Build your own pulsemeter
Close to Your Heart
© Lead Image © Nelli Valova, 123RF.com
A pulsemeter built with a Raspberry Pi, a digital-to-analog converter, and an optical sensor monitors your heart rate just as well as many far more expensive medical devices.
Monitoring your pulse helps you determine the health of your vascular system. If you are interested in fitness, it is one of the vital metrics in sports monitoring. Whether you are taking measurements out of scientific interest, as a metric to gauge the intensity of your workout, as a measure of fitness, or as a cautionary measure against excessive stress, a DIY pulsemeter provides quick and easy feedback.
The module used in the example here is based on an optical method that measures light absorption of the red blood cells in your veins to determine the rhythm of your heartbeat. Typically, you will want to deploy sensors like this at the wrist, the arch of the foot, temple, or neck, where the veins are just under the skin.
The sensor has an operating voltage of 3-5V, and the output voltage varies depending on how well you position the sensor. Occasionally, it will not output a value at all (e.g., if you press it against the skin so hard that it blocks the blood flow).
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
CachyOS Now Lets Users Choose Their Shell
Imagine getting the opportunity to select which shell you want during the installation of your favorite Linux distribution. That's now a thing.
-
Wayland 1.24 Released with Fixes and New Features
Wayland continues to move forward, while X11 slowly vanishes into the shadows, and the latest release includes plenty of improvements.
-
Bugs Found in sudo
Two critical flaws allow users to gain access to root privileges.
-
Fedora Continues 32-Bit Support
In a move that should come as a relief to some portions of the Linux community, Fedora will continue supporting 32-bit architecture.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 Drops bcachefs
After a clash over some late fixes and disagreements between bcachefs's lead developer and Linus Torvalds, bachefs is out.
-
ONLYOFFICE v9 Embraces AI
Like nearly all office suites on the market (except LibreOffice), ONLYOFFICE has decided to go the AI route.
-
Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws Discovered in Linux
Qualys researchers have discovered two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain root privileges on major Linux distributions.
-
New TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen10 offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.
-
LibreOffice Tested as Possible Office 365 Alternative
Another major organization has decided to test the possibility of migrating from Microsoft's Office 365 to LibreOffice.
-
Linux Mint 20 Reaches EOL
With Linux Mint 20 at its end of life, the time has arrived to upgrade to Linux Mint 22.