Projects:smARtPULSE

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smARtPULSE - Low cost, Open Source, Bluetooth Oximeter and Pulse monitor

smARtPULSE is a new Open Source Hardware Project from smARtMAKER.

This low cost bluetooth oximeter can be used "out of the box" by anyone associated with the free App for iOS and Android, but Makers and Tinkerers will appreciate the full open source nature of this project, the totally open protocol and the free to use and redistribute API. Anyone can develop projects and ideas based on the data received by smARtPULSE. Some examples include remote monitoring of health status', and a low cost network of oximeters for hospitals.

smARtPULSE offers the advantage of a very simple communication protocol based on Bluetooth with common pairing functions and low power consumption. smARtMAKER will release the API and examples for the most common platforms, including Windows, iOS, Android, Linux (including Raspberry PI) and OSX. Development platforms for hobbyists like Arduino or the innovative Electric Imp will be supported as well.

With smARtPULSE, Makers can easily bring health monitoring in to the Internet of Things.

A short demo video of smARtPULSE in action:


The actual working prototype of smARtPULSE:

Pulse Oximetry

Pulse oximetry is a non-invasive method allowing the monitoring of the saturation of a patient's hemoglobin.

A sensor is placed on a thin part of the patient's body, usually a fingertip or earlobe, or in the case of an infant, across a foot. Light of two different wavelengths is passed through the patient to a photodetector. The changing absorbance at each of the wavelengths is measured, allowing determination of the absorbances due to the pulsing arterial blood alone, excluding vein blood, skin, bone, muscle, fat, and (in most cases) nail polish. With near-infrared spectroscopy it is possible to measure both Oxyhemoglobin and deoxygenated hemoglobin on a peripheral scale (possible on both brain and muscle).

(from Wikipedia [Read the full source])

An example of a finger mounted pulse oximeter taking measurement through the fingernail:

Innovations from smARtMAKER

A common oximiter is a stand alone product that represents the data collected over a display. One of our engineers had a lot of experience in the development and setup of production for a top selling oximeter. Starting from this experience and a deep knowledge of the algorithms necessary to properly calculate the data; we designed this innovative solution, that includes the following characteristics:

• a strong and stable algorithm for the calculations of Oxygen and BPM levels
• bluetooth communications
• Open Source protocol easy to implement on any device capable of bluetooth communications

smARtPULSE is the only Open Source and Low Cost device of this kind, an open door to the health monitoring for Makers.

Where we are at

These steps have been completed:

• The electronic design and prototyping are completed and tested
• The communication protocol is definitive
• The basic API for Android and Windows are working

We need to complete these steps:

• Design of the final shell
• 3D printing and testing of the shell
• Design and engineering of the mold
• Complete the API for iOS, Arduino and other platforms

Hardware

Electronic Design

smARtPULSE's design is completed, the final electronic board have been released and the working prototypes tested since November 2012.

The basic characteristics of the electronic board for smARtPULSE includes:

• embedded microcontroller dedicated to the generation of the wavelengths, reading of the data, calculation of the parameters and generation of the output stream
• Bluetooth interface
• battery control management
• optional support for Oled/LCD display

smARtPULSE is designed to be used both with common AAA batteries (2x) or with 3.7V Li-Ion batteries.

The final working electronic board:


Shell

The design of the shell of smARtPULSE is scheduled for the next phase of project's development.

The working prototypes are based on a commonly available shell used by many manufacturers of stand alone oximeters. smARtPULSE will benefit of a new, and original shell design that will offer a final product smaller and more ergonomic. This will be possible because it is not mandatory to give room to a display and the final design will adopt an integrated rechargeable battery.

The shell used for prototyping and testing of the electronics:

Software

smARtPULSE exports the data generated using a simple protocol. A serial stream of only 5 bytes that includes the SPO2 and the Pulse is sent every second to the paired bluetooth receiver.
Adopting standard bluetooth communication, smARtPULSE is a very easy to implement device. The data protocol and all other code will be available.

API, demo code and tutorials will be available for the following platforms:

• Windows (requires bluetooth adapter with UART capabilities)
• Mac OSX (requires bluetooth adapter with UART capabilities)
• Linux (requires bluetooth adapter with UART capabilities)
• Android (requires at least Gingerbread 2.3)
• iOS (requires at least iOS 5)
• Raspberry PI (requires model B)
• Arduino (requires bluetooth adapter)
• Electric Imp (requires bluetooth adapter)

Some example of platforms under development:

Arduino
smARtPULSE will support all the different methods of bluetooth communication for Arduino, including the embedded, the Xbee modules, and the use of a USB Dongle connected to shields or to the ADK edition.

Raspberry PI
Using a low cost and easy to source Bluetooth USB dongle supported in the most common distributions of Linux for the Raspberry PI; it is very easy to create projects based on smARtPULSE.

Electric Imp
This is the most affordable solution for the Internet of Things. Including a Cortex ARM3 microcontroller, General Purpose I/Os, and standard WiFi support; paired with a Bluetooth module; the Electric Imp will be the most affordable tool to send data from the smARtPULSE over the internet.

Funding

smARtMAKER is seeking additional funding to complete this project, before running a mass crowdfunding campaign. The additional funds are necessary to implement the following mandatory steps:

• produce a larger set of prototypes for field tests
• design the new shell
• prototype the new shell (high quality 3D printing)
• write the API for additional platforms

When a final stage of design and prototyping will be completed, smARtPULSE will be offered to the crowdfunding community with a competitive price, below US$50.

About smARtMAKER

With two R&D facilities in Orlando, Florida, and Shenzhen, China, smARtMAKER is one of the fastest growing team in the Open Source Community.

As members of the OSHWA (Open Source Hardware Association [www.oshwa.org]) we support and encourage the adoption of a totally Open and Free environment and we dedicate energies to the development of solutions and technologies that allows us to easily exchange data and resources between Open Source platforms.

The smARtBUS Open I/O created by smARtMAKER is the most adopted solution for cross operations between different platforms, supporting Arduino, Raspberry PI, Electric Imp, Digispark, freeSoC, TinyDuino and Micromint's Embedded Solutions, with more platforms under development.