Fetal electrocardiogram characterization by using only the continuous wavelet transform CWT

Abstract

This paper deals with the characterization of the fetal electrocardiogram signal by using only the continuous wavelet transform. Clinically significant information in the fetal electrocardiogram signal is often masked by maternal electrocardiogram mECG considered as the most predominant interference. The aim of this work is to characterize the complex QRS and to estimate the RR interval in order to diagnose fetal heart arrhythmia such as Bradycardia and Tachycardia and this without being obliged to extract the fetal signal from that of the mother. We focus on both time domain and frequency domain to extract the useful characteristics of the signal.