Title: Design and development of a low-cost spirometer with an embedded web server

Authors: Vivek Agarwal, N.C.S. Ramachandran

Addresses: Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India. ' Texas Instruments, Bangalore, India

Abstract: Spirometers are used to measure lung capacity and response of lungs and chest during physical therapy. They reveal whether the patient|s dyspnoea is due to cardiac or pulmonary dysfunction and are used to detect asthma. Unfortunately their application is limited due to high instrument cost and lack of specialist doctors. This paper details the development of a low-cost, portable spirometer built around an MEMS pressure sensor for detecting airflow and pressure. The instrument has an embedded web server and ethernet connection which enables a distantly located doctor to examine the patient online during an emergency or otherwise.

Keywords: spirometer design; web server; pressure sensors; MEMS; home spirometry; dynamic lung function; ethernet; biomedical instrumentation; pirometers; instrumentation design; lung capacity measurement; dyspnoea; cardiac dysfunction; pulmonary dysfunction; asthma detection; microelectromechanical systems; embedded systems; remote examination; online examination.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBET.2008.020072

International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, 2008 Vol.1 No.4, pp.439 - 452

Published online: 25 Aug 2008 *

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