Abstract
This paper presents the design and testing of a wireless sensor system developed using a Microchip PICDEM developer kit to acquire and monitor human heart sounds for phonocardiography applications. This system can serve as a cost-effective option to the recent developments in wireless phonocardiography sensors that have primarily focused on Bluetooth technology. This wireless sensor system has been designed and developed in-house using off-the-shelf components and open source software for remote and mobile applications. The small form factor (3.75 cm × 5 cm × 1 cm), high throughput (6,000 Hz data streaming rate), and low cost ($13 per unit for a 1,000 unit batch) of this wireless sensor system make it particularly attractive for phonocardiography and other sensing applications. The experimental results of sensor signal analysis using several signal characterization techniques suggest that this wireless sensor system can capture both fundamental heart sounds (S1 and S2), and is also capable of capturing abnormal heart sounds (S3 and S4) and heart murmurs without aliasing. The results of a denoising application using Wavelet Transform show that the undesirable noises of sensor signals in the surrounding environment can be reduced dramatically. The exercising experiment results also show that this proposed wireless PCG system can capture heart sounds over different heart conditions simulated by varying heart rates of six subjects over a range of 60–180 Hz through exercise testing.
Highlights
The emerging Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technologies have begun to advance the monitoring and control of many complex, real-world systems, such as in structural and mechanical [1,2], environmental [3,4,5], healthcare [6,7,8], and military applications [9]
PICDEM developer kit to acquire and monitor human heart sounds for phonocardiography applications
The system can serve as a cost-effective option to recent developments in wireless phonocardiography sensors that have primarily focused on Bluetooth technology
Summary
The emerging Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technologies have begun to advance the monitoring and control of many complex, real-world systems, such as in structural and mechanical [1,2], environmental [3,4,5], healthcare [6,7,8], and military applications [9]. Acquisition of ECG is noninvasive and painless, and the ECG signals provide useful information of the electrical activity of the heart, these signals do not always permit an accurate diagnosis due to multiple factors affecting electrical activity of the heart This method requires relatively high level of experience and skill to set up the system and perform an analysis. In order to develop this wireless PCG sensor system, several commercially available WSN platforms, such as Tmote, TelosB, MicaZ, and Imote, were considered as candidates for the wireless module component of a system These platforms are disadvantaged by one or both of the following: (i) high costs; and (ii) their inability to support the required sensory data streaming bandwidth.
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