E3K

An affordable, open source all-in-one bio-sensing platform

Nov 09, 2020

Project update 3 of 8

Miniature Heart Health Monitoring using ECG Sensor

by Varan Gupta

WallySci’s ECG sensor is used to capture electrical signals originating from the heart via electrodes. The signal through the electrodes is filtered and amplified which is then presented in the form of Analog Output. An ECG sensor can be used for prototyping a portable heart monitoring device.

Disclaimer: Not for clinical use. Only for educational purposes

What is Electrocardiography?

One of the important parameters that are measured by a doctor to know the health of a person is cardiac muscle activity.

Electrocardiography is a way to measure cardiac muscle activity with electrical signals, using electrodes placed on the skin. These electrodes measure the change in voltage that is a consequence of cardiac muscle depolarization followed by repolarization during each cardiac cycle (AKA the heartbeat). These signals are then represented in the form of a graph known as Electrocardiogram (ECG). By analyzing these signals, one can determine the health of the heart.

Clinically, ECG machines use 12 leads that are placed near the wrist, foot, and across the heart above the chest. With the advancement in sensor technology and the need to monitor ECG at home, ECG machines have been miniaturized. One can get good quality ECG signals from 3 lead systems and miniature electronics. Signals received are further filtered both electronically and at the software level.

In this experiment, we will learn how to capture the ECG signals, visualize it realtime.

Connection Diagram

Connections between DCPU and ECG sensor

Procedure

Connections between DCPU and ECG sensor
Placement of the electrodes (red dot is the reference electrode). (Credit: Wikipedia.com)
Sample ECG Data as seen on GUI

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