Wireless capacitive-based ECG sensing for feature extraction and mobile health monitoring

In this paper, the concept of a wireless wearable device capable of measuring electrocardiogram (ECG) and respiration rate (RR) through the use of non-contact capacitive-based electrodes was designed and implemented. Both ECG and RR were measured using only the active electrodes and an analog conditioning circuit. The device utilizes Bluetooth low energy for low-power wireless communication to the remote server. The measured data is used to calculate heart rate variability, RR, and extract ECG related features. It was found that the use of non-contact active chest electrodes is a viable approach for measurement. The system focuses on user comfort and the minimization of the ratio of the number of wearable sensors to sensed physiological parameters.The National Research Foundation of South Africa under Grant IFR160118156967 and Grant RDYR160404161474.http://ieee-sensors.org/sensors-journalhj2018Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineerin