Designing Heart Rate, Blood Pressure and Body Temperature Sensors for Mobile On-Call System

Abstract

<p>There has been an exponential increase in health care costs in the last decade. Seniors have to make frequent visits to their doctor to get their vital signs measured. There is a huge market for non-invasive methods of measurement of these vital signs. The objective of this project is to design and implement a reliable, cheap, low powered, non-intrusive, and accurate system that can be worn on a regular basis and monitors the vital signs and displays the output to the user’s cell phone. This data is also easily accessible by the physician through wireless network. This project specifically deals with the signal conditioning and data acquisition of three vital signs: heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature. Heart rate is measured through an Electrocardiogram that is obtained by attaching skin surface electrodes on the patient’s wrists and legs. Blood pressure combines the methodologies of Electrocardiography and Photoplethysmography to continuously monitor the systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Body temperature is measured inside the ear with a thermistor. The theory, design procedures, experimental results and discussions of these systems are presented.</p>