Complete Newbie with some simple questions.

B

Bishop

Guest
Hi all, I'm a complete newbie here. I'm a VB programmer and could use
recommendations on what parts I need, suggestions on part makes and models.
As with most things, I want to keep the price as low as possible.

What I want to do it use a heart rate sensor and a magnetic sensor to record
heart rate and revolutions when someone is riding an exercise bike. Below
is a brief illustration:

Hear Rate Sensor and Magnetic Sensor >>> Not sure what stuff I need here >>>
digital IO board >>> Windows API for the Digital IO board.

A couple other things that play into this:
1. The Computer with the digital IO board may be a hundred feet or so from
the bike. I'd like to use cat5 cabling to span the distance.
2. Eventually I'd like to record data from multiple bikes at the same time
on the same computer. This is not necessary for the first prototype but
it's worth mentioning for the parts list.

That's it. I'd appreciate any ideas, thoughts, suggestions!

Thanks, -Ken
 
Subject: Complete Newbie with some simple questions.
From: "Bishop" kwayne@new.rr.com
Date: 12/5/2004 12:38 PM Central Standard Time
Message-id: <HAIsd.85052$ye4.54325@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com

Hi all, I'm a complete newbie here. I'm a VB programmer and could use
recommendations on what parts I need, suggestions on part makes and models.
As with most things, I want to keep the price as low as possible.

What I want to do it use a heart rate sensor and a magnetic sensor to record
heart rate and revolutions when someone is riding an exercise bike. Below
is a brief illustration:

Hear Rate Sensor and Magnetic Sensor >>> Not sure what stuff I need here
digital IO board >>> Windows API for the Digital IO board.

A couple other things that play into this:
1. The Computer with the digital IO board may be a hundred feet or so from
the bike. I'd like to use cat5 cabling to span the distance.
2. Eventually I'd like to record data from multiple bikes at the same time
on the same computer. This is not necessary for the first prototype but
it's worth mentioning for the parts list.

That's it. I'd appreciate any ideas, thoughts, suggestions!

Thanks, -Ken
Click to expand...
Hi, Ken. I'm assuming you want an ethernet connection between your PC and your
I/O board. I'm also assuming you have some facility in programming ethernet
with VB.

You're going to need some kind of dedicated controller on the I/O board end, if
for no other reason than to run the network connection. Also, given excercise
bike wheel speeds, you'll probably need a counter on the I/O board, especially
if you're thinking about more than one bike per controller.

Having said that, I think the best low cost way to do what you want is to embed
an ethernet-ready SBC at the I/O end, and learn the small amount of programming
necessary to get it to do what you want.

If I were in your shoes:

1) I'd look at a simple circuit to measure heartbeat

http://circuitos.tripod.cl/schem/r100.gif

which has an open collector output.

2) I'd use a magnet and a reed switch or hall effect switch for measuring
wheel revolutions

3) I would use one of the Rabbit boards with ethernet shown at

http://www.rabbitsemiconductor.com/

for the I/O. Look particularly at the RCM3200 development kit. It's got legs,
and is fast enough and has I/O enough for many bikes and heart monitors at one
time. It does program in a proprietary C, but is inexpensive to start with.
They're advertising a complete development kit including protoboard, all cables
and development software for one of these ethernet enabled boards for less than
$350 USD on their website.

4) As a newbie, I would get the Jan Axelson book "Embedded Ethernet and
Internet Complete: Designing and Programming Small Devices for Networking",
available from hobbyist sources or Axelson's Lakeview Research website. Get
this first. It costs $50 USD and is worth every penny. It uses the Rabbit for
project development, and has lots of code on the disk that you can just cut &
paste for the RCM3200 module.

Once you get your project down, each individual RCM3200 module is $79 USD. You
also might have the option of going with one of the less expensive Rabbit
modules for production. The RCM2200, which might do what you want, is only $55
USD each.

I know this isn't exactly what you wanted to hear, and might be a little more
than you originally thought you'd spend, but I think it's about the perfect mix
of low cost and ease of learning curve for a limited quantity of units for a
newbie, especially if you've ever done any C programming.

Good luck
Chris
 
Bishop wrote:
Hi all, I'm a complete newbie here. I'm a VB programmer and could
use
recommendations on what parts I need, suggestions on part makes and
models.
As with most things, I want to keep the price as low as possible.

What I want to do it use a heart rate sensor and a magnetic sensor to
record
heart rate and revolutions when someone is riding an exercise bike.
Below
is a brief illustration:

Hear Rate Sensor and Magnetic Sensor >>> Not sure what stuff I need
here
digital IO board >>> Windows API for the Digital IO board.

A couple other things that play into this:
1. The Computer with the digital IO board may be a hundred feet or so
from
the bike. I'd like to use cat5 cabling to span the distance.
2. Eventually I'd like to record data from multiple bikes at the same
time
on the same computer. This is not necessary for the first prototype
but
it's worth mentioning for the parts list.

That's it. I'd appreciate any ideas, thoughts, suggestions!

Thanks, -Ken
Click to expand...
I wouldn't bother thinking abour designing anything until you have
exhausted the possibility of an off-the-shelf solution.

There have got to be heart rate monitors with RS232 or similar outputs,
surely?
Multiple units? - no problem, get a multi-port RS232 card. You could
even use and RS232 wireless modem if you didn't want any cables.

Similar thing for the speed sensor, there is probably an RS232 or
similar solution available. Alternatively if you wanted to roll your
own you could feed the sensor straight (after converting to TTL) into
the parallel port and count in real-time. No I/O card needed.

Dave :)
 
Thanks for all the recomendations! I've got some reading to do. Price is
actually close to what I was guessing. I'll start looking through all this.
thanks!

"CFoley1064" <cfoley1064@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041206003515.14275.00001472@mb-m13.aol.com...
Subject: Complete Newbie with some simple questions.
From: "Bishop" kwayne@new.rr.com
Date: 12/5/2004 12:38 PM Central Standard Time
Message-id: <HAIsd.85052$ye4.54325@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com

Hi all, I'm a complete newbie here. I'm a VB programmer and could use
recommendations on what parts I need, suggestions on part makes and
models.
As with most things, I want to keep the price as low as possible.

What I want to do it use a heart rate sensor and a magnetic sensor to
record
heart rate and revolutions when someone is riding an exercise bike.
Below
is a brief illustration:

Hear Rate Sensor and Magnetic Sensor >>> Not sure what stuff I need here

digital IO board >>> Windows API for the Digital IO board.

A couple other things that play into this:
1. The Computer with the digital IO board may be a hundred feet or so
from
the bike. I'd like to use cat5 cabling to span the distance.
2. Eventually I'd like to record data from multiple bikes at the same
time
on the same computer. This is not necessary for the first prototype but
it's worth mentioning for the parts list.

That's it. I'd appreciate any ideas, thoughts, suggestions!

Thanks, -Ken

Hi, Ken. I'm assuming you want an ethernet connection between your PC and
your
I/O board. I'm also assuming you have some facility in programming
ethernet
with VB.

You're going to need some kind of dedicated controller on the I/O board
end, if
for no other reason than to run the network connection. Also, given
excercise
bike wheel speeds, you'll probably need a counter on the I/O board,
especially
if you're thinking about more than one bike per controller.

Having said that, I think the best low cost way to do what you want is to
embed
an ethernet-ready SBC at the I/O end, and learn the small amount of
programming
necessary to get it to do what you want.

If I were in your shoes:

1) I'd look at a simple circuit to measure heartbeat

http://circuitos.tripod.cl/schem/r100.gif

which has an open collector output.

2) I'd use a magnet and a reed switch or hall effect switch for measuring
wheel revolutions

3) I would use one of the Rabbit boards with ethernet shown at

http://www.rabbitsemiconductor.com/

for the I/O. Look particularly at the RCM3200 development kit. It's got
legs,
and is fast enough and has I/O enough for many bikes and heart monitors at
one
time. It does program in a proprietary C, but is inexpensive to start
with.
They're advertising a complete development kit including protoboard, all
cables
and development software for one of these ethernet enabled boards for less
than
$350 USD on their website.

4) As a newbie, I would get the Jan Axelson book "Embedded Ethernet and
Internet Complete: Designing and Programming Small Devices for
Networking",
available from hobbyist sources or Axelson's Lakeview Research website.
Get
this first. It costs $50 USD and is worth every penny. It uses the
Rabbit for
project development, and has lots of code on the disk that you can just
cut &
paste for the RCM3200 module.

Once you get your project down, each individual RCM3200 module is $79 USD.
You
also might have the option of going with one of the less expensive Rabbit
modules for production. The RCM2200, which might do what you want, is
only $55
USD each.

I know this isn't exactly what you wanted to hear, and might be a little
more
than you originally thought you'd spend, but I think it's about the
perfect mix
of low cost and ease of learning curve for a limited quantity of units for
a
newbie, especially if you've ever done any C programming.

Good luck
Chris
Click to expand...
 
I actually found some serial interfaces and multiport serial. That may be a
less expensive option. I'll hae to make sure there is enough speed for what
I need. I'm not opposed to finding something already out there if it dosn't
cost me more and has a windows api. I haven't found anythng yet but maybe
I'm not searching correctly for it.


"David L. Jones" <altzone@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1102330120.012406.301230@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
Bishop wrote:
Hi all, I'm a complete newbie here. I'm a VB programmer and could
use
recommendations on what parts I need, suggestions on part makes and
models.
As with most things, I want to keep the price as low as possible.

What I want to do it use a heart rate sensor and a magnetic sensor to
record
heart rate and revolutions when someone is riding an exercise bike.
Below
is a brief illustration:

Hear Rate Sensor and Magnetic Sensor >>> Not sure what stuff I need
here
digital IO board >>> Windows API for the Digital IO board.

A couple other things that play into this:
1. The Computer with the digital IO board may be a hundred feet or so
from
the bike. I'd like to use cat5 cabling to span the distance.
2. Eventually I'd like to record data from multiple bikes at the same
time
on the same computer. This is not necessary for the first prototype
but
it's worth mentioning for the parts list.

That's it. I'd appreciate any ideas, thoughts, suggestions!

Thanks, -Ken

I wouldn't bother thinking abour designing anything until you have
exhausted the possibility of an off-the-shelf solution.

There have got to be heart rate monitors with RS232 or similar outputs,
surely?
Multiple units? - no problem, get a multi-port RS232 card. You could
even use and RS232 wireless modem if you didn't want any cables.

Similar thing for the speed sensor, there is probably an RS232 or
similar solution available. Alternatively if you wanted to roll your
own you could feed the sensor straight (after converting to TTL) into
the parallel port and count in real-time. No I/O card needed.

Dave :)
Click to expand...
 
On Sun, 05 Dec 2004 18:38:31 GMT, "Bishop" <kwayne@new.rr.com> wrote:

Hi all, I'm a complete newbie here. I'm a VB programmer and could use
recommendations on what parts I need, suggestions on part makes and models.
As with most things, I want to keep the price as low as possible.

What I want to do it use a heart rate sensor and a magnetic sensor to record
heart rate and revolutions when someone is riding an exercise bike. Below
is a brief illustration:

Hear Rate Sensor and Magnetic Sensor >>> Not sure what stuff I need here
digital IO board >>> Windows API for the Digital IO board.

A couple other things that play into this:
1. The Computer with the digital IO board may be a hundred feet or so from
the bike. I'd like to use cat5 cabling to span the distance.
2. Eventually I'd like to record data from multiple bikes at the same time
on the same computer. This is not necessary for the first prototype but
it's worth mentioning for the parts list.

That's it. I'd appreciate any ideas, thoughts, suggestions!

Thanks, -Ken
Click to expand...
One thing you might want to keep in mind is that almost
every system these days comes with a 2-channel 16-bit
A/D converter in the form of a sound card, and there is a
well-developed API for it. It's AC coupled, typically at a few
Hz or so, but that's fine if you are recording raw EKG and
using the computer to get rate. (I think the QRS complex
that everyone triggers on for rate determination is something
like 1 kHz equivalent.)

Bu I expect you are using the photo-optical blood flow type
of sensor. I haven't used these, but I am sure the pulses
are much broader in waveform. This may not be a bad thing.
If you can arrange to have the RPM be a fairly high frequency
(several kHz) you can use it as a chopper to modulate the
blood signal, then use the computer to demodulate them.
Note that for this technique to work the chopper frequency
has to always be at least twice as high as the highest blood
frequency component you need, so if you are trying to track
from zero RPM you may need an offset. This modulated
signal should have no trouble travelling 100 feet on any
sort of cable.

You would be putting both signals on one wire to
one channel of the sound card. You'd need a second
path for another bike. Scaling beyond that is trickier.
But until you get to needing extra wires, it's the ultimate in cheap!

Just a thought.





Bob Masta
dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom

D A Q A R T A
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
www.daqarta.com
 
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