Sensor data is often noisy or contains slowly varying DC offsets.  Here we will see how to use Finite Impulse Response Filters (FIRs) to get just the part of the signal that is of interest.

Designing the "taps" of a filter is somewhat of an art.  Websites like https://fiiir.com/ can ease the task and even provide the filter values as a Python list ready to paste into your program.  As a rule of thumb, doubling the number of taps in your filter doubles the computation time, so a smaller filter is much faster than a larger one.  (Also, before the data coming out of a filter is valid, the number of data points must be at least the number of taps.  This is why the pulse waveform takes about 2 seconds to start displaying)

High pass filtering: Measuring pulse with CLUE's APDS

The gesture sensor on the CLUE, APDS9960, can be used as a crude pulse sensor.  You can also use other CircuitPython boards together with the APDS9960 breakout board.  As your heart pumps blood, the amount of light that is transmitted through your skin changes very slightly.  In this demo, a high-pass FIR filter is used to exclude the parts of the signal that change at less than .5Hz (equivalent of a 30bpm heart rate) and preserve higher frequencies up to 4Hz (equivalent to a 240bpm heart rate).

Make sure the following libraries from the bundle are installed:

  • adafruit_apds9960
  • adafruit_bus_device
  • adafruit_register

Next, copy code.py (below) to the CIRCUITPY drive.  Open up the Mu editor and its plotter window. Press your finger firmly on the sensor just above the CLUE's screen.  When your finger is registered, the white LEDs will turn on.  After a few seconds, a graph of the recorded pulse data will begin to display.  Shortly after that, an estimated pulse rate will be displayed too.  When you remove your finger, the plot will stop and the LEDs will turn back off.

During the demo, the CLUE's screen is blank to preserve processing power for the script.

Depending on your individual body, this demo may work well or not at all. It worked very well for the author, but not at all for a spouse - don't press too hard and try first finger and also thumb.

Of coures, this is just a toy, not medical diagnostic equipment!

Here's what you will see in mu if the sensor is picking up your pulse: a somewhat irregular waveform in blue, and an estimated pulse rate in green.  The values shown at the left represent the current filtered light value and the estimated pulse in beats per minute.

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2020 Jeff Epler for Adafruit Industries
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

import time

import adafruit_apds9960.apds9960
import board
import digitalio
from ulab import numpy as np

# Blank the screen.  Scrolling text causes unwanted delays.
import displayio
d = displayio.Group()
board.DISPLAY.root_group = d

# Filter computed at https://fiiir.com/
# Sampling rate: 8Hz
# Cutoff freqency: 0.5Hz
# Transition bandwidth 0.25Hz
# Window type: Regular
# Number of coefficients: 31
# Manually trimmed to 16 coefficients
taps = np.array([
    +0.861745279666917052/2,
    -0.134728583242092248,
    -0.124472980501612152,
    -0.108421190967457198,
    -0.088015688587190874,
    -0.065052714580474319,
    -0.041490993500537393,
    -0.019246940463156042,
    -0.000000000000000005,
    +0.014969842582454691,
    +0.024894596100322432,
    +0.029569415718397409,
    +0.029338562862396955,
    +0.025020274838643962,
    +0.017781854357373172,
    +0.008981905549472832,
])

# How much reflected light is required before pulse sensor activates
# These values are triggered when I bring my finger within a half inch.
# The sensor works when the finger is pressed lightly against the sensor.
PROXIMITY_THRESHOLD_HI = 225
PROXIMITY_THRESHOLD_LO = 215

# These constants control how much the sensor amplifies received light
APDS9660_AGAIN_1X = 0
APDS9660_AGAIN_4X = 1
APDS9660_AGAIN_16X = 2
APDS9660_AGAIN_64X = 3

# How often we are going to poll the sensor (If you change this, you need
# to change the filter above and the integration time below)
dt = 125000000 # 8Hz, 125ms

# Wait until after deadline_ns has passed
def sleep_deadline(deadline_ns):
    while time.monotonic_ns() < deadline_ns:
        pass

# Compute a high resolution crossing-time estimate for the sample, using a
# linear model
def estimated_cross_time(y0, y1, t0):
    m = (y1 - y0) / dt
    return t0 + round(-y1 / m)

i2c = board.I2C()
sensor = adafruit_apds9960.apds9960.APDS9960(i2c)
white_leds = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.WHITE_LEDS)
white_leds.switch_to_output(False)

def main():
    sensor.enable_proximity = True
    while True:
        # Wait for user to put finger over sensor
        while sensor.proximity < PROXIMITY_THRESHOLD_HI:
            time.sleep(.01)

        # After the finger is sensed, set up the color sensor
        sensor.enable_color = True
        # This sensor integration time is just a little bit shorter than 125ms,
        # so we should always have a fresh value when we ask for it, without
        # checking if a value is available.
        sensor.integration_time = 220
        # In my testing, 64X gain saturated the sensor, so this is the biggest
        # gain value that works properly.
        sensor.color_gain = APDS9660_AGAIN_4X
        white_leds.value = True

        # And our data structures
        # The most recent data samples, equal in number to the filter taps
        data = np.zeros(len(taps))
        # The filtered value on the previous iteration
        old_value = 1
        # The times of the most recent pulses registered.  Increasing this number
        # makes the estimation more accurate, but at the expense of taking longer
        # before a pulse number can be computed
        pulse_times = []
        # The estimated heart rate based on the recent pulse times
        rate = None
        # the number of samples taken
        n = 0

        # Rather than sleeping for a fixed duration, we compute a deadline
        # in nanoseconds and wait for the new deadline time to arrive.  This
        # helps the long term frequency of measurements better match the desired
        # frequency.
        t0 = deadline = time.monotonic_ns()
        # As long as their finger is over the sensor, capture data
        while sensor.proximity >= PROXIMITY_THRESHOLD_LO:
            deadline += dt
            sleep_deadline(deadline)
            value = sum(sensor.color_data) # Combination of all channels
            data = np.roll(data, 1)
            data[-1] = value
            # Compute the new filtered variable by applying the filter to the
            # recent data samples
            filtered = np.sum(data * taps)

            # We gathered enough data to fill the filters, and
            # the light value crossed the zero line in the positive direction
            # Therefore we need to record a pulse
            if n > len(taps) and old_value < 0 <= filtered:
                # This crossing time is estimated, but it increases the pulse
                # estimate resolution quite a bit.  If only the nearest 1/8s
                # was used for pulse estimation, the smallest pulse increment
                # that can be measured is 7.5bpm.
                cross = estimated_cross_time(old_value, filtered, deadline)
                # store this pulse time (in seconds since sensor-touch)
                pulse_times.append((cross - t0) * 1e-9)
                # and maybe delete an old pulse time
                del pulse_times[:-10]
                # And compute a rate based on the last recorded pulse times
                if len(pulse_times) > 1:
                    rate = 60/(pulse_times[-1]-pulse_times[0])*(len(pulse_times)-1)
            old_value = filtered

            # We gathered enough data to fill the filters, so report the light
            # value and possibly the estimated pulse rate
            if n > len(taps):
                print((filtered, rate))
            n += 1

        # Turn off the sensor and the LED and go back to the top for another run
        sensor.enable_color = False
        white_leds.value = False
        print()
main()

This guide was first published on Mar 06, 2020. It was last updated on Mar 28, 2024.

This page (Filter Example: Pulse Rate Estimation) was last updated on Mar 28, 2024.

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