The primary objective of this thesis is to develop a prototype of a smart inhaler system for use by asthma patients. Asthma is a chronic condition that mostly affects adolescents. It is a condition that requires continuous monitoring of the symptoms in order to provide an effective course of treatment. It also requires a strict adherence to medication prescribed by the physician. The smart inhaler system has been developed to provide frequent monitoring of the symptoms. Additionally the device provides a record of inhaler usage so that the physician can assess the patients level of adherence. Thus the physician is provided with usage information and patient status that is necessary to help the patients to better control the symptoms and lead a healthy normal life.
The key features of the system are the capability to perform spirometry tests, a user interface to obtain information from the patient regarding his/her condition and a record of the frequency with which the inhaler is used. Apart from this, an alarm is also provided so that the patient does not forget to take their medication. All the data is stored in non-volatile memory and can be retrieved by the physician at a later date so that they may be able to provide treatment based on the test data obtained over an interval of time rather than just one set of tests that are done during a regular checkup.
The smart inhaler system is comprised of a differential pressure sensor, a SD card memory and a PICDEM PIC 18 Explorer Demonstration Board that includes a PIC18F8722 microcontroller, a LCD Display, Push Buttons and a daughter board socket for the PICTailTM Daughter Board that includes the connection interface for a SD/MMC card.
This thesis details the design, implementation and testing of the prototype smart inhaler system.