Change the Planet with PSoC® IoT Design submission questions:

1. What planet-changing IoT project do you want to build?  

This project is about making a test device for provide a hardware and software tool that allows the measurement and display of the main parameters to be taken into account in an emergency mechanical ventilation system.

2. Which Cypress PSoC® 6 Dev Kit would you like to use for the project and why? (you can use multiple kits)

Because the capacities and properties of the PSoC® 6 WiFi-BT Pioneer Kit (CY8CKIT-062-WIFI-BT), we are planning to integrate it on our project.

3. How will you use AWS IoT or other cloud services in your project? 

The option of summit result to the cloud is under analysis, the system could use the AWS IoT cloud services to provide information easily available to remote verification.

4. What is your experience level with embedded IoT design?

We have no experience with PSoC modules, but we have experience with others IoT devices. This is our opportunity of evaluate the performance and usability of PSoC on our designs.


The health emergency and pandemic decreed by the OSM has revealed the magnitude of the scope of the COVID-19 disease and the morbidity presented by the SARS-COV2 virus. In the most severe cases, the disease produces health conditions that require the patient's respiratory assistance. In Peru, there are around 700 mechanical ventilators available for an estimated total of 1,200 simultaneous patients who will require care with these devices. Due to this shortage, different research groups have developed prototypes of mechanical emergency ventilators, using different techniques, some of them based on the mechanization of emergency resuscitation devices (Ambus), turbines, etc.

Mechanical ventilators are complex tools that could cause serious lung damage if they are inadequate or improperly used, and therefore require various safety devices and strict tests to verify that they meet the basic safety conditions. Some of the groups that develop mechanical ventilators have the support of certified devices that allow them to emulate the characteristics of a lung and through which they have carried out preliminary tests.

However, many groups do not have checking devices that allow the visualization of the operating parameters of their prototypes.

This project provides a hardware and software tool that allows the measurement and display of the main parameters to be taken into account in an emergency mechanical ventilation system.

The system consists of following main blocks:

Sensors: Among the possible sensors to be used are: ventilatory circuit pressure, inspiratory flow and expiratory flow, humidity sensors can be added to the inspiratory circuit. Semiconductor sensors with signal conditioning electronics and / or filters.

Control Hardware: Microprocessor-based board for capture, digitize, process, and graph information directly on a screen or through a PC.

Software: Computer program that allows viewing on the built-in screen or on a PC (optional). Contains the graphical user interface (GUI). In the case of using a PC, it also allows registering the values obtained.

During operation of the ventilator under test, the ventilator produces various air flows in the inspiratory channel that must be measured and recorded, among the usual parameters are pressure and flow. Other secondary values are calculated from the first as the case of the inspired and expired air volume. In the case of the expiratory canal, it is important to verify that the value of the positive pressure at the end of expiration (PEEP) is maintained.

The device presents the acquired values in addition to the calculated values through a graphic screen. You also have the ability to set visual alarms that will be triggered if the parameters are outside of preset ranges.

A tentative user interface is shown in the next picture, the software is upgradeable in order to provide additional fixes and capabilities to the equipment.

The Software available for the optional connection to a PC will be multiplatform, that is, there will be versions for different operating systems, with registration capacity and optionally the possibility of issuing a document that can be printed, where the values obtained during the tests of the ventilator are established.

The option of summit result to the cloud is under analysis, the system could use the AWS IoT cloud services to provide information easily available to remote verification.

For the certification of mechanical ventilators, different devices and procedures are used that the manufacturer establishes as service options. In the case of the emergency ventilators for which this device is intended, there are no officially regulated procedures or equipment, however, there are some minimum guidelines that must be complied with and verified. Currently, to check these equipment, artificial lungs are used as in (1), (2) and (3) and are usually mechanical equipment that does not have its own instrumentation. There are lung simulators with more advanced options (4) and (5), but they are equally intended to test more advanced ventilator capabilities. As in the case of ventilators, there are high-end simulation systems (6) and (7), some have instrumentation and their graphic results depend on software that must be installed on an external device.

  1. https://www.draeger.com/en_uk/Products/Draeger-Self-Test-Lung
  2. https://www.imtanalytics.com/Testlung/Details
  3. https://www.analesdepediatria.org/es-simulador-pulmon-articulo-S1695403310002808
  4. https://www.flukebiomedical.com/products/biomedical-test-equipment/gas-flow-analyzers/accu-lung-precision-test-lung
  5. https://www.archbronconeumol.org/es-diseno-un-simulador-pulmon-el-articulo-13112966
  6. https://jdhmedical.com/product/michigan-instruments-head-simulator/
  7. https://www.michiganinstruments.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/3600_manual8.pdf