Microcontroller finger print scanner connecting user and doctor

Thesis Overview

<p> </p><p>In this chapter<br>discussion of how the heart works will be treated and some important terms will<br>be defined to help our description of the heart rate scanner device. Some<br>important terms that will be defined are: Microcontroller, Heart rate and<br>Fingertip reader or scanner.</p><p>The<br>heart is a vital part of the human body because it is from the heart acts as a<br>mechanism that pumps blood to reach every nook and cranny of the human body the<br>heart beats up to 100,000 times in a day.</p><p>The<br>heart is divided into two sides and the dividing line is called the septum the<br>right side of the heart pumps blood to the lungs to pick up oxygen, the left<br>side then receives the oxygen rich blood gotten from the lungs and then pumps<br>it to the rest of the body. The heart has four sides or chambers and also four<br>valves these valves are connected to the different blood vessels. The blood<br>vessels and veins carry blood from the body back to the heart while arteries<br>help in the transportation of blood to the rest of the body. (Gary H.<br>Gibbons, 2013).<br>The heart is like a microprocessor in a computer it different blood platelets<br>which are micro mini organisms which are created and destroyed every minute in<br>the body are circulated round the body by the arteries and the veins within a<br>particular time.</p><p>It<br>is important to see how the heart beats, the atria and the ventricles work side<br>by side, alternately contracting and relaxing pump blood. The part of the heart<br>that makes this possible is the electrical system of the heart. The heartbeat<br>is triggered by electrical impulses which travel down a special pathway through<br>the heart. These electrical impulses starts in the small specialized cells<br>which are called the sinoatrial node, it is located at the right atrium. The<br>sinoatrial node is known as the hearts natural pacemaker. Electrical activity<br>spreads through the walls of the atria and cause them to contract. A cluster of<br>cells in the middle of the heart between the atria and ventricles the<br>atrioventricular node acts like a gate that makes the electrical signal slow<br>before it enters the ventricles. This delay allows the atria to have ample to<br>contract before the ventricles contract. A pathway called the His-Purkinje<br>network is a pathway of fibers that sends the impulse to the muscular walls of<br>the ventricles, causing them to contract.</p><p>With<br>the knowledge of how the heart beats it has been noted that when the body is at<br>rest, a normal heart beats up to 50 – 99 times a minute. When partaking in<br>exercise, having emotions, down with a fever and on medications the heart beats<br>higher than normal that is over 100 beats per minute. (James Beckerman, 2016)</p><p>The<br>heartbeat or pulse rate is one of the important vitals being checked in any<br>health organization. Taking a pulse does not only measure the heart rate, but<br>it also indicates the heart rhythm and the strength of the pulse with these<br>measurements the doctors will be able to detect whether there is or is not an<br>issue. The normal pulse of a healthy adult is ranges from 60 to 100 bpm. The<br>pulse rate fluctuates, that is increases and increases depending on the<br>activity being carried out or the body is at rest. It has been observed that<br>females over the ages of 12 and above tend to have faster heart beats than<br>males.</p><p>There<br>are different ways of checking your pulse, one of the oldest and most<br>conventional way of checking your pulse is to feel the beats by firmly pressing<br>the arteries since blood is pumped out of the body through the arteries. Where<br>the arteries can be felt or the pulse are at the side of the neck, the easiest<br>is found at the wrist, inside your elbow.</p><p>Another<br>way that was used for monitoring the heart rate was the electrocardiograph,<br>this device was a galvanometric device that detects and records the minute<br>differences in electric potential caused by heart action and occurring between<br>different parts of the body. The electrocardiograph was used to detect heart<br>diseases.</p><p>The<br>new modern age monitors come in different types, for example the chest and<br>wrist or even mobile phones like the SAMSUNG S6. From the first edition of<br>plastic straps, water or liquid was required for the device to perform at an<br>optimum level. Later on the units used have conductive smart fabric with<br>microprocessors built into them these microprocessors analyze the<br>electrocardiograph signal to determine the heart rate. Most recent devices use<br>optics to measure the heartrate using infrared light. It works by an infrared<br>light by an internal bulb, as the infrared light is absorbed by the blood, a<br>sensor then measures how dark the infrared light is, if it is extremely dark<br>due to the pulse causing a temporal increase in the amount of blood that is<br>being carried through the measured area and that is counted as heart pulse.</p><p>Most<br>of these products that read the important vitals of heart rate which can be<br>called heart monitors are in the hospital or health facility. So any individual<br>that wants to use the service has to go to the hospital or health facility and<br>the other devices check vitals but do not give so much of a detailed review of<br>your heart performance.</p><p>This<br>project creates a bridge from client to doctor so clients can easily get<br>detailed review from a professional on that individual’s heart performance</p><h3>1.1.2 &nbsp; Microcontroller</h3><p>A<br>microcontroller which is also known as MCU, which stands for microcontroller<br>unit is a computer system on a chip that is used to carry out executable task<br>on mini systems and other mini devices.</p><p>The<br>Microcontroller unit contains an integrated processor, memory and programmable<br>input or output peripherals, which are used to interact with elements in the<br>chip.</p><p>The<br>microcontroller unit is very different from a microprocessor which only<br>contains a Central Processing Unit (CPU). (Ganssle &amp; Mike, 2012)</p><h3><a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">1.1.3 &nbsp; Heart<br>rate measurement</a></h3><p>Let<br>us first define heart rate before discussing how it is measured. Heart rate is<br>the speed of the heartbeat measured by the number of contractions of the heart<br>per minute (bmp)</p><p>Heart<br>rate varies according to different activities of the body. These activities<br>include physical exercise, sleep, anxiety, stress, illness, and ingestion of<br>drugs. These activities also influence the rate of absorption of oxygen and<br>excretion of carbon dioxide which also influences the heart rate. (Amer, et al.,<br>2014).</p><h3><a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">1.1.4 &nbsp; Fingertip<br>reader or scanner</a></h3><p>A<br>fingerprint scanner is a technology that identifies and authenticates the<br>fingerprints of an individual in order to grant or deny access to a computer<br>system or a physical facility.</p><p>When<br>the heart is beating, it pumps blood all through the body, this also changes<br>the blood volume inside the finger artery. This fluctuation of blood can be<br>detected through an optical sensing mechanism placed around the fingertip. The<br>signal can be amplified further for the microcontroller to count the rate of<br>fluctuation, which is actually the heart rate. The sensor unit consists of an<br>infrared light-emitting-diode (IR LED) and a photo diode, placed side by side, and<br>the fingertip is placed over the sensor assembly. The IR LED transmits an<br>infrared light into the fingertip, a part of which is reflected back from the<br>blood inside the finger arteries. The photo diode senses the portion of the<br>light that is reflected back. The intensity of reflected light depends upon the<br>blood volume inside the fingertip. So, every time the heart beats the amount of<br>reflected infrared light changes, which can be detected by the photo diode.<br>With a high gain amplifier, this little alteration in the amplitude of the<br>reflected light can be converted into a pulse. (Rajbex, 2013)</p><p>This<br>device is simply a device that supports communication between CPU board and<br>external devices. This board can be used to send or receive messages which will<br>be a big contribution to our project requirement for a client to be able to<br>communicate the readings to a professional (Doctor), the GSM module will be<br>very needed so this board is very important for the optimization of the project<br>and overall performance.</p><p>From<br>the Electrocardiograph it shows the elaborate process it takes to get a heart<br>rate reading the whole process of putting electrodes on different parts of the<br>skin so it will be easy to detect the pulse from the various muscles the<br>electrodes had been placed on, this process will take a long time. Though the<br>electrocardiograph was created a long time ago but the idea is still welcomed.<br>But all the new heart rate monitors being created which are generally merged to<br>a microcontroller board, are still complex for some individuals to handle. (Laukkanen<br>RMT, 1998)<br>Looking at some of the reviews and research carried out based on the succession<br>of this projects shows that most of the heart measuring devices have common<br>issue which is the usability level of these devices, they are not user<br>friendly. These devices have too many buttons on them without propel<br>description of what each of them mean, which is technical giving the severity<br>of information level and education level individuals have.</p><p>Individual<br>get to visit the hospitals because they can’t afford to go through the stress<br>of using a complicated heart rate measurement device they bought already and<br>getting to the hospital the procedures for registering at a health facility and<br>seeing a medical officer are also time demanding which will force individuals<br>that are really time conscious or impatient to tend to keep postponing their<br>medical check-up because they will have to spend inconsiderable amount of time<br>at the hospital.</p><p>Some<br>other microcontroller heart rate monitoring devices are more technical or<br>complicated to use considering the level of Knowledge of uneducated<br>individuals.</p><p>Based<br>on research on other projects the heart rate monitoring device has to use<br>exactly one minute to get an accurate heart rate measurement which can be done<br>at a faster rate considering time as a factor.</p><p>In<br>others, projects the monitors made where made to just measure our heart beat,<br>but individuals that are not medical practitioners or have no clue on how to<br>read heart rate measurements will not be able to operate the device properly. &nbsp;</p><p>As<br>seen therefore there is a great need to simplify heartrate monitoring devices<br>so everyone would be able to use it so the rate of cardiovascular diseases<br>drastically reduced. </p><p>This<br>project, aim is to build a system that can monitor the heart rate of<br>individuals and make usability of this heart rate measuring device simpler for<br>uneducated individuals who seem to have issues measuring and reading their<br>heart rate by themselves by providing a helper (the doctor) who will decipher<br>the reading that was taken by the device and sent to the doctor for proper<br>analysis and produce a more reader friendly report for the users.</p><p>The<br>objectives of this project are:</p><p>1. &nbsp; &nbsp; To<br>design an algorithm that monitors the heartrate of an individual in thirty<br>seconds.</p><p>2. &nbsp; &nbsp; To<br>review other works that are closely related to this project.</p><p>There<br>will be a fingertip sensor that will read the heart beat from the fingertip<br>using an Infrared Light Emitting Diode (IR LED) for thirty seconds from an LED<br>sensor which sends the data to the microcontroller that will now convert the<br>readings from thirty seconds to one minute so the result given will be beat per<br>minute(bpm). The result is then sent to the screen and when the send button is<br>pressed a message will be sent to the medical professional whose details will<br>be programmed inside the device.</p><p>The<br>project provides a user friendly method of measuring the heart beat even if the<br>user is uneducated or educated he still gains help from a professional (doctor)<br>who analysis the reading and provides a more understandable result.</p><p>The<br>device produces result faster for further analysis.</p><p>This<br>device captures and saves the reading at the particular time and sends it to a<br>professional for proper analysis. It also provides three phases and a button:</p><p>Phase<br>1(up)- automatic send ON</p><p>Phase<br>2(middle)- OFF</p><p>Phase<br>3(down)- manual send ON.</p><p>It<br>has one button on surface which is the send button.</p><p>This<br>device supports a sim card that enables it send information from the reading to<br>the professional analyst (the doctor).</p><p>The<br>device will be an indoor device that will be used in homes, schools, hospitals,<br>emergency health care, military facilities, charity health care tours.</p><p>The<br>rate at which people go to the hospital because of heart related illnesses and<br>diseases are due to the fact that they do not have constant checkups because<br>the closest center to get a checkup will take the individual out of his comfort<br>zone. But with the thirty seconds microcontroller finger print scanner<br>connecting user and doctor, individuals can prevent bad heart conditions by<br>regular checkups from the comfort of their homes, offices and institutions.</p><p>· &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<br>The project will need good network<br>coverage or signal to connect to the doctor.</p><p>· &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<br>Abstract</p><p>· &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<br>Chapter one: Background study, problem<br>statement, aims and objectives, research methodology, scope of study, and<br>project organization.</p><p>· &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<br>Chapter two: Introduction, review of<br>closely related topics conclusion on reviews</p><p>· &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<br>Chapter three: System Analysis and Design<br>Methodology, Instruction, Block Diagram, Explanation of different components,<br>how they will be used and what they will be used for.</p><p>· &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<br>Chapter four: System Implementation and<br>Testing, explaining how the system works diagrammatically, limitations, outline<br>of the different stages and challenges faced, manual.</p><p>· &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<br>Chapter five: Future Enhancement,<br>Recommendation and conclusion.</p><p>· &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<br>References.</p> <br><p></p>