Abstract

A pulse oximeter is an electronic device that is used to noninvasively analyse the Saturated Peripheral Oxygen level (SpO2) of arterial blood and the pulse rate of cardiac activity in Beats per Minute (BPM) of the user of the device. This paper presents a cost-effective design and development of a microcontroller pulse oximeter with multiple emergency notification channels. The aim of this paper focuses on key challenges of this electronic device by firstly addressing the problems associated with motion and varying ambient light artifacts by using a variable width window filter algorithm. Secondly, it also addressed the problem associated with failure in transmission of notification signal to a third party through the incorporation of a multiple emergency notification channel. The results obtained from this research were compared to that of an already existing clinical model. Three key performance metrics were used to validate the results obtained from the research. These include Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Pulsatile Signal Quality Index (PSQI) and the Probability of Successful Message Delivery (PSMD). The result obtained from the research gave rise to an RMSE value of 1.0488 for the SpO2, 1.7748% for the Pulse Rate as against the 3.0 and 3.5% thresholds set by the international organization for standard. Also, the PSQI was found to be 1.2723 while the PSMD was pegged at 0.93, indicating a very good value. As such, these results indicate that the developed pulse oximeter can be deployed in practical field where it is required.