Dynamic heart rate measurements from video sequences

This paper shows how dynamic heart rate measurements that are typically obtained from sensors mounted near to the heart can also be obtained from video sequences. In this study, two experiments are carried out where a video camera captures the facial images of the seven subjects. The first experiment involves the measurement of subjects' increasing heart rates (79 to 150 beats per minute (BPM)) while cycling whereas the second involves falling heart beats (153 to 88 BPM). In this study, independent component analysis (ICA) is combined with mutual information to ensure accuracy is not compromised in the use of short video duration. While both experiments are going on measures of heartbeat using the Polar heart rate monitor is also taken to compare with the findings of the proposed method. Overall experimental results show the proposed method can be used to measure dynamic heart rates where the root mean square error (RMSE) and the correlation coefficient are 1.88 BPM and 0.99 respectively.