Real time heart rate detection and heart rate variability calculation

Smart phones have become ubiquitous in today's world. This paper presents a simple, inexpensive and easily available approach for the detection of the human heart beats per minute and computation of heart rate variability parameters using a smart phone camera. It uses Photoplethysmography (PPG) which is a technique to detect the fluctuations in the blood volumes underneath the skin surface. A video is recorded using a smart phone camera by placing left index finger on the camera lens. PPG signals are extracted from the video and analyzed using Fourier transformation to obtain the requisite information that is used to compute heart related parameters such as Heart Beats Rate and Heart Rate Variability. Knowledge of these parameters can be used for early detection of any abnormality and timely diagnosis of diseases and hence for saving lives.