FPGA Implementation of Heart Rate Monitoring System.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Digital Signal Processing
• Hardware Implementation

Background:

• Electrocardiogram (ECG) is crucial for assessing heart electrical activity and function.
• Continuous heart rate monitoring requires dedicated, portable hardware solutions.
• Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) offer advantages in speed, testability, and rapid implementation for custom designs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement an FPGA-based system for calculating heart rate from ECG signals.
• To enable detection of tachycardia, bradycardia, and normal heart rate.
• To develop a robust R-peak detection algorithm for accurate heart rate calculation.

Main Methods:

• A five-stage methodology utilizing VHDL was developed.
• Basic arithmetic and data conversion blocks (real-to-fixed point) were employed.
• The R-peak detection algorithm was validated using the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database.

Main Results:

• The proposed method achieved high accuracy (99.84%), sensitivity (99.94%), and positive predictive value (99.89%).
• Performance was validated on 48 first-channel ECG records from the MIT-BIH database.
• The FPGA implementation demonstrated successful and efficient heart rate calculation.

Conclusions:

• The FPGA implementation provides an accurate and efficient system for heart rate calculation and monitoring.
• The proposed R-peak detection method excels, particularly with pathological ECG signals.
• This hardware-based approach is suitable for portable and continuous patient monitoring.