Towards a smart Holter system with high performance analogue front-end and enhanced digital processing.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Cardiovascular Technology
• Digital Signal Processing

Background:

• Dynamic electrocardiogram (ECG) recorders, or Holter monitors, are crucial for early cardiovascular disease detection.
• Commercial Holter systems often have limitations in analogue front-end performance and digital signal processing capabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present initial development steps for a high-performance 12-lead Holter system.
• To enhance signal acquisition and processing for improved diagnostic accuracy in ambulatory ECG monitoring.

Main Methods:

• Integration of the ADS1298 analogue front-end chip for superior signal acquisition.
• Development of an efficient data management module connecting the ADS1298 to an STM32L151 microprocessor.
• Implementation of a 227-step Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter on a Xilinx Spartan-3E Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) for advanced real-time filtering.

Main Results:

• All designed functional blocks within the 12-lead Holter system operated as intended.
• The integrated FIR filter significantly improved filtering performance, addressing limitations of the analogue front-end chip.
• The FPGA provides capacity for future on-board computational enhancements for a 'smarter' Holter device.

Conclusions:

• The developed system demonstrates a promising foundation for an advanced 12-lead Holter monitor.
• The use of the ADS1298 and FPGA-based FIR filtering offers enhanced capabilities over existing commercial products.
• Future clinical trials are planned to validate system performance against state-of-the-art devices.