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Wireless monitoring of Heart Rate using Microcontroller

Article · February 2013

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J.S.Prasath J.Srinivasan
Hindustan University
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 ISSN: 2277 – 9043
International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering (IJARCSEE)
Volume 2, Issue 2, February 2013

Wireless monitoring of Heart Rate using Microcontroller

J.S.Prasath
Asst. Professor, Dept. of EIE, Hindustan University.

Abstract - This paper describes the development of of heart disease using ECG signals may be achieved
wireless monitoring of a heart rate based on a by either correlating the pattern of the ECG signal
microcontroller. We can record the ECG signals and with a typical healthy signal, characterizing the
Heart beats of all patients in a single computer. These typical ECG signal using basic logical decisions, or
biomedical signals are acquired and then processed more complicated algorithms to process in depth the
with a microcontroller. After processing, all data are heart disease. The first approach requires complicated
sent to a communication interface that can send this mathematical analysis to obtain the required
information to a personal computer. For the patient diagnosis, while the second one involves only simple
suffering from the cardiac disease it is very necessary analysis in most cases.
to perform accurate and quick diagnosis. For this Electrical signals from the heart characteristically
purpose a continuous monitoring of the ECG signal, precede the normal mechanical function and
patient’s current heart rate and BP are essential. We monitoring these signals has great clinical
can monitor the patient’s ECG signal by using significance. The ECG provides valuable information
Bluetooth transmission and reception in the central about a wide range of cardiac disorders such as the
place in any hospital. The MATLAB software is used presence of an inactive part (infarction) or
to simulate the ECG waveform. enlargement of the heart muscle.
Keywords - Microcontroller, Bluetooth, II. NEED OF WIRELESS TRANSMISSION
Instrumentation amplifier, Filter, MATLAB An ECG/Blood Pressure signal is useful for a doctor
to evaluate a patient’s heart condition relating to

I. INTRODUCTION whether a heart attack has occurred - What parts of

the heart is damaged - Irregular heartbeats - Whether
Early diagnosis for heart disease is typically
the heart is not receiving enough blood or oxygen It
based on recording of ElectroCardioGram (ECG)
has been demonstrated, an ECG/Blood Pressure
signal which is then studied and analyzed using a
signal is extremely valuable, making it a
microcontroller. This paper presents the design and
conventional mechanism used in hospitals by both
implementation of a compact microcontroller-based
doctors and nurses. Similarly it provides the doctor or
system used for wireless monitoring of heart rate on
nurse with a trouble-free approach to the patient’s
real time. An electrocardiogram (ECG) is a test that
ECG/Blood Pressure signal. In fact, for patients in
records the electrical activity of the heart. ECG is
rural and regional areas an ECG report could be sent
used to measure the rate and regularity of heartbeats
to a doctor for examination. Thus, this is a system in
as well as the size and position of the chambers, the
which the doctors at his/her house can treat the
presence of any damage to the heart and the effects of
patient in the emergency condition in the hospital.
drugs or devices used to regulate the heart. Diagnosis

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All Rights Reserved © 2013 IJARCSEE
 ISSN: 2277 – 9043
International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering (IJARCSEE)
Volume 2, Issue 2, February 2013

III. WIRELESS COMMUNICATION 70 beats/minute. This action potential travels across

The wireless technologies such as Bluetooth, the nerves of the atria causing depolarization and
GPRS, GSM or Wi-Fi allow wireless transmission to contraction, resulting in the P wave. The electrical
health or control centers. This system describes a signal continues from the SA node to the
low-cost, portable system with wireless transmission Atrioventricular (AV) node where a brief delay
capabilities for the acquisition, processing, storing (~0.15 seconds) allows for atrial emptying (into the
and visualization in real time of the electrical activity ventricles). The AV node transmits the signal to the
of the heart to a Personal Computer. The data Purkinje fibers (also called the Bundle of His) to
acquisition unit, built here transmits ECG and BP cause ventricular depolarization and contraction,
signals using Bluetooth technology. Bluetooth depicted as the QRS complex. Specifically, the peak
technology was used in the system for reliable of the R segment denotes the beginning of ventricular
communication. contraction. Post contraction begins a phase of

IV. THE ECG Signal repolarization, the T wave, in which blood is pumped

The ECG signal measures the electrical activity from the ventricle chambers to the lungs or body. The

of specialized heart cells that generate repetitive self- T wave diffuses differently than the QRS complex,

induced action potentials. Each action potential beginning in the outer segments of the ventricles and

generated leads to a contraction of the heart muscle propagating inward thus creating a lower amplitude

and thus the heartbeat. signal. Occurring shortly after the T wave, the U
wave is the repolarization of the Purkinje fibers
(rarely detectable due to low SNR). These
contractions are a result of synchronized action
potentials controlling all myofibrils (muscle fibers) to
produce the electrical signals collectively called the
cardiac cycle. The ECG signal can be visually
represented by three major waves which are
synchronized with the heart activity. The focus of the
project relates to the basic measure that is related to
Fig.1 The Heart Conduction System
the heart rhythm, the heart rate.
The heart is divided into four distinct chambers. The
Heart Rate Calculation
upper chambers of the heart are called the Atria.
The number of beats per minute is calculated
They are electrically stimulated first. After some
using a three beat average. In the main function of the
delay for allowing the atria to empty their contents,
supporting software, the time scale is tracked using
the lower chambers, called the Ventricles, are then
two variables, counter and pulse period. Pulse period
stimulated. Initially, the right and left atria (also
is incremented by one during every sample period,
called auricles) are electrically stimulated to contract
and because we sample at a rate of 512Hz, it is
via the sinoatrial (SA) node located in the upper right
relatively easy to track the timescale based on the
atrium. The SA node is motivated through action
number of counts in the pulse period. Whenever there
potentials to maintain a heart rate of approximately

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 ISSN: 2277 – 9043
International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering (IJARCSEE)
Volume 2, Issue 2, February 2013

is a beat detected, the counter is reset. The pulse generated by the heart’s beating, which can be used
period is accumulated for 3 consecutive beats, and on as a diagnostic tool for examining some of the
the third beat the heart rate is calculated using the functions of the heart. It has a principal measurement
formula below. range of 1 to 3 mV and signal frequency range of
0.05 to 140 Hz. ECG signals were acquired through a
low power consumption ECG amplifier. The ECG
amplifier can construct with a gain of 1000, a CMRR
ECG Parameters of 80dB and a frequency bandwidth of 0.05-100 Hz.

Parameter Range Units These signals are both amplified and filtered to the
required specifications. The duration between peaks
Heart Rate 60 – 100 Beats Per
of the QRS waves can be used to calculate the beat-
Minute to-beat heart rate. The output waveform from the
PR Interval 0.12 – 0.20 Seconds ECG amplifier is then fed to the rest of the system.

QT Interval 0.39 + 0.04 Seconds Proper ECG signal acquisition is carried out using
filters for noise suppression and amplifiers to enlarge
P Wave 0.12 Seconds
the signal amplitude as much as possible, while
Duration keeping it within the input voltage range of the
QRS Width 0.05 – 0.1 Seconds analog to digital converter (ADC). The task of the

T Wave 0.08 Seconds ADC is then to digitize the analog voltage with a
resolution high enough to represent the original
Duration
signal. These values can then be collected by a
microcontroller (MCU) which maintains the
connection with the wireless transmitter.

Fig. 2 Relationship between the heartbeat

and pressure changes in the heart
chambers
V. BLOCK DIAGRAM Fig. 3 Block Diagram of microcontroller
based wireless heart rate monitoring
Fig.3 shows the block diagram of ECG
system
module. The ECG signal is an electrical signal

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All Rights Reserved © 2013 IJARCSEE
 ISSN: 2277 – 9043
International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering (IJARCSEE)
Volume 2, Issue 2, February 2013

VI. SIGNAL CONDITIONING CIRCUIT Microcontroller Unit

A Microchip 8-bit microcontroller AT89C51
Electrodes
by is used for outputting the values sequentially. It
In order to measure potentials in the body, an
provides a variety of fast addressing modes for
interface is needed between the body and the
accessing the internal RAM to facilitate byte
measuring device. This function is performed by
operations on small data structures. Microcontroller
biopotential. They serve as transducers to change
is used for storing the values of ECG and Blood
ionic current flowing in the body to electrical current
Pressure waveforms. The AT89C51 is a low-power,
carried by electrode wires to the measuring device.
high-performance CMOS 8-bit microcomputer with
One of the most important characteristics of
4K bytes of Flash programmable and erasable read
electrodes is that they should not polarize. This
only memory. By combining a versatile 8-bit CPU
means that the electrode potential must not vary
with Flash on a monolithic chip, the Atmel AT89C51
considerably even when current is passed through
is a powerful microcomputer which provides a
them. Electrodes made of Silver-Silver Chloride have
highly-flexible and cost-effective solution to many
been found to yield acceptable standards of
embedded control applications.
performance. These electrodes are also nontoxic and
The Bluetooth Transmission Module
are preferred over other electrodes like Zinc-Zinc
Bluetooth technology is the wireless protocol used in
Sulphate, which are highly toxic to exposed tissue.
the transmitter. Bluetooth has many advantages. First,
The Silver-Silver Chloride electrodes meet the
it is available in a user-friendly modular form. There
demands of medical practice with their highly
are many available Bluetooth devices which hide the
reproducible parameters and superior properties with
Bluetooth stack and allow the user to interact with the
regard to long term stability. Hence, these electrodes
device using simple modem commands. This reduces
were chosen for signal acquisition.
development time considerably. In addition,
Instrumentation Amplifiers
Bluetooth is a common technology on mobile
The instrumentation amplifier is basically a
phones, and this will expand the range of use for the
differential amplifier that amplifies the difference
transmitter. The Bluetooth Intelligent Serial Module
between the two input signals. Hence the common
HM1100 is the device selected for the wireless
mode signal is effectively eliminated. Two buffer
module.
amplifiers at the input of each signal are provided to
VII. SIMULATION OF HEART RATE
offer very high input impedance. The gain of the
instrumentation amplifier is set around 1000.
USING MATLAB

Band pass Filter The aim of the heart rate simulator is to produce

To remove the unwanted frequencies in this the typical ECG waveforms of different leads and as

case requires a highly selective band pass four order many arrhythmias as possible. The heart rate

filter. The attenuation of low-frequency components simulator is a Matlab based simulator and is able to

is designed to remove the baseline (or DC) drift and produce normal lead 1 ECG waveform. Figure 4

obtain stable EGG recording. shows the visual representation of ECG waveform.

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 ISSN: 2277 – 9043
International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering (IJARCSEE)
Volume 2, Issue 2, February 2013

Fig. 5 Simulated Heart Rate waveform

using ECG
Fig. 4 Representation of ECG waveform IX. CONCLUSION
In this paper, the implementation of wireless
monitoring of heart rate based on microcontroller for
VIII. SIMULATION RESULT OF HEART
real time analysis of ECG signal and then simulation
RATE
of these ECG signal in MATLAB has been
In this experiment, an ECG waveform with
investigated. The system has been tested successfully
standard specification like Heart beat: 72, Amplitude
on simulated ECG signals. A wireless ECG
of P wave: 25mv, Amplitude of Q wave: 0.025mv,
transmission system, using Bluetooth device, is able
Amplitude of QRS wave: 1.6mv, Amplitude of S
to transmit, record and display the ECG signal in real
wave: 0.25mv, Amplitude of T wave: 0.35mv,
time. This work introduces the wireless
Amplitude of U wave: 0.035mv, Duration of P wave:
communication electrocardiogram detection system
0.09 second, Duration of Q wave: 0.066 Sec,
with the use of AT89C51 microcontroller and the
Duration of QRS wave: 0.11 sec, Duration of S wave:
communication module. Here we use bluetooth
0.066 sec, Duration of T wave: 0.142 sec, Duration of
device for the wireless telemedicine. By using
U wave: 0.0476 sec, P-R interval: 0.16 sec and S-T
bluetooth transmission and reception we can monitor
interval: 0.18 sec taken and simulated in MATLAB.
the ECG signal of patient in the central place in any
With the help of different electrode we monitor the
hospital.
heart bit of the heart and store the heart bit sound in
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
AT89C51 microcontroller then stored result
I wish to thank Professor Ramachandraiah for
transmitted to personal computer with the help of
provided the guidance for this work and faculty
Bluetooth device. The Bluetooth device interfaced
members of the EIE department, Hindustan
with MATLAB by Graphical user interface (GUI).
University for their great support in this work. I also
thank the management of Hindustan University for
their continues support and encouragement.

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All Rights Reserved © 2013 IJARCSEE
 ISSN: 2277 – 9043
International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Electronics Engineering (IJARCSEE)
Volume 2, Issue 2, February 2013

REFERENCES 2002. He got a Master degree in process control and

[1] S. haddab , M .laghrouche measurement instrumentation from Annamalai University, 2007.
science review, volume 9, no.5, 2009 He presented and published the research papers in the
“microcontroller -based system for area of underwater sensors, process control, industrial
electrogastrography monitoring through automation and Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems.
wireless transmission “ department of He is a member of ISTE. His research interests
electronics, mouloud mammeri university. include process control, microcontroller,
[2] Mohammad Faaiz Bin Jamaluddin. “Wireless microprocessor, wireless sensors and industrial
Heart Rate Monitor”, University Teknology automation.
Malaysia, Thesis (B. Eng), 2008.
[3] Mohamed Fezari, Mounir Bousbia-Salah, and
Mouldi Bedda The international arab journal
of information technology, vol 5 no. 4 oct
2008 “Microcontroller Based Heart Rate
Monitor “Department of electronics,
University of Badji Mokhtar, Annaba .
[4] T. Samaras, S. Karavasiliadou, E. Kouidi, et
al.Transtelephonic electrocardiographic
transmission in the preparticipation
screening of athletes, International Journal
of Telemedicine and Applications, vol. 1,
2008, 1-4.
[5] Arif C., “Embedded Cardiac Rhythm
Analysis and Wireless Transmission (Wi-
CARE),” MS Thesis, School of Computing
and Software Engineering, Southern
Polytechnic State University, Marietta,
Georgia, USA, 2004.

Prasath is an assistant professor in

department of electronics and instrumentation
engineering at the Hindustan University, Chennai.
He got a Bachelor degree in electronics and
instrumentation from Madurai Kamaraj University,

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