ECG Signal Processing for Early Detection of Atrial and Ventricular Fibrillation Based on R-R Interval

Abstract

Atrial and ventricular fibrillation are considered as frequent cardiac arrhythmias. Therefore, early detection of both fibrillation is important to support medical treatment. In this paper, design of detector circuit for atrial and ventricular fibrillation using R-R interval of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals is reported and considered as a solution for early detection. The detector circuit was designed using easy buy components. The ECG signals were classified as Normal Sinus Rhythm (NSR) when the R-R interval is detected regularly, Atrial Fibrillation (AF) when the R-R interval is detected irregularly, and Ventricular Fibrillation (VF) when the R-R interval is not detected. The system was directly tested using three human bodies for NSR category. Due to some limitations, three recorded ECG signals for each AF and VF were taken from PhysioNet database as samples. The system obtained square waves with amplitude of 5 V where every rising edges indicate R peaks. Experiment results show that the system can classify correctly.