Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitor

Idea Under Discussion — Content Pending

The Idea

This project:

• Researches ambulatory blood pressure monitors.
• Explores sensor design.
• Assesses potential of currently commercially available monitors.

Conceptually, an Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitor has the following:

Component	Role
Sensor(s)	The sensor reacts to blood flow to produce analog signals from which blood pressure and heart rate can be determined.
Power	The power component consists of batteries to provide electrical energy to other components and possibly a power generator such as piezo film or cable that restores energy to the battery.
Processor	The processor converts the sensor signal to digital form, with date, time, heart rate, systolic pressure and diastolic pressure. Additional measures such as body movement and blood velocity would be helpful.
Memory	The memory stores the blood measurements in digital form. It also may store program instructions, system information, and patient and situation information relevant to this usage of the monitor.
Display	The display may have the following forms: an indicator that shows that the device is working normally or provides an error condition if it is not, a readout display that shows the last blood pressure and heart rate measurement.
Communications	Several communications interfaces are under consideration. These include a wired (contact) or wireless method to transfer the collected measurements to the remote subsystem. A removable flash memory card could also be used, such as one of the types found in digital cameras and other portable devices.
System Software

Accuracy may necessitate calibration against an oscillometric blood pressure cuff.