Remote PPG for heart rate monitoring: lighting conditions and camera shutter time

We investigate the effect of lighting conditions and camera shutter time on heart rate measurement using remote photoplethysmography (remote-PPG) on healthy volunteers in a simulated ICU setting. In the used range of lighting conditions (132-548 lux), there exists a range of shutter times (5-32 ms), in which a mean 3 beats-per-minute (BPM) agreement of 90-100% with the contact PPG sensor is achieved. This range is limited by the saturation of the skin pixels. These results indicate that shutter time control is unnecessary beyond avoiding saturation. Clinical Relevance— Replacing spot checks by continuous monitoring in a hospital will lead to timely detection of adverse events. Technologies for remote-PPG will allow continuous monitoring in a clinical setting