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190 ISSN: 2319-1120

Real Time Acquisition and Analysis of ECG signals using MATLAB

RAMAN YADAV
EECE Department ITM University, Gurgaon Haryana, India raman.y.90@gmail.com

SHARDA VASHISTH*
EECE Department ITM University, Gurgaon Haryana,India shardavashisth@itmindia.edu

ASHOK K. SALHAN
Biomedical Instrumentation Division Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences DRDO, Delhi ,India ashoksalhan@yahoo.com

* Corresponding Author

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to design a portable, light weight ECG acquisition circuit for real time monitoring of ECG of cardiac patients. The signal acquired from the body using acquisition circuit is then displayed onto the computer using the sound port as a serial interface between circuit and PC. The real time acquired signal is then analyzed using MATLAB. MATLAB program amplifies and filter the raw ECG to eliminate noise added to the signal. It can further be used for identifying a number of diseases to reduce the death rate due to heart diseases. Keywords: ECG signal acquisition; MATLAB software; Sound Port; I. INTRODUCTION Now-a-days, heart diseases are a leading cause of death. According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimation cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death, nearly 17 million lives a year [1]. Healthcare for elder people has been the main focus of this proposed research. Electrocardiogram is the signal of the heart muscles which are recorded from the body surface, to analyze any heart disease. It was developed by William Einthoven in 1901, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1924 [2]. A typical ECG signal for a normal heart beat is shown in Figure 1. Atria contraction gives the first upward deflection P, and is known as atrial complex. Due to the action of ventricles, the other deflections Q, R, S and T are observed and are known as the ventricular complexes [3]. Pressure exerted by heart muscles in one pumping cycle gives the value of voltage. The voltage created in this process is of about 1 to 3mV. If the heartbeat moves up or down from the normal position then it shows abnormal rhythms which may be caused due to a heart disease. These pathologic changes can be analyzed by ECG signal. The changes can also be monitored using a handy ECG monitoring system [4].

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Figure 1: A typical single ECG signal

Various bio-signals such as ECG, heart beat rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation level, activity signal such as acceleration and angular velocity are used for healthcare in daily life [5]. Analysis of ECG is helpful in telemedicine and homecare. It helps in the reduction of relative expenses and hospital waiting lists. But due to various factors faulty diagnoses may cause a risk to the patients health. So it needs a qualified system and infrastructure with high efficiency [6]. Biomedical signals such as ECG, EMG, EEG are very important in biomedical engineering and need real time monitoring, so a computer system plays an important role for the various measurements and tests, with a better performance and lower cost [7]. Holter Monitoring system is non-invasive method which can be used to monitor ambulatory patient. ECG signal can be acquired from the patient and then analyses and processing is done offline [8]. The acquired signal is then interfaced with the computer using DAQ card. So needs DAQ card which further increase the cost of the system and make the arrangement bulky. Most commonly used technique is Wilson Central Terminal arrangement where ECG signal acquired using 3 electrodes [9]. Another system used is Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) gives more accurate signal. But it is more expensive so used only on the patient having high risk [10]. MOLEC monitor system acquires, analyzes, process and detect abnormalities from the ECG signal in real time but requires analog to digital converter due to which cost of the system increases [11]. Continuous monitoring of the ECG signal can be done using EPI-MEDIC system which uses RS-232 port for computer interface [12]. Twelve lead are used to acquire ECG signal which restricts the mobility of the patient. R test is non-invasive method which continuously monitors the signal for large interval of time. But the system is sensitive to interference can be easily corrupted due to motion artifacts. Data can be transferred using sound card of PC which makes overall arrangement convenient and effective. In the present approach, the developed system comprises of electrodes, ECG acquisition circuit, a computer system using the MATLAB software. The ECG signal acquired from the ECG acquisition circuit is then fed to the sound port of the PC. The sound card of computer converts the analog signal received into digital form and also amplifies the signal. MATLAB software [13, 14] program acquires and filters the signal received from the sound port to remove the noise content added to the signal.

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II. MATERIALS AND METHODS The analysis of ECG signal mainly involves the detection of QRS complex, P wave and T wave. The ECG acquisition system consists of electrodes, amplifiers, filters to remove noise, and output display device (Laptop/PC). The Functional block diagram of a Real time acquisition and transmission of ECG signal is shown in figure 3. A. ECG Acquisition The main objective of the hardware circuit used is to acquire the ECG signal from the body surface. To achieve this, the hardware acquisition unit is synchronized with MATLAB (matrix laboratory) software for automatic data storage. The acquired signals are fed to ECG amplifier as these signals are in the range of 1 to 3 mV so amplification of these weak signals is necessary. Output of the amplifier is then fed to high pass filter and low pass filter circuit to filter the high and low frequency components and 50 Hz power line interference from the acquired signal. The desired output from filter is then inputted into the PC sound port. With the help of MATLAB program we recognize the ECG signal in the sound port of the PC and then analyze the waveform obtained on the screen. B. ECG Electrodes Acquisition of ECG signal can be done with 3 or 6 or 12 electrodes. Here we propose to use 3 electrodes to acquire ECG signal, two electrodes are placed on left and right wrist to provide positive and negative connection. Ag/AgCl electrodes are used to pick the bio-potential signal from body surface and then to convert them into a voltage signal. In AgCl electrodes, the sensors are of silver and coating of chloride ions reduce skin impedance for perfect current flow [5]. The position of electrodes is set using the Einthovens triangle. Figure 3 shows the diagram of Einthovens triangle for placement of electrodes on body surface.

Figure 3: Einthovens Triangle

C. Front-end Amplifier:

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An operational amplifier chip TL084C amplifies the ECG signal picked from the body surface. The OPAMP has a common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) of 86 dB and an adjustable gain of 500. Right leg driven circuit is used to improve the CMRR of the circuit. Filter circuit is used to eliminate the noise picked in this process. The ECG acquisition circuit uses 9 volts battery to eliminate the use of 230 V power supply as the 230 V power supply is main source of noise in the circuit and also not safe to use for measuring the signal. D. Output Display Unit: The output of the acquisition circuit is connected to the sound port of the interface unit (PC) and the signal displayed using the MATLAB software. Sound port of PC provides the interface between the PC and mobile phone. It makes the system cost effective and convenient, as there is no need of data acquisition card for the interfacing between circuit and PC. Using a MATLAB program code, the PC can recognize and display the ECG signal received at the sound port. The command winsound in MATLAB is used to acquire the signal from the sound port and display on the screen. To minimize the noise content from the real time acquired signal, FIR digital filter and band pass filter with pass band 0.05-150 Hz can be used. The subject was asked to sit comfortably on chair. The raw ECG signal was then acquired at normal position. The signals received are then filtered using digital filters used in MATLAB program.

Figure 3: Functional diagram of ECG acquisition circuit

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Using ECG acquisition circuit we acquire signal at normal position. Figure 4 shows the raw ECG signal acquired directly from the sound port of the PC and the filtered signal using digital filters in the MATLAB coding displayed in figure 5. The code developed in MATLAB is capable of acquiring and filtering raw ECG signal. Here MATLAB 7.5 (Release 2007b) is used for the real time acquisition and filtering of raw ECG signal acquired. The frequencies of digital filters used are set accordingly to acquire signal lies in the frequency range of 0.05-100 Hz. Here we are using sound port of the PC for

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interfacing between PC and acquisition circuit so there is no additional requirement of DAQ card. Effective signals can be acquired with proper selection and placement of electrodes. The Instrumentation amplifier TL-084C is used to eliminate power line interference. An amplifier used amplifies the noise signal added into the desired signal which can be minimized using analog filter.

Figure 4 Raw ECG acquired directly using sound port of PC

Figure 5 Filtered signal using digital filter in MATLAB program

IV. CONCLUSION The rest ECG signal can be acquired easily using a single channel ECG amplifier. Any bio-medical signals viz. ECG, EMG, EEG can be analyzed using this application software with proper selection of amplification and filtering ranges. The signal acquired can be interfaced with PC using sound port so there is no additional requirement of DAQ which makes the system cost effective. The system can be extended and used with the standard 12 lead system for online diagnosis, analysis and distant monitoring of bio medical signal. The system can be integrated with the wireless communication device like a mobile phone so that telemonitoring can be made feasible and the data can be analyzed by cardiologist in real time to reduce the trouble taken by patients to travel long distance. This is left as a future scope. REFERENCES
[1] R. Inaki, G. Bemard, and P. Julien, Robust beat detector for ambulatory cadiac monitoring, 31 annual conference of IEEE, EBMS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, pp. 950-953, September 2-6, 2009.

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[2] Tasneem Ibrahim Abdalla,shiemaa Sidahmed, Sharief F.Babiker Transmission of Real-Time Clinical Diagnostic Signals Over GSM Network , IEEE student conference on Research and Development, 2011. [3] S. Mehta, Support Vector Machine for Cardiac Beat Detection in Single Lead Electrocardiogram, IAENGIJAM, 2007. [4] D.Bansal, M.Khan,A.K. Salhan, A computer based wireless system for online acquisition, monitoring and digital processing of ECG waveforms, Computers in Biology and Medicine, vol. 39, pp.361-367,2009. [5] J.H. Hong, J.M.Kim, E.J.Cha, T.S. Lee, A Wirelees 3-channel ECG Transmission System Using PDA Phone, IEEE International Conference on Convergence Information Technology, 2007. [6] Claudio De Capua, Antonella Meduri and Rosario Morello, A Remote Doctor for Homecare and Medical Diagnoses on Cardiac Patients by an Adaptive ECG Analysis, IEEE International Workshop on Medical Measurements and Applications, May 2009. [7] A.Kumar, L.Diwan, M.Singh, Real Time Monitoring System for ECG Signal Using Virtual Instrumentation, WSEAS Transactions on biology and biomedicine, Issue 11, Volume 3, pp. 638-643, November 2006. [8] E. Jovanov, P. Gelabert, P. Adhami, B. Wheelock, R. Adams, Real time Holter monitoring of biomedical signals, DSP Technology and Education conference DSPS99, Houston, Texas, August 4-6,1999. [9] S.Y. Shoon, S.W. Wan, H.T. Nguyen, A novel approach to the design of a Wilson referenced ECG amplifier. Austrialia, Phys. Eng. Sci. Med. 16 (3) (1993) 111-117. [10] N.V. Thakor, Therapeutic/prosthetic devices-pacemakers & defibrillators, Lectures on biomedical instrumentation, JHU Applied Physics Lab. [11] J. Rodriguez, A. Gonj, A. Illarramendi, Real-time classification of ECGs on a PDA, IEEE Trans. Inf. Technol. Biomed. 9 (1) (2005) 23-34. [12] J.W. Z heng, Z.B. Zhang, T.H. Wu, Y. Zhang, A wearable mobihealth care system supporting real-time diagnosis and alarm, Med. Bio. Eng. Comput, 45 (2007) 877-885. [13] MATLAB, (http://mathworks.com). [14] R.Pratap, Getting started with MATLAB 7Oxford university press.

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