Real Time ECG Acquisition System using Raspberry PI

This paper describes design of Electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring system using Raspberry Pi(R-Pi). The motivation behind the work is the need for a small, portable ECG monitoring system. ECG monitoring is one of the main processes which are used to find the malfunctioning of the heart. To monitor ECG waveforms suitable electrodes are placed over different parts of the body. The potentials generated from the heart are applied to the instrumentation amplifier via electrodes. The amplified signal from the instrumentation amplifier is applied to the filter circuits in order to attenuate undesired potential and noises. The output of the filter circuit is then applied to the main amplifier to increase the signal level. Some of the prominent aspects are discussed in the design of ECG monitoring device and are explained. Final acquisition of the ECG signal is converted into digital by MCP3008 analog to digital converter (ADC) and which are displayed in real time by Raspberry Pi. Serial peripheral interface (SPI) communication protocol is used for communication between ADC and R-Pi. Real time response of the system is verified and results are presented.