Vehicle Steering Wheel Heart Rate Monitor - Assignment Example

The system would be configured to contact emergency medical services providing the location of the patient and it can apply brakes to vehicle to prevent an accident. This system will require the following components for its successful implementation. The first one is a device that reads the driver’s heart rate from the grip of the steering wheel. These devices function by either counting pulses or recording the electrocardiogram signal. Secondly, it will be necessary to have a microcontroller for purposes of analyzing and processing signals from the device that records the heart rate.

Thirdly, a device for providing voice alerts to the drowsy driver would be necessary. Similarly, a system mean for use by persons with medical conditions would require a GSM gadget for making calls to the emergency doctor would be required. It is also possible to have the alerting and medical emergency systems integrated into a single system. Figure 1: A block diagram for a vehicle’s steering wheel with a heart rate monitor The core of this system is the microcontroller. For the microcontroller to provide the intended functionalities, it has to be loaded with appropriate software.

Such software can be written in a programming language such as C or C++. The program will be checking the input from the heart rate monitoring device and determining the appropriate output for the system if any output is required. For instance, if the heart beat reaches a level indicating that a driver is asleep, the microcontroller should send the appropriate signal to the voice alert system. This system has the benefit of saving lives in various ways. Firstly, the system reduces the chances of an accident due to a driver sleeping while driving.

Without this system, there are chances of the driver causing an accident, which can result in the loss of his life, the lives of other people such as pedestrians or his life with that of another person. Secondly, the system, if implemented to monitor cardiac arrests, can help save the life of a patient by contacting a doctor immediately on behalf of the driver. Moreover, this system could also act on the brake system of the vehicle, hence preventing an accident from occurring. As a result, this would save lives and prevent of damage to property.

Problems The two major problems that can be associated with drowsy drivers are the possibility of freewheeling as he or she falls asleep and the variation of blood pressure with different drivers, who use such a vehicle, during sleep. Considering that the heart beat can reduce with a percentage between ten and twenty, the system can provide wrong outputs for different drivers using the same car. For instance, this system could be installed on a car whose normal blood pressure is 130/80 mmHg, which reduces by 20% when he is drowsy.

Therefore, the blood pressure for this driver when he is asleep would be 104/64 mmHg. The system could be configured to alert this driver that he is dosing off when his blood pressure reduces by about fifteen percent, whose numerical value is 111/68 mmHg. However, if a different person drives the car that has this system installed, the system could provide false outputs. For example, let us assume that the new driver has his blood pressure