SURVEY ON DESIGN OF HEALTH MONITORING SYSTEM FOR

DRIVERS
M.Sibinagalaingam1 and S.Vijayprasath2
PG Scholar 1 Assistant Professor 2
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering,
M.Kumarasamy College of Engineering, Karur, Tamilnadu.
E-mail : sibinagalingam1990/vpr.research@gmail.com
Abstract In the present scenario drivers vigilance level monitoring is very important to
prevent road accidents. Often serious accidents are due to sudden outbreaks like stress,
drowsiness, heart stroke etc. These accidents can be enormously lessened if drivers know
their wellbeing conditions in prior and they can get therapeutic consideration as quickly
as time permits. The fundamental attention of this paper is to create a framework for
observing heart rate from ECG. Recorded information is transmitted to nearby health
centers through GSM module and the faculties can reach the spot by finding the exact
location using GPS. In addition we also introduce an automatic speed control system to
slowdown and stop the vehicle whenever driver gets unexpected heart strokes, and thus
severe accidents can be avoided.
Index TermsHeart rate, ECG, GSM, GPS
I. INTRODUCTION
Major causes of traffic accidents include fatigue, poor health condition, sudden
outbreak of heart stroke, negative emotional state, the lack of attention, and insufficient
driving technique of vehicle drivers.
The Health site reported a freak mishap on Thursday early morning of August 2013,
the driver of a private bus died after he suffered heart attack while at the wheel. The bus
lost control and dashed an auto rickshaw leaving its four occupants severely injured.
Police reported that the bus bearing registration number MH12 RA 9900 was on
Sasanenagar Road in Hadapsar. The accident took place at 6:30am [1]. The driver of the
bus got a sudden cardiac arrest and lost control over the vehicle. The vehicle dashed an
auto rickshaw (MH12DT 6037). It can be seen that drivers with cardiovascular diseases
or sudden diseases break out while driving, may brew traffic accidents. It not only hurt

the driver himself but also hurts the passengers and the surrounding environment and
others. If we can real-time monitor the physiological signals of drivers (such as PPG, HR,
HRV) and alert them about their health condition, major accidents can be prevented and
also by sending report to nearby health centre drivers can get abrupt aid from health
center and thus there may be a possibility to save drivers and others life.
ELECTROCARDIOGRAM
An electrocardiogram measures and records the electrical activities of the heart. The
contraction and relaxation activities of various part of heart are represented by the waves
measured in ECG and these waves are named with letters (P, Q, R, S, T, and U).

P represents contraction of atria, QRS are series of waves that represents the
ventricular contraction and T, U follows the ventricular contraction. ST wave elevation
and Q wave are the two main waves for diagnosing and determining heart attack. The
average heart rate of persons with different ages is given in table1[8].
TABLE I AVERAGE HEARTBEAT RATE
AGE

RANGE (BPM)

AVG RATE

s0 - 1 month

100 - 180

160

2 - 3 months

110 - 180

150

4 - 12 months

80 180

140

1 - 3 years

80 160

130

4 - 5 years

80 120

100

6 - 8 years

70 115

100

9 - 11 years

60 - 110

88

12 - 16 years

60 110

80

16years and above

50 90

70

LITERATURE SURVEY
Many ideas have been proposed in the earlier period for real-time health monitoring
system like PDA-based physiological monitoring system [2], physiological clothing [4]
for measuring health condition. Most of the previous works [6,11,12] made use of wet
electrodes and conducting gel, whereas few [13, 14] used other types of electrodes like
capacitive electrode to avoid the discomfort caused by the formers. Main drawback is that
the wet electrodes require considerable preparation time and also some skills are needed
to acquire the ECG signal. These methods are less realistic for quick and short-term or
periodic monitoring. These method causes inconvenience to the users. Wireless steering
wheel system [10] make use of dry electrodes placed on the steering wheel to measure
the Lead1 ECG signal, main drawback here is that drivers must hold the steering wheel in
the same position always for measuring Lead1 ECG.
Ko Keun Kim et al.[2] proposed a indirect contact ECG estimation procedure for
viewing electrocardiogram which is arranged here. This strategy does not require any
immediate conductive contact between the terminals and skin. This strategy makes

utilization of an array of dynamic electrodes mounted on the bedding and a circuitous

skin-contact ground made of conductive material sheet

Limitations
The principle disadvantage of this proposed strategy is as far as nature of the signal .
Here the achieved ECG signals are of low quality as contrasted with customary strategy
for observing ECG. The movement relic because of uncalled situating of the patient
likewise prompts a real issue.
Chang-Ming Yang, et al.[3] has proposed an ECG system which has six wearable
textile-based electrodes to sense ECG and sitting posture of car drivers. The observation
system provides e-health services by sending signals to a personal digital assistant
through Bluetooth. Signals from the textile electrodes are digitized using microcontroller,
and transmitted over Bluetooth to a personal digital assistant for further analysis.

Limitations
Textile based electrodes does not have better SNR than conventional electrodes
especially in a high electromagnetic interference (EMI) environment and here motion
artifacts are introduced due road conditions.

Antonio Lanata, et al.[4] Proposed a novel framework, which is competent for

observing a few essential signs and physiological variables so as to focus the
cardiopulmonary action amid crises .The framework comprises of a multimodal
broadband piezoelectric transducer focused around polyvinylidene fluoride polymer
incorporated into a material which is wrapped around the midsection.

Limitations
Results got by the above proposed strategy are not agreeable and swearing up due to a
few issues. The relative bodytransducer relocations and skinelectrode befuddle are
pivotal viewpoints as the framework is wearable. The development of the transducer
infers a change in the perspective of the heart, and this creates a loss of signals.
Shao-Wei Lu et al. [5] introduced a framework to enhance medicinal services for
cardiovascular ailment which is a remote, wandering, realtime, and auto caution astute
telecardiology framework. In this framework three-lead ECG gadget is utilized to get
ECG signal.

Limitation

Initially, AF ,identification is focused around the RRI variety, when the client has
continuous atrial or ventricular untimely beats, which can be misdiagnosed as AF.
Second, in patients with AF and especially debilitated AV nodal conduction, RRI varieties
may get to be excessively little for the framework to diagnose AF precisely.
Yuan-Hsiang Lin et al.[6] has created a wearable constant physiological checking
and input framework that comprises of a little size measuring module and a cell phone.
The measuring module is intended to obtain the photoplethysmogram (PPG) motion in
the driver's ear cartilage.

Limitations
Due to insufficient brightness of the infrared LED, PPG signal may become too small
and make it hard to detect the HR and it leads to signal saturation if brightness is too
strong.
Hyun Jae Baek et al. [7] proposed a nonintrusive technique to screen different
wellbeing parameters and connected in planning a symptomatic seat for checking heart
rate and circulatory strain. capacitively coupled cathodes were introduced in the seat back
including a high-include impedance enhancers, and conductive materials were introduced
in the seat for capacitive driven-right-leg circuit design that is equipped for recording
electrocardiogram through attire.

Limitations

Capacitive measurement of ECG is mainly affected by thickness of the cloth used,

gain of the driven circuit, and size of electrode. Thick clothes reduce the signal amplitude
and thus ECG signal becomes noisy. PPG monitoring is affected by the heat generated
due to LED unit. Quality of BCG signal is affected by the size of PVDF film
PROPOSED METHODOLOGY
In this paper we establish a system for measuring Lead I electrocardiogram (ECG)
signal to monitor the heart condition. We also develop a speed control system including a
GPS and GSM module. The basic block diagram is as shown below.

The proposed idea is mainly for the post operated patients who have been recovered from
a cardiovascular disease (CVD). Heart rate of the patient is continuously recorded while
driving based on the ECG recorded by the electrodes. A Signal Conditioning Unit (SCU)
is used to reduce the noise and amplify the recorded signal. This amplified signal is given
to the microcontroller unit for further processing. If the recorded signal is found to be an
abnormal signal then microcontroller sets an alarm to alert the driver about the risk
factors and simultaneously an alert message (SMS) along with the location details is sent
to nearby hospitals with the help of GSM and GPS module which is connected to
microcontroller. Medicos from health center can reach the exact location and thus patient
can get the aids as soon as possible. To avoid roads accidents we also implement
automatic breaking system to slow down and ultimately stop the vehicle during extreme
conditions. The entire working idea of the proposed paper is represented in flow chart as
given.
DATA
ACQUIS

SIGNAL PROCESSING

ECG & HEART RATE MONITORING

NORMAL

NO
RAISE ALARM

YES

NO
ACTION

ACTIVATE GSM, GPS MODULE AND SL0W

DOWN THE VEHICLE

ECG ELECTRODE
The electrodes could potentially be used for electrocardiograms to evaluate and record
the electrical activity of heart. In this paper dry electrodes have been used to compute the
QRS complexity from ECG waveform.
MICROCONTROLLER
A microcontroller is a small, low cost computer on a single integrated circuit often used to
run dedicated codes for a specific task. Microcontroller used here is PIC 16F877 which is
a powerful CMOS FLASH-based 8-bit microcontroller that uses separate bus for
instruction and data allowing simultaneous access of program and data memory.
PIC16F877 characteristics 256 bytes of EEPROM memory, self programming,8 channels
of 10-bit Analog-to-Digital (A/D) converter, 2 extra clocks, 2 catch/analyze/PWM
capacities, the synchronous serial port can be designed as either 3-wire Serial Peripheral
Interface (Spi) or the 2-wire Inter-Integrated Circuit (Ic) transport and an Universal
Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (USART). These gimmicks make it perfect for more
praiseworthy level A/D applications in car, modern apparatuses and shopper applications.
GSM MODEM
SIM300 GSM MODULE is used here for transmitting the detected heart rate to nearby
heath center. SIM300 is a compact sized plug and play GSM Modem which works on
frequencies 850 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz. The Modem is integrated
with RS232 Level converter circuitry. Its baud rate is configurable from 9600-115200
through AT command. It is appropriate for SMS as well as DATA transfer applications.
GSM module is used to send an emergency alert or SMS indicating about the health
condition of the drivers to the health centers.

GPS MODULE
A third generation POT (Patch Antenna On Top) GPS module is implemented here for
achieving a high position and speed accuracy performances as well as high sensitivity
and tracking capabilities in urban conditions. It can be connected directly to
Microcontroller's USART. External active antenna can be connected to GPS module if
necessary. The GPS module in this project is used by the health centers to locate the exact
position of the drivers.
DISPLAYAND ALARM
To monitor the heart rate measured by heart rate sensors LCD (Liquid Crystal Display)
screen is used to view the readings in digital form. LCD is an electronic display module
which is widely used in many of applications. Commonly used LCD is a 16x2 LCD
display and is preferred over seven segments and other multi segments LEDs as they are
more economical, easily programmable, and have no limitation of displaying special &
even custom characters. Electronic buzzer is used for alarming system which alerts the
drivers about their critical condition. The buzzer ON and OFF is controlled by the
switching transistor (BC 547). Here a DC motor is used to demonstrate the automatic
breaking system to slow down the vehicle.
CONCLUSION
Development in the field of technology is a continuous process. In this survey different
innovative ideas and their drawbacks have been studied for monitoring ECG and alerting
the drivers. Here we have proposed an idea for remote monitoring of ECG of post
operated patient who had just recovered from a CVD and to send an alert message. We
also propose an idea to slow down the vehicle to avoid road accidents due to sudden
outbreaks of certain CVDs. Further improvements can be done by developing a wireless
system for monitoring the ECG signals.
REFERENCE
[1] Health site www.thehealthsite.com
[2] Ko Keun Kim. ECG Recording on a Bed During Sleep Without Direct SkinContact IEEE transactions on biomedical engineering, vol. 54,

no. 4, april 2007.

[3] Chang-Ming Yang, Chih-Chung Wu, Chun-Mei Chou, Tzu-Lin Yang. Vehicle
driver's ecg and sitting posture monitoring system. 9th International Conerence on
Inormation Technology and Applications in Biomedicine, ITAB 2009, Larnaca,
Cyprus, 5-7 November 2009.
[4] Antonio Lanat`a A Multimodal Transducer for CardiopulmonaryActivity Monitoring
in EmergencyIEEE transactions on information technology in biomedicine, vol. 14,
no. 3, may 2010
[5] Shao-Wei Lu, Shih-Sheng Chang, Bor-Shyh Lin. An intelligent telecardiology
system using a wearable and wireless ecg to detect Atrial fibrillation. IEEE
transactions on information

technology in biomedicine, vol. 14, no. 3, may 2010.

[6] Yuan-Hsiang Lin, Chih-Fong Lin, Chong-Rong Wu, Yuan-Chang Hsu. Intelligent
physiological monitoring and feedback system for driver safety. 2011 Fifth
International Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computing.
[7] Hyun Jae Baek, Gih Sung Chung. A Smart Health Monitoring Chair for
Nonintrusive Measurement of Biological Signals IEEE transactions on information
technology in biomedicine, vol. 16, no. 1, january 2012.
[8] Range of heart rates per minute and average heart rate for various ages. Retrieve on
29 th august 2014. (http://www.smm.org/heart/lessons/lesson1.htm).
[9] Joan Gmez-Clapers and Ramon Casanella. A fast and easy-to-use ecg acquisition
and heart rate monitoring system using a wireless steering wheel. IEEE sensors
journal, vol. 12, no. 3, march 2012.
[10] Dongming peng, Wei Wang, and Hamid Sharif. Resource-aware secure ecg
healthcare

monitoring

through

body

sensor

networks.

IEEE

Wireless

Communications February 2010.

[11] Gill R. Tsouri and Michael H. Ostertag. Patient-specific 12-lead ecg
reconstruction from sparse electrodes using independent component analysis.
IEEE journal of biomedical and health informatics, vol. 18, no. 2, march 2014.

[13]

Ebrahim Nemati, M. Jamal Deen, and Tapas Mondal.

A Wireless Wearable ECG Sensor for long-term Applications.
Communications Magazine January 2012.

IEEE