A Smart Monitoring System for Asthma Patients using IoT

Abstract

With an alarmingly increasing rate of air pollution levels and drop in the air quality due to various factors like increased demands in private transportation, need for more buildings, clearing of green patches due to booming population growth and the globalization reaching every corner of the world, the prevalence of asthma, especially in crowded cities with highly polluted air, has dramatically increased. There is a global peak in the number of people being a victim due to this chronic disease which blocks the airways of the lungs rendering them breathless. This can prove to be quite fatal if a person suffering from an asthma attack can’t get any help promptly, and hence the patients need constant monitoring. Consequently, a monitoring system that will be able to detect various factors such as high carbon dioxide levels in the air, increased humidity and temperature levels in the patient’s neighboring environment that triggers an asthma attack, in addition to monitoring the patient’s condition has become an important requirement. This paper presents a prototype of such a monitoring system that enables patients suffering from asthma or their care-takers to monitor the environment, keep an eye on the trigger factors and managing their medication, as well alerting the medics, in case of an emergency where the patient requires immediate attention as in case of a sudden asthma attack.