2022 3rd Int. Conf.

on Innovations in Science, Engineering and Technology (ICISET)

26-27 February 2022, Chittagong, Bangladesh

Design and Implementation of an IoT-Based

Healthcare Monitoring System
2022 International Conference on Innovations in Science, Engineering and Technology (ICISET) | 978-1-6654-8397-1/22/$31.00 ©2022 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/ICISET54810.2022.9775850

S.M.G Mostafa Mohammed Zaki Mohammed Moinul Islam

Department of Electrical and Department of Electrical and Department of Electrical and
Electronics Engineering Electronics Engineering Electronics Engineering
International Islamic University International Islamic University International Islamic University
Chittagong Chittagong Chittagong
Chattogram,Bangladesh Chattogram,Bangladesh Chattogram,Bangladesh
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

M. Shafiul Alam Md. Aasim Ullah

K.A.CARE Energy Research & Department of Electrical and
Innovation Center (ERIC) Electronics Engineering
King Fahd University of Petroleum & International Islamic University
Minerals Chittagong
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Chattogram,Bangladesh
[email protected] [email protected]

Abstract—According to ways-to-die website, over 150,000 people’s health; and using internet helps transmit their
people die every day. And the most common cause of death, conditions to their concerned ones. Other aims behind
i.e., about 20% of all deaths, is heart diseases. So, the most remote healthcare are cost reduction and size deduction by
crucial contribution from our side to lower this percentage can IoT-based monitoring platforms. The data can be seen by
be to monitor the cardiac values as much as possible. There are several people including family members and caretakers by
conventional methods to measure patients’ health and means of web-server [4]. All the above-mentioned facts are
condition, but they are laborious; have possibilities of errors; performed through a URL or a site passed. There are GSM-
and nocturnal monitoring has as well been very difficult. based monitoring systems as well. Here, SMS strategy is
Moreover, since 2019, COVID19 has caused more than five
used to transmit the data. Some of the countryside regions
million deaths all around the world, as stated by WHO. And it
made the physical presence of doctors and caretakers almost
also don’t have immediate physical doctoring facilities and it
impossible. So, we have designed an up-to-date IoT-based takes a long time for the patients to reach hospitals and
project that continuously monitors the patient’s body undergo medical procedures [5].
temperature, heart-rate and oxygen saturation level; keep the Vivek Pardeshi et al. proposed a system on healthcare
data readings in display before the patient and in the screen of monitoring in 2017. It is based on IoT with Raspberry Pi.
the doctor’s mobile; and it also provides a non-touching hand- The paper has made the system into software and hardware
sanitizing system. The proposed design integrates NodeMCU,
sections. The software section worked on interfacing. While
DS18B20 Temperature sensor, Max30100 Pulse-oximeter, and
the hardware section focused on transmitting and receiving.
other required materials in a small box. The readings are as
accurate as the conventional medical equipments while it just
The transmitter section is connected to human body. The
takes less than a minute of time to perform the whole master device, Raspberry Pi, connects the different sensors
procedure. The developed project has outperformed the used with IoT server. This helps all the readings from
conventional method by providing a safer, less complex, cost temperature sensor and heartbeat sensor appear on the LCD
effective and faster service. at the receiver end. So, any abnormal situation of the patient
is known by the doctor or the concerned person directly
Keywords— Max30100, DS18B20, Healthcare Monitoring, through GSM [6]. Major drawback of the proposed work is
Pulse-rate, Oxygen Saturation Level, SpO2, Temperature Sensor, that the processor, Raspberry Pi, used in the system is too
Automatic Hand Sanitizer costly.
I. INTRODUCTION S. Lavanya et el. Proposed a similar approach in [7]. The
research is an IoT-based intelligent home-centric healthcare
People are advancing in technology, but we can’t ignore platform, i.e., i-Home system. The system mainly worked on
health concerns. Health concerns affect a country or even the three sections: (1) Smart medical service, (2) Medication
whole world economically and socially. According to Ways-
management, and (3) Cloud integration. Smart sensors are
to-die, over 150,000 people die every day. The most
connected to Raspberry Pi. a NodeMCU, two Arduino Uno
common cause of death, i.e., about 20% of everyday deaths,
boards, an acceleration sensor, a heartbeat sensor, an IR
is mainly heart diseases [1]. Moreover, COVID19 recently
sensor, a temperature sensor (LM35) and an LCD display
has affected the whole world, especially medical system and
was embedded in a system proposed by Manduva and Arun
facilities of the countries all over the world. This type of
in [8]. The LM35 used in [7] and [8] is a non-medical
situation demands remote monitoring technologies for
temperature sensor, whereas DS18B20, used in our system,
everything. IoT can be considered the best solution for such is a medical device. The programming in [8] is done in
technologies [2]. This can help the doctors to observe Embedded C and Arduino Software, while the proposed one
patients from a far-away room, and the patient can also is done only with Arduino. In case of abnormal condition,
consult from his own home which will save both his time the system is expected to inform the doctor through cloud
and money [3]. Different kinds of sensors are used to track

978-1-6654-8397-1/22/$31.00 ©2022 IEEE

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computing. This system too is very costly to install because the 16*2 LCD through SCL and SDA pin where we can read
of its processor and doesn’t work on patient sanitizing the data of the sensors. The VCC and GND pins are
section as well. Major drawback of this approach is that it connected accordingly.
used a total of 3 MCU boards – a NodeMCU and two
ArduinoUnos, which ultimately makes the project more U2 7805
5V

complex and costlier. 1 3 RL1

GND
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D1 OZ-SH-105D
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DC C1 C2
The above literature review shows that none of above 12V
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system has automatic hand sanitizing system, which is one of 10u 10u
10k
3.3V

today’s major demands. Moreover, to monitor and access the 5V

2

measured data through smart phone, Blynk App has been 3.3V
15
14 G
VIN
NodeMCU V3 Lolin
3V 16
G 17 R2
incorporated in proposed system. All the reviewed systems 12
11
13
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4.7k
10k
10 U1
used processors that are costly to install. So, this 9
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implemented system provides an IoT-based healthcare 6

5
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S1
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3V
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GND

DS18B20
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monitoring system which only uses a single NodeMCU 3

2
1
VU
G
A0
D3
D2
D1
28
29
30
SCL
SDA

board as controller unit. As the NodeMCU board has an D0

VSS

JHD-2X16-I2C

already built-in WiFi Module, it connects to internet and IR1

IR OBSTACLE SENSOR

clouds without any external circuits. This ultimately makes

Infrared Sensor
the proposed system less complex and cheaper. The

OUT GND Vcc

additional part of the proposed system is having an automatic
hand sanitizer integrated to it as a safety system.

5V

TestPin
In this research study, an IoT based system has been
proposed and developed which uses NodeMCU as a
microcontroller unit, and it receives readings of temperature, Fig. 1. The proposed Health Monitoring System.
heartbeat and SpO2 values by using DS18B20 temperature
sensor and Max30100 pulse-oximeter. The readings are An IR sensor is then connected to detect any object
displayed in an LCD beside the patient and the physician’s placed in front of it. Its output pin is connected to the signal
mobile screen using Blynk App. It also has an IR sensor that pin of the relay. The NO (Normally Open) pin of the relay is
detects objects placed in front and turns the relay on to pump connected to the VCC of the NodeMCU. And the Common
out the sanitizer before and after measuring health pin (COM) is connected to the positive terminal of the water
parameters without being touched. pump. The water pump then pumps sanitizer to the patient as
soon as the IR sensor detects any hand or other objects in
This manuscript has the following structure: The front of it. Two pull-up resistors are used with SCL and
Healthcare monitoring system Modeling and Operation SDA pins of the I2C module for a continuous high line
provided in section II. The Results and Discussion given in without any voltage drop.
section III, Cost analysis and Future scope is given in section
IV and V respectively. Last of all, the major contributions of
this study are summarized in section V.
II. SYSTEM MODELING AND OPERATION
IoT-based platform helps the doctor know patients’
conditions through web-server and prescribe them the
necessary steps. The following subsections provides detailed
documentations on system design, implementation and
operation of the implemented system.
A. Health Monitoring System Construction
The schematic diagram of health monitoring system is
shown in Fig. 1. The system is made up of several electronic
components such as buck converter, microcontroller unit.
Furthermore, four series-connected batteries of 3.7V each
has been employed, which gives an approximately 14.8V DC
source. Since, microcontroller unit works with 5V DC
source, a buck converter was used which steps down the Fig. 2. The proposed Health Monitoring System.
battery voltage to 5V. The input pin of the NodeMCU, VIN,
receives the output of the buck converter and starts to B. Operation
operate. It then takes the temperature reading from DS18B20 As Fig. 2 describes, firstly, the circuit is initialized.
sensor whose Data pin along a 4.7 kΩ pull-up resistor is Then it checks whether an object is placed in front of IR
connected to the input pin D5 of the MCU. It also takes the sensor or not. If IR sensor does not reflect any object, it
data of heart rate and blood saturation level from the keeps checking. If it senses a hand or an object in its range,
Max30100 sensor whose SCL and SDA pin are connected to the pump sprays sanitizer to it and then stops. After that it
D1 and D2 of NodeMCU through I2C Module respectively. checks whether the NodeMCU is connected to Wi-Fi or not.
Since the Max30100 works on about 3V supply, its VCC If NodeMCU is connected to Wi-Fi, then it checks
and GND pin are connected to the 3.3V pin and GND pin of Max30100 sensor. If the finger is placed on the sensor, it
the NodeMCU. And the I2C Module is again connected to shows the pulse rate and oxygen saturation level on the

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(LCD) display and android App together using Blynk. If the TABLE I: COMPARISON OF TEMPERATURE BETWEEN MEDICAL DEVICE AND
finger is not placed, it keeps checking for the finger. PROPOSED DEVICE.

Patient Gender Age Actual Sensor

Then, the NodeMCU checks the temperature sensor and Name Temperature Temperature
shows the reading on the LCD and the Android App. In Sample 1 Male 22 96.30 F 96.130 F
case the temperature exceeds 100 ˚F, it sends an alert Sample 2 Male 24 97.20 F 970 F
through buzzer. Then, it stops. This system continuously Sample 3 Male 23 98.60 F 98.260 F
works in a loop with this programming logic. Sample 4 Male 21 96.80 F 95.90 F
Sample 5 Male 25 94.20 F 940 F
C. Hardware Implementation Sample 6 Male 23 97.80 F 96.90 F
Sample 7 Male 25 97.60 F 97.10 F
Sample 8 Male 23 97.70 F 980 F
Sample 9 Male 27 96.70 F 96.90 F
Sample 10 Male 17 95.50 F 95.20 F
TABLE II: COMPARISON OF PULSE AND SPO2 VALUES BETWEEN MEDICAL
DEVICE AND PROPOSED DEVICE.

Patient Actual Pulse Sensor Pulse Actual Sensor

Name (BPM) (BPM) SpO2 SpO2
Sample 1 107 107 98% 99%
Sample 2 102 105 97% 99%
Sample 3 110 107 98% 99%
Sample 4 82 83 96% 99%
Sample 5 96 99 97% 97%
Sample 6 69 67 97% 98%
Sample 7 81 79 99% 99%
Sample 8 102 100 99% 99%
Sample 9 85 85 98% 98%
Sample 10 69 67 97% 97%
(a)
A. Comparison of temperature between thermometer and
proposed device
The different temperature values of 10 people in TABLE
I are compared between readings in the thermometer and the
DS18B20 sensor. The detailed bar chart of TABLE I is
shown in Fig. 4. Eight, 8 out of 10 people had shown a bit
lower temperature in the proposed project than in the medical
thermometer; and two of them showed a bit higher value
than the thermometer’s one; the difference is ranging from
0.0 to 0.5˚C which is considered accurate according to
DS18B20 sensor datasheet [9].

100
98
96
Temperature (˚F)

Actual
(b) 94 Temperature
92
Fig. 3. Implementation of proposed System 90 Sensor
Fig. 3. (a) shows the components inside the box while temperature
they were in operating mode. And fig. 3. (b) shows the
components attached outside the box. All the components
are captioned accordingly by means of arrows as shown
below. Fig. 4. Comparison of temperature between thermometer and DS18B20.

III. RESULT AND DISCUSSION B. Comparison of temperature between JPD-500D and

Max30100 sensor
Table I and Table II illustrates the measured parameters
from implemented project are compared to the values In Fig. 5, heart rate values from TABLE II are compared
measured by conventional medical devices. Here, firstly, a between the proposed approach and the Jumper device
thermometer modelled as XHF2001 was used to compare found in the market. In the project, heart rate was measured
with the project’s DS18B20. Both the heads of thermometer by placing the fingers of the 10 different personalities on the
and DS18B20 were placed under the armpit of 10 different Max30100 sensor. After waiting for four seconds according
persons of different ages. After keeping them there for one to the sensor demand, the readings were recorded. While the
minute, their readings were noted down. Then a Jumper pulse rate reading from the Jumper JPD-500D was recorded
Oximeter modelled JPD-500D was placed around their after placing the same fingers inside the jumper mouth. It
index fingers to measure heart rate and SpO2 values of those also took 3 to 4 seconds to show the value. As the chart in
10 persons and they were noted down. Similarly, the fig. 5 describes, some of the data between both sensors are
readings from the Max30100 sensor was noted down to exactly same, while a few of them are differing by one or
compare it to the values measured by the Jumper. two BPMs. So, it can also be said to be well accurate.

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 Then, Sanitizer is sprayed to the patient’s hand though
150
Heart rate (BPM) a pump when the IR sensor detects the hand. Then when a
100 finger is placed on the Max30100 sensor, pulse rate and
Actual Pulse SpO2 values are shown on the LCD and Aroid App. Fig.8
50 (BPM) represents the project’s LCD while fig. 5.7 describes the
0 Sensor mobile screen through Blynk Application. In Fig. 8 (the
display on the project box) and Fig. 9 (display in Android
Pulse(BPM)
through web), it can clearly be seen that the pulse is 93,
SpO2 value is 99%, and temperature is 81.95˚F. The value
of temperature came from the DS18B20 temperature
sensor.
Fig. 5. Comparison of pulse data between JPD-500D and Max30100.

C. Comparison of SpO2 Values between Jumper JPD-

500D and Max30100 sensor
Fig. 6 compares the oxygen saturation level from TABLE
II between the proposed device and Jumper JPD-500D. Both
the devices have shown almost same values between 97 and
100 percentages. This value, SpO2 is processed and shown
on the basis of oxygenated hemoglobin and deoxygenated
hemoglobin. There are some manufacturers who have their
own look up system on SpO2 value. Typically, this project
work calculates the SpO2 value on the ratio of red light
absorbed and infrared light absorbed. If the R/IR ratio is 0.5,
then SpO2 equals approximately 100%. And if the ratio
stands at 1.0, the SpO2 value equals about 82%, and for the Fig. 8. Output data shown on LCD.
ration of 2, the SpO2 value becomes almost zero [10].

150
Saturation Level

100
Actual SpO2
Oxygen

50
(%)

Sensor SpO2
0
1 3 5 7 9 11

Fig. 6. Comparison of SpO2 values between JPD-500D and Max30100.

Fig. 9. Output data shown on Android (Blynk App).
D. Displaying Measured Parameters
Fig.7 shows the upper front side of the enclosed project. IV. COT ANALYSIS
This view is showing only the switch, LCD, sanitizing pump The developed health monitoring system is a cost-effective
and IR sensor. While the components inside the box are system where only 2958 BDT is needed to implement it.
battery, buck converter, NodeMCU, DS18B20 temperature This project was accomplished by authors own financial
sensor, Max30100 pulse oximeter, and I2C module. In this contribution and it was not sponsored by anyone. The cost of
picture, a message can be seen on the LCD which reads as each of the components used in the proposed work is shown
“Initializing Sensor”. After connecting the system to WiFi, in Table III.
this message appears on the LCD for two seconds.
TABLE III: APPROXIMATE COST ANALYSIS

Equipment Name Quantity Unit Price Cost

(pcs) (BDT) (BDT)
ESP8266 NodeMCU 1 520 520
DS18B20 1 130 130
LM2596 1 120 120
MAX30100 1 872 872
IR Sensor 1 90 90
Relay 1 90 90
I2C module + LCD 1 330 330
Micro pump 1 196 196
Battery 4 4 x 65 260
Jumper wire + Buzzer 1 50 50
Installation Cost 300
Total Cost 2,958
Fig. 7. Upper front side of the enclosed project.

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 V. FUTURE WORK and it turns the relay on to pump the sanitizer without
The system proposed in this book works for heart even being touched. The project is working properly
patients. There are a lot of scopes for further development compared to the conventional method and it only takes a
both in hardware and software. It can be designed to minute to operate. As the system is an IoT based
monitor the whole ward room and detect the physical monitoring, it is free from contamination of diseases
situation of patients through Wi-Fi Module. In case of among the physician and the patient. Moreover, the
software implementation, the webserver can be developed sanitizer it includes also contaminates the sensors from
with more advanced features and apps. The screen can be being infectious. in addition to that, the proposed work
used of a bigger size where all the details related to the less costly than other existing systems since the processor
patient including his name, time, and his family’s contact used is a NodeMCU, a cheaper and less complex
will be present. The developed softwares can be uploaded processor unit having a built-in WiFi module additionally.
to Google Play Store so that people can easily access it So, this project has outperformed the conventional method
and use it. Internet of Things is always there to let us build by giving us a safer, less complex, cost effective and
comprehensive services. faster service.
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VI. CONCLUSION
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