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. 2013 Jun 4:1:2700108.
doi: 10.1109/JTEHM.2013.2253598. eCollection 2013.

Development of Novel Non-Contact Electrodes for Mobile Electrocardiogram Monitoring System

Bor-Shyh Lin  1 , Willy Chou  2 , Hsing-Yu Wang  3 , Yan-Jun Huang  3 , Jeng-Shyang Pan  4
Affiliations

Development of Novel Non-Contact Electrodes for Mobile Electrocardiogram Monitoring System

Bor-Shyh Lin et al. IEEE J Transl Eng Health Med. .

Abstract

Real-time monitoring of cardiac health is helpful for patients with cardiovascular disease. Many telemedicine systems based on ubiquitous computing and communication techniques have been proposed for monitoring the user's electrocardiogram (ECG) anywhere and anytime. Usually, wet electrodes are used in these telemedicine systems. However, wet electrodes require conduction gels and skin preparation that can be inconvenient and uncomfortable for users. In order to overcome this issue, a new non-contact electrode circuit was proposed and applied in developing a mobile electrocardiogram monitoring system. The proposed non-contact electrode can measure bio-potentials across thin clothing, allowing it to be embedded in a user's normal clothing to monitor ECG in daily life. We attempted to simplify the design of these non-contact electrodes to reduce power consumption while continuing to provide good signal quality. The electrical specifications and the performance of monitoring arrhythmia in clinical settings were also validated to investigate the reliability of the proposed design. Experimental results show that the proposed non-contact electrode provides good signal quality for measuring ECG across thin clothes.

Keywords: Arrhythmia; electrocardiogram (ECG); mobile electrocardiogram monitoring system; non-contact electrode; telemedicine.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
(a) Basic scheme of the proposed noncontact electrode and (b) its equal model for noise analysis.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Basic scheme of proposed mobile ECG monitoring system.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
(a) Implementation illustration and (b) photograph of proposed noncontact electrode circuit.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
(a) Block diagram and (b) photograph of proposed wireless ECG acquisition module.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.
(a) Operation procedure and (b) screenshot of ECG monitoring program.
Fig. 6.
Fig. 6.
(a) and (b) Experiment illustration for electrical characteristic test and magnitude response. (c) Phase response. (d) Referred noise spectrum of proposed noncontact electrode.
Fig. 7.
Fig. 7.
(a) Experiment illustration for signal quality test. (b) and (c) Comparison between ECG signal qualities by using different electrodes in time domain and frequency domain.
Fig. 8.
Fig. 8.
Comparison between ECG signal qualities by applying different pressures. (a) Static sitting posture: static state. (b) Walking: dynamic state.
Fig. 9.
Fig. 9.
Four randomly selected results for measuring abnormal EGC signal and heart rate detection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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