Applications of Digital Signal Processing with Cardiac Pacemakers

Because the voltage amplitude of a heart beat is small compared to the amplitude of exponential noise, pacemakers have difficulty registering the responding heart beat immediately after a pacing pulse. This thesis investigates use of digital filters, an inverse filter and a lowpass filter, to eliminate the effects of exponential noise following a pace pulse. The goal was to create a filter which makes recognition of a haversine wave less dependent on natural subsidence of exponential noise. Research included the design of heart system, pacemaker, pulse generation, and sensor system simulations. The simulation model includes the following components: Signal source, A MATLAB generated combination of a haversine signal, exponential noise, and myopotential noise. The haversine signal is a test signal used to simulate the QRS complex which is normally recorded on an ECG trace as a representation of heart function. The amplitude is approximately 10 mV. Simulated myopotential noise represents a uniformly distributed random noise which is generated by skeletal muscle tissue. The myopotential noise has a frequency spectrum extending from 70 to 1000Hz. The amplitude varies from 2 to 5 mV. Simulated exponential noise represents the depolarization effects of a pacing pulse as seen at the active cardiac lead. The amplitude is about 1 volt, large in comparison with the haversine signal. A/D converter, A combination of sample & hold and quantizer functions translate the analog signal into a digital signal. Additionally, random noise is created during quantization. Digital filters, An inverse filter removes the exponential noise, and a lowpass filter removes myopotential noise. Threshold level detector, A function which detects the strength and amplitude of the output signal was created for robustness and as a data sampling device. The simulation program is written for operation in a DOS environment. The program generates a haversine signal, myopotential noise (random noise), and exponential noise. The signals are amplified and sent to an A/D converter stage. The resultant digital signal is sent to a series of digital filters, where exponential noise is removed by an inverse digital filter, and myopotential noise is removed by the Chebyshev type I lowpass digital filter. The output signal is detected if its waveform exceeds the noise threshold level. To determine what kind of digital filter would remove exponential noise, the spectrum of exponential noise relative to a haversine signal was examined. The spectrum of the exponential noise is continuous because the pace pulse is considered a non-periodic signal (assuming the haversine signal occurs immediately after a pace pulse). The spectrum of the haversine is also continuous, existing at every value of frequency ω. The spectrum of the haversine is overlapped by the spectrum of and amplitude of the exponential, which is several orders of magnitude larger. The exponential cannot be removed by conventional filters. Therefore, an inverse filter approach is used to remove exponential noise. The transfer function of the inverse filter of the model has only zeros. This type of filter is called FIR, all-zero, non recursive, or moving average. Tests were run using the model to investigate the behavior of the inverse filter. It was found that the haversine signal could be clearly detected within a 5% change in the time constant of the exponential noise. Between 5% and 15% of change in the time constant, the filtered exponential amplitude swamps the haversine signal. The sensitivity of the inverse filter was also studied: when using a fixed exponential time constant but changing the location of the transfer function, the effect of the exponential noise on the haversine is minimal when zeros are located between 0.75 and 0.85 of the unit circle. After the source signal passes the inverse filter, the signal consists only of the haversine signal, myopotential noise, and some random noise introduced during quantization. To remove these noises, a Chebyshev type I lowpass filter is used

Fast recursive filters for simulating nonlinear dynamic systems

A fast and accurate computational scheme for simulating nonlinear dynamic systems is presented. The scheme assumes that the system can be represented by a combination of components of only two different types: first-order low-pass filters and static nonlinearities. The parameters of these filters and nonlinearities may depend on system variables, and the topology of the system may be complex, including feedback. Several examples taken from neuroscience are given: phototransduction, photopigment bleaching, and spike generation according to the Hodgkin-Huxley equations. The scheme uses two slightly different forms of autoregressive filters, with an implicit delay of zero for feedforward control and an implicit delay of half a sample distance for feedback control. On a fairly complex model of the macaque retinal horizontal cell it computes, for a given level of accuracy, 1-2 orders of magnitude faster than 4th-order Runge-Kutta. The computational scheme has minimal memory requirements, and is also suited for computation on a stream processor, such as a GPU (Graphical Processing Unit).Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, 1 table. A comparison with 4th-order Runge-Kutta integration shows that the new algorithm is 1-2 orders of magnitude faster. The paper is in press now at Neural Computatio

Contribution to Efficient Use of Narrowband Radio Channel

Předkládaná práce se soustředí na problematiku využívání úzkopásmového rádiového kanálu rádiovými modemy, které jsou určené pro průmyslové aplikace pozemní pohyblivé rádiové služby, specifikované v dominantní míře Evropským standardem ETSI EN 300 113. Tato rádiová zařízení se používají v kmitočtových pásmech od 30 MHz do 1 GHz s nejčastěji přidělovanou šířkou pásma 25 kHz a ve většině svých instalací jsou využívána ve fixních nebo mobilních bezdrátových sítích. Mezi typické oblasti použití patří zejména datová telemetrie, aplikace typu SCADA, nebo monitorování transportu strategických surovin. Za hlavní znaky popisovaného systému lze označit komunikační pokrytí značných vzdáleností, dané především vysokou výkonovou účinnosti datového přenosu a využívaní efektivních přístupových technik na rádiový kanál se semiduplexním komunikačním režimem. Striktní požadavky na elektromagnetickou kompatibilitu umožňují těmto zařízením využívat spektrum i v oblastech kmitočtově blízkým jiným komunikačním systémům bez nutnosti vkládání dodatečných ochranných frekvenčních pásem. Úzkopásmové rádiové komunikační systémy, v současnosti používají převážně exponenciální digitální modulace s konstantní modulační obálkou zejména z důvodů velice striktních omezení pro velikost výkonu vyzářeného do sousedního kanálu. Dosahují tak pouze kompromisních hodnot komunikační účinnosti. Úpravy limitů příslušných rádiových parametrů a rychlý rozvoj prostředků číslicového zpracování signálu v nedávné době, dnes umožňují ekonomicky přijatelné využití spektrálně efektivnějších modulačních technik i v těch oblastech, kde je prioritní využívání úzkých rádiových kanálů. Cílem předkládané disertační práce je proto výzkum postupů směřující ke sjednocení výhodných vlastností lineárních a nelineárních modulací v moderní konstrukci úzkopásmového rádiového modemu. Účelem tohoto výzkumu je efektivní a „ekologické“ využívání přidělené části frekvenčního spektra. Mezi hlavní dílčí problémy, jimiž se předkládaná práce zabývá, lze zařadit zejména tyto: Nyquistova modulační filtrace, navrhovaná s ohledem na minimalizaci nežádoucích elektromagnetických interferencí, efektivní číslicové algoritmy frekvenční demodulace a rychlé rámcové a symbolové synchronizace. Součástí práce je dále analýza navrhovaného řešení z pohledu celkové konstrukce programově definovaného rádiového modemu v rovině simulací při vyšetřování robustnosti datového přenosu rádiovým kanálem s bílým Gaussovským šumem nebo kanálem s únikem v důsledku mnohacestného šíření signálu. Závěr práce je pak zaměřen na prezentování výsledků praktické části projektu, v níž byly testovány, měřeny a analyzovány dvě prototypové konstrukce rádiového zařízení. Tato finální část práce obsahuje i praktická doporučení, vedoucí k vyššímu stupni využitelnosti spektrálně efektivnějších komunikačních režimů v oblasti budoucí generace úzkopásmových zařízení pozemní pohyblivé rádiové služby.he industrial narrowband land mobile radio (LMR) devices, as considered in this dissertation project, has been subject to European standard ETSI EN 300 113. The system operates on frequencies between 30 MHz and 1 GHz, with channel separations of up to 25 kHz, and is intended for private, fixed, or mobile, radio packet switching networks. Data telemetry, SCADA, maritime and police radio services; traffic monitoring; gas, water, and electricity producing factories are the typical system applications. Long distance coverage, high power efficiency, and efficient channel access techniques in half duplex operation are the primary advantages the system relays on. Very low level of adjacent channel power emissions and robust radio receiver architectures, with high dynamic range, enable for a system’s coexistence with various communication standards, without the additional guard band frequency intervals. On the other hand, the strict limitations of the referenced standard as well as the state of the technology, has hindered the increase in communication efficiency, with which the system has used its occupied bandwidth. New modifications and improvements are needed to the standard itself and to the up-to-date architectures of narrowband LMR devices, to make the utilization of more efficient modes of system operation practically realizable. The main objective of this dissertation thesis is therefore to find a practical way how to combine the favorable properties of the advanced nonlinear and linear digital modulation techniques in a single digital modem solution, in order to increase the efficiency of the narrowband radio channel usage allocated to the new generation of the industrial LMR devices. The main attention is given to the particular areas of digital modem design such as proposal of the new family of the Nyquist filters minimizing the adjacent channel interference, design and analysis of the efficient algorithms for frequency discrimination, fast frame and symbol

Complex Dynamics and Synchronization of Delayed-Feedback Nonlinear Oscillators

We describe a flexible and modular delayed-feedback nonlinear oscillator that is capable of generating a wide range of dynamical behaviours, from periodic oscillations to high-dimensional chaos. The oscillator uses electrooptic modulation and fibre-optic transmission, with feedback and filtering implemented through real-time digital-signal processing. We consider two such oscillators that are coupled to one another, and we identify the conditions under which they will synchronize. By examining the rates of divergence or convergence between two coupled oscillators, we quantify the maximum Lyapunov exponents or transverse Lyapunov exponents of the system, and we present an experimental method to determine these rates that does not require a mathematical model of the system. Finally, we demonstrate a new adaptive control method that keeps two oscillators synchronized even when the coupling between them is changing unpredictably.Comment: 24 pages, 13 figures. To appear in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (special theme issue to accompany 2009 International Workshop on Delayed Complex Systems

Signal Reconstruction via H-infinity Sampled-Data Control Theory: Beyond the Shannon Paradigm

This paper presents a new method for signal reconstruction by leveraging sampled-data control theory. We formulate the signal reconstruction problem in terms of an analog performance optimization problem using a stable discrete-time filter. The proposed H-infinity performance criterion naturally takes intersample behavior into account, reflecting the energy distributions of the signal. We present methods for computing optimal solutions which are guaranteed to be stable and causal. Detailed comparisons to alternative methods are provided. We discuss some applications in sound and image reconstruction