Abstract: Employing the embedded development system, the real-time heart rate (HR) monitoring system is designed. The microcontroller AT89C2051 with PLC2132 version is used in the circuit and an infrared scanning device is applied to HR test. The amplify circuits and filtering circuits are designed and the parameters of the components in circuits are determined experimentally. The subsystems of long-range transmission, real-time display and the voice prompt alarm are also developed. Experimental results show that, compared with HR device made in Germany, the measurement error of developed system is less than 5%. The proposed system can be widely applied to sports training and fitness in the process of self-control and coaches for monitoring with the benefit of high cost performance.