An experimental study and design of a system and App to measure pulse rate.

The amalgamation of electronics with healthcare has been an inevitable and positive development that continues to aid people in leading longer and healthier lives. However, one of the major obstacles facing the penetration of these facilities into the third tier cities and villages in India is the cost that these systems entail. The research work aimed to provide a platform for economical and easy access to the usage of such devices. It entails the calculation of pulse rate of human beings using an oximeter probe and interpretation of the results obtained via a mobile application, thereby eliminating the need for expensive interpreters such as ECG machines. Further, information derived from these devices could be used as further health indicators like haemoglobin count and glucose levels. In this paper, the pulse rate is measured using a pulse oximeter probe. The photo detector current signals from the oximeter probe are converted to voltage. The signal is then processed by filtering out noise and by amplification. The microcontroller is responsible for peak detection and calculation of number of peaks in the processed signal. The result in beats per minute is displayed on a user friendly Graphical User Interface along with the interpretation of the reading. The results were then tested for accuracy.