EKG/ECG based Driver Alert System for Long Haul Drive

Background/Objectives: This paper deals about the designing and development of a driver alert system based on EKG signals to detect the driver drowsiness and thus to reduce accident rate. Methods: Conductive sensor attached to the hand which continuously monitor driver’s heart rate and disseminate warning message through mail and SMS to the owner or respective authority. The structure system contains four parts including signal acquisition unit, signal conditioning unit processing unit and Message delivery system. Findings: The signal acquired from the conductive plate contains noises. Removal of the noise signals from the ECG signals is important and critical. One of the novel ideas in the work is the development of conductive sensor using conductive plates and integrated signal conditioning module AD8232 to measure the heart rate. Use of an integrated signal conditioning module makes the system small and cost effective. This system uses a Tiva C series microcontroller for processing unit and Raspberry-pi as message delivery system. Conclusion/ Improvements: Non intrusive nature of this system helps to detect driver’s heart rate without making inconvenience to him. Mail and message sending features of the system helps the respective authority to take immediate actions. Improvement can be done to the system by adding the GPS functionality for tracking the location of vehicle.