COPYRIGHT SPRINGER 2015, PROCEEDINGS OF ADVANCEMENTS IN MEDICAL ELECTRONICS, INDEXED IN LECTURE NOTES IN BIOENGINEERING, CHAPTER DOI : 10.1007/978-81-322-2256-9_11 Radial Artery- In human anatomy, the radial artery is the main artery of the lateral aspect of the forearm. Carotid Artery- In human anatomy, the left and right carotid arteries the head and neck with oxygenated blood Arteriosclerosis - The thickening, hardening and loss of elasticity of the walls of arteries. Atherosclerosis - A specific form of arteriosclerosis in which an artery wall thickens as a result of invasion and accumulation of white blood cells Hemodynamic- Relating to the flow of blood within the organs and tissues of the body. Systolic Hypertension- Refers to Elevated Systolic Blood Pressure Real time monitoring of Arterial Pulse Waveform Parameters using Low Cost, Non-invasive force transducer S.Aditya Department of Electronics, Electrical & Instrumentation Bits Pilani Goa, India f2011350@goa.bits-pilani.ac.in V.Harish Department of Electronics & Instrumentation Madras Institute of Technology Chennai, India harishvenka@gmail.com Abstract—Cardiovascular disease is currently the biggest single cause of mortality in the developed world [1] . Hence, the early detection of its onset is vital for effective prevention. Aortic stiffness as measured by aortic Pulse wave velocity (PWV) has been shown to be an important predictor of Cardiovascular disease. However, the measurement of the same is complex and time consuming [1] . This paper presents a simple , low-cost, speedy and non-invasive method using Force Sensing Resistors (FSR) strategically placed over the Carotid and Radial arteries to evaluate various arterial wave pulse parameters like heart-rate, Stiffness Index (SI), Reflectivity Index (RI) and Pulse Wave velocity. The pulse rate and shape is used as an estimate of heart- rate. This is used for diagnosis of arrhythmias, tachycardia and bradycardia. The proposed method could be employed as a cheap and effective Cardiovascular disease screening technique, to be later integrated with small wrist watch-like monitors for suitable commercial purposes. Keywords— Cardiovascular disease (CVD), Pulse Wave Velocity(PWV), Stiffness Index (SI), Reflectivity Index(RI), Arterial Wave Pulse, Force Sensing Resistor (FSR) I. INTRODUCTION CARDIOVASCULAR disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality in the developed world. An estimated 17 million people die every year from CVD (mainly from myocardial infarction and stroke; source: World Health Organization). Stiffness Index and Pulse Wave velocity are an important parameters used in the assessment of risk of CVD. Arterial stiffening leads to systolic hypertension and increased load on the heart. Arterial stiffness is not only a marker of the effects of atherosclerosis/arteriosclerosis on the arterial wall, but in itself lead to adverse hemodynamic effects that increase CVD risk [1]. Studies performed in [4] and [5] indicated large artery stiffness, as measured by PWV has proven to be a powerful predictor of CVD events [9]. Pulse wave velocity was also recognized by the European Society of Hypertension as integral to the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension [3]. Thus it is important to estimate these biological parameters for early diagnosis and prevention of CVD. Through the proposed method the Arterial Pulse Waveform and critical parameters related to it such as heart rate , SI and PWV can be extracted. The current method of measuring the arterial pulse waveform parameters is through Photoplethysmography and analysis of the obtained Digital Volume Pulse (DVP) [1]. Other methods of measuring PWV use invasive catheters [8] or mechanical tonometers to measure the transit time between pressure waves at two different points. Some of these sensors are not only invasive but also expensive. The proposed method would greatly simplify measurement of the arterial wave pulse and its parameters using a low-cost and non-invasive transducer. 10 Consenting test subjects participated in the study. 2 Healthy males in the age group of 20-30 and two males in the age group of 40-50 one healthy and the other a patient and two males in the age group of 70-80 one healthy and the other a patient. 4 females participated in the study 2 healthy in the age group of 40-50 and 2 in the age group of 70-80 ,one healthy and the other a patient. Firstly, from the arterial wave pulse, Heart Rate of a patient can be estimated through the proposed method. The count of number of pulses with a given time interval gives heart rate information. Diagnosis of Tachycardia and Bradycardia can also be performed using heart-rate information . Through the shape of the wave pulse, Stiffness Index and Reflectivity index are estimated. Pulse Wave Velocity is measured using 2 FSRs placed appropriately over the Carotid artery. The integrity of the system is verified through comparison with PPG Analysis of the same test subject. The variation of PWV and SI estimated