Pulse measurement with mobile phone

A mobile phone contains numerous sensors, which can perform tricky measurements. The results of these measurements can be used in exciting applications either in the real or in the virtual world. Important target field of these apps is the health monitoring, fitness, and the corresponding physiological measurements. In this application area, SZTAKI has developed a non-contact pulse monitoring system that can measure the heart rate of a human or an animal with a single camera.

The operation of the program is based on the fact that the arteries in the skin fill with blood for all the beats of the heart, which causes a very slight color change. Though it is not visible to the human eye, however it can already be measured with a cell phone camera. As one directs the front camera to the face or the rear camera to the hand (or any free surface of the skin) of the steady-hold phone it will calculate the heart rate in 30 seconds.

The app is currently running on iPhone, available free download from the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/remote-pulse/id1468899497?l=hu&ls=1