breath sensor belts for use with OpenBCI?
DreamBigDreamLucid
CT USA
Good Morning All!
Does anyone have recommendations for an abdominal belt that is compatible with the OpenBCI platform to measure breaths? Even if you have built your own, I would love to hear about this!
Best,
Carissa
Attn: @wjcroft
Comments
https://www.google.com/search?q=arduino+breath+sensor+belts
Since the breath signal changes very slowly, relative to the 200 or 250 Hz (or more) update rate of the EEG -- it would be easiest to just devote a 2nd Arduino to this task. Connected to a 2nd serial usb port. The serial port data stream would then consist of ascii sensor readings, one number per line. The number representing the analog to digital converter value.
Rather than trying to wire the belt directly to the OpenBCI board.
Me personally, I find this respiratory belt very interesting, which is high sensitive and multi purpose:
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Taidacent-Smart-Mattress-Breathing-Sleep-Belt_60856585653.html
Alibaba only sells to resellers. But it can also be bought on Aliexpress:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000052947176.html
but there is no instruction how to use it.
The Alibaba belt you mention is placed under the mattress, left to right, under the chest area. So it senses only during sleep. Via small variations in the pressure sensors along the strip. Carrisa stated that she wanted a belt that attached directly at the abdomen, of which there are many examples.
William
Thank you William. But can this chinese belt sensor not developed further, for instance by OpenBCI users? I looked at it several times, and it was always changing. I found it when I was looking for a respiratory sensor This belt is highly sensitive, there was a demo for it on Alibaba.
Bitalino has a new Respiratory sensor which looks similar to this belt, and the Bitalino respiratory sensor is rapped around the abdomen. In the demo of the chinese belt, one could see many paramaters, respiratory signals, heart rate, movements during sleep, etc.
There is now a commercial product on Aliexpress for this belt with an Android app. It can measure respiratory rate, heart rate, heart rate variability, sleep duration, etc. But connected for instance to an OpenBCI board, this belt is more interesting, since it is possible to process sensor data when connected to an OpenBC board.
This Alibaba belt clearly states that it is for under mattress use. That would be designed to measure the downward pressure from the subject laying above. Normal simple respiration chest belts, have a single sensor that records the circumferential expansion / contraction of belt during breath cycles. There are multiple do-it-yourself guides on how to do this, relatively low cost.
https://www.google.com/search?q=arduino+breath+sensor+belts
The Alibaba device looks similar to this product, which has somewhat mixed mixed reviews.
https://www.amazon.com/Withings-Nokia-Sleep-Temperature-Compatible/dp/B078Z1B34S?th=1
It looks similar to the Withings Sleep, but it is not. I was looking several times at the piezoelectronic sensor belt, and it seemed that he was working to develop software for it. I was impressed what he could detect with his piezoelectronic sensor belt, heart rate, respiratory rate, sleep time, body movements, etc. I never saw before a sensor belt which is that sensitive. Now, there is a device on Aliexpress with an Android app which uses this belt:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000016737162.html
The device is affordable, which makes some people conclude it is low-quality, but I don t think it is low quality. It can calculate respiratory rate in real time. This is a feature which can only be found with very expensive equipments, as for instance an Adinstruments channel recorder with respiratory belt an Labchart software, or a connection of this setup to Matlab.
But the Android app is very limited. It does not even allow sensor data export to .csv. Building an own device with the piezoelectroic sensor belt by attaching it for instance to an OpenBCI board would be more interesting, and would make it possible to read out sensor data.
It is a non wearable device which put under the sheet when a person is sleeping. But can this belt not be used also as a wearable device? Bitalino has a wearable respiratory sensor which is very sensitive:
https://plux.info/sensors/317-respiration-rip-820202501.html
is it based on the same piezoelectronic sensor belt? And is it possible to make out of the nonwearable sensor belt a wearable sensor belt with the aid of the right housing, for instance a textil housing?
My impression is that none of the belts designed for under mattress or under fitted-sheet, would work as expected as a "wearable device". Because the pressures / forces involved are entirely different in the mattress case.
Regarding the Bitalino strap, the document states this is not piezo / pressure, but instead using inductive sensing. So unlikely to be the same as the mattress belts.
https://biosignalsplux.com/downloads/docs/datasheets/Respiration_(RIP)_Datasheet.pdf
re: "...attaching it for instance to an OpenBCI board..."
In most cases like these, the easiest solution will be to attach a respiration belt to a separate Arduino, as mentioned in the first reply on this thread:
https://openbci.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/comment/14428/#Comment_14428
William
Thank you, William. At least for sleep tracking, this new belt is worth to have a closer look at it. This belt must be a new material, since it has extraordinary qualites. Measuring heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate with one single device? That is striking. Maybe it is worth watching further what the manufacturer of the device is doing with it. It has the potential for more applications than an under sheet sleep quality measurement device.