DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A SINGLE-CHANNEL ECG

AMPLIFIER WITH DSP POST-PROCESSING IN MATLAB

Christopher M. Tenedero, Mary Anne D. Raya, and Luis G. Sison, Ph.D.
pet11tenedero@yahoo.com, mraya@eee.upd.edu.ph, sison@eee.upd.edu.ph
Instrumentation, Robotics, and Controls Laboratory
University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City

ABSTRACT b. Monitoring Application for Intensive Care Unit (ICU) –

An electrocardiogram (ECG) signal is measured by an ECG
amplifier, which is a bioelectric amplifier that usually has a gain
of 1000. A standard ECG amplifier consists of an
instrumentation amplifier (IA) followed by an isolation
amplifier (iso-amp), then by a bandpass filter (BPF), and a right
leg (RL) drive amplifier.
This paper discusses the design and implementation of a
single-channel ECG circuit with a bandwidth of 0.05-40Hz for
patient monitoring purposes. The component specifications were
chosen such that the circuit currents and voltages satisfy the
standards of the Association for the Advancement of Medical
Instrumentation (AAMI). Tests were performed, and the
acquired raw ECG data were verified to be acceptable. A digital
zero phase bandpass Filter (ZPBPF), a combination of a low-
pass and a high-pass filter, which was implemented in Matlab
was used to further process the rest ECG signal.
1. INTRODUCTION
An electrocardiogram (ECG) is the recording on the body
surface of the electrical activity generated by the heart. An ECG
signal is a biological, multi-channel signal recorded from a
system of electrodes of the ECG device. These body-surface
biopotential electrodes are strategically placed on the person’s
body particularly at the chest and limbs. In order to record an
ECG waveform, a differential recording, referred to as a lead, is
made between points on the body. The number of electrodes
placed in a variety of combination depends on the desired ECG
reading, wherein every lead system conveys different
information about the heart.
Frequency-domain description of an ECG signal is needed
for determining the parameters of preprocessing linear systems.
An important information about frequency content of the ECG
signal is the bandwidth. The basic heart rate frequency is 0.50 –
3.0 Hz for a heart rate of 30 - 180 beats/min (bpm) [1]. The
highest frequency depends on the state of health, age, and sex of
the patient, but the typical value is about 125 Hz [2]. In the case
of infant ECG processing, it is up to 150 Hz [2]. The normal
range of resting heart rates is 60-100 bpm [1].
The following bandwidths are used for different
applications in ECG [3]:
a. Clinical Bandwidth for standard 12-Lead ECG – [0.05-100
Hz]
[0.50 - 50 Hz]. It is used to detect rhythm disturbances (i.e.
arrhythmias). The restricted bandwidth attenuates higher
frequency noise caused by muscle contractions (EMG
noise) and the lower frequency noise caused by motion of
electrodes (baseline changes).
c. Heart Rate Meter / Cardiotachometer – It is a bandpass filter
centered at 17Hz with a selectivity (Q) of about 3 to 4.
Such filter passes the frequencies of the QRS complex
while rejecting noise including non-QRS waves in the ECG
signal such as the P and T waves. This bandwidth
maximizes the signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) for detecting the
QRS complex.
d. Late Potentials Measurement - Bandwidth up to 500 Hz is
used to measure late potentials. Late potentials are small
higher-frequency events that occur in the ECG following
the QRS complex.
An ECG signal, even the rest ECG, is often corrupted by
artifacts produced by various sources of either artificial or
biological nature. Main artificial artifacts are powerline
interference, impulse noise, electrostatic potentials, and noise of
electronic devices [2],[3]. Main biological artifacts are motion
artifacts and muscle artifacts (EMG signals) [2],[3].
An improvement in the digital processing of the ECG
signal is the ZPBPF, which is composed of a low-pass and a
high-pass filter. The low-pass filter is a linear phase filter with a
cut-off frequency (fc) of about 18Hz, implemented with its first
side-lobe zero amplitude response placed at 60Hz [4]. Such fc is
chosen since from the study of the ECG signal, QRS complexes,
and other noises revealed that a maximum SNR is obtained for a
bandpass filter with a center frequency of about 17Hz and Q of
3 [3]. After filtering the ECG signal in the forward direction, the
filtered sequence is then reversed and run back through the
filter. The resulting sequence has a precisely zero-phase
distortion and twice the filter order, hence the term zero-phase
filter [4]. This pre-removing filter block improves the SNR of
the ECG signal.
2. THEORY OF ECG CIRCUIT OPERATION
An ECG amplifier is a bioelectric amplifier that usually has a
medium gain factor of 1000. A standard ECG amplifier consists
of an instrumentation amplifier (IA) followed by an isolation
amplifier (iso-amp), then by a bandpass filter (BPF), and a right
leg (RL) drive amplifier. Figure 1 shows the schematic of a
single-channel (3 electrodes) ECG amplifier.
 Vb = +9V Vs = +9V
Vb = Battery U13 U14
Vs = Power Supply LM7805C/TO LM7805C/TO
1 3 3 1
IN OUT OUT IN

GND

GND
C37 + C35 C36 + C38
104 10u 10u 104
0.1u 10
10V 10V 0.1u

2
Vb = +9V

C39 R22
0.01u 2K 1% C40 C41
103 0.01u 0.01u Vs = -9V R23 390K
103 103

7
8
Analog Input 1 U15

1
LA/LL 3

Vcc2
+

Ref1 Vcc1
6 2 C42 R25

8
2 + 7 0.01u 10K Vs = -9V
Analog Input 2 -
AD620 Out1 103

Ref2
RA C43 6
0.1u 3 Out2
4
1
5

4
C44 U16

4
0.01u HCPL7800 6 - U17B ECG Out
103 2 U17A R27 7

5
-
Vb = -9V C45 1 5 +
3 + LF412
LF412 4.7K
1u C46

8
105 R28 0.33u

8
3.3M
Vb = -9V C47 Vs = +9V
R29 R30 0.01u
103
Vs = +9V
20K 1% 20K 1% C48
0.01u
103 JP5
Left Arm / Left Leg Electrode
1
4

Right Arm Electrode

2 - U18A 2
1 Right Leg Electrode 3 Over-All Gain x
3 + ECG Leads (Positive Lead -
LF412 Analog Negative Lead)
Inputs JH3
JP6 1 ECG OUT
8

Battery Connector C49 1

0.01u Analog Output
103
1
2
3

Vb = +9V

R31

1M 1%
C50 R35
R33 R34
10K 10K Title
0.1u 104 10K 1% ECG Amplifier (3 Electrodes - 1 Lead)

Size Document Number Rev

A ECG Circuit <RevCode>

Date: Friday, May 03, 2002 Sheet 1 of 2

Figure 1: Single-Channel ECG Amplifier

U3 AD620 is an Analog Devices instrumentation amplifier Following the IA is the high common mode rejection
(IA) that has low noise, low input bias current, low offset (CMR) iso-amp U4 HCPL7800 of Hewlett Packard, which
voltage, and low power making it well suited for medical provides protection to the patient from cardiac shock, and
applications such as ECG. The gain is computed using the circuits and equipment from damage. Iso-amp gives as much as
equation G = (49.4 KΩ / R1 ) + 1 . For accuracy, R1 was 1012Ω to 9pF of insulation between the patient connector and the
AC power main line cord [5]. It also amplifies signals while
chosen to be 2kΩ, 1% tolerance, so the IA achieves a gain of
reducing noise, particularly the 60Hz interference. The voltage
25.7. The AD620 output is limited to about 2V less than the
regulators, U1 and U2, keep Vcc1 and Vcc2 as close as possible to
supply voltages. The IA is set in low gain (<33) to avoid output
5V to maintain the DC performance of the iso-amp.
saturation, should the electrode-offset potential be equal to
After U4 is a BPF that uses U5 LF412 of National
300mV, which is the maximum input offset according to the
Semiconductor, which is a low offset, low drift dual JFET input
Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation
op-amp. FET op-amps have low current noise, resulting to better
(AAMI) [5],[6]. The two analog inputs, positive and negative
performance as compared to bipolar op-amps in measurements
electrodes, are connected to the input pins of AD620,
respectively. Table 1 shows the proper electrode connection for where source resistances are higher than approximately 30KΩ
the three bipolar limb leads. [6]. The first stage of U5 is a first order high-pass filter (HPF)
with a unity gain and a fc of
Table 1 - Einthoven Leads
f c = 1 /( 2π R7 C11 ) = 1 /[ 2π (3 .3 M Ω )(1µ F )] = 0 .04823 Hz ≈ 0 .05 Hz .
Lead Positive (+) Negative (-)
Electrode Electrode
I Left Arm Right Arm For diagnostic ECG quality, a HPF fc of 0.05Hz is required, but
II Left Leg Right Arm for monitoring purposes, 0.5Hz is used. The second stage of U5
III Left Leg Left Arm is a first order low-pass filter (LPF) with a gain of

OFF-chip resistors R3 = R5 = 390KΩ are provided as a Av = ( R2 / R4 ) + 1 = (390 K / 10 K ) + 1 = 40 and

series protection, aside from using the ON-chip series resistors f c = 1/(2πR6C12 ) = 1/[2π (4.7KΩ)(0.33µF )] = 102.61Hz ≈ 100Hz
(Rs = 400Ω) of AD620. AAMI standards require that two or
more faults occur before any current is driven through the For long-term monitoring where patients become uncooperative,
patient [5]. AAMI standards for safe current levels require that high frequency response ranges from 30-50 Hz only [5]. The
ground currents or fault currents from the electronics must be output of U5 is an amplified ECG signal with an over-all gain of
less than 50µArms [5],[6]. The ON-chip series resistors qualify as Av = GainIA x GainHPF x GainLFP = 25.7 x 1 x 40 = 1028, and a
one fault, while the OFF-chip series resistors (range: 50K- bandwidth of 0.05 – 100 Hz.
400KΩ) qualify as another separate fault condition [5].
 U6 LF412 is used for the right leg (RL) drive, whose
voltage is just the inversion of the common mode interference
on the patient’s RL lead. The junction at R8 and R9 provides the
average of the voltages on the positive and negative electrodes.
This common mode voltage is then fed to the inverting input of
U6. The gain of the RL driver is usually set at around 30-50 [5],
and in the circuit gain is set at R10 / R9 = 1MΩ / 20 KΩ = 50.
Capacitor C16 in the feedback loop is chosen to maintain the
stability of the RL drive loop. It limits the high-frequency gain
and helps to prevent oscillation. The output of U6 is then
connected to the RL electrode of the patient.
It is very important to note that for patient safety, the over-
all ECG amplifier has two different sources of power: ±9V from
power supply and ±9V from type-D battery, with their
respective grounds. All ICs before the iso-amp HCPL7800
consume power from the battery and all ICs after the iso-amp,
including the BPF section, get their power from the power
supply. There are also two different grounds used, the patient
ground and earth ground.
The output of U5 is further processed by a 2nd order
Butterworth BPF, as shown in the ECG signal conditioning
circuit (see Figure 2). The HPF has a fc of 0.05 Hz and a unity
gain while the LPF has a fc of 40Hz (for monitoring) and a unity
gain. Thus, the ECG amplifier effectively has a bandwidth of
0.05 – 40Hz.
Figure 2: ECG Signal Conditioning Circuit - 2nd Order
Butterworth BandPass Filter
2. DATA ACQUISITION
The bandpass filtered ECG signal is digitized by the data-
acquisition board Quanser Multi-Q with a sampling frequency
(fs) of 500Hz. For credible heart rate variability (HRV)
detection, fs is usually selected to be more than 300Hz [7], that
is why fs of 500Hz was chosen. MATLAB’s real-time
Workshop (RTW) is used to access the board.
3. DIGITAL FILTERING
The digitized rest ECG signal is post-processed by a digital pre-
removing filter to reduce some of the fixed noise components
present in an ECG. These fixed types of noise include power
line interference and its harmonics, low-frequency baseline
wander (0 to 0.5 Hz), and all high frequency noises (>170Hz)
including the EMG noise (up to 20 Hz) and motion artifacts (5-
20Hz) . The ZPBPF is a combination of a LPF and a HPF, with
cut-off frequencies of 40Hz and 1 Hz, respectively. The
following MATLAB code implements the digital ZPBPF for
rest ECG.
fc_lp = 40; fc_hp = 1; fs = 500; len_filt = 500;
Wn = [fc_hp/(fs/2) fc_lp/(fs/2)];
b = fir1(len_filt, Wn, ‘bandpass’);
zpbpf = filtfilt(b,1,ecg);
4. EXPERIMENTATION AND RESULTS
In the experiment conducted, the ECG was taken using a Lead I
system while the male subject, 20 years of age, was seated in a
relaxed manner. Silver-silver chloride (Ag-AgCl) electrodes,
which have very low offset voltage, were placed on the person’s
arms although suction electrodes can also be used. Figure 3
shows the conducted experimental setup. Figure 4 shows the
packaged ECG amplifier with other accessories (e.g., Ag-AgCl
electrodes and snap-on lead wires), used in acquiring the rest
ECG.
Figure 3: Experimental Set-Up
Figure 4: Packaged Single-Channel ECG Amplifier
The acquired raw ECG data was satisfactory, as can be
verified in Figure 5a. However, noise particularly the 60Hz
interference and baseline wander, was reduced after employing
the ZPBPF (see Figure 5b). Figure 6a shows another rest ECG
signal (of the same subject), which is mainly corrupted by 60Hz,
but after digital filtering, the powerline interference was greatly
reduced (see Figure 6b). From both figures, the average resting
heart rate was calculated to be 94 bpm.
For better hardware sensitivity and results, three things
must always be considered: electrode placement, electrode
selection, and skin preparation [8]. Electrodes must be placed in
smooth even surfaces with minimal hair growth, skin creases,
bony protuberances, and lesser muscle [8]. The skin must be
treated so that interference is minimized and signal transmission
is maximized. Few tips are: (1) Clean the skin – using soap and
water or alcohol wipes. Skin must be free of all oils, lotions,
perspiration, and gross dirt; (2) Clip excess hair if necessary; (3)
Allow the skin to dry; (4) Use a dry rub – using a clean, dry
gauze pad to remove any skin slough thus further enhancing the
ECG trace [8].
Figure 5: Results (a) Unfiltered Rest ECG,
(b) ZPBPF Rest ECG
Figure 6: Results (a) Unfiltered Rest ECG,
(b) ZPBPF Rest ECG
5. CONCLUSIONS
The constructed single-channel ECG amplifier is capable of
acquiring a satisfactory reading of rest ECG signal. It can be
expanded to be a multi-channel ECG amplifier capable of
recording the standard 12-Lead system. For the most accurate
and reliable ECG results, site selection and site preparation go
hand in hand. Where and how the ECG electrodes are attached
greatly affect the sensitivity of the ECG reading. Furthermore,
better results are achieved if digital filtering is employed.
6. REFERENCES
[1] Bronzino, J.D., The Biomedical Engineering Handbook.
CRC Press, Inc., 1995.
[2] Provaznik, Ivo, Adaptive Systems in ECG Processing. Ph.D
Dissertation, Technical University of Brno, Czechoslovakia,
1995.
[3] Tompkins, W.J., Biomedical Digital Signal Processing,
Prentice Hall, Inc., 1993.
[4] H. Hosseini, H. Nazeran, and K.J. Reynolds, “ECG Noise
Cancellation Using Digital Filters,” 2nd International
Conference on Bioelectromagnetism, Melbourne Australia, pp.
151-152, Feb. 1998.
[5] Carr, J.J. and J.M. Brown, Introduction to Biomedical
Equipment Technology. Prentice Hall, Inc., 3rd ed., 1998.
[6] A.C. Metting VanRijn, A. Peper, and C.A. Grimbergen,
“The Isolation Mode Rejection Ratio in Bioelectric Amplifiers,”
Academic Medical Center, Medical Physics Department
Netherlands, December 18, 2001.
[7] S.R. Seydnejad and R.L. Kitney, “Real-Time Heart Rate
Variability Extraction Using the Kaiser Window,” IEEE Trans.
Biomedical Engineering, Vol. 44, No. 10, pp. 990-1005, Oct.
1997.
[8] N.A. Blackburn, “Enhancing ECG Quality: Update on Site
Selection, Skin Preparation, and Electrode Placement,” Conmed
Corp., pp. 1-8, 2000.