Choosing a First Physiology Sensor for Student Projects
Most foundation students arrive wanting the most elaborate sensor they can afford. In our teaching labs the better question is which signal you can acquire cleanly with the time and cabling you actually have.
ECG remains the most forgiving starting point for electrical measurement practice. With a three-electrode lead set, a quiet subject, and alcohol wipes for skin prep, you can produce a recognisable QRS complex within a single afternoon. PPG finger clips look simpler, yet motion artefact and poor perfusion will waste an evening if your brief also asks for heart-rate variability.
Respiratory belts suit mechanical coupling exercises. They teach tensioning, placement, and analogue conditioning without the skin-prep discipline of ECG. We reserve them for weeks when the cohort is already comfortable with gain and filtering.
Before you order hardware, write down the one clinical question your prototype claims to answer. If that question does not require beat-to-beat timing, skip ECG. If it does not require chest wall motion, skip the belt. The sensor that matches the question is the one your tutor can help you debug.