BridgeIT

During A term 2005, three WPI MQP students joined up with the University of Limerick (UL) to improve the quality of healthcare in Ireland for patients who require long term monitoring such as those with diabetes. Currently diabetes “They needed wireless, centralized data storage over the internet, encryption, speech synthesis, a readable LCD display interface, an upgradeable firmware, USB, RS232, and the ability to support a wide variety of sensors.” patients keep track of their own blood sugar levels and periodically visit their doctor for diabetes management advice. The University of Limerick recognized that a personal health monitoring device with the capability to transfer data wirelessly over the internet would empower these patients to manage their own health with, at their discretion, the assistance of remote experts. Adam Broders, Dylan Fitzgerald and Paul Ingemi, working under the guidance of UL's Mark Southern and WPI's Professor Richard Vaz created a prototype personal health monitor.

Delivering the capabilities that the University of Limerick requested was a challenge. "They needed wireless, centralized data storage over the internet, encryption, speech synthesis, a readable LCD display interface, an upgradeable

firmware, USB, RS232, and the ability to support a wide variety of sensors. We knew we would not be able to deliver this in ten weeks with the eight bit PIC microprocessors that we are comfortable with," explained Paul. To meet the need, the MQP team leveraged the GNU/Linux operating system running custom application software on an ARM-based OMAP5912 CPU development board using a consumer USB 802.11b wireless adapter and a custom-built LCD interface board. The prototype system successfully demonstrates the essential features and is ready to continue the path through further refinement to eventual production.

• Prototype System
• Power Measurements
• LCD Interface Board (front)
• LCD Interface Board (back)
• GUI

• MQP Report in PDF or OpenOffice
• MQP Presentation

• University of Limerick
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute
• Diabetes in Ireland at Diabetes Ireland
• General diabetes information at the American Diabetes Association
• OpenEmbedded at www.openembedded.org