AKUH HMI Monitoring System

The AKUH HMI System is a low-power Human-Machine Interface (HMI) solution developed for the Aga Khan University Hospital Main to provide real-time monitoring of differential pressure conditions across nine operating rooms. The system integrates with the hospital’s existing Aranet LoRaWAN sensor ecosystem, retrieving environmental data from the Aranet cloud platform through secure HTTPS API requests and presenting it locally through an ultra-low-power e-paper display interface. The project was designed to address the lack of dedicated operating room–level visibility within the existing infrastructure by introducing a responsive edge monitoring solution with both local and remote alerting capabilities. The devices continuously evaluate pressure thresholds and trigger audible alarms via an onboard buzzer while simultaneously dispatching automated email notifications to the AKUH Engineering Department using SMTP-based alert delivery. Built around an event-driven finite state machine architecture, the firmware was optimized for deterministic operation, low-power performance, and long-term deployment reliability. The system incorporates secure TLS-based communications, SNTP time synchronization, onboard voltage monitoring, and intelligent deep-sleep power management, enabling continuous operation for over six months on a single rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

From an engineering perspective, the project involved complete end-to-end embedded systems development including custom PCB design, e-paper display integration, ultra-low-power firmware architecture, secure networking implementation, cloud API integration, alert rule-engine design, manufacturing support, calibration, deployment, and field maintenance. The devices were successfully deployed within active operating room environments at Aga Khan University Hospital, where they now provide medical engineering teams with immediate visibility into critical room pressure conditions. In addition to live monitoring, the devices generate automated weekly diagnostic and voltage reports, improving operational maintenance workflows and enabling proactive system management within a clinical environment.