is ending up more extraordinary. The power to process
and battery power that it requires is low. This makes it as perfect device for healthcare medical
devices, as the technology can be developed using suitable system (Gupta et al. 155-159).

2.11.4 Bluetooth hc-05

HC-05 module is an easy to use Bluetooth SPP (Serial Port Protocol) module, designed for
transparent wireless serial connection setup. Serial port Bluetooth module is fully qualified
Bluetooth V2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) 3Mbps Modulation with complete 2.4GHz radio
transceiver and baseband. It uses CSR Blue-core 04-External single chip Bluetooth system
with CMOS technology and with AFH (Adaptive Frequency Hopping Feature). It has the
footprint as small as 12.7mmx27mm.

Table 2.6 compares the range and typical packet power consumption for commonly used
wireless data transmission methods. As can be seen, different technologies are suited for
operations at varying distances (P. J. Soh, G. A. E. Vandenbosch,2015).

Table 2.6: Range, Frequency and Power comparison for Wireless Technologies

41
2.12 Summary of the literature

Several studies and reviews have been discussed extensively on the working of heart monitors.
Besides, the chapter also covered different types of heart monitoring devices that are currently
being used in the field of biotelemetry. The technology still fails to propose an accurate device
for portable or wearable heart rate monitor. After knowing the problem statements in present
heart monitoring devices, the photoplethysmography (PPG) appears to be the suitable solution
for wearable and wireless monitoring for detecting pulse and heart rate.

Therefore, PPG related works performed by the previous researchers have been investigated
and explored that will help in knowing the problems faced in their respective works and then
the problems can be tackled in this project.

Reflectance mode of PPG devices have been the focus of the literature because the heart
monitor will be made based on this mode. At the end of chapter, different microcontrollers are
reviewed, and the focus was on the ‘Arduino Uno’ that could be used in development of the
prototype. Moreover, to have a real time monitoring system, the wireless communication is the
prominent part. The technologies were reviewed briefly, i.e. Bluetooth, Zigbee, Radio
frequency and RFID. Bluetooth was chosen after comparing detailed review comparison
between different wireless communication methods.

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 CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.0 Overview

In this chapter, the primary and important stage is to select suitable methodology for this
project. The chosen methodology will help in finishing the project and to achieve its objectives
successfully. Additionally, the chapter is divided into two sections. The first section presents
the selection of components for development of pulse sensing conditioning circuit and the final
design would be selected. The next step is to select another standard pulse sensor SEN-11574
which uses Green LED as source emitter. To generate output pulse from both of these circuits,
an Arduino microcontroller is used for the operation, where the appropriate coding will be
Implemented.

The second part covers the simulation process where the different heart monitor designs will
be tested. Also, the Bluetooth module will be simulated, where its concept of transmitting data
will be explained briefly. The designed heart monitors will be simulated by using the
simulation software ‘PROTEUS’. Moreover, Arduino IDE software is used for programming
the coding to generate heart beat from the designed circuitry. Lastly, after the simulation
process, the hardware implementation for the heart monitor development will take place
according to the simulated designs. For the data transmission of heart beat records, the
Bluetooth module will be used to display the heart beats on an android mobile phone.

43
3.1 Compiling Information

As soon as the topic is approved by the supervisor, the prominent stage for undertaking the
project is to compile all the necessary and required information to begin the project. There are
several ways to gather the information such as, reading articles, books and journals.

3.2 Project Structure

Every project requires a good project structure, where the different task is performed in an
organized way to achieve its goals. The proposed structure is divided into four stages;
Planning, Designing, Testing and Troubleshooting. This helps in maintaining the quality of the
project and will maintain the robustness in flow of performing tasks. Figure (3.1), below shows
the proposed structure.

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3.2.1 Planning

In planning stage of project, the problem statement related to heart monitors is

comprehensively studied and then objectives and project scope is described. Furthermore, the
design for heart monitor is finalized along with the cost estimation of the project. The planning
phase also includes the brainstorming methodology, which helps in finding the complete
technique for building the HR systems.

3.2.2 Designing

After knowing the objectives of the project, all the required components are listed, and the
schematic of the Heart Rate Monitor is designed in software and further the hardware setup is
made. This stage is critical because one error in calculation yields to the selection of wrong
and unsuitable components in the design. The schematic design for the heart monitor is
performed in ‘Proteus’ software, where heartbeat sensor SEN-11574 and infrared optical pulse
circuit are simulated using different components for each of the circuits. The complete details
will be illustrated later in the development stage.

3.2.3 Testing

This phase is dependent on the design phase. However, it also deals with the problems arising
in hardware connection, i.e. whether the objectives set are achieved or not. Therefore, this stage
is successful only if the project works as expected in the design phase. The first testing will be
simulated based as a confirmation of circuitry working. It is difficult to achieve the heart rate
from finger, wrist or other body parts because the simulation is set in such a way, that it only
deals with the change in output voltage at sensors test pin. Once the simulation circuit gives
output signal on oscilloscope, it means the design is ready for prototyping and lastly, the
hardware testing is performed.

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3.2.4 Troubleshooting

The troubleshooting phase defines the strengths and weaknesses of the project. It helps in
figuring out the problem that appears to be the obstacle in heart monitoring, therefore, a good
troubleshooting plan is important that will maintain the system stable throughout.

3.3 Flowchart

The flowchart shown in Figure (3.2) illustrates the complete step by step procedure, being
used to achieve the objectives of the project.

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Figure 3.2: Flowchart demonstration of Methodology

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The flow chart in figure 3.2 represents the methodology on the development of the Heart rate
monitor. The initial phase is to undergo deep research about cardiac monitoring and the
analysis on how to build an optical pulse circuit that gives out the heartbeat. Moreover,
standard heart beat sensor is also selected for calculating BPM. Once the analysis about the
required components is performed, the next stage is to design and simulate the signal
conditioning circuit and pulse sensor SEN-11574 by using simulation software ‘Proteus’.
Further, an Arduino coding is performed to generate the heart beat (BPM). If an Arduino
detects the heartbeat, then the coding is fine and next step is to be proceeded, but if the Arduino
does not detect any beat, then the coding must be checked again. Lastly, for simulation tool, a
Bluetooth module HC-05 is simulated in order to transfer the heart beats record wirelessly to
another Bluetooth module. Separate coding is done in Arduino for Bluetooth and is combined
with heart beat coding. If the Bluetooth transfers the data, then the design is to be taken for
further hardware development.

For hardware implementation, same steps are performed to develop heart monitor. However,
this phase includes the soldering of LCD 16x2, and required circuitry pinout connections. The
details design specification for each module will be table out in report. After the circuit is fully
ready, the measurement of heart beats is to be recorded from two different locations of the
body. The placement of heartbeat sensor SEN-11574 will be index finger and wrist. Whereas,
the infrared LED based pulse circuit is also used to record the heart beats BPM. After the BPM
are recorded, an extensive analysis is to be performed on the heart signals generated from the
develop heart monitor that are displayed on Serial plotter of Arduino Uno.

3.4 Selection of design for optical pulse circuit

As it is being known, that the heart beat sensor is comprised of four different stages. The
heartbeat is obtained when the input signal is passed through the following stages.

 Transmitter (LED)
 Receiver (Photodiode)
 Low pass filter
 Operational amplifier

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3.4.1 Infrared LED

The LED plays an important role in the pulse circuit used as main source of transmitter.
However, the circuit converts blood pulse pressure into electrical signal in the form of heart
signal. As soon as, the finger is placed on the emitter (IR), the blood circulation inside the
finger causes a periodic change of IR intensity that is reflected, causing current response in the
detector. The response is found to be weak and could be noisy.

Infrared LED is selected in this circuit instead of Green LED. LEDs are generally sensitive to
the current ratings because there are chances that LED might blow up. Moreover, resistor in
series must be connected to block the excessive current flow. By using this resistor in series,
the intensity of IR light varies.

Figure 3.3: Infrared LED

3.4.2 Photodiode

When light from the LED is illuminated on the photodiode, a voltage signal is generated. For
this reason, a common emitter amplifier circuit have been used. A photodiode used in this
circuit is sensitive to infrared light, which is encased in an open opaque black plastic. A visible
light cannot penetrate through it, but infrared light can.

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 Figure 3.4: Photodiode

3.4.2.1 Selection of load Resistors for Emitter and Detector

The load resistor is selected for the emitter and detector as shown in Figure (3.5), as the circuit
mainly rely on its functionality. The forward voltage is selected 1.2 V, having a forward current
of 20 mA.

Figure 3.5: Sensor composed of IR emitter and detector

Forward current (If):

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Therefore, the load resistance for emitter is:

However, this value of 190 Ω can be adjusted to 220 Ω.

A voltmeter is used to measure Vo (output voltage). A reasonable 2v to 3v is to be found when

using load resistor R2= 8.2 KΩ. So, 10 KΩ was used to make it safer.

3.4.3 Low pass filter and Amplifier

When fingertip is placed on the sensor, its output Vo (output voltage) serves as an input of the
whole circuit. Figure (3.6) shows the output voltage having a DC level of 2v with peak to peak
voltage of 0.13v. This means that an amplifier Gain must be between 10 to 20. The signal in
figure shows some high frequency noise but still it’s a good signal.

Figure 3.6: Pulse signal measured from Vo output of detector by placing finger

Low-pass filter based on Sallen-key structure is chosen to filter out the high frequency noise
from the output of the IR detector. Figure (3.7), below shows the structure;

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 Figure 3.7: Sallen-key structure with Butterworth Low pass filter

Moreover, by setting the R2= 8.2 kΩ, means that any signal with frequency f > 20 Hz, will be
made smoother.

According to the formula’s:

Cut-off frequency: fc= 1(2*pi*RC(𝒎𝒏)𝟎.𝟓 )

and for Butterworth filter

In order to meet fc=20 Hz,

The following components ratings are set:

C1 C2 R3 R4
0.2 μF 0.66 μF 11.4 KΩ 50 KΩ

Amplification is the next stage in design, where the Gain of 10 at f = 1Hz is set. Here, the DC
component cannot be amplified, only AC component should amplify. Therefore, the amplifier
should have high-pass feature to reject the low-frequency signal Figure (3.8).

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 Figure 3.8: High pass filter to amplify AC component

The transfer function of figure is as:

The description of the second op-amp is shown below:

C3 R5 R6 R7
10 μF 160 KΩ 9 KΩ 1KΩ

3.4.4 Pulse Sensor (SEN-11574)

This sensor uses Green LED as a source of transmitter. The complete working is same as the
circuit designed before in section (3.4.3). The photosensor used is a standard ambient light
photo sensor APDS-9008. Furthermore, the sensor works by interfacing with Arduino
microcontroller using suitable coding. The schematic of this sensor is shown below in Figure
(3.9).

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 Figure 3.9: Schematic of Pulse sensor (SEN-11574)

The datasheet for the pulse sensor schematic is provided at the end of the report in appendix.
The complete simulation for the development of heart monitor is described in simulation tool
section (3.5).

3.5 Simulation tool

3.5.1 Design of Pulse Circuit in Proteus software

After the analysis on the circuit development and sensors, the testing of its design and working
is performed in proteus 8 professional software.

The first task is to simulate the optical pulse circuit as design in section (3.10), by combining
the Figure (3.5), (3.7) and (3.8).

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 Operational
IR LED and amplifiers
detector

Figure 3.10: Schematic of Pulse Signal Conditioning Circuit

Figure (3.10), shows optical pulse circuit where infrared LED is used as a transmitter. The
circuit uses two consecutive operational amplifiers, to establish a steady baseline for the signal
emphasize the peaks and filters out the noise. Both amplifiers are contained in integrated
circuit. The circuit working was tested using an oscilloscope as shown in figure (3.11).

Figure 3.11: Waveform from oscilloscope for testing optical circuit

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On the other side, heart beat sensor (SEN-11574), is simulated by downloading the medical
sensors library in proteus. As, it is important to place a finger on the sensor physically, to
generate the heart beat signal. But in case of simulation, the basic electrical technique is used,
that is by changing the voltage in circuit. The heart beat sensor can be searched in components
section in proteus as below Figure (3.12).

Figure 3.12: Selection of Heart Beat Test Sensor

Right after selection of sensor in Figure (3.12), the next step is to upload the library of pulse
sensor by double clicking on the sensor. The sensor will not work if the library isn’t added.
Figure (3.13), shows the setting of simulated pulse sensor.

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 Figure 3.13: Selection of Heart Beat sensor library

The standard pulse sensor has only three pins, as pulse pin, VCC and GND, but here one extra
pin has been added as Test pin. This pin plays a role as a reference of finger placement because
in simulating finger cannot be placed. Figure (3.14), depicts the circuit diagram for this
technique.

(a) (b)

Figure 3.14: Voltage Test for the sensor, (a) logic state at Low and (b) logic state High

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According to the properties of this sensor, if the heart beats then there is change in voltage and
vice versa. The Figure (3.14), demonstrates that by connecting Test pin with Logic state gives
the change in heart rate. Therefore, if the Test pin is set High, then it means finger is being
placed on the sensor, it detects the change in pulsation and then sensor gives a specific heart
beat in the form of voltage (5V) as shown in Figure 3.14 (b). on contrary, if the logic state is
set Low, it won’t give any output voltage as shown in Figure 3.14(a).

This idea is further extended by substituting the logic state with variable resistor. So,
by setting the resistor value, the voltage is controlled which means that the sensor will give
different readings in the form of signal. The Figure (3.15) below, gives the output pulse
waveform from oscilloscope, as Beats of heart.

Figure 3.15: Pulse Waveform Result from Oscilloscope

After the confirmation of sensor working, giving output from oscilloscope. The project is
further carried to next phase according to the plan methodology. In order to build a heart rate
monitor, it is prominent to use microcontroller that will operate its working time to time.
Arduino is to be used which will control the operation of heart monitor by suitable coding.

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3.5.2 Arduino as a main controller

Arduino Uno is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega328P. It is comprised of 14

digital input/output pins (of which 6 is used for PWM outputs), a 16 MHz quartz crystal, 6
analog inputs, a USB connection, a power jack, and a reset button. It can simply connect to a
computer with a USB cable or power it with a AC-to-DC adapter or battery. "Uno" means one
in Italian and was chosen to mark the release of Arduino 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. Figure 3.16 shows the pin labels on Arduino.

Figure 3.16: Arduino Pin Labels

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 Table 3.1 below shows the technical specification for Arduino Uno.

Table 3.1: Arduino Uno Technical Specifications

3.5.2.1 Power

The power pins of Arduino UNO are as follows:

 Vin: voltage is supplied through this pin, or if the voltage is supplied through power jack, then
Vin pin is used.
 5V: This regulated power supply is used to supply power to the microcontroller and other
components on the board. This supply comes from number of sources that includes Vin (on-
board regulator), USB, or any other 5V supply.
 3V: This supply is also generated from on-board regulator. Whereas, maximum current it
draws is 50 mA.
 GND: Ground pins.

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3.5.2.2 Memory

The total memory of Arduino Uno (ATmega 328) is 32 KB, from which 0.5 KB is occupied
by bootloader, 2 KB of SRAM and 1 KB by EEPROM.

3.5.2.3 Communication

The Arduino Uno have number of potentials for communicating with computer, other Arduino,
or any microcontrollers. The ATmega 328 have UART TTL of (5V) of serial communication,
present on digital pins 0 (RX) and 1 (TX). An ATmega16U2 on the board channels this serial
communication over USB and appears as a virtual com port to software on the computer. The
16U2 firmware uses the standard USB COM drivers, and no external driver is needed. The
Arduino Software (IDE) includes a serial monitor which allows simple textual data to be sent
to and from the board. The RX and TX LEDs on the board will flash when data is being
transmitted via the USB-to-serial chip and USB connection to the computer (but not for serial
communication on pins 0 and 1).

3.5.2.4 Input and Output

Some of the Arduino pins have special functions as shown below in Table 3.2.

Table 3.2: Arduino Pins function

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3.5.2.5 LCD 16x2

LCD is used to display the heart beat once being detected by pulse sensor. The function of
each of the pins is illustrated in Table (3.3). It is simple to use where its various pins are
connected to Arduino as shown in Table (3.5) below. However, potentiometer must be used
to control the LCD and its contrast. Figure 3.17 below shows the pin labeling of LCD 16x2.

Figure 3.17: LCD 16x2

Table 3.3: Pin Labelling of LCD

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3.5.2.6 Simulating Arduino with Heart Sensor

The following phase is the programming of the Arduino code that will extract the heart beat
from the pulse circuit. The Arduino IDE software is used for the coding, where several libraries
are added to support the required coding. Once the programming is finished in Arduino IDE
software, the coding must be uploaded in the proteus software. The Figure (3.18) below shows
the starting of the Arduino coding.

Figure 3.18: Arduino Coding Demonstration

Once the coding is ended, the Arduino (ino.file) must be converted to hex.file to support the
proteus software. Figure below (3.19) and (3.20) demonstrates the procedure to convert
ino.file to hex.file.

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 Figure 3.19: Exporting Compiled Library of Coding

Once the compiled library is exported, then the sketch folder should be selected.

Figure 3.20: Hex file for Coding

By double clicking on the Arduino board in proteus, its properties section appears, where the
Arduino coding in the form of program file (hex.file) is uploaded as depicted in Figure (3.21).

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 Figure 3.21: Uploading Coding Hex.file in Proteus Software

The circuit is ready for the testing of heart rate monitoring in Figure 3.22, where the heart beat
is generated by adjusting the value of the variable resistor. As soon as, the value of resistor is
set high or low, the Arduino will generate the output on the LCD. The PPG heart beat
waveform cannot be obtained in proteus, so for the instance only the LCD will display the
heart beat (BPM) on the screen.

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 10k potentiometer

Figure 3.22: Simulation Test of Arduino with Sensor

Connection made from sensor to Arduino board is shown in Table 3.3.

Table 3.3: Pin Connection Between Pulse sensor and Arduino Uno

Pulse sensor Arduino board

VCC Power pin 5V

Test pin/pulse pin Analog pin, A0

GND Power pin GND

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Potentiometer with rating of 10 K, is used to control the contrast and brightness of the LCD. It
is important to Pin the connection of potentiometer carefully, else the LCD will not work.
Table 3.4 below shows the connection of LCD and Potentiometer.

Table 3.4: Pin Connection Between LCD and Potentiometer

LCD Potentiometer

VSS-1 GND

VDD-2 VCC-5v

VEE-3 Vout

In order to have the BPM displayed on the LCD, its pins should be connected with Arduino as
shown in Table 3.5.

Table 3.5: Pin Connection Between LCD and Arduino

LCD Arduino

RS Pin 9

RW GND

E Pin 8

D0, D1, D2, D3 -

D4 Pin 5

D5 Pin 4

D6 Pin 3

D7 Pin 2

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3.6 Bluetooth for Wireless Data Transmission

Bluetooth module HC-05 is very powerful wireless communication tool that is used to build a
connection two microcontrollers such as Arduino or communicate with phones or laptop. This
module uses (Universal Synchronous/Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter) USART
communication at baud rate of 9600. Hence for this reason it can be interfaced with any
microcontroller which supports USART. This module also offers master mode, slave mode
and slave loop mode. Technical specification of HC-05 is shown in Table (3.6).

Table 3.6: Bluetooth HC-05 Technical Specification

Bluetooth module Arduino and other microcontrollers

Operating Voltage 4V to 6V (Typically +5V)
Operating Current 30mA
Range <10m
Serial (USART) and TTL compatible
communication
Supported baud 9600,19200,38400,57600,115200,230400,460800
rate
operate Master, Slave or Master/Slave mode

The pin definitions of Hc-05 module is given in Figure 3.23 and Table 3.7.

Figure 3.23: Pin labelling HC-05

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 Table 3.7: Hc-05 Pin functions

3.6.1 Designing of HC-05 with Heart Monitor

In last stage of designing heart rate monitor, the most critical task is to transfer data wirelessly
to a distant receiver, where the data packets can be received and stored. The concept of using
wireless data transmission is that the need of wireless heart monitors is increasing day by day.
Therefore, a methodology is set where the heat beat records of any patient can be transferred
to diagnosis room. However, the challenge has been the technique of simulating two Bluetooth
modules one as a transmitter and the other technically receiver as mobile phone. Figure (3.24),
exhibits the selection of Bluetooth module from the component library. Two of the HC-05 are
selected as shown.

Figure 3.24: Selection of HC-05

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 Figure 3.25: Configuring Setting COM 1 and COM2

Table 3.8 shows the for simulated properties of Bluetooth HC-05 module:

Table 3.8: HC-05 Simulated Properties

Part reference HC1, HC2

Part value Bluetooth HC-05

Physical port COM1/COM 2

Virtual baud rate 9600

Virtual data bit 8

Virtual parity none

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Once the two HC-05 modules are selected and basic setting are performed, then a virtual
terminal is installed for one of the Bluetooth modules, where the data received will be
displayed. Virtual Serial Port Driver by Eltima software is used to establish virtually
communication between two Bluetooth ports Figure (3.26).

Figure 3.26: Serial Port Driver Configuration

As it can be observed in the virtual port section, two ports are configured. COM 1 and COM
2, this indicates that if the data is sent from COM 1, then COM 2 will receive the data packets
and display on virtual terminal.

Before interfacing with Arduino, the coding in Arduino IDE must be modified by adding the
bluetooth library as SoftwareSerial mySerial and further coding must be done.

Lastly, one of the HC-05 module is interfaced with Arduino, which will read and transmit the
data packets to the receiver COM 2. The COM 2 is assumed to be the mobile phone in
simulation process, therefore the idea is extended to the prototyping design. As the simulation

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runs, heart beat BPM value will be displayed, each time the variable resistance value changes.
And the same data will be transmitted to COM 2 and displayed on virtual terminal.

Figure 3.27: Simulated Schematic for Heart Monitoring System

Figure (3.27) above, shows the complete proposed schematic for heart rate monitor system.
The pin connection of Bluetooth is shown in Table (3.9).

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 Table 3.9: Pin Connection Between HC-05 (COM 1) and Arduino

HC-05 Arduino board

VCC Power pin 3.3V

RXD Pin 11

TXD Pin 10

GND GND

The heart monitor system designed has been successful by fulfilling the methodology set for
the simulation phase. Figure (3.27), exhibits the simulated result in chapter 4 of heart beats
found from the monitor system. The microcontroller Arduino counts the number of pulses over
a fixed time interval and thus obtains the heart rate of the subject.

3.7 Hardware Implementation

After the final design of heart rate monitor in proteus, the following hardware implementation
phase is prominent for the working of system. Therefore, the heart monitor circuit is built
completely according to the design proposed in simulation. The pin connection for all the
components that will be interfaced with Arduino microcontroller in pulse sensor design Figure
(3.27), is provided in Table (3.3), (3.5) and (3.9). At the same time the connection for optical
pulse circuit is same except the Npn transistor emitter pin is connected to Analog pin (A0) of
Arduino. However, the required hardware components for the development of heart monitor
based on pulse sensor SEN-11574 are shown below.

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 Arduino UNO board
 Pulse sensor SEN-11574
 Breadboard
 Bluetooth HC-05
 Android phone
 Buzzer
 LED
 Jumper wires
 LCD 16x2
 Potentiometer
 Resistors
 Header Pins

All the above components have been described while simulating. Further, Buzzer and LED is
being added to the prototype, because each time the microcontroller detects a beat, the buzzer
should beep and LED blinks. The buzzer also beeps fast if there is abnormal beat, according
the threshold is set in Arduino IDE coding.

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3.7.1 Project cost estimation

Table (3.10), below gives the total cost for this project. This includes hardware components
for the SEN-11574 (Design 1) based heart monitor and infrared transmitter based optical heart
monitor (Design 2).

Table 3.10: Components and cost for complete project

Components Quantity Cost (RM)

Arduino Uno board 2 70
Pulse sensor SEN-11574 1 25
Breadboard 2 10
Bluetooth HC-05 1 25
Android phone 1 -
Buzzer 1 1
LED 1 1
Jumper wires 2 x set 8
LCD 16x2 1 6
Potentiometer 1 Simulation lab -
Resistors Set 2
Header pins 1 set 1
LM324 (OP-amp) 1 1.10
2N3904 (transistor) 1 0.40
Resistors of different values - 3
E-capacitor 2 0.40
Ceramic capacitor 2 0.60
Total cost = 154.50 RM

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The components mentioned for optical heart monitor does not have Arduino in Table (3.10),
because the same Arduino board, Bluetooth and LCD are used for this circuit developing. The
readings are recorded separately from both the designs one by one, and then the results are
compared in chapter 4. The hardware implementation did not take long time as the simulation
was performed to make the project flow smooth.

3.8 Project Framework

Figure 3.28: Project Framework

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3.8 Project Management

The following section describes a comprehensive analysis on the project management that has
been undertaken for accomplishing final year project. The Gantt chart is provided in the
Appendix A, where monthly and weekly tasks performed are mentioned. Moreover, the time
period given for the project completion was of two semesters. The project was divided into
five different chapters: Introduction, Literature Review, Research Methodology, Results and
Analysis, lastly the Conclusion. Each Chapter is given a specified timeline as shown in Gantt
chart.

In the month of March, several meetings were held with the lecturers to discuss about the
topics, to be chosen for the final year project. After getting different ideas from the lecturers,
it was decided that the project should be related to biotelemetry devices. However, the first
proposal topic chosen was ‘Patient monitoring system using portable ECG device’ and
submitted to the supervisor on 16th of April 2018. The topic was discussed, and the possible
methods were looked upon it for the device improvement. LabVIEW software was studied for
the development of the project, but the software for student version was lacking in resources
availability.

Further, to make the project more enhanced, second proposal was prepared based on ‘Digital
ECG monitoring system using UHF RFID technique’ and submitted on 7 th of May. The topic
was discussed with two specialized lectures with the respect to biomedical and communication
department. The introduction of the report was written and then was reviewed by the
supervisor.

In addition, research work on the project was given a gap because of the final examination of
the semester. Besides, the final submission of project title was on 28 th of May.

In the month of June, a literature on heart diseases and its effect on the heart rates was studied
through reading articles, research papers and books related to it. After knowing the basic
function of heart activity, the next step was to study the different types of heart monitors that

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are used to measure heart activity. The books included were ‘ECG made easy’ by the author
‘Luthra, Atul’ and book ‘150 ECG Problems’ by ‘Hampton, John R’.

During the month of July, not much work on the research part could have been performed due
to time taken in understanding in new concepts. Along with this, a brief research was
undertaken to look for the software and components of building the project. Several
microcontrollers such as Arduino and MATLAB software were looked upon.

At the starting of August, the project title was modified to ‘Design and Fabrication of Arduino
Based Heart Rate Monitoring System Using Reflectance Photoplethysmography’ and the
algorithm for the project was discussed with the supervisor. Once the final topic was approved
by the supervisor, the next primary step was to study the different principles that are used to
detect the heart beats. These included ECG, PPG, and PCG principles that measures different
characteristics of the heart. However, Photoplethysmography (PPG) was selected as basic
principle that will be followed in developing heart monitor. The reason to choose PPG is that
it uses simple methodology, i.e. it detects the variation in blood pulse and gets the Pulse rate,
from which the heart is to be calculated. Other reason is that its increasing demand in wearable
technology.

The month of September includes the learning of different software’s that helped in the project
development. As the project is Arduino based, the Arduino IDE software was installed for the
learning. Moreover, the learning sources used were from the official website of Arduino where
different commands and libraries were studied. For better understanding, the Arduino starter
kit was used and the YouTube channel ‘Top tech boy’ lessons were followed. After this, KY-
039 sensor was used for testing the programming for detecting heart beats per minute (BPM).
Lastly, the coding for heart beat detection was successful after a long effort made in
programming.

During the month of October, it was decided that the project would have two heart monitor
designs having a difference of light source, i.e. Green LED and infrared LED. The reason to
use different light sources was to check the performance of the sensor for getting better results.
In the mid of October, Chapter 2 ‘literature review’ was submitted to the supervisor and then

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the development of project took place. The first task was to simulate the proposed designs
using a simulation software ‘Proteus’. As soon as, the simulation was successful, the further
job was to select a communication device that would transmit the data wirelessly to mobile
phone. Low energy Bluetooth HC-05 module was used for data transmission.

The hardware development took two weeks for the construction of prototype. University EE
lab was arranged by the supervisor to accomplish projects prototype. The troubleshooting was
maintained for the project and by the end of October, chapter 3 was written.

In month of November, the analysis for the heart beat took place. The sensor was placed on
under two different sites of the body, i.e. index finger and wrist. Additionally, two different
conditions were set while measuring BPM of the heart, i.e. The subject at rest and after
performing activity. Temperature factor was also taken for the analysis part. It was found that
the developed circuit (Design 2) using infrared LED had slightly different readings compared
to the standard pulse sensor SEN-11574. The demonstration for the project was shown to the
supervisor and then finally chapter 4 analysis was documented.

At the first week of December conclusion for the project was documented and then the report
was formatted as required by the supervisor. The final report was submitted on 14 th of
December 2018.

By and large, all the difficulties and obstacles encountered during the project was tackled and
the Project was completed within the time frame given.

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 Chapter 4

Results and Analysis

4.1 Overview

This chapter is categorized into two main sections which includes results and analysis.
Additionally, in results section, the simulated designs for heart rate monitor which includes
brief explanation on coding implementation will be depicted and hardware results will be
analyzed. Further, discussion is made with respect to data and results acquired during the
testing performed throughout the project. This will evaluate the accuracy percentage of Beats
per minute (BPM) measured. The results for wireless data transmission using Bluetooth HC-
05 module and testing of distance range from the monitoring device, will be studied and
analyzed.

The second section includes the analysis of the signals, generated from the output of developed
heart monitor. likewise, the hardware measurement results based on finger and wrist placement
over the sensor will be compared between the two designed heart monitors. A comprehensive
analysis is carried out on the PPG signals generated from finger and wrist by using different
sources of LEDs. i.e. Green and infrared.

The values are compared between two states, i.e. At rest and motion. After this, the chapter
shows the comparison of collected data and results with standard device to determine the
system accuracy and percentage error. A block diagram in Figure (4.1) shows the overview of
result and analysis.

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4.1.1 Block Diagram

Figure 4.1: Block diagram for Result and Analysis

4.2 Design Results and Data collection

Before analyzing the performance of the system, several tests are made on the components of
the system to ensure the system gives a satisfying output. The first testing includes the coding
of an Arduino UNO, through which the BPM data is obtained. The Figure 4.2 shows the first
coding part in Arduino IDE software for the main working of system, interfaced with LCD
16x2.

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 Figure 4.2: Arduino coding for BPM measurement

Figure 4.3: Void setup

Figure (4.3) shows void setup, where the Arduino IDE executed the program at once
throughout the coding. In this Section, the Output Pin modes were set to operate each time the
operation is started. Once the code is uploaded to the Arduino board with 5V adapter, the LCD
displays ‘PLACE FINGER’ and Output PinMode, i.e. LED blinks and Buzzer beeps each time
beat is detected. The baud rate for serial communication with serial monitor is set to (115200).

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Figure 4.4: Void Loop

Figure 4.5: Void Loop

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Before the void loop is set, different variables are defined that will assist in the working of
system. Three main variables that plots the signals are; Pulse signal, Inter-beat interval (IBI)
and threshold value which is set to be 525. In short, If Else condition have been used in the
programming to determine the BPM. Complete coding is provided in the Appendix with the
specified comments of each library and volatile variable. Lastly, serial plotter is defined at the
start of the programming to get an output PPG heart signal.

Figure 4.6: Arduino Code Testing

The next step after the test code for BPM detection is to program the whole system that
transmits the data wirelessly from Arduino board to the wireless receiver. The test coding for
the Bluetooth is interfaced with main system coding as shown in Figure (4.7).

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 Figure 4.7: Bluetooth library interface with BPM coding

The serial library (Software Serial.h) is added to the coding for a wireless communication
system. The Rx and Tx pin for the Hc-05 on Arduino board is defined as pin 10 and 11
respectively. For displaying the result on the Bluetooth device, ‘mySerial’ command is used.

4.2.1 SEN-11574 Heart Rate Monitor

As, the prior objective is to construct the heart rate monitor design. The Figure (4.8) and (4.9)
below shows the tested heart monitor designs. Both of the designs gave a simulated result. i.e.
heart beat (beats per minute).

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 Figure 4.8: Simulated Result for Pulse Sensor-based Heart Monitor Design 1

Figure – 4.9: Simulation Result for BPM Detection and Telemetry Monitoring System
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Figure (4.8) and (4.9), represents the working of heart monitoring system where the LCD
shows the heart detection and a Bluetooth is used to receive the data wirelessly over a certain
distance.

The system is designed in such a way, that when the device is given a power supply,
a monitoring device will show up to the patient or a user with a command message ‘place
finger’, and then the pulse is being sensed. A distant receiver or separate nurse room is where
the Bluetooth devices receives the data wirelessly and patient records can be saved.

Figure (4.10) below, depicts the hardware setup for heart rate monitor that uses Pulse sensor
SEN-11574 (Design 1) for sensing the pulse.

Figure 4.10: Hardware setup for heart rate monitoring system (Design 1)

As from figure 4.10, the SEN-11574 surface area is the place where the subjects (Person)
body part must be placed on it. i.e. finger and wrist.

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4.2.2 Signal Conditioning Circuit for Heart Rate Monitor

The signal conditioning circuit have been designed in the software for BPM detection. The
reason it is designed is that it uses unique light source compared to SEN-11574. Infrared LED
and Photodiode is used as a sensing unit to record the BPM. Figure 4.11 shows the simulated

Figure 4.11: Simulated Signal conditioning Circuit Design for HRM

Moreover, Figure 4.12, shows the complete circuitry setup by using infrared transmitter and
photodiode receiver for sensing for heart rate monitor (Design 2). The circuit is operated in
similar way to design 1, only the difference is that signal conditioning principle have been
implemented in the circuit by adding a modified operational amplifier LM-324, and NPN
2N3904 transistor.

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 IR LED and
Photodiode

Figure 4.12: Hardware Setup for Design 2 Heart Monitor System

4.2.3 Heart beat detection (BPM)

This part is the most crucial stage where the beats per minute is recorded by placing a finger
and wrist on the sensor probe. However, the measurement of heart rate is performed under two
conditions. i.e. at rest and after exercise or motion. As mentioned earlier, the two designed
heart monitors use different light sources. Therefore, the readings were recorded from two
different designed heart monitors which will have different recorded readings.

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4.3 SEN-11574 heart monitor Results

The coding uses the following formula to calculate BPM throughout the measurement
performed.
Sample time is set to be 10 seconds, in which the number of beats is detected within these 10s.
Therefore, BPM is given by:

BPM = Total beats x 6

4.3.1 Index finger

Firstly, the pulse sensor SEN-11574 based heart monitor is used for detecting heart beats per
mint. When finger is placed on the sensor, the heart rate BPM is recorded after an interval of
10 seconds, because the time it takes to measure the blood pressure and pulsation. The
hardware setup for the heart beat diagnoses is given below in Figure (4.13).

Figure 4.13: Demonstration of Finger Placement

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4.3.1.1 Subject at Rest

The first reading gives rate of 60 beats per mint (BPM). Where the beats constantly vary over
the time. In the same way, three times the measurement is recorded. In addition, the same
method is used to measure pulse at wrist for three times under rest condition. Figure (4.14)
below represents the recorded heart rate waveform changing from 57 to 60 BPM at normal
room temperature 25 deg C.

60 BPM
53 BPM

Figure 4.14: Waveform from Serial plotter

The Arduino Uno uses serial plotter tool to generate the heart beats waveform. Moreover, the
generated waveform also depends on the type of coding implemented. The coding is used to
detect beats every time the sensor senses the pulse. As it can be seen from the above figure,
that the amplitude of recorded waveform changes from time to time. The signals generated
form the finger while at rest seems to be smooth, as there is a slight motion artifact but still
negligible.

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The reason behind the smooth signals is that sensor uses green LED as a source, where its
wavelength is set to be 520 nm. The shorter wavelength does not penetrate deep into the index
finger and avoids the reflection of the light with bones structure that might appears as motion
artifact. Moreover, the reflected green light PPG includes less information from non- pulsatile
deeper tissues which makes it a good source to detect beats.

4.3.1.2 Subject at Motion

This includes the detection of pulse rate after the person is subjected to exercise and then the
heart BPM is calculated. Figure 4.15 below shows one of the readings obtained after the
subject (person) performs the exercise.

Figure 4.15: Result of Signal produced from finger at Motion state

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The output waveform shows the unusual rising of the pulse rate which further gives the random
BPM values. This is because the heart requires more blood pumping when a person performs
an activity. Therefore, more blood pumping will cause the contraction of the heart faster,
resulting in increased abnormal heart rate.

According to the figure, it is studied and concluded that the heart rate is greatly influenced by
the respiratory rate. Therefore, when performing an activity, it is founded that when a person
breathes in, the heart rate increases and when breathes out, the heart rate decreases. That is
why the waveform in Figure (4.15), shows continuous rise and falls in PPG signals.

4.3.2 Wrist

It is important for the pulse oximeters to be used anywhere around the body parts to detect
the Pulse which gives relative information about heat rate. Therefore, the SEN-11574 is
placed at wrist where it detected the pulse of the subjected.

4.3.2.1 At Rest

As the sensor is attached to the wrist pulse location, the Arduino microcontroller detected the
change in blood pulsation and the waveform is plotted at the serial plotter as shown in Figure
(4.16). It is founded that the BPM values from the wrist differs from the index finger, this is
because the structure of the wrist.

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 Peak to
peak
interval

Figure 4.16: Result of signal produced from wrist at rest

As the wrist is placed over the sensor, the Arduino starts to give output waveform signal of the
pulse. The PPG waveform caused from the wrist appears to be less in amplitude. i.e. the signals
amplitude is less than that of generated from the index finger. The significant less amplitude
over the wrist is because of the radius bone structure and radial artery location. That is why the
sensor attachment on the wrist plays a crucial role in determining the pulse. Moreover, signals
produced from capillaries parts like finger, was comparatively stable compared to the wrist,
i.e. weak signals.

The HR given in this case was 95 BPM, person being at rest. The reason for the high rate is
due to continuous movement of wrist which causes motion artifacts as well. The wrist is placed
over the sensor for about 20 seconds to give an accurate result.

4.3.2.2 At motion state

It is prominent to verify that the HR monitor should give the accurate readings when the person
such as running or performs activity. The prototype did not have the option to hold while

94
performing an activity. Therefore, the subject first performs the activity such as running and
following the sensor is placed on the wrist for the measurement. The waveform produced is
shown in Figure (4.17).

Figure 4.17: Output signal from wrist at Motion state

The sensor took long time to sense the pulse and give BPM value. This is due to peak to peak
time that pressure wave takes to propagate from heart to peripheral site of measurement and
then back. The distance between two systolic peaks is referred as peak to peak interval, same
as R-R interval in ECG. However, this peak to peak determines the heart beats in the PPG
signal. The overall waveform at wrist while performing at wrist might give error. The reason
is that the Green light might not be penetrated deeper into tissues to get the required blood
pulsation reading.

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4.4 Infrared LED and Photodiode as Sensing probe

In order to compare the results obtained from sensor-based heart monitor, the second designed
monitoring device is utilized to record the readings where the comparison between the beats
detected is analyzed. Here the light transmitter uses infrared LED to detect the pulse. Figure
(4.18), below shows the infrared based designed heart monitor.

Figure 4.18: Design 2 working for HRM

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4.4.1 Index finger

4.4.1.1 Rest State

When the pulse was recorded from the above circuit, the BPM value urged and reached the
threshold value of 238, as set in the coding. However, 1minute time interval was given until
the device gets stable and gives the actual pulse rate. The reason behind this uprising value is
that the device uses infrared LED as a source, which is found to be sensitive to surrounding
lights. The other reason might be the pressure being applied on the transmitter and photodiode
receiver, resulting in change of readings. However, the device measured the pulse rate and
again through the coding the BPM is calculated. As the subject is at rest, the monitor gave
BPM average 65 of detection as shown in Figure (4.19).

Figure 4.19: Waveform produced from design 2 at rest state

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4.4.1.2 Motion State

The same concept is applied as described in (4.3.2.2), where the BPM is recorded at motion.
The Figure (4.20), shows the signal generated at a BPM of 100.

Figure 4.20: Signal During Activity

As it can be seen, the waveform generated was not stable by having interferences that appears
as an external influence on measurements such as, surrounding lights, skin temperature, skin
density, and extra pressure on the sensor.

It is being noted that, as the subject moves, there will be rise in the waveform that appears as
an interference in pulse rate detection. Lastly, the circuit gave successful readings. It is being
observed that the infrared light penetrates deep in wrist tissues giving accurate location
information. The wavelength of infrared LED lies between 910-920 nm.

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4.4.2 Wrist

Not much readings could have been observed while placing wrist on the infrared LED
(transmitter) photodiode (receiver). The reason is that the circuit build is sensitive to motion
and the wrist movement was greater in this case. However, it is founded that whenever the
wrist is placed stationary on the detector, the values appeared to be accurate. Figure (4.21),
shows the output waveform of BPM measured accurately.

Figure 4.21: Signal Result on Wrist for Design 2

It is concluded that infrared LED gives a good graph and BPM value when compared with
the BPM values obtained from Green LED at wrist site. Table (4.1), shows the comparison
of readings according to the results obtained under Rest condition at finger.

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 Table 4.1: Comparison of BPM values at Finger site

Body No. of Heart monitor design 1 (Green Heart monitor design 2

site record light) (Infrared light)
BPM BPM

At 1 60 65
finger
2 72 78

3 69 69

The developed heart monitors gave fair BPM readings when taken from the index finger. The
readings taken with Green Led at finger site gave accurate BPM compared to infrared LED
which was giving more pulsation readings because of its wavelength. The Table (4.2) shows
the comparison on the wrist measurement by two different light sources.

Table 4.2: Comparison of BPM values at Wrist site

Body No. of Heart monitor design 1 (Green Heart monitor design 2

Site record light) (Infrared light)
BPM BPM
At 1 50 72
wrist
2 85 98

3 75 87

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In addition, the infrared LED appeared to be accurate at wrist site as it was giving accurate
pulsation information but the while measuring the BPM it is hard to get values due to
continuous motion. Therefore, the circuit needs to have increased sensitivity to motion artifacts
when measuring Pulse at wrist site.

To verify the accuracy of the developed HR systems performance, the other standard heart
detection device is being used to record the pulse and calculate heart BPM. However,
alternative device is used for comparison; ‘heart rate detection’ (mobile application).

4.5 Heart Rate Detection using Standard Device

4.5.1 Mobile application

The application uses flash light as a source of transmitter and camera as a detector. The finger
is placed on the back camera and the application detects the heart rate after recording for 10
seconds. The Figure (4.22), shows the output detected heart BPM.

Figure 4.22: BPM detection from mobile Application

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The heart beat (63 BPM) detected in Figure (4.22), is when the heart is at resting state. The
waveform is same as generated in Figure (4.19) from developed heart monitor. Moreover, the
idea of breathing in and out rapidly was checked in the waveform behavior from this
application. As in Figure (4.15), the developed heart monitor gave rough signals when the
subject performed activity, the same situation is observed when heavy breath is taken while
recording heart rate in the mobile application.

Figure 4.19: BPM detection from mobile during exercise

Table (4.3), shows the comparison of BPM recorded from different monitors. The values are
recorded by placement of finger on sensor or transmitter.

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 Table 4.3: comparison of BPM values between three different monitors

Subject No. of Heart Monitor Heart Monitor Heart-Rate

status record Design 1 (Green Design 2 (Infrared Application
(Index light) light) (Phone)
finger) BPM BPM BPM
At rest 1 60 65 63
2 72 78 69
Activity 1 95 98 89

As from the Table (4.3), it is observed that the developed heart monitor using green light gave
fair results when compared with the HR estimated from mobile application. However, the
design 2 heart monitor gave a more difference compared to other devices. This is because, the
circuit built might have sensitive low pass filter, where the signals might not be amplified
properly. For the improvement in circuit design 2, an LM358 operational amplifiers can be
replaced instead of using op-amp LM324. Moreover, by implementing automatic gain control,
it could amplify the signals to proper voltage levels under several conditions. By and large, all
the heart beat record is shown below in Figure (4.24) line chart presentation.

HR (BPM) at finger
120
BPM values from SEN-11574
100

80 BPM values from Design 2 ( infrared)

BPM

60
HR estimation from mobile
40 application
activity state
20

0 activity state
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Seconds

Figure 4.24: Line chart presentation for BPM values

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Figure (4.24) above shows the results of heart detection by three different detection devices
that includes Design 1 (Green light), Design 2 (infrared) and mobile application. The first three
legends represent when the subject is at rest. It shows the BPM detected for every 10 seconds
whereas, last three legends depict the BPM comparison when the subject (person) performs a
certain activity.

As from the recorded readings, the PPG signal produced from radial artery locations might
have different values. Therefore, the location of sensor placement accurately is important,
whereas at wrist it is still hard to get accurate values because people have unique position and
depth of radial artery from each other.

4.5.2 Results Accuracy

The values measured from the prototype are compared with the values from standard heart rate
application. However, the percentage error, accuracy and precision of the system is given.

Average heart rate BPM values measured from the developed system = 80 BPM

Average BPM values measured from standard heart rate mobile application = 74 BPM

Percentage error % : 𝑥 100

Percentage error % = 𝑥 100

Error = 8.1 %

System Accuracy = 91.9 %

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Accuracy and Precision

From Table 4.3, the values appear to be precise and accurate for the developed monitoring
system as represented in Figure 4.25.

Figure 4.25: Accuracy and Precession of System

BPM Comparion Graph

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
SEN-11574 (Design1) Design2 (Infrared LED) BPM estimated by mobile application
1 2 3

Figure 4.26: Comparison Graph for BPM Values

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4.6 Behavior of AC/DC components

The behavior of PPG signal changed with the change in environment for green and infrared
LED. In this section, the PPG signals are studied by performing the pulse measurement under
three different conditions. These includes, Normal room temperature and hot temperature. The
results showed the difference in the amplitude of AC component of the signal to a greater
extent by varying the temperatures. However, the DC components showed slight change in
amplitude.

4.6.1 Normal Temperature (25 °C)

Figure (4.27) below shows the PPG waveform after recording pulse at finger site in normal
room temperature. The AC components amplitude is found to be stable and clear, but the DC
components changes to little extent.

Figure 4.27: Green LED signal at 25 °C

Figure 4.28: Infrared LED signal at 25 °C

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4.6.2 Hot Temperature (35 °C)

Figure (4.29) and (4.30) shows the output waveform produced when the temperature is
roughly around 30-35 °C. It is noted that there is gradual reduction in the amplitude of the AC
component, but the signal is still visible. The decrease in AC component of green and infrared
light is seen, however, the DC component of green LED does not change where as in infrared
LED is decreased. The reason is that the irradiation volume including the blood vessel should
be larger than at normal temperature.

Figure 4.29: Decrease in AC component at 35 °C

Decrease in DC
component

Figure 4.30: Decrease in DC component

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4.8 Bluetooth Communication System

This section describes the communication part of the project, where the heart beat (BPM)
records are sent wirelessly via Bluetooth HC-05 module to an android phone. The application
was installed for serial communication. The system worked in such a way that can be utilized
in hospitals.

Moreover, it is important that Tx and Rx pin connection of the of HC-05 module with Arduino
board should be removed while compiling the code. Once the code is compiled, the heart
monitor system starts operating and the HC-05 module starts blinking as a sign of connection
pairing. The android phone application is used as a receiver for the communication. Figure
4.31 shows the display on receiver side as soon as connection is developed.

Figure 4.31: Bluetooth communication at receiver port (Android)

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The communication system is synchronized with the beats per mint (BPM) detection. On the
side of the BPM measurement, the detected BPM values are transmitted to the android
application. Figure (4.32) and (4.33) below shows, the detected BPM displayed on LCD and
mobile phone at the same time.

Figure 4.32: BPM data at receiver side (Android)

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 HC-05
transmitter port

Android phone as
data receiver Port

Figure: 4.33: Bluetooth Transmitter and Receiver

As the data is transferred successfully, the next step is to analyze the distance of the Bluetooth
(mobile phone) that can be kept over a certain meter to the heart monitor device. Table (4.4)
represents the test range for Bluetooth device.

Table 4.4: Range test Result for HC-05 module

No. Distance Range Results

(meter)
Test 1 Test 2 Test 3

1 4 Pass Pass Pass

2 8 Pass Pass Fail

3 10 Pass Fail Fail

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The range test conducted gave a maximum range of 10 meters. The idea is to transfer the data
wirelessly by using cheap communication module. The reason Bluetooth is chosen over the
Zigbee and Wi-Fi modules is that both appears to be expensive compared to Bluetooth.
Moreover, in hospitals Bluetooth is the best choice for the use of monitoring patient’s health
care.

Additionally, the nurse room is not far from the patient’s room, the maximum distance is 7-9
meter at maximum. Therefore, the architecture of this project is beneficial for the nursing
department at hospitals, in order to have a real time patient heart rate and other health details.

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 Chapter 5

Conclusion and Recommendation

5.0 Overview

This chapter is classified into two main sections, i.e. Conclusion and Recommendations. The
first section gives an overview of the project objectives achieved and the obstacles that were
tackled. Likewise, the second section proposes, several work and researches are recommended
to make the system more enhanced.

5.1 Conclusion

The main aim of the project was to study and research about the biotelemetry technologies in
order to make the cardiac systems more enhanced. It integrates the design and problem-solving
skills of engineering with biomedical sciences to improve wearable heart monitors what could
help the heart patients to improve the quality of health in daily lifestyle and can serve them as
alert call for any serious heart issues. Moreover, such systems can also be implemented at
hospitals or clinics for continuous monitoring of the patient by using wireless communication
system.

Three main objectives were selected for this project to have improved heart rate
detection system. The first objective was to design and develop heart rate monitor using two

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different properties of sensing methods, i.e. Pulse sensor SEN-11574 and Signal conditioning
circuit that uses (Infrared LED and photodiode for pulse detection). Furthermore, to have a
constant programming system the Arduino Uno is used as a microcontroller that controls the
working of the circuit.

The heart monitor system uses photoplethysmography (PPG) principle in the project
to detect the Beats per minute (BPM) values. For the Pulse sensor SEN-11574 with LED of
(520-560 nm wavelength), biomedical test sensor was installed and used in software, whereas,
the potentiometer is used to control the voltage level at sensor. This concept is then related to
the hardware working concept of SEN-11574 sensor, as it gives the output value when the
sensor detects the pulse in finger or wrist. Likewise, the signal conditioning circuit was
designed, that uses Infrared LED (910-940 nm wavelength) and photodiode as a pulse detector,
LM 324 operational amplifier for filtering and amplifying the signal, and lastly NPN-2N3904
transistor for the output signal.

This is achieved by programming the code in Arduino IDE software. Additionally,

once the coding is programmed, the ‘Proteus’ software is used for simulating and testing the
system. Once the circuits were interfaced with Arduino, the output BPM value was diagnosed.
The hardware prototype was made successfully by giving the BPM value, when the finger and
wrist was placed over the sensor area. By compiling suitable coding for heart rate detection
into Arduino board, the results depicted that heart rate can be detected from variations of blood
flow rate through finger or wrist. However, the project achieved its first objective by having
simple improved heart monitoring system.

To develop a wireless communication system for heart monitor, low power (3.3V)
Bluetooth HC-05 module is used to create a connection with Android device. HC-05 Bluetooth
module is interfaced with the heart monitor through the coding in Arduino, where it acts as an
interpreter between a heart monitor and Android device. Lastly, the data from the heart monitor
is sent wirelessly to an android receiver by establishing serial communication through HC-05

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module. The system had a range of 10 meters between the transmitter (heart monitor) and
receiver (Android). However, the second objective of the project was accomplished.

Subsequently, the results were compared and analyzed between the heart monitor
using Green LED and infrared LED as source. Additionally, the experimental study is carried
out by placing the sensor on finger and wrist, where the performance of the sensor is analyzed.
It has been concluded from the experiment performed that by using LED of wavelength 520-
560 nm, i.e. Green Led on the index finger for pulse detection gives accurate values. Whereas
the wavelength of 910 nm, i.e. infrared LED can be used at the wrist giving more pulsation
information. However, the readings and signals recorded from the PPG based heart monitoring
system, the amplitude of output PPG signal gets affected by two processes. The first process
includes the reduction factor of back reflected light, where the light is reflected by the tissues
and backlights superficial artery. Hence, the larger diameter of the artery, the less light reflects
to the sensor.

Furthermore, the second process includes the reflection of light by the arterial wall.
This means that more light is reflected by the arterial walls which causes in the attenuation of
the signals. That is why the shape of the PPG signal mainly rely on the effect of these two
processes. On the other side, the PPG signal gets affected by the respiration, that is why the
magnitude of PPG signal is influenced. Temperature could also reportedly affect the PPG
signal and the ABP values. When the temperature of the hand was decreased to a low level,
the blood pressure of the radial artery would increase as well as its diameter. Lastly, the
component ratio and amplitude of signals are affected by the change in light wavelength. Later
this affect causes change in coefficient correlation of pulse rate and heart rate.

By and large, the developed heart monitor showed accurate and precise and the
percentage error is 8.1%, resulting in the accuracy of 91.9%.

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 5.2 Recommendations

For future development, there is a lot of scope to improve the heart monitoring systems.
Moreover, some of the suggestions for the system enhancement are:

 The acceleration sensor should be added to the system, where it can remove the motion
artifacts.
 The system should be made lighter by miniaturizing into PCB and make commercially
available for public use.
 Number of health parameters should be added such as, blood pressure estimation, respiratory
rate and body temperature etc., to make the system more valuable.
 To guarantee the system accuracy, number of testing should be performed on people of
different ages and health conditions.
 More advance technology should be used for the communication. Such as Wi-Fi, ZigBee or
Radio frequency.

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 APPENDIX A

Design and Fabrication of Arduino

Based Heart Rate Monitoring System
Using Reflectance
Photoplethysmography

GANTT CHART

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
START DURATION
TASK NAME DUE DATE SPRINT/MILESTONE
DATE (WEEKS)

Phase 1
Proposal 1 submission 3/16/2018 4/16/2018 4

Phase 1
Introduction 4/16/2018 5/28/2018 6

Phase 1
Literature Survey 5/28/2018 8/6/2018 10

Phase 1
Interim Report submission 8/6/2018 10/1/2018 8

Phase 2
Learning Arduino IDE 9/1/2018 10/1/2018 4

Phase 2
Learning Proteus 8 Professional 10/1/2018 10/14/2018 2

Phase 2
Selection of Materials 10/14/2018 10/20/2018 1
Designing the Heart Rate Monitor Phase 2
System 10/21/2018 11/5/2018 2

Phase 2
Demonstration of Simulated Results 11/5/2018 11/6/2018 1

Phase 2
Hardware Development 11/7/2018 11/12/2018 1

Phase 3
Testing of hardware 11/12/2018 11/18/2018 6
Performing Experiment at finger and Phase 3
wrist 11/18/2018 11/20/2018 0
Wireless Communication system ( Hc- Phase 3
05) 11/18/2018 11/20/2018 0

Phase 3
Troubleshooting 11/20/2018 11/25/2018 5

Phase 4
Comparing and Compiling Results 11/26/2018 12/16/2018 3

Phase 4
Editing, Corrections and Conclusion 11/26/2018 12/16/2018 3

Phase 4
Final Report Submission 11/26/2018 12/16/2018 3

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119
APPENDIX B

120
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APPENDIX C

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