Monday: Today I worked on testing out the phantoms that Matt created the day before, Sunday June 3rd. I worked on it for a good 2 hours and a half. There were 6 phantoms, #21-26: 15 minutes each + 1 minute measuring the phantom size. Everything was going well until I noticed odd waves processing during one of the readings in phantom #25.
Quick explanation of the phantoms:
- Each phantom has 3 light readings: green, red, and infrared light. Each light has a total of 28 readings: 14 from Matt’s device with different amplifier gains, and 14 from the pulse oximeter. It is done to compare and see if our device’s readings accurately match the pulse oximeter. Overall, each phantom has a total of 84 readings.
The issue I had was that the BPM and SpO2 in the green light at 1M (amplifier gain) were marking ‘zero’. I deleted the data, restarted it, and I was still getting the same information. I looked at the data for the rest of the phantoms, and #24 and 26 had the same issue. I asked Rachel (an undergrad student I’m working with) for help. I ended up messaging Matt about the issue and he does not know why this happened.
Tuesday: I created 4 new phantoms today: #27-30. Matt sent me the recipe and I managed to make them by myself with no problems! I felt so proud. It did take me a good 3 hours.
- I mix the ingredients together, and that takes about 30-60 minutes depending on how many you make. You have to be very careful and precise. I then put it in a small chamber to remove the gas for 15 minutes at -29 inHg, incubate it for an hour at about 40˚C, cover it in aluminum foil and leave it on Matt’s desk overnight.
Wednesday: I did not go to Rice today. Matt suggested staying home and work on the Fourier transform readings that he assigned to me. He had a few issues to sort out with the phantoms and the data.
Thursday: Today I worked on getting data from the phantoms I created on Tuesday. I only worked on #28-30. Phantom #27 was excluded because it was very sticky, possibly due to not adding enough curing solution. Getting the data took about 2 hours. For the rest of the day, I worked on visualizing a set of data. And after 3 stressful and confusing hours, I finally did it!
Friday: I did not go to Rice again today. Matt suggested working on data visualization and analysis. Once I get that covered, I will be moving onto filtering data by selecting certain frequencies!
Here’s a picture of what I did on Monday (:
I’m so glad you have been able to create phantoms on your own and I’m looking forward to seeing some of the visuals you create from your data.
Cindy, it seems like you are gathering useful data. I encourage you to start thinking about how you will manage the data gathered to translate to your overall research, and possibly to incorporate to your poster presentation. Keep up the good work!