GOVERNMENT ENGINEERING COLLEGE WAYANAD

PORTABLE SYSTEM FOR PHYSIOLOGICAL SIGNAL MONITORING AND RECORDING

II.

BLOCK DIAGRAM

Block diagram

BLOCK DIAGRAM EXPLANATION

2. AMPLIFIER: It consists of an instrumentation amplifier (AD620). The output of the sensor is given to the input of the amplifier. The AD620 is a low cost, high accuracy instrumentation amplifier that requires only one external resistor to set gains of 1 to 1000. Alternate instrumentation amplifiers like AD624 are also possible. 3. FILTER A low pass filter is incorporated in this stage to avoid the high frequency region of the amplified signal. The signals are filtered using LM358 OP-amp. It is to avoid the noise of the signals. It has two internally compensated op amps and eliminates need for dual supplies. Allows direct sensing near GND and VOUT also goes to GND. It is compatible with all forms of logic and power drain suitable for battery operation. The analog input charges a sample and hold capacitor. The output of the sample and hold capacitor is the input into the converter.
4. MICROCONTROLLER

For meeting our project requirements we are using PIC16F877A as the microcontroller. This section has the portions of A/D conversion, LCD interfacing, MMC interfacing, USART communication part. One of the most popular and easy to use microcontroller families available in the market today is the Microchip PIC microcontroller. Originally known as the PIC (for Peripheral Interface Controller), the PIC microcontroller MCU consists of over 400 variations (or Part Numbers), each designed to be optimal in different applications. These variations consist of a number of memory configurations, different I/O pin arrangements, amount of support hardware required, packaging, and available peripheral functions. This wide range of device options is not unique to the PIC microcontroller; many other microcontrollers can boast a similar menu of part numbers with different options for the designer.

5. MMC The MMC card and the SD card are flash memory storage based devices, and are physically very similar. Both card types support proprietary data transfer protocols using four data bits, and are compatible though having different initialization. The major difference is that the SD card is designed to provide optional security by allowing encryption of the device contents. The MMC card supports additional bus widths (up to 8 bits). The SD card also supports several modes that are not present in the MMC card, including SDIO (secure digital input/output) that can be used as an external communications interface using the standard SD card format. Both card types also support a basic SPI type interface for simple connection to embedded devices. The SD card specifications state a maximum clock frequency of 25MHz, and the MMC specifications state a maximum clock frequency of 52MHz depending on the device. Figure shows the MMC/SD card connections when configured for SPI mode operation.

6. INTERFACE
Here interface refers to the communication with the software installed in PC. The communication is done using the IC MAX232 which act as a level converter. It works as a buffer between the TTL logic supported by the microcontroller and the RS232 standard used in PC.

7. COMPUTER
Computer is the final device required for the completion of the project. A Visual basic program is installed in the computer which is intended to view the recorded data as real time as well as recorded format.

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

Amplifier section

Microcontroller section

PC Interface section

MMC Interfacing

WORKING

We developed a small stand alone device that can monitor the ECG of a patient and store the data in Multimedia Card attached to it up to 1 month continuously. This system can be used to record the ECG data of the patients at home or any other place. This data can be verified at the hospital or by the doctor at his home PC. Lead1 and lead 2 are ECG sensors. This output varies upon the pulse variation. The output of the sensor is analog voltage. It consists of an instrumentation amplifier (AD620). The output of the sensor is given to the input of the amplifier. The AD620 is a low cost, high accuracy instrumentation amplifier that requires only one external resistor to set gains of 1 to 1000. Furthermore, the AD620 features 8-lead SOIC and DIP packaging that is smaller than discrete designs, and offers lower power (only 1.3 mA max supply current), making it a good fit for battery powered, portable (or remote) applications. The AD620, with its high accuracy of 40 ppm maximum nonlinearity, low offset voltage of 50 mV max and offset drift of 0.6 mV/C max, is ideal for use in precision data acquisition systems, such as weigh scales and transducer interfaces. Furthermore, the low noise, low input bias current and low power of the AD620 make it

well suited for medical applications such as ECG and noninvasive blood pressure monitors. These signals are given to the filter to avoid the noise of the signals (LM358). The LM358 consist of two independent, high gain, internally frequency compensated operational amplifiers which were designed specifically to operate from a single power supply over a wide range of voltage. Operation from split power supplies is also possible and the low power supply current drain is independent of the magnitude of the power supply voltage. Application areas include transducer amplifier, DC gain blocks and all the conventional OP-AMP circuits which now can be easily implemented in single power supply systems. The output of the amplifier is analog signal. This analog signal is given to the ADC channel of the input. The microcontroller consist a10 bit ADC, which converts the analog voltage to corresponding digital values. These values are stored in its memories. The analog input charges a sample and hold capacitor. The output of the sample and hold capacitor is the input into the converter. The converter then generates a digital result of this analog level via successive approximation. This A/D conversion, of the analog input signal, results in a corresponding 10-bit digital number. Calibrate these values and stores its in MMC card through SPI module of the pic microcontroller. The Master Synchronous Serial Port (MSSP) module is a serial interface useful for communicating with other peripheral or microcontroller devices. These peripheral devices may be serial EEPROMs, shift registers, display drivers, A/D converters, etc. The MSSP module can operate Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI). The RS-MMC Cards are highly integrated flash memories with serial and random access capability. It is accessible via a dedicated serial interface optimized for fast and reliable data transmission. This interface allows several cards to be stacked by through connecting their peripheral contacts. These RS-MMC Cards are fully compatible to a new consumer standard, called the Multi Media Card system standard define in the Multi Media Card System specification. The Multi Media Card system is a new mass-storage system based on innovations in semiconductor technology. It has been developed to provide an inexpensive, mechanically robust storage medium in card form for multimedia consumer applications. RS-MMC Card allows the design of inexpensive players and drivers without moving parts. A low power consumption and a wide supply voltage range favors mobile, battery-powered application such as audio players, organizers, palmtops, electronic books, encyclopedia and dictionaries. Using very effective data compression

schemes such as MPEG, the RS-MMC Card will deliver enough capacity for all kinds of multimedia data. The ECG data are stored in RS- MMC card up to more than ten days. If the device is connected to the computer recorded data (stored in MMC) send to the computer through USART module of the microcontroller. The Universal Synchronous Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (USART) module is one of the two serial I/O modules. (USART is also known as a Serial Communications Interface or SCI). The USART can be configured as a full duplex asynchronous system that can communicate with peripheral devices such as CRT terminals and personal computers, or it can be configured as a half duplex synchronous system that can communicate with peripheral devices such as A/D or D/A integrated circuits, Serial EEPROMs etc. The computer receives these data and plot an EGC graph using system level language such as visual basic or visual c++. The microcontroller has CMOS standard. But computer has RS standard. So a interface circuit is used (MAX 232 or HIN 232). The HIN232 or MAX 232 is RS-232 transmitters/receivers interface circuits meet all ElA RS-232E and V.28 specifications, and are particularly suited for those applications where 12V is not available. They require a single +5V power supply and feature onboard charge pump voltage converters which generate +10V and -10V supplies from the 5V supply.

MICROCONTROLLER SECTION

The VCC is connected to 11th pin of pic. The

capacitor is used for to ground the AC content of the vcc.1 st pin is reset pin. If a zero potential across the 1st pin then the system is reset. So reset switch press, then the voltage is grounded and system reset. 13 and 14 pins are used to clock of the pic. So a crystal is connected to that pins. Two capacitors, one is used for oscillation start and other is used for phase shifting, connected to that pins. The output of the ECG is connected to the 2nd pin of the PIC (Channel 0 of ADC). The USART pins are 25th (TX) and 26th (RX) of the PIC. These are connected to the serial port. The SPI pins (pin number 18(clock), 19 (SPI out) and 20(SPI in)) are connected to the MMC card.

Plotting of recorded

The software developed in visual basic is intended for plotting the real time as well as the recorded data which is transmitted through serial port. The software is user friendly and very easy to use. The screen shot is given below.

SOFTWARES USED
Embedded c is used for programming the microcontroller. MPLAB IDE is the software used for compiling the code and for generating the HEX file for loading in to the IC. Proteus is the software used for simulating the designed circuit. Visual Basic application is also designed for plotting the real time ECG as well as the recorded ECG. Tiny bid is the boot loader used.