Motion Robust Remote-PPG in Infrared

• Published in: IEEE transactions on biomedical engineering Vol. 62; no. 5; pp. 1425 - 1433
• Main Authors: van Gastel, Mark, Stuijk, Sander, de Haan, Gerard
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.05.2015
• Subjects: Adult; Algorithms; Blood; Cameras; Color; Female; Humans; Infrared; Male; Optical sensors; Photoplethysmography - methods; PPG; remote sensing; Remote Sensing Technology - methods; Robustness; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; Skin; Skin - chemistry; Spectrophotometry, Infrared - methods; Vectors; Young Adult; photoplethysmography (PPG); remote sensing; infrared; Biomedical monitoring
• DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2015.2390261
• ISSN: 0018-9294; 1558-2531

Current state-of-the-art remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) algorithms are capable of extracting a clean pulse signal in ambient light conditions using a regular color camera, even when subjects move significantly. In this study, we investigate the feasibility of rPPG in the (near)-infrared spectrum, which broadens the scope of applications for rPPG. Two camera setups are investigated: one setup consisting of three monochrome cameras with different optical filters, and one setup consisting of a single RGB camera with a visible light blocking filter. Simulation results predict the monochrome setup to be more motion robust, but this simulation neglects parallax. To verify this, a challenging benchmark dataset consisting of 30 videos is created with various motion scenarios and skin tones. Experiments show that both camera setups are capable of accurate pulse extraction in all motion scenarios, with an average SNR of +6.45 and +7.26 dB, respectively. The single camera setup proves to be superior in scenarios involving scaling, likely due to parallax of the multicamera setup. To further improve motion robustness of the RGB camera, dedicated LED illumination with two distinct wavelengths is proposed and verified. This paper demonstrates that accurate rPPG measurements in infrared are feasible, even with severe subject motion.