Novel Approach for Asthma Detection Using Carbon Monoxide Sensor

Abstract

Around 339 million people suffer from asthma worldwide. An acute asthma attack causes difficulties in daily life activities and can sometimes be fatal. The unnecessary challenges faced by asthmatics signifies the need for a device that helps people monitor and control asthma to prevent possible attacks. A number of studies have reported an elevation of carbon monoxide in exhaled breath (eCO) of asthma patients and suggest that this can be used as an effective biomarker of lung inflammation. By making use of the reported results, this project aims to make use of the eCO biomarker to design a carbon monoxide (CO) asthma monitoring system. The system consists of a Raspberry Pi 3 microcontroller and a MQ 7 CO sensor for processing and detecting the carbon monoxide concentration in parts per million. For accurate results, a face mask is attached to the sensor to mitigate environmental CO. The working of the sensor circuit is validated using a carbon monoxide source. With more researchers focusing on the threshold level of CO for an imminent asthma attack, this CO sensor could eventually save lives and improve standards of living while being an affordable and user-friendly device for active lifestyles.

Keywords

• asthma monitor
• exhaled carbon monoxide (eCO)
• CO sensor
• Raspberry Pi 3