Wearable ECG platform for continuous cardiac monitoring

An ultra-low power ECG platform for continuous and minimally intrusive monitoring for systems with minimal processing capabilities, is presented in this paper. The platform is capable of detecting abnormalities in the ECG signal by extracting and analyzing features related to various cardiac trends. The platform is built to continuously operate on any of the 12 leads and the presented work includes a single lead implementation that works on lead I or II. A single lead, wearable ECG patch that can detect rhythm based arrhythmias and continuously monitor beat-to-beat heart rate and respiratory rate has been developed. In addition, the device stores raw ECG waveform locally and is designed to run for 10 days on a single charge. The ECG patch works in conjunction with a front end device or tablet and updates the results on the tablet interface. Upon detection of an abnormality or an arrhythmia the device switches to an ECG visualization mode enabling manual analysis on the acquired signal. The front end device also functions as a gateway for remote monitoring. The functionality and processing capabilities of the platform along with the validation tests carried out in a controlled setting are presented.