Simple Heart Rate Monitoring System With A Mems Gyroscope For Sleep Studies

Heart rate (HR), the number of heart beats every minute, is the most relied upon vital sign for detecting health deterioration. It is no surprise, then, that the recording of HR is required in sleep studies as well. However, the standard monitoring method, the electrocardiogram (ECG), can be uncomfortable and intrusive, especially during sleep. Here, we present an HR monitoring system that uses the angular rate data from a single axis of a MEMS gyroscope to detect heartbeats. With a mean absolute error (MAE) and standard deviation of the absolute error (SDAE) values of -0.3505bpm and +/- 2.7167bpm, in average, when our tests are compared with a reference ECG signal, we show that our system is accurate enough to track HR changes. Furthermore, the simplicity of our proposed approach makes it an ideal candidate for its implementation as a real-time, portable embedded system.