R wave detection using fractional digital differentiation

Abstract

In this paper, a fractional digital differentiation-based algorithm for detecting R wave in QRS complex of electrocardiogram (ECG) is developed. A FIR bandpass filter, whose coefficients only depend on fractional orders, reduces various noises present in ECG signals and generates peaks corresponding to the ECG parts with high slopes. This filter is followed by nonlinear transforms and smoothing to enhance peaks corresponding to R waves. Algorithm tests on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Beth Israel Hospital (MIT/BIH) ECG database illustrate the capability of this novel approach to recognizing QRS complexes in very noisy ECG signals. The algorithm’s performances are comparable to those of the most efficient QRS detectors tested on this database.