• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.402-408
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• 2014

Heart rate is one of the most important signal to monitor the health condition of the patient or exerciser. Various wearable devices have been developed for the continuous monitoring of ECG signal from human body during exercise. Among these, ECG chest belt has been widely used. However wearing chest belt with ECG sensor is uncomfortable in normal life due to the electrode contact between metal electrodes of ECG sensor and skin of the human body. So we develop the royal healthcare backpack that can measure ECG signal without skin contact by using capacitor-type ECG sensor. The position of the measurement point is critical to collect a clear ECG signal in the capacitive ECG measurement from backpack. Various tests were conducted to find the optimal ECG measurement position which has less noise and could get strong and clear ECG signal during exercise, walking, hiking, mountain climbing and cycling.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.66 no.2
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• pp.431-438
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• 2017

In this paper, the abdomen ECG(AECG) is employed to measure the mother's ECG instead of the conventioanl thoracic ECG measurement. The fetus ECG signal can be extracted from the AECG using an algorithm that utilizes the mobile fetal ECG measurement platform, which is based on the BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). The algorithm has been implemented by using a replacement processor processed directly from the platform BLE instead of the large statistical data processing required in the ICA(Independent component analysis). The proposed algorithm can be implemented on a mobile BLE wireless ECG system hardware platform to process the maternal ECG. Wireless technology can realize a compact, low-power radio system for short distance communication and the IOT(Intenet of Things) enables the transmission of real-time ECG data. It was also implemented in the form of a compact module in order for mothers to be able to download and store the collected ECG data without having to interrupt or move the logger, and later link the module to a computer for downloading and analyzing the data. A mobile ECG measurement prototype is manufactured and tested to measure the FECG for pregnant women. The experimental results verify a real-time FECG extraction capability for the proposed system. In this paper, we propose an ECG measurement system that shows approximately 91.65% similarity to the MIT database and the conventional algorithm and SNR performance about 10% better.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.103-108
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• 2018

This study reviews the common-mode noise model of indirect-contact ECG measurement which uses capacitive electrode and capacitive ground, and shows the reason of the large common-mode noise in indirect-contact ECG. And then, this study shows driven-right-leg ground in indirect-contact ECG measurement, and reviews how the driven-right-leg ground reduces the common-mode noise. This study then analyzes the relation between the effective area of the indirect-contact ground and the gain of the driven-right-leg circuit. This study introduces the output voltage saturation of the driven-right-leg circuit, which occurs frequently in indirect-contact ECG measurement with the condition of the high ground impedance. This study then shows the effect of the driven-right-leg circuit saturation on the common-mode noise.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.43-51
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• 2010

In this study, wearable ECG measurement system was implemented for health monitoring during daily life. A wearable belt-type ECG electrode worn around the chest by measuring the real-time ECG is produced in order to minimize the inconvenience in wearing. The measured ECG signal is transmitted via an ultra low power consumption wireless data communications unit to personal computer using Zigbee-compatible wireless sensor node. The ECG monitoring program is developed at end user which is personal computer. The measured ECG contains many noises mainly due to motion artifacts. For ECG signal processing, adaptive filtering process is proposed which can reduce motion artifacts efficiently and accurately than digital filter. The experimental results show that a reliable performance with high quality ECG signal can be achieved using this wearable ECG monitoring system.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.776-781
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• 2008

In this study, ubiquitous health care system attaching in chair to monitor ECG for health care was developed at the unconsciousness state. The system conveniently and simple measured ECG at non-consciousness. We measured the contact impedance to skin-electrode of metal mesh electrodes of the system. Contact impedance enable the electrode to use for ECG measurement. The results are that the impedance of the metal mesh electrodes according to sizes is low when the size is 4$cm^2$. As the result, when the size of the metal mesh electrode is 4$cm^2$, the electrode is fit for ECG measurement. We can acquired by positing the arm on the metal mesh electrode. The ECG signal was detected using a high-input-impedance bio-amplifier, and then passed filter circuitry. The measured signal transmitted to a PC through the bluetooth wireless communication and monitored. Data of the non-constrained ECG system attaching in chair is noise-data when comparing metal mesh electrode with the Ag/Agcl electrode but the data is significant to monitor ECG for check the body state.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.676-682
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• 2008

In this study a guideline of the 3D-fit pattern for the ECG(electrocardiogram) measurement of elderly's u-healthcare clothes was proposed. In the screening test of the ECG measurement band, ECG peak band was observable at the band pressure of 0.20 kPa. By employing a 3D body image, tight-fit 3D patterns were made at two different reduction rates of 21%(pattern 1) and 33%(pattern 2), and corresponding pressure of both of the clothes were 0.25 kPa and 0.54 kPa, respectively. Typical waves of ECG were found in both stationary and moving position. In terms of the subjective evaluation of the u-healthcare clothes when worn, it was confirmed that reduction pattern 1(0.25 kPa) conveyed comfortable clothing pressure and pleasantness, which is very close to the result of screening test of ECG band experiment. As results, it is recommended that reduction rate should be adjusted, so that clothing pressure is about 0.2 kPa for the elderly's comfortable and efficient u-healthcare clothes.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.249-253
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• 2008

The indirect-contact ECG (IDC-ECG) was introduced by a prior study for daily non-intrusive measurements. To improve the signal quality and to extend the application area of IDC-ECG, close study of the frequency characteristics of the IDC-ECG is necessary. In this study, the frequency response of the active electrode for several sample clothes was measured under conditions of actual IDC-ECG measurement with human body. Higher gain in low frequency range than expected by prior study was observed. In addition to it, wide variation in gain according to the cloth type in the low frequency range was observed. Variation in gain caused by moisture variation in the clothes was also observed. This study shows that the parallel R-C connection is proper for electrode model and the resistive factor is influenced by moisture in the clothes. This study is the first that provides the frequency response of the electrode in the actual indirect-contact ECG measurement and it is expected that the results will be helpful to improve the indirect-contact ECG method.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.521-524
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• 2005

In order to measure ECG in daily life, a new ECG measurement method on bed was developed. The provided method does not require any direct conductive contact between the instrument and bare skin, so that it does not cause the uncomfortable feel of touch and the possible skin trouble which are typical shortcomings of the conventional conductive contact ECG measurement. The provided method utilized an array of high-input-impedance active electrodes fixed on the mattress and an indirect-skin-contact ground made of a large conductive textile sheet and laid on lower area of the mattress. A thin cotton bedcover covered the mattress, the electrodes, and the conductive textile and subjects lay on the mattress over the bedcover. ECG was obtained successfully. However its signal quality is lower and the motion artifact is larger than direct-contact measurement. Careful measurement setup was needed to reduce the motion artifact originated from variation in static electricity. From the ECG obtained by the provided method, R-peak could be discriminated easily and the information about the position and the posture of the subject could be obtained.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1257-1264
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• 2019

The traditional cuff-based method for BP(Blood Pressure) measurement is not suitable for continuous real-time BP measurement techniques. For this reason, the previous studies estimated various blood pressures by fusion with the electrocardiography (ECG) and photoplethysmogram (PPG) sensor signals. However, conventional techniques based on PPG bio-sensing measurement face many challenging issues such as noisy supply fluctuation, small pulsation, and drifting non-pulsatile. This paper proposed a novel BP estimation methods using PPG and ECG sensors, which can be derived from the relationship between PPG and ECG using PTT(Pulse Transit Time) and PWV(Pulse Wave Velocity). Unlike conventional height ratio features, which are extracted on the basis of the peaks in the PPG and ECG waveform. The proposed method can be reliably obtained even if there are missing peaks among the sensed PPG signal. The increased reliability comes from periodical estimation of the peak-to-peak interval time using ECG and PPG. After 250,000 times trials of the blood pressure measurement, the proposed estimation technique was verified with the accuracy of ±28.5% error, compared to a commercialized BP device.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2014

Noncontact electrocardiogram (ECG) measurement using capacitive-coupled technique is a very reliable long-term noninvasive health-care remote monitoring system. It can be used continuously without interrupting the daily activities of the user and is one of the most promising developments in health-care technology. However, ECG signal is a very small electric signal. A robust system is needed to separate the clean ECG signal from noise in the measurement environment. Noise may come from many sources around the system, for example, bad contact between the sensor and body, common-mode electrical noise, movement artifacts, and triboelectric effect. Thus, in this paper, the extended Kalman filter (EKF) is applied to denoise a real-time ECG signal in capacitive-coupled sensors. The ECG signal becomes highly stable and noise-free by combining the common analog signal processing and the digital EKF in the processing step. Furthermore, to achieve ubiquitous monitoring, android-based application is developed to process the heart rate in a realtime ECG measurement.