International Conference on Consumer Electronics, 20. ... for cardiovascular assessment stage, such as BPM (beats per minute), augmentation index and pulse ...
INNOVATIVE PATTERN RECOGNITION ALGORITHM FOR PHOTOPLETHYSMOGRAPHY (PPG) MEASUREMENTS F. Rundo1, G. Fallica1, A. Parisi2, R. Pernice2, S. Guarino2, A.C. Cino2, A.C. Busacca2 1Research
and Development ADG, STMicroelectronics, Catania, Italy 2Dipartimento di Energia, ingegneria dell’Informazione e modelli Matematici (DEIM), Università di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Edificio 9, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Abstract: In this work, we report on an innovative pattern recognition algorithm to perform the post-processing of PhotoPlethysmoGraphy (PPG) signals acquired via our multichannel ECG+PPG combo portable system.
Introduction The real-time accurate monitoring of physiological parameters of noteworthy interest is assuming today an ever increasing and fundamental importance in a wide range of fields, going from hospital healthcare to fitness applications. PhotoPlethysmoGraphy (PPG) is an optical technique used to measure in a non-invasive way relative blood volume changes in the blood vessels and for measuring mean arterial blood pressure and oxygen saturation. The working principle consists in the fact that the blood absorbs the infrared light more strongly than the remaining skin tissues, and hence it is possible to obtain a signal proportional to changes in blood volume. For this reason, we implemented an innovative pattern recognition algorithm to perform the post-processing of PhotoPlethysmoGraphy (PPG) signals acquired via our multichannel portable electronic system employing Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) able to perform synchronized Electrocardiographic (ECG) and Photoplethysmographic (PPG) measurements in a non-invasive manner [1, 2]. Unfortunately often the raw PPG signal is affected by artifacts (caused by involuntary movements of the patient, electronic noise and light scattering) that can distort the acquired PPG wave. Some signal artefacts can be found also after a careful filtering of the raw signal so that a PPG compliant waveform recognition mechanism is needed in order to provide a robust estimation of specific medical parameters correlated to main arteriosclerotic pathologies such as artery stiffness and artery ageing.
Our ECG+PPG combo portable system
Block diagram of portable multichannel ECG+PPG system
Photo of the system
PPG Probe
The functional parts of the system are the probes, the Analog electronic Front-End (AFE), and the main PPG/ECG-Embedded Subsystem. Each PPG probe includes a 940 nm LED and a Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) detector, which allows a very good responsivity and high internal gain for low reverse bias (
