Signal Quality From Wearables to Hospital
"Heartrate monitors are becoming ubiquitous and are being used by both athletes and the general public to keep track of their health. Heartrate monitors are just an example of the wearables currently available to the public; other examples include oxygen saturation monitors, activity monitors, and muscle activity monitors. Wearables are typically not used in a controlled environment; therefore, the quality of the collected signals might be questionable. Even in a controlled environment such as a hospital, deterioration in the quality of the collected signals can lead to false alarm and reduction in the quality of patient care. As the signals are used to inform users about their health, it is imperative that the signals are of acceptable quality. Signal Quality is the field of identifying and improving the quality of collected signals. Signal Quality can be divided into four categories: 1) detection; 2) identification; 3) quantification; and 4) mitigation. Detection is the acknowledgement of the presence of noise in the signal. Identification is the determination of the type of noise. Quantification is the estimation of the level of the noise. Mitigation is the reduction of the noise through noise removal techniques. This tutorial will provide a high-level overview of the different techniques in each of the Signal Quality categories.
Instructor
Mohamed Abdelazez
Mohamed Abdelazez is pursuing his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering and is a Vanier scholar at Carleton University. His Master’s thesis title was “Electrocardiogram Signal Quality Analysis to Reduce False Alarms in Myocardial Ischemia Monitoring” and was on signal quality and its application in reducing false alarms. Mohamed’s master’s thesis received a Senate Medal from Carleton University. His current area of research is the detection of Atrial Fibrillation in compressive sensed ECG. Outside of academia, he is the vice-chair of IEEE EMB Ottawa Chapter.
Audience: Young Professionals, Professionals in I&M, Researchers, Students
Publication Year: 2020