Transmitting ECG waveforms by means of optical antennas

Abstract

We present the characterization of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals transmitted using optical wireless communication (OWC). The system used a light-emitting-diode (LED) and silicon photodiode as optical wireless antennas. OWC system transmitted the optical signal within the distance of 50 cm to 1 m with line-of-sight (LOS) configuration. After the transmission, the received ECG signal was filtered using Gaussian filter and analyzed using Shannon energy to obtain signal peaks. Accuracy, sensitivity, detection error rate and positive predictive values were evaluated to qualify the signal that is transmitted using OWC system. We carefully characterize the electrocardiogram signals after transmission and found that they present high accuracy. Heart rate variability was analyzed to provide the heart rate condition from ECG signals after the optical wireless transmission.