INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR TRENDS IN ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

VOLUME 4 ISSUE 2 APRIL 2015 - ISSN: 2349 - 9303

An Efficient System Of Electrocardiogram Data

Acquisition And Analysis Using LABVIEW
1

Dr.C.Gowri Shankar2
PhD, Associate professor,
2
KSR college of Engineering
Tiruchengode, Namakkal.

Shamsudeen Shafreen.S1
Master of Engineering in Embedded system technologies,
KSR College of Engineering, Tiruchengode, Namakkal.
[email protected]

Abstract- The Electrocardiogram has a vital role in the diagnosis of heart related diseases. Through the technology has improved a
lot, still we cannot reduce a death because of patient gets delay in reaching the hospital. In medical emergency, saving a single minute is
worthwhile. The ultimate aim of this work is to develop a handy cost effective Data Acquisition (DAQ) and analysis system for ECG.
This DAQ comprises of several modules like Analog to Digital Converter (ADC), power supply, amplifiers, isolators, filters and
interfacing circuits. This system chiefly intends to collect the ECG signal is highly useful in clinical application such as diagnosing the
problems like tachycardia, bradycardia, IInd degree heart block, myocardial infarction, etc. ECG signal will be collected from the patient
using 3 lead ECG sensors and given to NI ELVIS DAQ will then transfer the signal to laptop through NI6008 data acquisition card. The
Graphical User Interface (GUI) in LabVIEW software is also developed to incessantly monitor the ECG signal traces and record the
ECG data with high accuracy, and from the ECG signal is analyzed using LabVIEW software and the data is send to hospital through
wireless transmitter prior to ambulance reaching the hospital. Also 104 is configured further proficiency of treatment to patient. This
system is applicable in the people crowded area to diagnose heart related emergency and read the ECG value with the help of a medical
physician.

KeywordsLabVIEW:Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench, DAQ: Data Acquisition System, GUI:Graphical
user interfaces, ELVIS: Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite.

I.

LabVIEW is a graphical programming environment

which has become widespread throughout research labs,
academia and industry. It is powerful and versatile analysis and
instrumentation software for measurement and automation [19].
Since the LabVIEW is software oriented, it offers more flexibility
than standard laboratory instruments. Because of their appearance
and operation imitates the physical instruments like oscilloscopes,
the LabVIEW programs are called virtual instruments (VIs).
LabVIEW is designed to facilitate data collection and analysis, as
well as offers numerous display options. With data collection,
analysis and display combined in a flexible programming
environment, the desktop computer functions as a dedicated
measurement device. The LabVIEW contains a comprehensive
set of VIs and function for acquiring, displaying, and storing the
data, as well as the tools since it will support you to troubleshoot
your code [20].
LabVIEW Programs/codes are also described as Virtual
Instruments or VIs. It is mainly employed for Signal Processing
(Analysis), Data Acquisition and hardware control. LabVIEW
consists of three components namely the front panel, block
diagram and connector panel. The front panel is build by means
of controls and indicators. Controls are used to allow a user to
supply information to the VI while the Indicators are used to
indicate, or display the results based on the inputs. The back panel
is a block diagram consists of the graphical source code. The
objects which are placed on the front panel will appear on the
back panel as terminals. It also consists of structures and function
which carry out operations on controls and furnish data to
indicators. The structures and function are available on the
function palette and can be positioned on the back panel.
Controls, indicators, structures and functions will be collectively

INTRODUCTION

Biomedical signals are basic observations for analyzing

the body function and also it is used for diagnosing a many kinds
of diseases [14]. ECG is the recording of the electrical impulses
that are generated in the heart. These impulses initiate the
contraction of cardiac muscles. The vector is a diagrammatic way
to show the strength and the direction of the electrical impulse.
The ECG signal is normally low in amplitude, so we need
necessary amplification is required to find different abnormalities
[18]. The ECG signal is a graphical record of measuring the
duration and magnitude of the electrical activity that is generated
by depolarization and repolarization of the atria and ventricles. In
an ECG, one cardiac cycle consists of the P-QRS-T waves are
shown in the figure 1.

Fig 1: The element of the ECG complex

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR TRENDS IN ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

VOLUME 4 ISSUE 2 APRIL 2015 - ISSN: 2349 - 9303
known as nodes. Nodes are connected to one another by means of
wires. A virtual instrument can either be run as a program with
the front panel serving as a user interface. The front panel defines
the inputs and outputs for the given node through the connector
panel.
The Biomedical Workbench in LabVIEW Biomedical
Toolkit provide applications for both the bio-signal and
biomedical image analysis. These applications also allow you to
apply biomedical solutions using National Instruments software,
such as LabVIEW, with National Instruments hardware, such as
NI Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite II (NI
ELVIS II).
We can acquire real world and real-time biomedical
data by using biomedical sensors and national instruments
hardware. Also we can import biomedical data from files, such as
files from the physiobank database t o the application in this kit
for analysis. We can utilize the applications in Biomedical
Workbench to extract the features from electrocardiogram signals
to analyze heart rate variability and to measure blood pressure.

Fig.2 Block diagram of data acquisition system design

II ECG SIMULATOR

This front-end pre-processing, which is referred to as

signal conditioning, includes functions such as signal
amplification, filtering, electrical isolation, and multiplexing.
Many transducers require bridge completion, linearization,
excitation currents or voltages, high amplification for proper and
accurate operation. ECG signal is normally low in amplitude, so
we cant extract the signal and signal conditioning is required. In
DAQ system there is no need of external signal conditioning.

ECG SIMULATOR is a virtual ECG machine. It is used

to produce a large kind of the ECG waveform without using the
ECG machine. It is likely to generate the typical ECG waveforms
of different leads and many arrhythmias. There are many
advantage of using ECG SIMULATOR like recording the data
and reduce a difficulties in the real time.
An ECG signal is a periodic signal in which
fundamental frequency can be determined by the heartbeat which
also satisfies the Dirichlets conditions. Therefore Fourier series
can be used to represent the ECG signal. Observing Fig. 1, it can
be observed that a single period of an ECG signal is a
combination of triangular and sinusoidal wave forms in which
each significant feature of ECG signal can be denoted by the
shifted and scaled versions of one of these waveforms as shown
below.
QRS, Q and S portions of ECG signal can be represented by
triangular waveforms.
P, T and U portions can be represented by triangular waveforms.

IV NI ELVIS

III DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM

NI ELVIS is a National Instruments Educational

Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite. It comprises of
LabVIEW based virtual instruments, a bench-top workstation a
multifunction data acquisition (DAQ) device, and prototype
board. This combination provides a readily available suite
required in most educational laboratories. The system depends on
LabVIEW it delivers the suppleness to offer complete data
acquisition and prototyping capabilities. The NI ELVIS is a
multifunctional DAQ device and also have digital I/O line control
or read the state of Boolean device such as relays. Finally, counter
I/O lines are used for controlling and measuring timing of a DAQ
process. The DAQ device is composed of ADC and DAC. These
two components of the DAQ System are mainly used to produce
and the read signal. The multiplexer is used to connect the various
analog input lines to the ADC. Before an analog Signal is
converted to a digital signal, it must be sampled. Generally,
conversion occurs uniformly in time. A DAC can generate a
voltage with maximum specified voltage rate.
Based on industry-standard NI LabVIEW graphical
system design software, the NI ELVIS with USB plug-and-play
capabilities, powerful data acquisition, offers the flexibility of
virtual instrumentation and also allows faster and easy
measurement. The NI ELVIS II and its integration with
Multisim10.1, including features such as 3D NI ELVIS II and
simulated/real instruments in Multisim10.1, provides the ideal
platform for teaching and research of bioinstrumentation. The NI
ELVIS II data acquisition systems are shown in figure 3.

The Block diagrams of data acquisition system are

shown in figure.2. Data Acquisition system is also called DAQ or
DAS. It is the process of taking a real world signals such as
voltage or current as any electrical input, for processing, analysis,
storage, data manipulation or conditioning. Many applications
employ plug-in boards to acquire data and transfer it to computer
memory. Others use DAQ hardware remotely from the PC that is
coupled through parallel port, serial port, GPIB-Bus or Net
operates. Many real world sensors and transducers generate
output signals that must be conditioned before it is fed to a DAQ
board in order to effectively and correctly acquire the signal.

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VOLUME 4 ISSUE 2 APRIL 2015 - ISSN: 2349 - 9303

Fig.3 THE NI ELVIS II DAQ

Fig. 4 ventricular tachycardia front panel.

In this paper shows the connection of three leads circuit.

Vernier EKG sensor is one which part of acquiring signal. There
are three colour is assigned for the circuit to be connected. The
entire circuit is formed based on the Einthovens triangle. It is
nothing but the formation of the LEAD I, LEAD II, and LEAD
III. LEAD I is a placed between the right arm to the left arm.
LEAD II is a placed between the right arm to left leg. LEAD III is
a placed between left arm to left leg. Instead of above, this paper
shows a picture the electrode is placed on wrist and elbows.

For normal human the heart rate is varies from 60-100

bpm.Tachycardia is a heart rate that exceeds the 100. The
uncontrolled of the upper and lower chamber of heart rate
exceeded due to rapid increase of electrical signal. Sometime
there are no symptoms or complication. In serious cases,
tachycardia occurs due to sudden cardiac arrest or death.

Fig. 5 ventricular tachycardia block diagram

The front panel and block diagram for ventricular tachycardia
shown in figure 4 and 5. In front panel shows the waveform is too
fast ventricular contraction and relaxation. It exist the normal
beat.

V RESULT AND DISCUSSION

The bradycardia is in which the heart rate below the normal

range. The normal peoples of the heart rate are 60-100. If below
the 60 may be act as bradycardia. It is occurs mostly due to the
aging or fitted people like a regular exercises, gymnastics etc. In
some case caused due to the excess of potassium in the blood, low
rate of thyroid or electrolyte imbalance. The front panels for
bradycardia are shown in figure 6. The waveform derives that too
slow of the heart beat. It is also normally occurs in young fit
people.

The simulation tool is used for data acquisition and analysis

of ECG using LabVIEW 2012. Biomedical tool kit is used for
simulation. In the LabVIEW contain two windows; they are front
panel and the block diagram. In front panel contain the control
and indicator, block diagram contain the function and connecting
wires. When we run the LabVIEW, it changes from grid window
to gray window in front panel without fail. If not connecting any
wire properly, the broken arrow shown in run button. If any errors
occur, it will show in the command window. Input signal is taken
from ECG simulation.

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VOLUME 4 ISSUE 2 APRIL 2015 - ISSN: 2349 - 9303

Fig. 6 bradycardia front panel

Fig. 8 1st degree heart block

The myocardial infarction is commonly known as heart

attack. It is normally happen due to the blockage of the heart
muscles. The coronary artery is a small part of heart muscles.
When arteries get clot, there is a reduced flow of blood supply or
oxygen. This is possible to happen due to the inflammation of
coronary arteries or wounded the heart muscles.

The front panel for 1st degree AV block shown in figure 8.

The waveform correlated that the prolonged PR interval, greater
than 0.2 sec.

VI CONCLUSION

Front panel for Myocardial infarction are shown in figure 7.

The waveform correlated that the change in the ST segment.

The main objective in carrying out this project is to

detect the heart related diseases through the LabVIEW and
classify whether it is a normal or abnormal signal. It is clearly
mentioned with proof that the LabVIEW is a safe tool for
detecting abnormalities in an efficient, accuracy and real time
manner. From the LabVIEW biomedical tool kit, analyzed the RR interval, 1ST degree AV block, tachycardia and the bradycardia.
VII FUTURE WORK
In the future work, I suggest that analysis the more
diseases like sudden cardiac arrest, cardiac vascular disease, and
pulmonary diseases, atrial flutter ventricular flutter, etc. From that
analyzed disease send to hospital through wireless transmitter
before subject reached to hospital and also configuring ambulance
104.
VII REFERENCES
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Fig.7 myocardial infarction

The excess of P-R interval is may be act as 1st degree AVblock. It is also known as prolonged P-R interval. This is happen
due to excess of 300ms. The delay between the atrium
depolarization to the starting of ventricular depolarization, happen
due to AV blocking or increasing vagal tone.

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VOLUME 4 ISSUE 2 APRIL 2015 - ISSN: 2349 - 9303
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