Building a MicroPython heart rate monitor

Fantastic project and write-up from Martin Fitzpatrick – Freelance Python Developer & Data Scientist.

Pulse sensors have become popular due to their use in health-monitors like the Fitbit. The sensors used are cheap, simple and pretty reliable at getting a reasonable indication of heart rate in daily use. They work by sensing the change in light absorption or reflectionby blood as it pulses through your arteries — a technique jauntily named photoplethysmography (PPG). The rising and falling light signal can be used to identify the pulse, and subsequently calculate heart rate.

Most commercial sensors (Fitbit, etc.) use green-light based sensors and similar sensors are available for use in your own projects. In this project we’re taking a Pulsesensor.com sensor and using it to build a working heart monitor with OLED pulse, BPM and trace display, using MicroPython on a Wemos D1.

Read more.


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