Abstract
The functionality of three dry electrocardiogram electrode constructions was evaluated by measuring canine heart rate during four different behaviors: Standing, sitting, lying and walking. The testing was repeated (n = 9) in each of the 36 scenarios with three dogs. Two of the electrodes were constructed with spring-loaded test pins while the third electrode was a molded polymer electrode with Ag/AgCl coating. During the measurement, a specifically designed harness was used to attach the electrodes to the dogs. The performance of the electrodes was evaluated and compared in terms of heartbeat detection coverage. The effect on the respective heart rate coverage was studied by computing the heart rate coverage from the measured electrocardiogram signal using a pattern-matching algorithm to extract the R-peaks and further the beat-to-beat heart rate. The results show that the overall coverage ratios regarding the electrodes varied between 45–95% in four different activity modes. The lowest coverage was for lying and walking and the highest was for standing and sitting.
Highlights
Animal computer interaction (ACI) is a new, emerging discipline with significant commercial potential [1]
We evaluated the performance of three different dry electrodes for maintenance-free canine heart The rateanalysis monitoring
90%) were achieved with relatively stationary postures when the dogs were standing or sitting; while hypothesis is rejected when there is a statistically significant difference detected between the test the lying and walking modes resulted in coverage ratios of 75% and 49% on average, respectively
Summary
Animal computer interaction (ACI) is a new, emerging discipline with significant commercial potential [1]. Its roots are in agriculture, animal welfare, and animal behavior research [2]. Research focusing on interaction between humans, animals and technology is still rather scarce, and mostly exploratory [3]. Especially the business related to tracking and monitoring of pets’ behavior is growing fast [4]. One emerging direction in developing measurement technology is to interpret and understand how animal well-being relates to dog’s emotions and emotional problems [5]. Dogs can suffer from anxiety, phobias and aggression. A range of serious anxiety-related behavior problems, including noise phobias, separation anxiety and aggression have been found to exist in dogs [6]
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