HealthyPi 5 Easily Captures and Wirelessly Streams Health Data Either Standalone or as a Pi HAT
Out-of-box support for ECG, respiration, PPG, and SpO₂.
India-based ProtoCentral has developed an open source data acquisition board for capturing, logging, and displaying health and bio data. The Healthy Pi 5 handles electrocardiogram (ECG), respiration, photoplethysmography (PPG), oxygen saturation (SpO₂), and body temperature data out-of-the-box. And it has multiple options for expansion!
Healthy Pi 5 is a follow-on from a previous generation device called HealthyPi. The new board's size form factor resembles a Raspberry Pi HAT. And while it does have a 40-pin connector for connecting to a Raspberry Pi, the board can function standalone. An onboard circuit manages LiPo battery charging and switching between USB-C or battery.
The RP2040 is a dual-core Arm Cortex-M0+ microcontroller. It is the same microcontroller that powers the Pi Pico board. WiFi and Bluetooth support comes from a RISC V-based ESP32 C3 module.
There are several analog front ends (AFEs) for capturing bio-data. One AFE is an AFE4000 from Texas Instruments that handles heart rate and pulse-oxide monitors. The other AFE is an Analog Devices MAX30001 that measures ECG or bioimpedance (bio).
You can add support for other sensors via the Qwiic connector. This connector is compatible with a wide range of I2C-based sensors (and other devices.)
The Micro SD card socket on the back of the board can log data. Or you can stream data in real time using the open sourced Lab Streaming Layer system.
ProtoCentral also has several expansion options. For example, a Carrier board adds five Qwiic connectors and isolation for power and USB. Another is a 3.5" 480x320 TFT Screen with a three-way navigation switch. And there is a variety of software options available.
There is a desktop GUI, Android, and iOS apps for software. The software allows you to configure the device and visualize captured data. If you'd like to develop custom firmware, you can program the microcontrollers with the Arduino IDE, MicroPython, or their respective SDKs.
ProtoCentral open sourced the hardware and software. You can find the design files and code in this GitHub repository.
HealthyPi 5 is available via Crowd Supply. ProtoCentral says they have enough components on-hand for a limited run and predict a stable supply chain if they need to build more units. Prices start at $275 for a kit that includes ECG, SpO2, and temperature sensors.