Attention Makers

CATEGORY: HEALTHCARE

Portable Non Invasive Health Monitoring System with Virtual Presence

MAKERS: Theja Ram

Going by current statistics as obtained from World Health Organization, the total number of different diseases identified globally is about 30,000. 1/3rd this number is prevalent only in India. In a population of 1.2 Billion, around 5million people die every year to these various diseases. In comparison to the global scenario this leads to a mind-crunching ratio of 1:6 i.e. 1 out of every 6 people in the world who die are Indians. But the industry and the government invest only 4% of the country?s GDP in health care, which is a paltry 5/8th the average amount invested globally. (*Source: WHO) Additionally, India is not as economically advanced such as most developed countries, hence there is a need for one to develop cost effective and accurate systems that can help uplift the current scenario. The current scenario in urban and rural sectors reflects certain challenges such as: ? Lack of medical experts in rural areas. ? Inability of patients to visit the medical expert. ? Traffic and transportation issues in urban areas. These issues must be addressed by government policies, which haven?t been implemented effectively. The Health Monitor System solves certain challenges by introducing a portable device that measures vital parameters such as heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature and spatial oxygen. The device records this data on the onboard memory and finally updates it on the online storage system using the Wi-Fi module. This device is assisted with a Virtual presence robot which provides a communicating medium between the medical expert and the subjects. Our Aim is to develop a Virtual Presence System - a self-sustaining device that mimics the actions and speeches of the Human controller ? allow Doctors and medical practitioners to Monitor and suggest treatments remotely to the target group. Further the system is integrated with a portable Health Monitoring System (HMS) that keeps a regular track of a person?s vitals such as ? Heart rate, Blood pressure, Body heat, Dissolved O2 content etc. using Cloud services. Currently the devices available in the market aim at certain health parameters and provide a good accuracy of the readings. Few of the existing products include - 9Solutions IPCS, AiQ smart textiles, Metria Wearable sensor, BodyTel wearable, Danfoss Polypower Wearable Systems, etc. which provide information of certain parameters in the wearable sector. Alternatively, there are systems that provide a holistic view of all the parameters but aren?t portable nor cost effective. Also, the system does not provide cloud storage for the data to be accessed remotely. The emerging opportunities involve the use of the existing systems and integrate them into single system. Scaling them to a wearable factor can lead to reduced cost and increased portablity. Our main aim is to match the accuracy and reliability of this scaled, integrated system with that of the existing products. The proposed system consists of two major sections: A. Virtual Presence Device ? The device is a self-sustaining semi automatic device that mimics the actions and speeches of the Human controller. This allows the VP device to be available to remotely allow Doctors and medical practitioners to Monitor and suggest treatments to the target group. The device consists of two major components: -Semi - Autonomous robot that mimics the activity of the controller. -Visual Device (either a smartphone or a tablet or just a high-def screen). The semi-autonomous robot consists of a communication device along with a set of motion sensors and actuators that will co-ordinate among each other to provide the controller with a virtual environment of the world. B. Portable Health Monitoring Device ? A system that keeps a regular track of a person?s vitals such as ? Heart rate, Blood pressure, Body heat, Dissolved O2 content etc. and communicates over the cloud. This system integrates the various individual components such as the Heart-rate monitor, blood pressure monitoring system etc. into a single device that can mount on to a person. The system is also designed to be portable, reducing the wiring and dependence of other external equipment. The system consists of: 1. Blood pressure monitor: This system follows the principle used in a sphygmomanometer, composed of an inflatable cuff to restrict blood flow, and a mercury or mechanical manometer to measure the pressure. It is always used in conjunction with a means to determine at what pressure blood flow is just starting, and at what pressure it is unimpeded. 2. PPG Monitor: This is used to monitor Heart rate, respiration, depth of anesthesia, and Oxygen content in the blood vessels. A photoplethysmogram (PPG) is an optically obtained plethysmogram, a volumetric measurement of an organ. A PPG is often obtained by using a pulse oximeter, which illuminates the skin and measures changes in light absorption. With each cardiac cycle the heart pumps blood to the periphery. Even though this pressure pulse is somewhat damped by the time it reaches the skin, it is enough to distend the arteries and arterioles in the subcutaneous tissue. If the pulse oximeter is attached without compressing the skin, a pressure pulse can also be seen from the venous plexus, as a small secondary peak. The change in volume caused by the pressure pulse is detected by illuminating the skin with the light from a light-emitting diode (LED) and then measuring the amount of light either transmitted or reflected to a photodiode. Each cardiac cycle appears as a peak. 3. Body Temperature: This sensor measures and records the body temperature continuously. It uses a simple principle of Brokaw Reference circuit that uses the idea of temperature being directly proportional to the Base-Emitter Voltage. The circuit is then calibrated to produce temperature in Fahrenheit scale. Future scope of this project would include development of an app that is not platform specific. This would enable the reach of the project to cater to a larger market. Development of a System on chip (SOC) that would enable further scaling and reduce the price of the device. This would also imply that the device could be in a wearable form-factor. Also there is a need for a development of a simple and effective interface that would seamlessly integrate the various aspects of this project. This product provides a solution to the various classes of society that include the elite class, upper middle class, lower middle class and the below poverty line group. The system can provide an individual with an opportunity to monitor his health or provide a group of individuals with the same. For the people below poverty line this provides an excellent opportunity for them to interact with the medical experts as well as avail the Health Monitoring Services at an affordable rate. The product as compared to other systems is at least 40% cheaper.

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