ESSENC

CE - Internaational Journal for Envvironmentall Rehabilitattion and Coonservation

Som et al./Vool. VI [2] 20155/71 – 78 
Volume VI: No. 2 2015 [771 – 78] [ISSN
N 0975 - 6272]]
[www
w.essence-jourrnal.com]

Wirelesss real tim

me heart monitoring
m system sy
ynced with
h android applicatioon

Som, Priitha; Bhowm

mick, Sutan
nni and Rayy, Oindri

Received: October 15, 2015  Acceepted: Novem

mber 28, 20155  Online: D
December 31, 2015

Abstractt
With thee changing lifestyle, heeart diseasees Keywwords: Wireless ambulattory system |
have beccome a com mmon phennomenon annd EPICC (Electric pootential IC) | ESP (ECG
owing too the concep pt of nuclearr families w
we signal processor) | Bluetooth, android
find bothh the old andd young geneeration livinng appliccation
alone. Cardiac
C attaacks and sttrokes occuur Intro
oduction
without warning,
w so electronics and android Techn nological addvancements have alloowed
applicatioon has beeen merged to design a the implementaation of human-macchine
wireless ambulatory y module to t constantly interffaces or bio--interfaces that
t have heelped
monitor ECG
E readinngs and sendd alert signalls man overcome certain
c physsical disabilities.
to relattives and doctor via v android An em merging trennd has been seen in the field
applicatioon, in casee of emergeencies. EPIC C of advanced
a h
healthcare s
systems. T
These
(Electric potential IC C) is used to
o sense pulsse techn
nologies havve facilitatted creationn of
signals frrom heart whhich is then fed to a ECG G portabble sensing aand monitoring devices.
signal prrocessor (ES SP). The seensor used iis In to oday’s worrld we seee an increaasing
non-invaasive and cann function inn non-contacct numbber of aged people living allone.
mode alsso. Extractionn of heart signals is donne Condditions of caardiac arrhytthmia can occur
o
using ann appropriate filter. A wirelesss withoout warning. This is the reason why a lot
module transfers
t thee ESP outputt to a mobille of em mphasis haas been pu ut on advaanced
phone. AnA android applicationn is used tto healthhcare systemms. Cardiac arrhythmia is a
display thhe real-timee data feed and
a send alerrt condiition that occurs when thhe heartbeatt rate
signals wirelessly.
w uates. The nnormal rate of heartbeat is
fluctu
betweeen 50-100bbpm. Whenn this rate goes
beloww 50 bpm a ccondition caalled Bradycaardia
For corresspondence:
Electronicss and Commun nication Engineeering, arisess. While if thhe rate risess above 100 bpm
Meghnad Saha
S o Technology, West
Institute of then a conditionn called Tacchycardia arrises.
Bengal, Inddia
Eitherr of these tw
wo conditionns can have fatal

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 Som et al./Vol. VI [2] 2015/71 – 78
implications on the human body. In extreme
cases of arrhythmia, stroke or cardiac failure
can occur.
An ambulatory ECG monitoring system
allows patients to keep continuous track of
their ECG which is a graphic tracing of the
voltage generated by the cardiac muscles
during heartbeat. A typical cardiac cycle is
depicted by the PQRST waveform. The first
deflection, P, is due to atrial contraction and
is hence, known as atrial complex. The Q, R,
Methodology
This System will consist of several modules.
These Modules are:
 
S, T deflections are due to ventricular activity
and are together referred to as the ventricular
complex. The detection of the QRS complex
is most important as it bears information
about the heartbeat rate. In this system there
will be a continuous monitoring of the heart
signals through measurement and processing
of the ECG trace, which eventually will be
compared with the tolerable range. In case of
any abnormalities alert signals will be sent
via android application.
 Sensor Module
 Processor and Microcontroller Module
 Wireless Module and API (Application
Program Interface) Module
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 Som et al./Vol. VI [2] 2015/71 – 78
Block wise detailed analysis: Sensor
module
Each of the cell membranes that form the
outer part of the heart is associated with some
amount of charge which is depolarized
during every heartbeat. The depolarization
followed by re-polarization of these cell
membranes result in variation of electric
potential. For the purpose of sensing we will
use Electric Potential Integrated Circuit
(EPIC) sensors. It is an advanced version of
EPS (Electric Potential Sensor) and has been
developed by Plessey Semiconductors [1].
The EPIC sensor is an electric field sensor
that measures electric field changes in the
human body, i.e. it measures
electrophysiological signals. The electrode
surface of the detector is coated with passive,
thin dielectric in order to avoid the use of
electrically conductive gel. Hence, EPIC is
said to be a dry sensor [10]. The sensor is an
ultra high impedance sensor that acts as a
highly stable, extremely sensitive, digital
voltmeter that can measure electric potential
in the scale of mill volts (mV). The sensor
can be used in contact as well as non-contact
mode. Although for recording ECG signals,
contact mode is preferred [8]. As an insulated,
active electrode sensor, it requires no
resistive contact with the source and relies on
the displacement current through the
capacitive-coupled thin dielectric electrode
coating. The ECG trace ideally requires two
sensors to measure electric signals from parts
of the body on opposite sides of the heart. So,
we will use two sensors, one placed on the
right chest and the other on the left chest. The
ECG signal obtained from the sensor will be
a low voltage signal that is produced in a
high offset and noisy environment. Removal
 
of a major part of this noise is important
before amplification of the required signal as
amplification of unwanted signals may lead
to a loss of the low voltage ECG signal. The
signal that is received from the sensors need
to be pre-amplified before any further signal
processing. The pre-amplifier will have low
voltage gain and high input impedance. It
will be directly coupled with the sensor
electrodes to provide optimal low frequency
response as well as to minimize charging
effects on coupling capacitor from input bias
current.
Processor & microcontroller module
Typically, ECG signal is characterized by
maximum amplitude of 1-2 mV and a
bandwidth of 0.05Hz to 150Hz. The signals
from the electrodes are highly affected by
noise. Since the acquired signal has noise
super-imposed on ECG signal, a differential
amplifier with high Common Mode
Rejection Ratio (CMRR) will be used to
remove the common mode noise at the input
terminal itself.
The differential amplifier that will be used is
an INA321 instrumentation amplifier. The
INA321 family provides low-cost, low-noise
amplification of differential signals with
micro power current consumption of 40μA
and shutdown current of less than 1μA.
INA321 provides CMRR of approximately
94 dB extended up to 3 kHz, the INA321
rejects the common-mode noise signals
including the line frequency and its
harmonics. The instrumentation amplifier
therefore will eliminate the DC offset of the
human body. It is also capable of removing
the interference picked up from the AC
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 Som et al./Vol. VI [2] 2015/71 – 78
mains (Power Line Interference), although in
this module we use a battery.
The MSP430 is the family name of the ultra-
low power 16-bit mixed-signal RISC
processors from Texas Instruments. MSP430
microcontroller has three operational
amplifiers OA0-OA2. Op -Amp OA0 will be
used to obtain a low pass filter circuit. The
low pass filter here will act as an anti-aliasing
filter which restricts the signal of higher
frequency (greater than 150Hz) to the further
stages of the circuitry. The output signal from
the OA0 will be 500x amplified. Due to such
a large amplification factor, the output will
be sensitive to variations in the electrode-to-
skin contact resistance. These variations will
lead to a low frequency noise known as the
baseline wander [6]. This low frequency noise
can be removed by using OA1 integrator
circuit. This circuit will integrate the DC
content of the 5x amplified ECG signal and
feed it back to the INA321.The sampled ECG
waveform will still contain some amount of
distortions. This will be removed by digitally
filtering the samples [7]. A low-pass FIR filter
with pass-band upper frequency of 6 Hz and
stop-band lower frequency of 30 Hz will be
implemented in this application. The filter
coefficients will be scaled to compensate the
filter attenuation and provide additional gain
for the ECG signal at the filter output. This
will add up to a total amplification factor of
greater than 1000× for the ECG signal. The
FIR filtering is implemented on-chip.
The programming of the microcontroller will
be done with a JTAG connector. There is
provision for UART connection out from the
microcontroller board. The ECG signal
derived from the circuit will transmitted to a
Bluetooth transceiver unit CC2541 using the
 
UART connection. The programming of the
microcontroller itself will be done using C
language along with development tools. The
number of heart beats per minute will be
calculated using a three beat average. Two
variables in the C main function, i.e., counter
and Pulse period, will accurately track the
time scale. Each output sample from the QRS
discriminator will be compared against a set
threshold to detect the presence of a beat.
Pulse period is incremented by one during
every sample period. The threshold levels of
the PQRST deflections will be set according
to convention and any variation of the
measured ECG trace from the ideal values
will transmit an alarm signal wirelessly to the
user’s phone.
The R-R interval bears information about the
heartbeat rate which is checked against the
normal range of 50-100bpm in the MSP430.
The absence of the P deflection may be an
indication of atrial fibrillation. Baseline rise
of the ST segment is an indicative of
myocardial infarction. ST segment
depression is an indicative of ischemia. The
variation of PQRST is to be monitoring by
comparison in the MSP430 C program to
predict possible occurrence of these
conditions.
Wireless module and API
For the purpose of wireless transfer
Bluetooth is preferred over Zigbee as mobile
phones are usually incorporated with a
Bluetooth module. CC2541 [5] is a low power
Bluetooth device from Texas Instruments. It
combines an RF transceiver unit with an
industry-standard enhanced 8051 MUC and
has a programmable flash memory, 8kB
RAM, besides other powerful features. The
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 Som et al./Vol. VI [2] 2015/71 – 78
output from the MSP430 will be fed into
CC2541 using the UART. The ECG trace
information will be wirelessly transferred
along with the alert signals and calculated
heartbeat rate to the user’s phone. An android
application will be developed using Android
Development Tool. The main function of the
application will be to display the real-time
ECG trace and the value of the heartbeat rate.
Also, the application will be so configured,
that any deviation from the ideal values will
send alert signals and location information to
two relatives of the user (as mentioned by the
user) as well as the nearby healthcare facility.
Methodology and alogorithm of operation
The Sensor Module will consist of the EPIC
(Electric Potential Integrated Circuit)
Sensors. The ECG trace ideally will require
two sensors to measure electric signals from
parts of the body on opposite sides of the
heart. So, in this system two sensors will be
used, one placed on the right chest and the
other on the left chest. The acquired signal
will have noise super-imposed on ECG
signal; therefore a differential amplifier with
high Common Mode Rejection Ratio
(CMRR) will be used for removal of noise at
input terminal. The differential amplifier that
will be used is INA321 instrumentation
amplifier which will remove the dc offset of
the human body as well as the interference
picked up from the ac mains. The processor
module of the system will consist of
processor MSP430 which contains three
operational amplifier 0A0-0A2 that will give
1000x amplified ECG signal. Further the
amplified ECG signal will be used for
comparison. Programming of microcontroller
will be done using C language. Each output
sample will be compared against a set
 
threshold value. The threshold value will be
set in accordance to convention and any
deviation of the output samples from the
ideal value will lead to wireless transmission
of alert signal to user’s phone. In this system
the wireless module will consist of a low
power Bluetooth device from Texas
instruments (CC2541). Using an android
application which will be developed with the
help of android development tool, the alert
signals as well as location information will
be sent to registered relatives of user and
nearby healthcare facility.
Step 1: Two EPIC sensors measuring heart
signals from left and right side of chest and
pre-amplification stage.
Step 2: Output signals from EPIC fed to
differential amplifier INA321
instrumentation amplifier to remove noise
signals superimposed on ECG signals.
Step 3: Signal from INA321 fed to processor
MSP430 for further noise removal, signal
amplification and comparison with threshold
limits (as programmed within the processor).
Step 4: Deviation of output values from ideal
values leads to wireless transmission of alert
signals to user’s phone via Bluetooth
CC2541.
Step 5: Android application present in user’s
phone sends alert signals and location
information to relatives and doctors.
As we can see from the Fig 3.3 the time
interval required by different segments are
different, more in case of ventricular
tachycardia. Moreover it is evident from the
Fig 5 - Graph 2 as well as from Fig 6 values
on the graph that in case of ventricular
tachycardia that the P wave is present for
negligible time interval or more generally we
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 Som et al./Vol. VI [2] 2015/71 – 78 

can say that QRS complex is not preceded by P waves.

MSP430 will be programmed with this
normal ranges incorporated within the
program .The input ECG signal from the
sensors will be measured for the time interval
of the different segments for comparison.
Deviation will result in signals sent to
Bluetooth module.
Fig 6 shows the graph comparing different
heart beat rate. The R-R interval of ECG
gives the heart rate value, thus for
comparison of heart rate the R-R interval is
measured and compared in MSP430.

Fig 5: Graph 1:- Normal ECG, Graph 2:- ECG showing ventricular trachycardia

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 Som et al./Vol. VI [2] 2015/71 – 78 

Conclusion E. Spaan, J. Suri, and S. M. Krishnan

The two sensors of the system will be fitted (2007): Advances in Cardiac Signal
on the left and right side of the body Processing. Springer.
respectively .The feed from the sensors will Heart-Rate and EKG Monitor Using the
be given to the central unit which will MSP430FG439-Murugavel Raju,
contain the processor and the Bluetooth MSP430FG439 Mixed Signal
transceiver. The entire unit will be fitted Microcontroller data sheet
upon a belt and can be easily worn below the (SLAS380)
chest by the user. This system has very low Texas Instruments, T. (2012): Interfacing
power requirements as the components CC2541 to the MSP430.
required to build the system like processor Texas Instruments, CC2541 Data Sheet,
MSP430 and Bluetooth module SWRS110D, January (2012): Revised
CC2541operate on low power. The entire June 2013
system will provide a non invasive, cost Electrocardiogram (ECG) signal Processing,
effective and portable healthcare unit for Leif Sornmo, Lund University,
patients which hopefully will reduce mishaps Sweden, Pablo Laguna, Zaragoza
due to delay in treatment University, Spain
Accurate ECG Signal Processing By Ajay
References
Bharadwaj, Applications Engineer Sr,
EPIC Sensors in Echocardiogram
and Umanath Kamath, Contingent
Measurements, Kureon Esa,Oulu
Workforce, Cypress Semiconductor
University of Applied Sciences,
Corp,
Autumn – 2013.
Application Report SLAA280A–October
INA321 Micro Power Single-Supply CMOS
(2005): Revised September 2007
Instrumentation Amplifier data sheet
(SBOS168),U. Rajendra Acharya, A.

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 Som et al./Vol. VI [2] 2015/71 – 78 

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