DESIGNING OF A SINGLE ARM SINGLE LEAD ECG SYSTEM FOR WET AND DRY ELECTRODE: A COMPARISON WITH TRADITIONAL SYSTEM

Electrocardiography is a non-invasive medical diagnostic procedure used to record the electrical activity of the heart as a waveform. An electrocardiogram (ECG) can be utilized to evaluate the electrical activity of the heart, also the rate and regularity of the heart beat and other related diagnoses. ECG systems have evolved along since its invention and researches are going on continuously to decrease the complexity of ECG systems. This paper discusses the designing of a single arm single lead ECG system to acquire ECG signals from areas of left arm alone. The proposed system uses pre-gelled disposable surface electrodes and dry copper electrodes. The single arm approach in ECG acquisition reduces the complexity of the system to a greater extent and also improves the ease of use and patient comfort. The paper discusses the various designing aspects and the working of the single arm single lead ECG system. A hardware only approach has been used here in the design of the ECG system. ECGs were obtained from 10 healthy subjects using the proposed system, which were compared along with ECG acquired from a commercially used system. The obtained ECG had morphological features similar to a normal ECG waveform. The results of the comparison were very promising and all the values recorded were in the normal range of values for the respective parameters in comparison.