Multimedia University Of Kenya

Faculty of Engineering
Department of Electrical and Communication
Project Proposal
PATIENT MONITORING SYSTEM USING GSM AND ARDUINO ATMEGA
Presented by:
EUGENE ODHIAMBO
ENG-211-007/2012
Supervisor: Mr. Henry Kiragu

DATE: 4/04/2016

ABSTRACT
We live in a generation where diseases have reached such an unprecedented level.
Diseases are so much that the greatest worry for many people should be their health. Lifestyle
diseases such as cardiovascular ailments and blood pressure are becoming more prevalent.
Cardiovascular diseases are some of the leading causes of deaths in world. Heart beat and blood
pressure readings are by far the best parameters that could promote early detection of cardiac
events. By using this system that I am proposing, we can measure ones heart rate through
fingertip. The number of patients is also increasing exponentially, bringing a tremendous
challenge to health resources in our very own country Kenya where they have never been
enough.
Recently, the health care sensors are playing a vital role in hospitals. The patient monitoring
systems is one of the major improvements because of its advanced technology. So my project
essentially entails connecting the temperature sensor and heartbeat sensor with the Arduino Uno
so that simultaneously one can monitor the patients condition and hence ruling out the use of the
thermometer and other devices to check the condition of the patient.
My project is therefore designed to ease the burden on doctors and nurses in terms of
watching and testing of some parameters such as such as body temperature and transmitting
wirelessly using GSM module. Equally it would be used to monitor the sick and the aged at
home especially in the absence of a guardian or a relative. My project will be specifically
designed to test heart rate and body temperature using appropriate sensors. These two parameters
are a great pointer to health status of a patient or a person.
Temperature abnormality can be a symptom of so many diseases such as malaria. Abnormality
in heart rate is equally a pointer to many complications
The function of this system is thus to monitor the temperature and Heart Beat of the Patient
and the data collected by the sensors are sent to the Arduino Uno. The Arduino processes then
transmits the data over the air via GSM shield to a doctors, nurses or a relatives phone and also
displays the same information on a LCD.

Table of Contents
PATIENT MONITORING SYSTEM USING GSM AND ARDUINO ATMEGA.........................1
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................4
1.0 BACKGROUND INFORMATION.......................................................................................4
1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT.....................................................................................................4
1.2 OBJECJECTIVES.................................................................................................................5
Main objective..........................................................................................................................5
Specific objectives....................................................................................................................5
1.3 JUSTIFICATION...................................................................................................................5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................5
1.1

Researches.........................................................................................................................5

CHAPTER 3: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND DESCRIPTION OF DESIGN

COMPONENTS............................................................................................................................11
2.1 Temperature sensor...............................................................................................................11
2.2 Heart beat sensor..................................................................................................................11
2.3 Arduino Uno.........................................................................................................................12
WHY ARDUINO...................................................................................................................12
2.4 LCD Display........................................................................................................................14
2.5 ARDUINO GSM SHIELD...................................................................................................14
2.5.1 GSM..............................................................................................................................15
2.5.2 GPRS.............................................................................................................................16
2.5.3 SIM cards......................................................................................................................16
2.5.4 GSM shield mounted onto a Arduino Uno....................................................................16
CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY.................................................................................................17
3.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................17
CHAPTER 5: BUDGET................................................................................................................21
CHAPTER 5: WORK PLAN........................................................................................................21
References......................................................................................................................................23

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.0 BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Telemedicine is a filled that did not begin yesterday. There has been a lot of development
behind this field. As with all other fields, technology plays a very big role as it eases the burden
on health officials, reduces the cost of treatment, surveillance and diagnosis of patients. Patient
monitoring systems are already being used in hospitals among other places. However, their costs
are prohibitive and hospitals in third world countries like Kenya can barely have them. This
means someone will always have to be there to watch over a patient whether in the hospital or at
home.
The proposed patient monitoring system would be beneficial for medical practitioners to do
proper and better treatment. It is also beneficial to relatives or guardians who have are taking
care of the sick. As I have stated, the signals are transferred from the Arduino to the health
personnel in the hospital or to a relative for a case of patient at home.
My project is thus to create an affordable prototype of heart beat and temperature monitor.
It will use Arduino Atmega256, GSM module, LCD display, temperature sensor and heart beat
sensor. The Arduino is programmed to know when there is an abnormality in the parameters and
also to send the signals as a SMS. The buzzer should go on whenever the parameters go below or
beyond acceptable limits.
I plan to both simulate and fabricate this project so that the end result becomes a
comprehensive system. Softwares that I will use are the Arduino Software, matlab and circuit
wizard. Bulk of simulation will be done with matlab while circuit wizard shall be majorly for
drawing.
1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT
As we know
i. Having someone to watch a critically ill person is very expensive and takes a lot of manpower.
These valuable resources can be used elsewhere.
ii. The current systems for this monitoring are prohibitively expensive, they are only found in
certain hospitals, leave alone homes. This project will partly solve this problem.

iii. Systems used in hospitals are also complex that only certain people can understand them. The
current systems also require one to be around to check the condition of the patient
1.2 OBJECJECTIVES
Main objective
To develop a cheap prototype of a system that can monitor the body temperature and heartbeat of
a patient at home and in the hospital.
Specific objectives
i
To use temperature sensor to measure body temperature
ii
To use heartbeat to measure rate of heartbeat
iii
Compute the two signals then display to a LCD and send to mobile phone as a SMS.
iv
To alert through text when there is an abnormal parameter
1.3 JUSTIFICATION
This project is made of cheap materials. A complete system that measures temperature and
heart beat is so far expensive. This system is fully automated system and does not require any
human attention.
Automatic alert system using enabled by Arduino gives intimation to user. GSM interfacing
provides a feature of remote monitoring of patient parameters. The system determines the heart
beat rate per minute and then sends short message service (SMS) alert to the mobile phone on
top of displaying it on a LCD. It is also cost effective and portable. It is easy to handle and
efficient. It is not as complex as the current systems

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This section outlines what has been so far done or researched by others on this project.
1 Researches
Much has been done in this field. Among the researches and proposals in this area include the
following.
Wan seri bahiyah [3] does a project where he uses Zigbee, Arduino Uno, and ECG circuit and
temperature sensor. He uses Lab View to process the signals. The problem is that this does not
cover a wide are as compared to GSM.
Lauren Akoth [4] introduces processing and simulation of ECG data using Matlab. This one is a
good research on how to simulate heart rate.

Purnima, Puneet Singh [5], uses both Zigbee and GSM to transmit the data obtained from a
patient. GSM is used for purpose of mobile phones while zigbee is for PCs where the transmitted
signals are processed.
Bandana Mallick and Ajit Kumar [6] proposed the use of fingertip to measure the heart rate and
process it using Arduino.
Shrenik Suresh Sarade et. al[9] proposed a project having a simple, microcontroller based heart
beat rate & body temperature measuring device with display the information on LCD display.
Heart rate of the subject/body is measured from the index finger using IRD (Infra-Red Device)
sensors. Also Saline Level is measured continuously for different levels. The device alarms when
the heart beat & the body temperature exceed the provided threshold value. This threshold value
is defined by the programmer at the time of programming of microcontroller. The threshold value
is as 20 to 120 pulses per minute for heart beat indication & 18C to 38C for temperature.
This information transmitted wirelessly to the doctor which is not in the vicinity of the patient
through GSM technique. The problem with the use of infrared Device is that the LED light must
be very bright or it will not be sensed by the photodiode.
Analysis of LM35

Fig 1.1 internal circuit of LM35 temperature sensor

The circuit diagram is shown above. There are two transistors in the centre of this circuit. One
has ten times the emitter area of the other. This means it has one tenth of the current density,
since the same current is going through both transistors. This causes a voltage across the resistor
R1 that is proportional to the absolute temperature, and is almost linear across the range we care
about. A special circuit straightens out the slightly curved graph of voltage versus temperature.
The amplifier at the top ensures that the voltage at the base of the left transistor (Q1) is

proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT) by comparing the output of the two transistors.
The amplifier at the right converts absolute temperature (measured in Kelvin) into Celsius. The
little circle with the "i" in it is a constant current source circuit.
The two resistors are calibrated in the factory to produce a highly accurate temperature sensor.
The integrated circuit has many transistors in it -- two in the middle, some in each amplifier,
some in the constant current source, and some in the curvature compensation circuit. All of that
is fit into the tiny package with three leads.

Heart Beat Detector Circuit

A simple circuit made of two LM358 operational amplifiers, resistors, a photo diode and LEDs
will be used. The purpose of this circuit is to detect and then amplify the heart beat signal before
it is fed into Arduino.
i

Photodiode and IR LED

Fig 1.2 A simple heart beat detector

Source: circuitwiring.com

Photodiode and LED

The LED and the photo diode shall be connected as shown below.

Fig 1.2 Finger clip connections

Amplifier
The detector is then connected to the LM538 operational amplifier. Signal from photodiode gets
into the first op-amp through pin 5. This signal is between 1.0 to 1.4 volts. After amplification, it
comes out through pin 7 at 5 to 6 volts. This voltage carries the heart rate signal.
The output of the op-amp is regulated by resistor R5. Led D3 gives visual indication of voltage at
pin 7.
R3 controls the gain of the first op-amp so that the gain is neither too high nor too low and to
enable the LED go off and on.

Fig 1.4 The signal from the photodiode (finger clip), is amplified.

Comparator
The final op-amp acts as a comparator. Its gain is set to maximum, that is, open loop gain.
The open loop voltage gain of LM358N op-amp is 100, meaning the difference between pin 2
and pin 3 is automatically multiplied by 100. The output will however be limited by the voltage
supply. The signal from pin 7 is short-lived or transient; hence DC signal is created to be used by
the comparator as the reference point. When the heart signal is below the reference voltage, the
comparator turns off the LED and if the opposite occurs, it turns on the LED.
With finger in the clip and first D3 barely on, potentiometer R6 is adjusted until LED D4 blinks.

Fig 1.5 After the signal is amplified, a comparator configuration with a "flat" d.c. signal to make
the L.E.D. flash

Fig 1.6 A LM 358

CHAPTER 3: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND

DESCRIPTION OF DESIGN COMPONENTS
2.1 Temperature sensor
The LM35 series are precision integrated-circuit temperature devices with an output voltage
linearly- proportional to the Centigrade temperature. The LM35 device has an advantage over
linear temperature sensors calibrated in Kelvin, as the user is not required to subtract a large
constant voltage from the output to obtain convenient Centigrade scaling. The LM35 device does
not require any external calibration or trimming to provide typical accuracies of C at room
temperature and C over a full 55C to 150C temperature range. Lower cost is assured by
trimming and calibration at the wafer level. The low-output impedance, linear output and precise
inherent calibration of the LM35 device makes interfacing to readout or control circuitry
especially easy. The device is used with single power supplies, or with plus and minus supplies.
As the LM35 device draws only 60 A from the supply, it has very low self-heating of less than
0.1C in still air. The LM35 device is rated to operate over a 55C to 150C temperature range
which is fine for measuring body temperature.

Fig 1.7 LM35

2.2 Heart beat sensor
Electrocardiograph is one of the most ubiquitous machines in the hospitals today. It keeps
doctors and nurses updated on important status of patients. ECG collects and interprets electrical
signals produced by the heart over time. Capturing these signals is done via electrodes.
A heart beat sensor shall be used to replace the ECG machine. My sensor shall use optical
method to sense blood flow in the veins and convert that to heart beat.
Optical method uses the fact that blood vessels in any patch of skin such as fingertips furnished
with a good blood supply, alternately expand and contract in time with the heartbeat. A LED and
a photo resistor are used to sense this variation in skin contrast. This method uses both
transmittance and reflectance principles. It is precise, cheap and non-invasive method due to lack
of attachment on the body.

2.3 Arduino Uno

The Uno is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega328P. It has 14 digital input/output pins
(of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz quartz crystal, a USB
connection, a power jack, an ICSP header and a reset button. It contains everything needed to
support the microcontroller. It is simply connected to the computer using a USB cable or
powered with an AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get it started.
"Uno" means one in Italian and was chosen to mark the release of Arduino Software (IDE) 1.0.
The Uno board and version 1.0 of Arduino Software (IDE) were the reference versions of
Arduino, now evolved to newer releases. The Uno board is the first in a series of USB Arduino
boards, and the reference model for the Arduino platform.

WHY ARDUINO
Cheap - Arduino boards are inexpensive when compared to other microcontroller platforms.
Cross-platform - The Arduino Software runs on Windows, Macintosh OSX, and Linux
operating systems. Most microcontroller systems can only run on Windows.
Simple, clear programming environment - The Arduino Software (IDE) is easyto-use for beginners, yet flexible enough for advanced users to take advantage of as well.
Open source and extensible software - The Arduino software is published as open
source tools, available for extension by experienced programmers. The language can be
expanded through C++ libraries.

Open source and extensible hardware - The plans of the Arduino boards are
published under a Creative Commons license, so experienced circuit designers can make their
own version of the module, extending it and improving it. Even relatively inexperienced users
can build the breadboard version of the module in order to understand how it works and save
money.

TECHNICAL SPECS OF ARDUINO UNO

Microcontroller
Operating Voltage
Input Voltage (recommended)
Input Voltage (limit)
Digital I/O Pins
PWM Digital I/O Pins
Analog Input Pins
DC Current per I/O Pin
DC Current for 3.3V Pin
Flash Memory
SRAM
EEPROM
Clock Speed
Length
Width
Weight

ATmega328P
5V
7-12V
6-20V
14 (of which 6 provide PWM output)
6
6
20 mA
50 Ma
32 KB (ATmega328P)
of which 0.5 KB used by boot loader
2 KB (ATmega328P)
1 KB (ATmega328P)
16 MHz
68.6 mm
53.4 mm
25 g

The ATmega328 on the Uno comes preprogrammed with a boot loader that allows one to upload
new code to it without the use of an external hardware programmer. The Uno can be
programmed with the Arduino Software (IDE).
2.4 LCD Display
Below is a typical LCD display

Fig 1.8 LCD display

Source: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/HelloWorld

The LCD will display the body temperature and hear rate
2.5 ARDUINO GSM SHIELD
The Arduino GSM shield allows an Arduino board to connect to the internet, send and receive
SMS, and make voice calls using the GSM library

fig 1.9 Arduino GSM Shield

Source: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoGSMShield
The Arduino GSM Shield allows an Arduino board to connect to the internet, make and
receive voice calls and send and receive SMS messages. The shield uses a radio modem M10 by
Quectel. It is possible to communicate with the board using AT commands. The GSM library has
a large number of methods for communication with the shield.
The shield uses digital pins 2 and 3 for software serial communication with the M10. Pin 2 is
connected to the M10s TX pin and pin 3 to its RX pin. The M10 is a Quad-band GSM/GPRS
modem that works at frequencies GSM850MHz, GSM900MHz, DCS1800MHz and

PCS1900MHz. It supports TCP/UDP and HTTP protocols through a GPRS connection. GPRS
data downlink and uplink transfer speed maximum is 85.6 kbps.

Fig 2.0 Arduino GSM shield

To interface with the cellular network, the board requires a SIM card provided by a network
operator.
A SIM card is inserted into the holder
2.5.1 GSM
This is an international standard for mobile communication which in full is Global System for
Mobile communications. It also referred to as 2G, which is second generation cellular network.
GSM supports outgoing and incoming voice calls, Simple Message System, and data
communication via GPRS among others.
The Arduino GSM shield is actually a GSM modem. In the eyes of a mobile operator, the
Arduino GSM shield looks just like a mobile phone while from Arduino perspective, the Arduino
GSM shield looks just like a modem.

2.5.2 GPRS
GPRS is a packet switching technology that stands for General Packet Radio Service. It can
provide data rates between 56-114 Kbit per second.

A number of technologies such as SMS rely on GPRS to function. With the GSM shield, it is also
possible to leverage the data communication to access the internet. Similar to the Ethernet and
Wi-Fi libraries, the GSM library allows the Arduino to act as a client or server, using http calls to
send and receive web pages.

2.5.3 SIM cards

In addition to the GSM shield and an Arduino, another needed thing is a SIM card. The SIM
represents a contract with a communications provider. The communications provider will
provide GSM coverage where I am, and or have a roaming agreement with a company providing
GSM coverage in my location.
2.5.4 GSM shield mounted onto a Arduino Uno
To upload sketches to the board, it is connected to my computer with a USB cable and uploads
my sketch with the Arduino IDE. Once the sketch has been uploaded, the board disconnected
from the computer and it is then powered on an external power supply.
This sketch will check the modem's IMEI number. This number is unique to each modem, and is
used to identify valid devices that can connect to a GSM network. Once the number has been
read from the modem, the Arduino will print out the network carrier it is connected to and the
signal strength of the network over the serial port.
Various codes are then used to enable the GSM capabilities such as calls, sms among others.

CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
This chapter describes the method which will be used to implement this project. This project
is divided into two main parts which are hardware design and software design. For the hardware
design, it is focus on the main controller hardware, Arduino Uno board which connects to the
heart rate sensor and temperature sensor (LM 35). Meanwhile, for the software design, Arduino
and Matlab are used.

Hardware design

Arduino Uno Board

Arduino Uno board is the main function system in this project because it reads and interprets the
data from the heart rate and the temperature sensor outputs. Arduino software is downloaded
directly through the internet from the Arduino main page in order to build a specific
programmed. Arduino needs a USB cable to power up the board in 5V. Excess power will cause
irreparable damage to the Arduino board.
Temperature Sensor Circuit
Body temperature circuit is to measure the body temperature of patient. The normal temperature
for human is 37.0 degree Celsius. Temperature sensor contains three pins that are connected
directly to the Arduino Uno board. They are 5V, GND and analog output pins. Other common
sensors used for temperature measuring are thermistors, thermocouples and resistance
thermometers but LM35 is used because it can measure temperature more accurately than the
others and generates a higher output voltage than thermocouples. LM35 sensor may not require
that the output voltage be amplified. The LM35 is an integrated circuit sensor. Its electrical
output signal is proportional to the temperature in degree Celsius temperature.
GSM Module
This is interfaced with the Arduino Uno to transfer the processed signal to a doctor, a nurse or a
relative via GSM module.
Heart Beat sensor
This shall read the heart rate which is then processed by the processor and displayed on LCD
display and sent out through GSM module
FLOW CHART OF THE SYSTEM

start

Read the output

of ECG and
temp. sensor

Send data to
phone

no
ECG Display?

yes

Body temperature
display?

yes

End

no

BLOCK DIAGRAM OF THE SYSTEM

Arduino Uno
sensor

sensor

patient

Arduino GSM
shield

doctor's/
nurse's
phone

gurdian's
phone

LCD display

CHAPTER 5: BUDGET
In this chapter, I give an approximation of how much I expect to spend in this project
ITEM
Arduino
Uno(ATmega328P)
Arduino GSM Shield

QUANTITY
1

PRICE
Ksh 2000

162 LCD Module for

Arduino
Temperature sensor(LM35)

Ksh 3000
Ksh 100

1
Ksh 200

Heart Beat sensor

Power Adaptor

Ksh 300

LM358 Op-amp
L.E.Ds

Ksh 400
Ksh 100
Ksh 100

6
photodiode

Ksh 100
2

Resistors: 1 100 k,
1 10 k,
1 2.4 k,
1 330 ,
1 100 ,
2 10 k Potentiometers
Total

Ksh 100
5

2
22

Ksh 200
Ksh 6800

CHAPTER 5: WORK PLAN

SEMESTER 1

PROJECT SCHEDULE
SEMESTER 2

Months

Jan

Feb

Mar

April

May

June

Aug
July

Project

Project Proposal

Background Research
Proposal Preparation
Proposal presentation
Implementation
Selection and ordering
components
Design
Coding
Simulation and
implementation
Write up
Submit Project
Presentation

References
[1] www.ti.com Texas instruments LM35 integrated temperature sensor data sheet 2016.
[2] www.arduino.cc
[3] Wan Seri Bahiyah Binti w Sudin Patient monitoring system using wireless sensor network
[4] Banja Wendy Lauren Akoth Home patient monitoring based on gprs
[5] Purnima, Puneet Singh Zigbee and GSM Based Patient Health Monitoring System 2014
International Conference on Electronics and Communication System (lCECS -2014)
[6] Bandana Mallick and Ajit Kumar Patro Teart rate monitoring system using fingertip through
Arduino and processing software Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology
10th April 2014. Vol. 62 No.1
[7] A. N. M. M Haque, G. Tangim, T. Ahammad and M. R. H Khonokar M. K Islam, "Study and
analysis of ECG signal using MATLAB & LABVIEW as effective tools.," vol. IV, no. 3, June
2012.
[8] Jaiee Sitaram Adivarekar et. al Patient Monitoring System Using GSM Technology
International Journal Of Mathematics And Computer Research Volume 1 issue 2 March 2013
Page No.73-78 ISSN :2320-7167
[9] Shrenik Suresh Sarade et. al patient monitoring and alerting system by using gsm
International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) Volume: 02 Issue: 03 |
June-2015