Collecting heart rates with Biostrap

Wearing a clinical-grade photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor for a month

Nov. 15, 2017 - Willem L. Middelkoop

Most wearables (smartwatches, fitness trackers, etc.) use very basic sensors to capture heart rate. Their signal is binary: just counting beats. Biostrap is different, instead of just checking pulses, it captures a high-fidelity PPG waveform. These waveforms are the same kind that doctors use, making me wonder what I could learn from them!

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Unboxing Biostrap: it comes well packed in a nice box.

The Biostrap PPG sensor is about as thick as a watch

On the bottom you can see the two red LED's and the PPG sensor. Just like the Swatch Sistem51 movement this is hidden when worn on wrist

Instead of just counting beats, the Biostrap cloud services analyses the PPG waveform captured by the sensor.

Biostrap on the wrist - now you see me...

Biostrap iOS app dashboard and daily heart rate

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Data Design Experiment Lifestyle Heart Review Sensors Sport Watch

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