Open Seizure Detector

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About OpenSeizureDetector

 

OpenSeizureDetector running on a Garmin Vivoactive 3

Open Seizure Detector is a system to detect the shaking associated with a tonic-clonic epileptic seizure and raise an alarm to warn a carer that the user may need assistance.   The main components of the system are described here.  The key features of the current system are:

  1. It uses a Garmin smart watch (such as a Vivoactive 3) to detect the shaking associated with a seizure and monitor heart rate.
  2. It sends data to an Android Phone which analyses the data to look for seizure-like movement or abnormal heart rate.
  3. When a seizure is detected, it can raise an alarm two ways – connecting to one or more carer’s phone(s) using wifi (using a built-in web server), or by SMS text messages (A separate SMS Annunciator app generates alarm sounds in response to receiving a seizure alert SMS text message if required).
  4. Generating alarms does not require access to the internet or external servers – just a local wifi network or basic mobile phone network (for SMS alerts).
  5. The system includes continuous self testing to provide reassurance that it is working as intended, and it will raise a fault warning alarm if something goes wrong.
  6. The software is free and Open Source and does not require subscriptions to any web sites etc.
  7. Installation requires the watch to be connected to the phone using the Garmin Connect App, then the OpenSeizureDetector Android app to be installed from Google Play Store.  The watch app is then installed as described in the installation instructions.

You can see a demonstration of the system in operation here:

Recommended Hardware

Android Phone

Most Android Phones will work provided they are compatible with the Garmin Connect app that interfaces the Garmin watch to the phone.   This requires Android Version 6 or higher.  There are some known issues listed below:

  • The Garmin Connect App  does not work with the lightweight Android GO operating system, so you must have a phone that has the full version of Android, not Android GO.
  • Problems have been confirmed with Xaiomi phones, which appear to have a security app that blocks the communications between the  watch and the phone, so these should be avoided (unless someone can tell me how to fix the issue).

  • Huwawei phones (and some other newer phones) tend to have aggressive power saving features that will switch off OpenSeizureDetector when the screen goes to sleep.   This is very bad because it also switches off the fault detection so the user will not be informed that the system is not working.   So make sure that OpenSeizureDetector is marked as a ‘Protected’ app that is allowed to continue running in the background.

Smart Watch

I recommend a Garmin VenuSQ or Vivoactive 3 as the lowest cost compatible Garmin watch.   These have proved to be very reliable and stable.   It will also work on many of the other ‘high end’ Garmin watches such as the Vivoactive 4s.

We are working on a version that works on lower cost hardware, but this is not tested and released yet.   

Please Subscribe to Updates!

If you are using OpenSeizureDetector, please subscribe to email updates to this site (in the menu bar to the left), or the Facebook page so you can stay up to date with any issues or developments, otherwise there is no way I can get in touch with users of the system if I discover something you should be aware of!

If you have any comments, or queries, please email me at graham@openseizuredetector.org.uk

Project Aims

The aim of the OpenSeizureDetector project is to provide a free, Open Source set of tools intended to detect a tonic-clonic epileptic seizure and raise an alarm to alert a parent or carer that someone may need assistance.

Benjamin_PortraitIt has been developed primarily for our Son, Benjamin, but I hope that the tools will be useful to others, and am happy to support other people in using or developing them.  More details can be found on the Purpose of Project  and Project Goals pages.

I developed a number of other prototype seizure detectors before settling on the Garmin Smart Watch version I recently gave a presentation at work that described these prototypes which you can see here.

If you have any queries, please have a look at the Frequently Asked Questions page, or email graham@openseizuredetector.org.uk

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