Automatic Monitoring of Driver's Physiological Parameters by Using a Smart Steering Wheel

This paper describes the design and implementation of a medical device that uses a smart steering wheel and is useful in unobtrusive remote health monitoring of some driver’s physiological parameters. The proposed monitoring device contains integrated biomedical sensors in the steering wheel cover used to acquire the medical signals and an Arduino development board for physiological parameters computing and monitoring. The device operates continuously by remote monitoring of the driver's blood oxygen saturation and pulse rate and can detect health issues such as tachycardia and bradycardia or other heart rhythm disorders, or hypoxemia due to low blood oxygen levels. These medical conditions can negatively impact the driver's ability to operate the vehicle, and for this reason the early detection helps to improve traffic safety and the prevention of serious incidents. The resulting device is able to compute and send visual alerts in case of a bad medical condition detected and also communicates these issues to a smartphone for storing and further forwarding the alerts to a medical center. It is a useful device that can contribute to improving the health of drivers through continuous monitoring of blood oxygen saturation and pulse rate, ultimately preventing accidents.