Heart-rate Monitoring System Design and Analysis Using a Nios II Soft-core Processor

The heart rate of a person is able to tell whether they are healthy. A heart-rate monitoring device is able to measure or record the heart rate of a person in real time, whether it is an electrocardiogram (ECG) or a photoplethysmogram (PPG). In this work, a microprocessor system loaded with a heart-rate monitoring algorithm is implemented. The microprocessor system is the Nios II processor system, which interfaces with an analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) and a pulse sensor. A beat-finding algorithm is used in the microprocessor system for heart rate measurement. An experiment is carried out to analyse the functionality of the microprocessor system loaded with the algorithm. The results show that the detected heart rate is in the range of the average human being’s heart rate. The signal flow within the microprocessor system is observed and analysed using SignalTap II from Quartus’ software. Based on a power analysis report, the proposed microprocessor system has a total power dissipation of around 218.26 mW

An SoC-Based System for Real-time Contactless Measurement of Human Vital Signs and Soft Biometrics

Computer vision (CV) plays big role in our current society's life style. The advancement of CV technology brings the capability to sense human vital sign and soft biometric parameters in contactless way. In this work, we design and implement the contactless human vital sign parameters measurement including pulse rate (PR) and respiration rate (RR) and also for assessment of human soft biometric parameters i.e. age, gender, skin color type, and body height. Our designed system is based on system on chip (SoC) device which run both FPGA and hard processor while provides real-time operation and small form factor. Experimental results shows our device performance has mean absolute error (MAE) 2.85 and 1.46 bpm for PR and RR respectively compared to clinical apparatus. While, for soft biometric parameters measurement we got unsatisfied results on age and gender estimation with accuracy of 58% and 74% respectively. However, for skin color type and body height measurement we reach high accuracy with 98 % and 2.28 cm respectively on both parameters

Opto-physiological modeling applied to photoplethysmographic cardiovascular assessment

This paper presents opto-physiological (OP) modeling and its application in cardiovascular assessment techniques based on photoplethysmography (PPG). Existing contact point measurement techniques, i.e., pulse oximetry probes, are compared with the next generation noncontact and imaging implementations, i.e., non-contact reflection and camera-based PPG. The further development of effective physiological monitoring techniques relies on novel approaches to OP modeling that can better inform the design and development of sensing hardware and applicable signal processing procedures. With the help of finite-element optical simulation, fundamental research into OP modeling of photoplethysmography is being exploited towards the development of engineering solutions for practical biomedical systems. This paper reviews a body of research comprising two OP models that have led to significant progress in the design of transmission mode pulse oximetry probes, and approaches to 3D blood perfusion mapping for the interpretation of cardiovascular performance

Frame registration for motion compensation in imaging photoplethysmography

© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Imaging photoplethysmography (iPPG) is an emerging technology used to assess microcirculation and cardiovascular signs by collecting backscattered light from illuminated tissue using optical imaging sensors. An engineering approach is used to evaluate whether a silicone cast of a human palm might be effectively utilized to predict the results of image registration schemes for motion compensation prior to their application on live human tissue. This allows us to establish a performance baseline for each of the algorithms and to isolate performance and noise fluctuations due to the induced motion from the temporally changing physiological signs. A multi-stage evaluation model is developed to qualitatively assess the influence of the region of interest (ROI), system resolution and distance, reference frame selection, and signal normalization on extracted iPPG waveforms from live tissue. We conclude that the application of image registration is able to deliver up to 75% signal-to-noise (SNR) improvement (4.75 to 8.34) over an uncompensated iPPG signal by employing an intensity-based algorithm with a moving reference frame

Sensing and Signal Processing in Smart Healthcare

In the last decade, we have witnessed the rapid development of electronic technologies that are transforming our daily lives. Such technologies are often integrated with various sensors that facilitate the collection of human motion and physiological data and are equipped with wireless communication modules such as Bluetooth, radio frequency identification, and near-field communication. In smart healthcare applications, designing ergonomic and intuitive human–computer interfaces is crucial because a system that is not easy to use will create a huge obstacle to adoption and may significantly reduce the efficacy of the solution. Signal and data processing is another important consideration in smart healthcare applications because it must ensure high accuracy with a high level of confidence in order for the applications to be useful for clinicians in making diagnosis and treatment decisions. This Special Issue is a collection of 10 articles selected from a total of 26 contributions. These contributions span the areas of signal processing and smart healthcare systems mostly contributed by authors from Europe, including Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, and Netherlands. Authors from China, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Ecuador are also included

Energy Efficient Computing with Time-Based Digital Circuits

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. May 2019. Major: Electrical Engineering. Advisor: Chris Kim. 1 computer file (PDF); xv, 150 pages.Advancements in semiconductor technology have given the world economical, abundant, and reliable computing resources which have enabled countless breakthroughs in science, medicine, and agriculture which have improved the lives of many. Due to physics, the rate of these advancements is slowing, while the demand for the increasing computing horsepower ever grows. Novel computer architectures that leverage the foundation of conventional systems must become mainstream to continue providing the improved hardware required by engineers, scientists, and governments to innovate. This thesis provides a path forward by introducing multiple time-based computing architectures for a diverse range of applications. Simply put, time-based computing encodes the output of the computation in the time it takes to generate the result. Conventional systems encode this information in voltages across multiple signals; the performance of these systems is tightly coupled to improvements in semiconductor technology. Time-based computing elegantly uses the simplest of components from conventional systems to efficiently compute complex results. Two time-based neuromorphic computing platforms, based on a ring oscillator and a digital delay line, are described. An analog-to-digital converter is designed in the time domain using a beat frequency circuit which is used to record brain activity. A novel path planning architecture, with designs for 2D and 3D routes, is implemented in the time domain. Finally, a machine learning application using time domain inputs enables improved performance of heart rate prediction, biometric identification, and introduces a new method for using machine learning to predict temporal signal sequences. As these innovative architectures are presented, it will become clear the way forward will be increasingly enabled with time-based designs

Recent Application in Biometrics

In the recent years, a number of recognition and authentication systems based on biometric measurements have been proposed. Algorithms and sensors have been developed to acquire and process many different biometric traits. Moreover, the biometric technology is being used in novel ways, with potential commercial and practical implications to our daily activities. The key objective of the book is to provide a collection of comprehensive references on some recent theoretical development as well as novel applications in biometrics. The topics covered in this book reflect well both aspects of development. They include biometric sample quality, privacy preserving and cancellable biometrics, contactless biometrics, novel and unconventional biometrics, and the technical challenges in implementing the technology in portable devices. The book consists of 15 chapters. It is divided into four sections, namely, biometric applications on mobile platforms, cancelable biometrics, biometric encryption, and other applications. The book was reviewed by editors Dr. Jucheng Yang and Dr. Norman Poh. We deeply appreciate the efforts of our guest editors: Dr. Girija Chetty, Dr. Loris Nanni, Dr. Jianjiang Feng, Dr. Dongsun Park and Dr. Sook Yoon, as well as a number of anonymous reviewers

Advanced Signal Processing in Wearable Sensors for Health Monitoring

Smart, wearables devices on a miniature scale are becoming increasingly widely available, typically in the form of smart watches and other connected devices. Consequently, devices to assist in measurements such as electroencephalography (EEG), electrocardiogram (ECG), electromyography (EMG), blood pressure (BP), photoplethysmography (PPG), heart rhythm, respiration rate, apnoea, and motion detection are becoming more available, and play a significant role in healthcare monitoring. The industry is placing great emphasis on making these devices and technologies available on smart devices such as phones and watches. Such measurements are clinically and scientifically useful for real-time monitoring, long-term care, and diagnosis and therapeutic techniques. However, a pertaining issue is that recorded data are usually noisy, contain many artefacts, and are affected by external factors such as movements and physical conditions. In order to obtain accurate and meaningful indicators, the signal has to be processed and conditioned such that the measurements are accurate and free from noise and disturbances. In this context, many researchers have utilized recent technological advances in wearable sensors and signal processing to develop smart and accurate wearable devices for clinical applications. The processing and analysis of physiological signals is a key issue for these smart wearable devices. Consequently, ongoing work in this field of study includes research on filtration, quality checking, signal transformation and decomposition, feature extraction and, most recently, machine learning-based methods

An interactive, real-time, high precision and portable monitoring system of obstructive sleep apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common type of sleep apnea which is defined as the suspension of breathing. OSA is generally caused by complete or partial obstruction of airway during sleep, making the breathing pattern irregular and abnormal for prolonged periods of time. Apnea can contribute to a variety of life threatening medical conditions, and can be deadly if left untreated. Nowadays, out of 18 to 50 million people in the US, most cases remain undiagnosed due to the cost, cumbersome and resource limitations of overnight polysomnography (PSG) at sleep labs. Currently PSG relies on a doctor's experience. In order to improve the medical service efficiency, reduce diagnosis time and ensure a more accurate diagnosis, a quantitative and objective method is needed. In this dissertation, an innovative method in characterizing bio-signals for detecting epochs of sleep apnea with high accuracy is presented. Three data channels that are related to breath defect; respiratory sound, ECG and SpO2 are investigated, in order to extract physiological indicators that characterize sleep apnea. An automated method was used to analyze the respiratory sound to find pauses in breathing. Furthermore, the automated method analyzed ECG to find irregular heartbeats and SpO 2 to find rises and drops. The system consists of three main parts which are signal segmentation, features extraction and features classification. Feature extractions process is based on statistical measures. Features classification process is learned through Support Vector Machines (SVMs) and Neural Network (NN) classifiers. Moreover, a preprocessing technique is carried out to distinguish the R-wave from the other waves of the ECG signal. The approach presented in this dissertation was tested using downloaded polysomnographic ECG and SpO2 data from the Physionet database. In addition, to identifying sleep apnea using the acoustic signal of respiration; the characterization of breathing sound was carried by Voice Activity Detection (VAD) algorithm. VAD was used to measure the energy of the acoustic respiratory signal during breath and silence segments. From the experimental results for the three signals, it was concluded that the precision of classifying sleep apnea has an accuracy of 97%. This result offers a clinical reference value for identifying OSA instead of expensive PSG visual scoring method which is commonly used to asses sleep apnea, and could reduce diagnostic time and improve medical service efficiency