Title Page:

a. Title of project - Heart-Rate and EKG Monitor

b. The sponsoring company – Texas Instrument
c. Team name and individual member names
Team Name: MicroRum Team
1. Jetzer A. Plaza Padilla
2. Rolando J. Tremont
3.
d. Date: October 18 2019
e. An appropriate picture of the product, a team logo, or both

.
Executive Summary

An electrocardiogram (ECG), also called an EKG, is a graphic tracing of the voltage generated
by the cardiac or heart muscle during a heartbeat. It provides very accurate evaluation of the
performance of the heart. The heart generates an electrochemical impulse that spreads out in the
heart in such a fashion as to cause the cells to contract and relax in a timely order and, thus, give
the heart a pumping characteristic. This sequence is initiated by a group of nerve cells called the
sinoatrial (SA) node, resulting in a polarization and depolarization of the cells of the heart. Because
this action is electrical in nature and the body is conductive with its fluid content, this
electrochemical action can be measured at the surface of the body.

An actual voltage potential of approximately 1 mV develops between various body points. This
can be measured by placing electrode contacts on the body. The four extremities and the chest wall
have become standard sites for applying the electrodes. Standardizing electrocardiograms makes
it possible to compare them as taken from person to person and from time to time from the same
person. The normal electrocardiogram shows typical upward and downward deflections that reflect
the alternate contraction of the atria (the two upper chambers) and of the ventricles (the two lower
chambers) of the heart.

4. Statement of the problem

a. Background:

i. Relevance or importance of problem

Your pulse is your heart rate, or the number of times your heart beats in one minute. Heart rates
vary from person to person. Your pulse is lower when you’re at rest and higher when you exercise.
Knowing how to take your pulse can help you evaluate your exercise program. If you are taking
heart medications, recording your pulse daily and reporting the results to your doctor can help him
see if your treatment is working. The heartbeat rate is one of the vital parameters in every human’s
body, which by knowing it can detect heart disease and prevent more serious problems.

ii. Background information to educate the reader

The heart is one of the vital organs of the body, which works by pumping blood to all organs.
The heart is located inside the fibrous pericardium. The heart generally has four chambers called
the atrium and ventricle, which are divided into left and right. The heart also has four valves called
mitral, tricuspid, aorta and pulmonary the first two valves, responsible for controlling the input
Blood Flow and the next two valves, control the output blood flow. The sympathetic and
parasympathetic auto nerves control the function of the heart by applying change to the strength
of the contractions and the heartbeat. The heartbeat has two stages of systole and diastole, which
is the systole phase of the contraction and diastole phase of the heart resting phase.
 Electric impulses are produced from the sinus node and released into the heart and emit blood in
the organs of the body. Any irregularity in the heart rhythm that affects heartbeat is called
arrhythmia, which is divided into two general types of tachycardia and bradycardia. In tachycardia,
the heartbeat is fast and in the bradycardia, the heartbeat is slowed down. In bradycardia, electrical
messages are not properly transmitted from the atrium to the ventricle. Therefore, heartbeat
measurement is essential for heart health awareness. Measuring heartbeat is measured in a variety
of ways, such as an electric wrist, ECG devices and finger placement on the forearm.

We present another method for measuring heart in this project. The method of this device is to
measure heartbeat with an optical sensor and with infrared light radiation on the fingertip and using
a MSP430 microcontroller. This device displays the different heartbeat values in a maximum,
medium, and minimum in a period of time. This device can be connected to a computer and store
and analyze the obtained data. A normal resting heart rate is usually 60-100 beats per minute. Your
number may vary. Children tend to have higher resting heart rates than adults.

iii. Previous related work by others (literature review)

https://medcraveonline.com/IJBSBE/IJBSBE-04-00097.pdf

https://www.instructables.com/id/Heart-Beat-Counter-using-MSP430/

b. Detailed problem description as you now understand it.

The heartbeat is a unit for counting the intensity of the heart function, whose unit is the beats
per minute (bpm). The heart has pacemaker cells, which, by creating electrical waves, these cells
cause heart rhythm from the right atrium with its spread throughout the heart, blood pumping
occurs. The human heart naturally breaks about 60 to 100 bpm, which can vary with different
conditions. Any disorder in heartbeat is a type of disease in the heart that can be detected by human
beings by measuring beats in different ways.

In our project, the first thing to happen is that infrared light is transmitted by the infrared sensor
(IR LED TX) to the fingertip and then reflects light on a Photodiode RX sensor and converted to
a suitable signal by the Signal Conditioning, and suitable signal sent to the microcontroller. Finally,
the heart rate is measured by processing and analysis. On the device, when the power button is
pressed, the user places his fingertip on the sensors then the microcontroller key is pressed and
then the heart rate is measured and displayed on the LCD screen.
5. Objective

a. Design specifications in specific, quantitative terms.

Figure 2. Shows the complete schematic diagram of this application

 Figure 3 shows the circuit diagram for the EKG amplifier front end.

The EKG signal at the output of INA321 is further amplified by OA0, one of the three integrated
operational amplifiers in the MSP430FG439 MCU.
 b. Critical design issues:

We need to calculate the filter coefficients using ScopeFIR, a filter designing and analyzing
software tool from Iowegian International. Any other filter design tool, including MATLAB, can
be used for designing the filters and calculating the coefficients. Fortunately, we have the
information in the References. We need to study how works the software IAR Embedded
Workbench® IDE KIckstart Edition. We are going to simulate first the design of the circuit then
we are going to implement. We need access to some lab of the university and help with the
soldering of the circuit in the PCB.

Limitations: The application design purposes its only for educational and is not intended for any
life-saving or medical monitoring use.
6. Technical Approach:

A) Signal Processing and Heartbeat Detection: (5 steps)

1. EKG Sampling: The amplified EKG signal is internally fed to the on-chip analog-to-digital
converter ADC12 input channel A1.

2. Filtering Line-Frequency Noise: The sampled EKG waveform contains some amount of
superimposed line-frequency content. This line frequency noise is removed by digitally filtering
the samples. The filtered samples can be output using the DAC0 in the MSP430™ MCU for analog
reconstruction of the EKG waveform or can be streamed using the UART of the MSP430 MCU at
115.2 kbps to be displayed on a PC screen.

3. Detecting QRS Complexes: To calculate the heartbeat accurately, the QRS complex must be
detected for every beat. The QRS complex is the fast-rising portion of the EKG waveform.

4. FIR Filters: Linear phase symmetrical FIR filters are used in this application. Using
symmetrical FIR filters reduces the demand on math multiplication operations to one half, because
of the symmetrical nature of the filter coefficients.

5. Calculating Heartbeat Rate: The number of heart beats per minute is calculated using a three-
beat average. The pulseperiod is accumulated for three consecutive beats. On the third beat,
pulseperiod is used for the calculation of heart-rate per minute and reset.

Heartbeat rate per minute = 1 / [pulseperiod / (3 × 512 × 60)] = 92160 / pulseperiod

B) Software

The software for this application is going to be written in C using IAR Embedded Workbench®
IDE KIckstart Edition.

The software uses a dedicated 16-×16-bit signed multiply routine written in assembly language for
faster execution of the FIR filter calculations compared to the native C math library multiplication
function.

C) Testing the Application

Two square pads, one on the top layer and the other on the bottom layer of the double sided PCB,
are provided on either side of the LCD to serve as right and left hands contact electrodes. When in
use, the power jumper PWR must be installed, and the board must be held using both hands by
placing the thumb and index fingers of each hand on the square pads.
D) PC Scope EKG Display

Finally, we can show data in the EKG display using the PC Scope application program.

When using the "Heart rate with EKG Demo.c" program, an RS-232 level shifter is required
between the EKG board and a PC.

Only the TX line P2.4/UTXD0 is required, because no handshake is used for the serial
communication.

For displaying EKG, the PC must run scope.exe using command line option of Windows.

The scope.exe is an open source PC application program. For convenience, this application
program is provided in the oscilloscope.zip file under the source files along with this application
report.

7. Project Management: We have this table in Excel Cloud with observations/notations and
currently status extra columns.
8. Budget

Provide your best estimate of how project funds will be spent for your design.

9. Team Qualification:

Jetzer: I am studying electrical engineering with emphasize in electromagnetic, working

specifically with radars and microwaves. I was the team leader in the subgroup hydrophones for
autonomous Underwater Vehicle RUmarino 2017 and currently I am doing research with the
characterization of semiconductor materials in flexible displays.

Rolando:

Hector: