Wireless ECG and cardiac monitoring systems: State of the art, available commercial devices and useful electronic components

Abstract

Wireless ElectroCardioGram (ECG) systems are employed in manifold application fields: tele-monitoring, sport applications, support to ageing people at home, fetal ECG, wearable devices and ambulatory monitoring. The presence of cables often hinders user’s free movements, alongside clinicians’ routine operations. Therefore, wireless ECG systems are desirable. This paper aims at reviewing the solutions described in the literature, besides commercially available devices and electronic components useful to setup laboratory prototypes. Several systems have been developed, different in terms of the adopted technology; when approaching the development of a wireless ECG system, some important aspects should be considered: electrodes (disposable, wet/dry, without contact, insulated), analog front-end, data acquisition systems (including amplifiers, multiplexer), wireless transmission technology (e.g. WiFi, Bluetooth) and power consumption (battery lifetime, miniaturization purposes). Technological advancements and continuous research have already brought to miniaturized and comfortable devices, but there is still room for improvement on multiple sides.