A Novel IoT-Based Solution for Respiratory Flow Diagnosis

Abstract

According to the latest statistics of the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 260 million people suffer from respiratory problems such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The research work focuses on developing a smartphone-based wireless handheld unit that can be attached to the asthma inhaler for measuring the intensity of respiratory diseases and tracking the lung reaction to treatment. The work provides a low-cost design to develop an ultrasonic data acquisition module for determining the breathed airflow rate and the utmost expelled air volume. This device helps in achieving the detailed analysis of parameters associated with measurements including its graphical plots. This has the advantage of using ultrasonic technology to measure airflow without moving parts, thereby eliminating inaccuracy due to instrument errors. The research also focuses on real-time tracking of the atmospheric vital parameters such as temperature, humidity, and gas contents that trigger these respiratory diseases. These vital parameters are recorded, and the inhaler unit gives a warning or alert regarding the surrounding air quality of the patient. All these real-time recorded airflow rate parameters of the patient and environmental triggers are sent to the cloud so that they can be accessed by the physician on a smartphone for easy diagnosis. The system design is also capable of displaying the balance medicine left in the inhaler which helps the patient to act accordingly.