Wearable Noncontact Armband for Mobile ECG Monitoring System

Abstract

One of the best ways to obtain health information is from an electrocardiogram (ECG). Through an ECG, characteristics such as patients' heartbeats, heart conditions, and heart disease can be analyzed. Unfortunately, most available healthcare devices do not provide clinical data such as information regarding patients' heart activities. Many researchers have tried to solve this problem by inventing wearable heart monitoring systems with a chest strap or wristband, but their performances were not feasible for practical applications. Thus, the aim of this study is to build a new system to monitor heart activity through ECG signals. The proposed system consists of capacitive-coupled electrodes embedded in an armband. It is considered to be a reliable, robust, and low-power-transmission ECG monitoring system. The reliability of this system was achieved by the careful placement of sensors in the armband. Bluetooth low energy (BLE) was used as the protocol for data transmission; this protocol was proposed to develop the low-power-transmission system. For robustness, the proposed system is equipped with analysis capabilities-e.g., real-time heartbeat detection and a filter algorithm to ignore distractions from body movements or noise from the environment.

ECG Monitoring Systems: Review, Architecture, Processes, and Key Challenges

“…Several research works on wearable ECG monitoring have been developed in the literature [25,29,[125][126][127][128]. These works can be classified into textile-based systems, such as [29,128], and contactless based systems, such as [126]. Textile-based solutions integrate clothing (e.g., a shirt) with integrated sensors recording ECG and an acquisition module for data storage and processing.…”

“…Numerous research initiatives developed smart devices for ECG monitoring [12,24,126,131,132], where these devices implemented intelligence either in the sensors themselves or within the network components. Examples of these researches include a remote patient monitoring system for cardiac care assistance using a self-configured sensor network, as developed in [131].…”

Sixth‐order differential Sallen‐and‐Key switched capacitor LPF using a‐IGZO TFTs

“…In present scenario, most of the cardio vascular system activities are being monitored using ECG and BP measurements using cuffs, which limit the mobility of the patients and need human interaction. Nevertheless, few wearable devices were reported with standard CMOS technology, where these systems are bulky (due to the battery weight), rigid, and expensive. In order to get rid of these drawbacks and to guarantee user comfort, biomedical self‐contained wearable systems implemented with low‐cost flexible electronics would be a perfect solution, where circuits can be driven by printed batteries …”

Wearable sensors: can they benefit patients with chronic kidney disease?

“…Technologies for medical-grade wearable ECG measurement are rapidly becoming available in various unobtrusive embodiments like clothing [49], wristwatches [50], arm bands [51], or adhesive patches [52]. The TRL-level of the wearable core ECG-amplifier technologies can vary between 7 and 9.…”

“…New applications are on the horizon with ECG technologies that do not even require direct contact with bare skin. Present state-of-the-art high-input impedance microelectronic circuits can be sensitive enough to measure ECG through normal clothing, using capacitive coupling (TRL6-7) [51].…”