Malang, E Java (ANTARA News) - Engineering and medical Students from the Brawijaya University in Malang, East Java province, have invented a smart bag to sense environmental conditions that helps people with asthma called SANBAV (Smart Android Bag for Asthma Prevention).

The inventing teams leader, Muhammad Nur Azis, said here on Thursday that this instrument is inspired by asthma, which attacks people, especially during a productive age.

Based on the research team, one of the main causes of asthma are environmental conditions that cannot be detected directly.

"So we want to detect environmental conditions through this instrument, which is formed like a bag that is easy to use and will comfort the users," Nur explained.

The SANBAV team is comprised of Muhammad Nur Azis and Mohammad Efendi Sofyan, both of whom are mechanical engineering students, Shofia Medina Samara and Aisyah Nurul Amalia from the medical faculty, and Nardo Golan, an electrical engineering student.

Shofia explained there are four main environmental parameters that can cause an asthma attack, namely temperature, humidity, dust and gas particles.

"The main trigger of asthma is cold temperatures of around 20 degrees Celsius. In addition, the high moisture percentage of 60 to 70 percent easily leads to the recurrence of asthma," she added.

Regarding gases, carbon dioxide and dust with size less than 5 microns are the main pollutant.

The SANBAV smart bag comes with android technology, which is connected to the bag via a bluetooth. When SANBAV is enabled, the application installed on android will feature asthma triggers parameters with a particular value. This application will be available on PlayStore.

When the figures that are displayed on the application are outside the normal parameters, a dangerous signal will appear and inform the actions that should be carried out by users.

For example, users are asked to avoid the location when the temperature is too low or to wear a mask when dust particles are contaminating the environment.

This instrument can be calibrated according to specific conditions as each person suffering with asthma has their own history. Meanwhile, the standard parameter is set, based on the most valid data average.

Nardo added that the causes of asthma can be predicted and unpredicted. This issue has been described in the SANBAV guide book application. It also includes the latest and the most actual medical literature.

The process for making SANBAV involves Prof Dr. Rudy Soenoko, a lung specialist, Dr. Ungky Agus S and Dr. Susanti Djajalaksana.

"SANBAV will be installed with an alarm, voice, and LCD so when the bag is not connected to the android it can still give a warning to the user. This instrument can also be used by people with physical disabilities," another team member, Sofyan, said.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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