January 13, 2015

Build your own Arduino-based Pulse Sensor

As part of a university course, Orlando Hoilett was tasked with creating a pulse sensor and turned to the Arduino platform to solve the problem. The device is an interesting mix of analogue and digital electronics, that starts with the LED and IR photodiode to detect the pulse in a finger whose signal is then filtered and amplified for reading by an Arduino or compatible board.

Then the rest is quite simple, you can use all sorts of methods to display the pulse data from a flashing LED to feeding the data to a PC for graphing or logging as shown below:

Please note that such a device is not a replacement for certified medical equipment. Otherwise to learn more, visit Orlando's project page. And for more, we're on facebookGoogle+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.

Need a small Arduino-compatible for use with your own portable projects? Then check out out our LeoStick. It's the Arduino Leonardo-compatible board that's cheaper and smaller than the original:

 Apart from being one of the smallest Arduino-compatibles on the market with USB, it also has an onboard RGB LED and piezo which can be used a knock sensor and various tune and sound effects. Plus you can add extra circuitry with the matching protostick! For more information and to order, click here.

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