Circuit Implementation of Respiratory Information Extracted from Electrocardiograms

Breathing is an important physiological process in the human body. The wavelet transform method can extract respiratory information from electrocardiogram (ECG) data; thus, the authors designed an integrated circuit of ECG-derived respiration (EDR). They propose a discrete wavelet transform (DWT) EDR algorithm based on an analysis of the heartbeat frequency and respiration. They verified the algorithm in both the time domain and the frequency domain using Matlab. Next, the DWT EDR digital circuit was designed using the QUARTUS program. Finally, they used a field programmable gate array (FPGA) for downloading and simulation, and they verified the designed circuits using a logic analyzer, where they compared the waveform of the data obtained from the EDR circuit with the waveform obtained after processing the wavelet transform EDR in Matlab. The experimental results showed that the circuit can allow the extraction of respiratory information from ECG data.