Experiential learning in an undergraduate biomeasurement course: Heart-rate meter

This paper describes a hands-on project for an undergraduate biomeasurement course that includes an amplifier for the electrocardiogram (ECG) and an embedded system to measure the heart rate on a beat-by-beat basis. The embedded system uses a PIC18F452 microprocessor and can output text via a LCD character display. The ECG amplifier is constructed with a printed circuit board already designed and provided to the students. The students learn the design of an embedded instrument by building the hardware and programming the device with the C++ language. The project effectively integrates several engineering skills including circuits, microprocessors, programming, and signal processing into a one-semester course. Therefore it is an efficient way to provide biomedical engineering students with skills to design embedded measurement systems.