Heartbeat monitoring alert via SMS

Abstract

The heart rate can be measured by monitoring one's pulse using specialized medical devices such as an electrocardiograph (ECG), portable device e.g. wrist strap watch, or any other commercial heart rate monitors which normally consisting of a chest strap with electrodes. Despite of its accuracy, somehow it is costly, involve many clinical settings and patient must be attended by medical experts for continuous monitoring. For a patient whom already diagnosed with fatal heart disease, their heart rate condition has to be monitored continously. This paper proposed an alert system that able to monitor the heart beat rate condition of patient. The heart beat rate is detected using photoplethysmograph (PPG) technique. This signal is processed using PIC16F87 microcontroller to determine the heart beat rate per minute. Then, it sends sms alert to the mobile phone of medical experts or patient's family members, or their relatives via SMS. Thus, doctors can monitor and diagnose the patient's condition continously and could suggest earlier precaution for the patients themselves. This will also alert the family members to quickly attend the patient.