❤️ Pulse Oximeter

Measure human vitals using a MAX30102 sensor and an OLED display.

📋 Overview

The MAX30102 uses red and infrared LEDs combined with a photodetector to measure the absorbance of pulsing blood. This technique is called photoplethysmography (PPG).

What you'll learn: Complex I2C sensor libraries, digital signal processing (DSP) for pulse detection, and driving I2C OLED displays.

Estimated time: 2-3 hours. Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐ Intermediate.

🧩 Components Needed

Component	Specification	Qty	Notes
Arduino Nano	5V	1
MAX30102 Sensor	I2C	1	Pulse Oximetry
0.96" OLED Display	I2C (SSD1306)	1
Jumper Wires		1

📖 Step-by-Step Tutorial

I2C Bus Wiring

Connect both the OLED and MAX30102 to the I2C bus (SDA to A4, SCL to A5 on Arduino Nano). Give them VCC and GND.

Install Libraries

Install SparkFun MAX3010x library and Adafruit SSD1306 library.

Finger Placement

Place your finger lightly over the sensor. Too much pressure squeezes blood out; too little won't read.

Readings

The code calculates Beats Per Minute (BPM) by analyzing peaks in the infrared absorption data.

💡

I2C modules can share the exact same SDA and SCL wires as long as they have different I2C addresses (OLED is usually 0x3C, MAX is 0x57).

💻 Code / Configuration

heart_rate.ino

INO

// Pulse Oximeter (Conceptual snippet)
#include <Wire.h>
#include "MAX30105.h"
#include "heartRate.h"
#include <Adafruit_SSD1306.h>

MAX30105 particleSensor;
Adafruit_SSD1306 display(128, 64, &Wire, -1);

long lastBeat = 0;
float beatsPerMinute;

void setup() {
  display.begin(SSD1306_SWITCHCAPVCC, 0x3C);
  particleSensor.begin(Wire, I2C_SPEED_FAST);
  particleSensor.setup(); 
}

void loop() {
  long irValue = particleSensor.getIR();
  
  if (checkForBeat(irValue) == true) {
    long delta = millis() - lastBeat;
    lastBeat = millis();
    beatsPerMinute = 60 / (delta / 1000.0);

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