Designing a sleep monitoring device to induce lucid dreaming

This thesis reviews the design process required to create a sleep monitoring device capable of detecting REM sleep. It explores current methods used for measuring and detecting sleep stages in a subject. The advantages and disadvantages of the current methods are discussed and compared with a newly proposed method for sensing eye movements. Optocouplers are already used for distance measurement, interruption based on object obstruction, and industrial processes. For this reason, the proposed method for detecting REM involves the use of optocouplers. The data gathered by the built device confirms the feasibility of using optocouplers to measure eye movements. The proposed algorithm to detect REM is able to detect it to some extent and it will continue to be improved.