In modern days peoples are busy and stressed as a result to make their life relaxed complete and soulful sleep is required. We are using pillows in our daily life to form better sleep. Pillow plays an important role in better sleep. If your pillow is not comfortable for you then your sleep is going to be disturbed, as a result, your entire day seems sleepy and lethargic. To change your sleeping experience and make it better, technology introduces “Smart Pillow”. It appears like an ordinary pillow but its work is extraordinary. What and how it is doing? To know more, just go ahead.

Smart Pillow – Anti Snoring Gadget:         

This gadget looks like a regular pillow but, at the same time, it provides some advanced features like sleep tracking, playing music or audio-book, and more. You can also connect your smart pillow with smart speakers to listen to your favorite music. And one additional benefit of this pillow is that it counteracts snoring if you snore while sleep then this pillow will make vibrations to do changes in your sleeping position. What is the engineering behind this gadget? Let’s have a look.

Engineering Inside:

The size of the smart pillow is slightly larger than the normal one because it contains all the elements integrated for the associated sleep technology and other features. And also, because of the electronics implemented within the pillow, you should expect it to be heavier than an ordinary pillow. Pieces of foam are located inside the pillow and these can be removed as you might wish, to sleep better and more comfortably.

This pillow contains below important electronic units:

1. Speakers and microphones
2. Sleep tracking sensors
3. Control board with wireless connectivity
4. Long-life batteries

Speakers and microphones:

Inside this pillow, there are multiple miniature speakers present that can connect through wireless connectivity like Bluetooth to your smartphones or any smart gadget that provides wireless connectivity to stream your favorite music or audiobook. Several microphones of this gadget are acting as the primary unit to detect your snoring. If you are snoring during your sleep then microphones detect it and send the signal to the control board for further processing.

Sleep tracking sensors:

The sleep motions are being tracked by these sensors. These are the Accelerometer and Gyroscope.

Accelerometer: 

The Accelerometer is a kind of sensor that is responsible to detect the position and orientation during sleep. In the modern technological advancement era, MEMS are being used in the manufacturing of Accelerometers.

MEMS understand by the term Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems. It is a technology that in its most general form can be defined as miniaturized mechanical and electro-mechanical elements (i.e. devices or components) that are made using the techniques of micro-fabrication.

MEMS components are categorized based on their various applications like Micro-sensors. Micro-sensors are designed to detect physical or environmental changes, for example – Infrared sensors, Accelerometer, Gyroscopes, etc.

To know more about MEMS go to Springer-journals. Smart integration of the MEMS Accelerometer forms into inertial measurement units providing precise navigation and sensor bias for good long-term stability. So Accelerometer is an electromechanical device.

Gyroscope:

It is a kind of motion sensor. It is doing the same function as it is doing in your smart phones or watches.

Control Board:

Now here is the brain inside your smart pillow. Most of the manufacturers provide their control board that is integrated with several internal units like – Wireless modules (WiFi or Bluetooth), Vibration motors, Gyro sensors, Accelerometer, Speakers, Microphones, Touch sensors, and more. The control boards are mainly based on microcontrollers. These are preprogrammed to perform a particular task. ARDUINO is a popular control board for this gadget.

Long-life Batteries:

The smart pillow uses rechargeable batteries. You can charge your smart pillow by using its power adapter and use it for two weeks on a single charge. It has good battery backup. Lithium ion batteries are being used frequently in these gadgets.

Working Process:

Here to detect the presence of the user, touch sensors are being used. Once the user lays over the pillow the output of the touch sensor becomes high and activates the entire system. The microphone or Sound sensor is used to get the audio signal from the user while sleeping. The control board has a predefined sound level during sleep. Once the sound level is crossed the set value then vibration motors turn ON for few seconds so that the user can adjust his sleeping posture to reduce the snoring. You can also set the alarm on your pillow to wake you up on time to make your day.

If you are listening to music during sleep then you can adjust the volume level or song playing duration by using its remote control or by connected smart voice assistant. You can also use an external memory card in smart pillows to listen to audiobooks or music.

Manufacturer of this gadget generally provides their smart phone based application to control the parameter of your smart pillow. It is easy to use and user-friendly.

Application:

By using this you can monitor your sleep patterns. Through its manufacturer-based mobile application, you can control the parameters that will provide you soulful sleep. By analyzing your day can ensure that you have an efficient and sound night.

Thanks for reading. See you soon with another exploration!