User:Medelen8/ENES100/BioVest Design C

Problem Statement
This shirt should be able to measure either an athlete or an elderly person's. The shirt should also be comfort able while being aesthetically pleasing to the person wearing the shirt. The shirt should be able to help a person in a possible dire situation like a heart attack for an elderly person it would be able to tell how many beats per minute the person's heart is beating or if the user is too hot. Also having all of this information displayed in an easily accessible play for the user to see.

Requirements for each element or component derived from system level goals and requirements
The BioVest must measure different vital signs of the user, including their heart rate, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation of the muscles. These measurements must be accurate within a maximum of 2%, 5%, and 5% error, respectively. In addition to measuring vitals, the device should be able to indicate when these levels become dangerously low or high, and warn the user in some manner, either by emitting a warning sound or light. Also, since it is meant to be worn for extended periods of time, it needs to be lightweight, weighing no more than 2.5 pounds. Lastly, the BioVest must be insulated to protect the circuitry from outside interference such as moisture or impact damage, in addition to making the shirt more comfortable for the user.

The initial design
Unlike previous groups, the first thing that we decided was that we wanted to use a long sleeve shirt instead of a short sleeve. We did this because it would provide more area to work with would result in less clutter with wiring and sensors. Originally, we wanted to the Biovest to looks simple and clean, with little wiring. We also wanted to focus on measuring one specific vital sign: heart rate. In our first design, we wanted to attach a device similar to a heart rate watch onto the wrist of the shirt. This way, the user would be able to get real-time measurements of their pulse, and it would be convenient because the measuring device would also displays the data. The "watch" would have to be sewn into either the left or right wrist. To do so, a piece of fabric must be attached to the inside of the sleeve where it would be inserted and easily removable. Lastly, there would be a small hole on the wrist of the shirt where the display could be read easily. After much discussion, we decided that this may not be the best course of action. If we used a device that had a sole purpose of reading pulse, it might be difficult to connect it to the other devices/sensors when they are added onto the BioVest. It would also mean that there would be multiple displays for each measurement, which would be inconvenient for the user.

Alternatives in design
After researching different devices that we could possibly use, we found that using a Pulse Sensor would be very useful for us. The Pulse Sensor is an Arduino based device that is capable of measuring and recording a heart rate.

In this design, the power source and Arduino for the Pulse Sensor are located on the side of the shirt, where it will be out of the user's way and will not restrict and motions. The wires connected to the Pulse Sensor are sewn into the shirt and run through a "pocket" up through the side and into the arm, where is is connected to the small device which actually measures the heart rate. The potential problems with this design were that the wires and Arduino must be properly protected in order to ensure that they are not damaged. Possibly dangers include:
 * User perspiration while exercising
 * Wires breaking when performing rapid motions or stretching
 * Breaking under an excessive amount of pressure or weight

Experimental prototypes and testing conducted during design
This part of the process was unachievable because we did not have any of the sensors needed to give a reading. We did not have any of the necessary equipment to begin this. The parts that we ordered have not come in yet so therefore there is nothing to test.

Appropriate optimization in the presence of constraints
The biggest constraints were comfort and getting the shirt to be machine washable. In the wake of these situations we decided to make a shirt that simply holds the arduino and that in not built in with an arduino so one can just take off the arduino and the sensors and wash the regular shirt and not cause any damage to the arduino. Comfort was overcome simply by making the case that holds the arduino rounded so that it did not poke or even make a hole in the shirt.

Iteration until convergence
Throughout this whole process we came up with at least 3 designs for the shirt which included a shirt with a built in watch that measures the users heart rate. The other design had the arduino on the back of the shirt but the final design now has the arduino on the back of the shirt.

The final design
We decided that our best option was to create the BioVest using the Pulse Sensor. We wanted to make sure that we used the least amount of wiring and tampering with the shirt, so we thought that attached a Pulse Sensor is the most efficient way to do this. The Pulse Sensor is relatively cheap compared to other devices that perform similar tasks, and this would mean that the BioVest is cheaper to produce and cheaper to purchase. It also means that if the Pulse Sensor happens to malfunction, there is little knowledge required on how to replace it.

Technical and scientific knowledge
The scientific knowledge required for this project is a basic understanding of human anatomy meaning one must know what device measures what vital and also where the best place to measure those specific vitals on the body. It would not work if we put a heart rate monitor on the top of the head it would have a tough time reading the correct number. Also for this project it is key to have a basic understanding of Arduino code and how to connect the sensors to the arduino. The user of the shirt will have to have some basic knowledge of what the measurements mean.

Creativity, problem solving, and group decision-making
The main problem we had was finding a way to make the shirt wearable so making there as little wires as possible for this was a problem. My colleague and I found an alternative solution to this problem, we found different designs and these different designs were narrowed down using a decision matrix. Most of our decisions were made from just a simple discussion with each other about which one benifieted the project the most and gave us the best possibility to achieve our overall goal.

Modeling and/or Simulation
In our group presentation we presented a prototype of the shirt we will be using for the final design. The purpose was to show how tight the shirt had to be to get accurate results from our sensors the shirt was more or less a model of what our final design would look like because the changes to it will be small and mostly unnoticeable.

Performance, life cycle cost and value
This shirt should perform quite well under most circumstances besides a few minor exercises that this shirt would hinder it is a very efficient shirt that will be able to measure multiple vitals of the user and give accurate readings to to the users. The cost of this shirt should be relatively cheap, individually the shirt it's self would cost cost $50, the arduino pulse sensor would cost $25 and the other sensors would cost relatively the same amount as the pulse sensor. Overall the BioVest would cost around 150 to make if it had four sensors on it. The shirt is very vital it measures ones most important vitals in their body this could help a person not overwork themselves or even show if they aren't working hard enough and it could even same someone's life if there is a problem with their heart rate than our pulse sensor should be able to catch the problem immediately and show the user if there is a problem.

Aesthetics and human factors
The shirt should look very basic and not to flashy the main goal of this is to get a shirt that measures vitals and is comfortable. The factors that we had to talk about were comfort that arduino should be soft and cushioning so that it does not annoy the user of the shirt. That is why putting a case over the arduino is the best solution we have found.

Implementation, verification, test and environmental sustainability
This part of the process has not been done because we have not received all of the necessary equipment to begin testing the shirt yet. We can only say how the shirt will work in theory not how it has actually performed.

Maintainability, reliability, and safety
This shirt should overall be very safe and efficient and not hurt the user of it at all, as long as the sensors are giving the correct readings than the shirt is reliable. The shirt should actually be maintained pretty nicely because it is not going in the wash. The actual sensors do no encounter a situation where they really could be damaged if used correctly.

Robustness, evolution, product improvement and retirement
The product could be improved by simply getting more expensive equipment that has less wires. And after time one could improve on how aesthetically pleasing the shirt would be to the user.