Pulse Sensor Instructions
First and foremost, two separate IDE’s are required in order to properly use the pulse sensor. These IDE’s are Arduino and Processing, and can be downloaded from the following links:
-	Arduino: http://arduino.cc/hu/Main/Software
-	Processing: http://processing.org/download/
To launch the IDE’s, simply unzip the downloaded files, and run the applications found within each unzipped folder. You may want to attempt to compile some of the included examples to make sure that the IDE’s are functioning properly. If you believe they are fine, next you will need the pulse sensor source code, which can be downloaded here:
-	http://code.google.com/p/pulse-sensor/downloads/list
Once again, unzip the downloaded files. You may notice that the folders begin with either “A_” or “P_” – the A is for Arduino and the P is for Processing. Within the Arduino IDE, open the “.ino” file found within the “A” folder and within Processing, open the “.pde” file found within the “P” folder. 
	Now that the software is set to go, it’s time to get started on the hardware. The basic components that you will need for this step are: the Arduino board, the USB cable used to connect the Arduino to a PC, your PC, and the pulse sensor. If you observe the pulse sensor, you may notice that it is 3 colored wires – one red, one black, and one purple. These correspond to voltage, ground, and signal, respectively. Connect the red wire to the +5V pin on the Arduino, the black wire to the ground pin, and the purple wire to the correct analog-in pin. There are some discrepancies within various readme’s involving which pin is the correct pin (this was a rather annoying problem to figure out after a readme told me to use the wrong pin), so simply skim through the Arduino source code to determine which pin to use, or even change it if you desire. Search for this line of code: “int pulsePin = x;”, where ‘x’ is the number of the correct analog-in pin. After the pulse sensor is connected, the next step is to connect the Arduino to the PC with the provided USB cable, which is pretty self-explanatory. If you notice a red LED on the Arduino board, you’ve successfully connected it to the PC.
 	Once the hardware is prepped, the source code must be uploaded to the Arduino board. First, click “verify” to ensure that there are no errors, and if there aren’t, click “upload” to place the code on the board. If there are errors, seek a troubleshooting manual. Once the code is uploaded, the sensor will immediately begin to gather data. If you click on “Serial Monitor” you can observe the data that the Arduino is sending through the Serial Port. Set the baud rate to “115200” to experience it in real time. Also, take note of the COM port being used by clicking on Tools  Serial Port. Once the sensor is functioning, you can observe the pulse data by running the source code that was opened in the Processing IDE. If you had opened the Serial Monitor in Arduino, make sure you close it now. Then, click “run” within Processing, and a GUI should appear and display the BPM data being gathered by the sensor. If you receive an error involving the COM port, make sure that it matches the COM port that you saw in Arduino. If your error does not involve the COM port, seek another troubleshooting manual. Also, if using the sensor on your finger gives you questionable results, try using it on your ear lobe or other fleshy areas, but make sure not to apply too much/too little pressure. Besides that, your pulse sensor should be functioning properly, as well as displaying the BPM data…enjoy!