A Cloud-Connected Multi-Lead Electrocardiogram (ECG) Sensor Ring

• Published in: IEEE sensors journal Vol. 21; no. 14; pp. 16340 - 16349
• Main Authors: Dong, Quan, Downen, R. Scott, Li, Baichen, Tran, Nam, Li, Zhenyu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 15.07.2021; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: 12 lead ECGs; Artificial intelligence; Bluetooth Low Energy; Cloud computing; cloud informatics system; Computer networks; Delays; Electrocardiography; Electrodes; Gateways (computers); Informatics; medical IoT; point-of-care; Sensor systems; Sensors; Smartphones; Telemedicine; Wearable ECG; wearable sensors
• ISSN: 1530-437X; 1558-1748
• DOI: 10.1109/JSEN.2021.3075992

The ability to acquire multi-lead electrocardiograms (ECGs) in a timely manner is critical to patient survival and better clinical outcomes after acute cardiac events, including myocardial infarctions (MI). However, current wearable ECG devices do not provide the traditional 12-lead information needed for clinical MI diagnosis. Here, we report, to our knowledge, the first finger-ring-shaped ECG sensor that can provide asynchronously derived 12-lead ECGs by sequentially placing the ring on eight defined locations on the body. We demonstrate that the sensor performance is comparable to that of a clinical 12-lead ECG machine in a human subject study. The ring ECG sensor has an input-referred electronics noise floor of less than 10uV (peak-to-peak) with a 480X gain and a bandwidth of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">0.16\sim 156 </tex-math></inline-formula> Hz. The battery lasts <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\sim 5 </tex-math></inline-formula> days under normal usage. The ring sensor can also wirelessly upload data to a cloud-based medical IoT informatics system via a smartphone gateway. Combined with advancements in cloud computing, telemedicine, and artificial intelligence, this on-demand IoT ECG sensor can potentially help high-risk cardiac patients reduce prehospital delays and seek timely life-saving interventions.