Senior Design sdmay26-06

CyVital Lab

A lower-cost, modular bioinstrumentation platform that lets BME 3500/3500L students collect, visualize, export, and understand live physiological signals.

Team Members & Documents Design Document

Hands-on Biomedical Instrumentation for Iowa State Students

Traditional lab systems are extremley expensive and difficult for students to inspect. CyVital gives students a clearer view of how sensors, signal conditioning, data acquisition, plotting, and analysis work together.

5 Core sensor workflows

<200 ms Target end-to-end latency

1 click Data export for lab analysis

10 Pilot-ready board target

CyVital easy overview — Design workflow from sensor needs through modular architecture, prototyping, lab operation, and future expansion.

System Architecture

The software is a Python/Tkinter desktop application with a reusable app shell, sensor-specific modules, Matplotlib plots, and a data layer that can switch between live hardware and simulation.

Shared app shell: sidebar navigation, status controls, metric panels, and live plot containers.
Sensor modules: ECG, EMG, pulse oximetry, respiratory effort, and reaction time plug into the same interface.
Acquisition layer: Scope and FakeScope implementations support real lab hardware and repeatable development without hardware.
Exports: students can save data for reports and analysis without leaving the application.

CyVital process diagram — Design workflow from sensor needs through modular architecture, prototyping, lab operation, and future expansion.

Sensor Modules

ECG

Heart signal acquisition, waveform display, filtering, peak detection, and BPM trend analysis.

EMG

Muscle activation capture with signal filtering, rectification, and exportable waveform data.

Pulse Oximeter

MAX30101 red and IR readings, digital trace visualization, pulse estimates, and SpO2 calculations.

Respiratory Effort

Thoracic belt signal plotting with breaths-per-minute and effort range metrics.

Reaction Time

Response-test workflow for cues, recorded responses, replay, and data export.

Blood Pressure

Planned cuff workflow designed to connect future signal capture to the same module pattern.

Graphs, Charts, and Project Evidence

GUI Examples and Outputs

These figures show the prototype system, PCB direction, live plotting interface, and project schedule that guided the semester-one build.

Pulse oximeter dashboard showing SpO2, pulse, digital signal, and sensor readings — **Pulse oximeter dashboard:** real-time red/IR sensor traces, digital signal state, SpO2, and pulse metrics.

Respiratory effort dashboard showing breath waveform — **Respiratory effort:** live thoracic belt waveform and rolling breathing metrics.

CyVital PCB render — **PCB direction:** custom board layout for integrated sensor connections, test points, and lab-friendly assembly.

CyVital breadboard prototype inside a case — **Hardware prototype:** breadboard validation used while the PCB and software workflows were developed.

Prototype -> Completed Design

The team started with Phase I hardware and a basic GUI, then focused on stabilizing the architecture, validating sensor behavior, developing a PCB path, and preparing artifacts future teams can extend.

Design: repository setup, software plan, hardware assembly, bill of materials, and lab access.
Development: base GUI, sensor modules, plotting, pulse oximetry, respiratory effort, ECG, EMG, and reaction workflow.
Testing: sensor-by-sensor validation, latency tuning, export checks, and hardware/software integration.
Iteration: documentation, student feedback, and design improvements for future lab use.

CyVital project Gantt chart — Semester plan showing design, development, testing, and iteration milestones.

Team Members

Kate Endersby

Software Engineer

Kate is a senior in Software Engineering with a minor in Cyber-Physical Systems. She led core software development with interests in robotics and automation.

Claire Haas

Electrical Engineer

Claire is a senior in Electrical Engineering and Applied Mathematics with interests in semiconductors, electromagnetism, and modeling.

Reza Choudhury