✓ Design ✓ Manufacture ✓ Electro-mechanical Opto-mechanical ✓ Health Wearable
Context
Human respiration can be modeled as an electrical circuit to increase the sensitivity, repeatability, and objectivity of pulmonary disease diagnosis.
One of the assumptions for this model to detect COPD is that the chest wall does not move during testing.
Goal
Identify a method to detect chest wall movement that could be implemented during pulmonary functional testing.
My role
Undergraduate researcher with $2,000 university grant
Sensor
Doppler transceiver
My contributions
Downselected sensor type
Brainstorming considered accelerometers, strain gages, string potentiometers
Fabricate circuit on breadboard and connect to DAQ
Signal processing in LabView and MATLAB
Characterized field of view, directionality and proximity needs
Prototype
Bench-top device
Transceiver <--> Breadboard <--> DAQ <--> LabView
Fabrication Techniques
Soldering
Basic electronic components on breadboard
DAQ wiring
Outcomes
Demonstrated proof-of-concept to measure small chest wall deflections by having test subjects sit relaxed with breath held
Future work could have test subjects wired with ECG to confirm doppler exhibit the same period as ECG measurements