An Easy To Handle Graphic Interface To Control A Low Cost Pulse Oximetry System
An Easy To Handle Graphic Interface To Control A Low Cost Pulse Oximetry System
An Easy To Handle Graphic Interface To Control A Low Cost Pulse Oximetry System
R. Chaves, A. Pozo-Ruz
interface has been provided in order to facilitate the task of monitoring: introduction of
measurement with previous values, etc. Validation results have shown the viability of
the system and its best price in comparison with the commercial ones.
saturation levels of patients blood (SpO2), that allows obtaining information on real
medicine, specially in anesthesiology, operating and intensive care [1], [2], with the
conditions. The modern techniques of oximetry are based on the analyze of the light
Law [3].
In this article a simple structure of a developed pulse oximetry system for monitoring
non invasively respiratory status is presented. In this regard, the system provides
information about the oxygen concentration, the heart rate and displays the oximetry
additional details for the hemodynamic following. The system interface is presented
The structure of the developed system: The oximetry system is composed by two
different components: a microcontroller based system (MBS) that acquire data from
patient and a personal computer (PC), which processes the information and obtains
The MBS is responsible for controlling the probe connected to the patient, in order to
manage the switches of the red and infrared LEDs for the measuring. Once the
physiological signal has been conditioned in the analog stage, the microcontroller is
able to obtain the samples. For this task, a microcontroller PIC16F876 (10-bit ADC
Once that the measuring command has been received from the computer, the red
and infrared LEDs control is carried out alternatively and periodically, using a
broadband photodetector for detecting the signal. The signal conditioning in the
Butterworth low pass filter at 7.3Hz to eliminate high frequencies. The samples
To process the information in the PC, an application under Labview has been
developed to confer the interface for monitoring and the results of the measurements:
The pulse oximetry system: Fig.2 shows the aspect of the measurement probe, the
MBS and its serial connection to the PC. This element is responsible for the
interaction with the patient, in order to monitor the cardiorespiratory fitness. With this
purpose, the application offers two alternatives modes of operation: a normal mode,
in which measurement are performed under request; and an automatic mode, that
to the system, giving the operator the chance to perform other duties in the
meantime.
The control panel developed on Labview which manages the hole system is showed
in Fig 3. In that way once that a measurements has been taken, the following
Heart rate
Historical results
Calibration process: It should consider that the Beer-Lambert law provides a lineal
model which is an approximation of the reality, and does not take into account
phenomenons like dispersion effects or other kinds of hemoglobin which are present
in blood too.
using the pulse oximeter included in the portatil defibrillator Lifepak20 from
Medtronic, which was provided by the Arrythmia Unit of the Hospital Virgen de la
Victoria from Málaga (Spain). After constrasting the “ratio of ratios” (Ros) obtained by
the designed device with the SpO2 index provided by the commercial model, the
calibration curve of the system was completed. The SpO2 results acquired during the
last operations were between 99% and 96%. Because of the lack of resources for
working safety in low oxygen saturation levels, the remaining values of the calibration
process were calculated theoretically thus an alternative calibration graph,
(1)
Validation and results: After the system was developed, a comparison with the
comercial model was performed for validating the oximetry. The resumed results are
shown in Table I.
Once that this process was completed the results of the design were satisfying, but a
greater stability was registered in the comercial oximeter. On ten minutes of time, a
maximum difference of 2% was observed for the oxygen concentration levels and 5
beats per minute for the heart rate between systems. However, it was not posible to
contrast the measurements in low oxygen saturation levels due to the risk and the
has been developed with an estimated cost of 35,00 €, versus 55,00 € - 70,00 € from
a commercial model [6]. Thus, through an simple design, it sets out a low cost
with a model that can be easily replicated. In addition to this, to facilitate the task of
monitoring to the operators, an easy to handle graphic interface has been provided,
previous values.
This model is open to future developments, with the view of integrating the existing
on: http://www.drscope.com
de especialidades médicas.
5. WEBSTER J. C.: ‘Design of pulse oximeter’, Taylor & Francis Group, New York,
1997.
http://www.electropolis.es (15/08/2011).
Authors’ affiliations:
E-mail: [email protected]
Figure captions: