Thingspeak-based respiratory rate streaming system for essential monitoring purposes

Abstract Introduction Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases are the most common disease worldwide. Asthma and sleep apnea are the most prevalent of pulmonary diseases. Patients with such chronic diseases require special care and continuous monitoring to avoid any respiratory deterioration. Therefore, the development of a dedicated and reliable sensor with the aid of modern technologies for measuring and monitoring respiratory parameters is very necessary nowadays. Objective This study aims to develop a small and cost-effective respiratory rate sensor. Methods A microcontroller and communication technology (NodeMCU) with the ThingSpeak platform is used in the proposed system to view and process the respiratory rate data every 60 s. The total current consumption of the proposed sensor is about 120 mA. Four able-bodied participants were recruited to test and validate the developed system. Results The results show that the developed sensor and the proposed system can be used to measure and monitor the respiratory rate. Conclusions The demonstrated system showed applicable, repeatable, and acceptable results.