A Fast and Easy-to-Use ECG Acquisition and Heart Rate Monitoring System Using a Wireless Steering Wheel

Abstract

This work presents a novel easy-to-use system intended for the fast and noninvasive monitoring of the Lead I electrocardiogram (ECG) signal by using a wireless steering wheel. The system uses a dual ground electrode configuration connected to a low-power analog front-end to reduce 50/60 Hz interference and it is able to show a stable ECG signal with good enough quality for monitoring purposes in less than 5 s. A novel heart rate detection algorithm based on the continuous wavelet transform has been implemented, which is specially designed to be robust against the most common sources of noise and interference present when acquiring the ECG in the hands, i.e., electromyographic (EMG) noise and baseline wandering. The algorithm shows acceptable performance even under non-ordinary high levels of EMG noise and yields a positive predictivity value of 100.00% and a sensitivity of 99.75% when tested in normal use with subjects of different age, gender, and physical condition.