Last night I reached a milestone that gives me pleasure to announce. I was officially (and indelicately) woken up by my custom gadget according to the heart rate threshold programmed into it. This event caps a multi-week effort to build and program this device and I’m gratified that it’s been a success. And I’m basically adhering to the time line I set up 
Here are the details of this phase of the experiment. I set my clock radio to RADIO ON (loud) and then unplugged it. This would prepare it so that if it were ever plugged in again, the radio would automatically play. I plugged the radio into the extension cord that was now electrically attached to my BUG (see previous post). The rest of the set up was identical to my earlier experiments – Polar heart strap, Polar radio receiver, BUGbase, BUG von Hippel.
I set the heart rate threshold for 65 bpm, put on the heart rate strap (yes, it’s a little awkward but it has never gotten in the way of me getting comfortably settled and falling asleep). Approximately 30 mins later, my heart rate had slowed enough to trip the programming trigger and I was rudely jarred awake by “He Works Hard for the Money” by Donna Summer. I promptly removed the strap, dropped it to the floor and went back to sleep, happy in the knowledge that the experiment worked, and equally satisfied that it would not be needed again!
This was a simple experiment that proved I can wake someone up based on a pre-programmed heart rate threshold. What I need to do now is adjust that threshold to trap HIGH heart rates, not low, and start up my first open source “clinical trial” I have a few volunteers that I will reach out to. If you or anyone you know would be interested in participating please let me know. Of course, I will continue to make improvements, but I feel like the basic foundation is in place. Stay tuned…