How to Build an Open Source 3 Channel Gold Standard ECG Device & Spirometer for Medical & Research Applications for around 250 USD?

Last Updated on June 24, 2026 by pg@petergamma.org

Such a device can be bought from iWorx such as the TA220 vor a view thousand Dollars. This setup can be used for 3 channel ECG gold standard measurement. And the suitcase below with a TA220 includes two spirometers from iWorx.

3 channel ECG devices are the gold standard which means the most accurate device which is available.

I have discussed this in this review:

090. Review of Accuracy Studies of Consumer Grade Heart Rate Monitors: Methods, Testing Protocols, Reference Devices

The hardware costs for a 3 channel gold standard ECG device as listed here have dropped to less than 50 USD:

The AD8232 ECG chip, the ADS1115 16 bit A/D converter & an Arduino microcontroller – the building blocks for a multi-channel ECG device for medical & research grade applications

For measuring respiration rate, a spirometer is the most accurate device. Spirometers are expensive if we want to buy a new one.

The best option for a low-cost high-quality spirometer is to buy a used spirometer from iWorx:

We can find those used in sets from iWorx:

These iWorx suitcases are available from eBay starting for around 200 USD.

I could build such a device right away now from the knowledge I gathered during the last view years. And there seems to be a market trust for these device to keep prizes for those medical and research grade devices high. But I am not interested in developing physiological multi-sensor hard- and software and selling those.

I am Peter Gamma from www.petergamma.org, the Director of the Meditation Research Institute Switzerland (MRIS), and I am on a budget:

Peter Gamma, Director of the Meditation Research Institute Switzerland (MRIS) is on a Budget An he Has no Devices – so What to Do?

As my own little experience as an EEG device reviewer in the last view years has shown, it seems not possible to lower the costs for EEG devices anymore which are not based on InfluxDB. So the only option which remains to lower the costs is building those devices by ourselves with open source hardware and software.

I am not a developer for soft- and hardware for physiological multi-sensor devices. But I am reviewing these devices eventually as my life-time journey. And according to my own little experience, it is only a question of time until I will find those open source hardware and software devices somewhere in the web. And I am sure a will also find the community who develops and builds those. Developers welcome to take over my projects and to participate.