Design of a Bluetooth-Enabled Wireless Pulse Oximeter

Capstone courses play a crucial role in Computer Engineering (CE) curricula. The principle purpose of a Capstone project course is to offer a summative opportunity for graduating senior engineering students to apply their professional skills and knowledge in a single experience and prepare them for work. Like many engineering programs, students at Utah Valley University (UVU) complete their requirements for graduation with a semester long capstone design project course. The intention of this course is to apply competencies gained during their first three years toward the solution of an embedded system design problem. Educational excellence requires exposing students to the current edge of research. To ensure that student projects are along the same trajectory that the industry is moving, educators continually introduce emerging techniques, practices, and applications into the curriculum. Advances in wireless sensors have opened new opportunities in healthcare systems. Sensor-based technology has invaded medical devices to replace thousands of wires connected to these devices found in hospitals. This paper presents the detail of sample project that two CE students have done in the area of wireless sensors. This sample senior design project successfully created a Bluetooth-enabled pulse oximeter using the MAX 30100 and HC-05 modules. Accurate sensor data was sent over the link to a laptop, which was able to display the Plethysmographic trace waveform, or “Pleth,” Oxygen Saturation (SpO2), and Heart Rate (HR) data. The results mimicked those that would have been received with a wired hospital pulse oximeter, including the waveforms and the accuracy of the data. This allows free movement of patients within their room and floor, easing the discomfort of their hospital stay while still providing health monitoring. Background Information Utah Valley University (UVU) is a comprehensive regional university with over 40,000 students charged with serving Utah county, which is the second largest county in the state. UVU has a dual mission – that of a comprehensive university offering 91 bachelor’s degrees and 11master’s degrees, and that of a community college offering 65 associate degrees and 44 certificates. Engineering and Computer Science Departments To meet one of the region’s most pressing workforce needs, UVU initiated three new engineering programs in Fall 2018. The new bachelor’s degree programs in Electrical Engineering, Civil Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering have joined UVU’s established programs in Computer Engineering and Pre-Engineering in a new Department of Engineering. The new programs were immediately popular with students, with 300 students enrolling for Fall 2018. Currently, the new Engineering Department has more than 800 students in five programs, which are housed in that department. Before forming the Engineering Department at UVU, the Computer Engineering program was housed in the Computer Science department, which offers a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science with two areas of specialization – Computer Science (traditional) and Computer Networking. It also offers a Software Engineering degree. The Bachelor of Science in Computer Science program was one of the first Bachelor of Science programs implemented at UVU in 1993. Capstone Projects in Computer Engineering (CE) Program at UVU The goal of the projects in our Capstone Design course is to provide our students with a realistic embedded system design experience and to teach them the tools and methodologies that can help them be successful. The following is the Course Description, Course Learning Outcomes (CLO), and traits for our senior design project course: Course Description: Serves as a project-based capstone course for computer engineering majors. Emphasizes major hardware and software design. Includes identification and completion of a suitable design project to be mutually selected by the faculty supervisor and student. Requires weekly written and oral presentations as well as a final written report and oral presentation. Course Learning Outcomes: 1. Identify relevant topics from previous courses and then apply them to their project 2. Identify and specify design requirements from general problem descriptions 3. Communicate design ideas and information 4. Demonstrate creative thinking 5. Display information gathering skills 6. Demonstrate oral and written communication skills Traits: Upon successful completion, students should have the following attitude(s)/traits: Confidence in their ability to design. Confidence in their ability to communicate technical information effectively. Our senior design course is structured as a collection of independent or group student projects. This capstone course is offered every semester. Usually, the students in the Computer Engineering program take this course during their last semester. Students either can come up with an embedded system project themselves or work on a project that is given to them by their advisors. The requirements for these projects are as follows: Low cost Embedded System Design projects Can be finished in one semester Students write a proposal to define problems and identify solutions for their project in addition to the hardware and software that is needed for their project. After several iterations, the advisor approves their project proposal. Then, they begin working on their projects. Students are required to write weekly progress reports and meet with their advisor during a weekly scheduled time for each student. At the end of the semester, they turn in a final written report and a final presentation which is evaluated by several faculties from the department. The following grading rubric is used to assess these projects: Assessment of the Projects The project final grade is calculated on a 100-point scale, with the maximum number of points for each area of assessment as follows: Quality and rigor of research and research paper 25 points Quality of other deliverables (hardware design, integration, management plan, code, etc.) 15 Degree to which project fulfills requirements specified in project proposal 20