Improved Dynamic Programming in Local Linear Approximation Based on a Template in a Lightweight ECG Signal-Processing Edge Device

Interest is increasing in electrocardiogram (ECG) signal analysis for embedded devices, creating the need to develop an algorithm suitable for a low-power, low-memory embedded device. Linear approximation of the ECG signal facilitates the detection of fiducial points by expressing the signal as a small number of vertices. However, dynamic programming, a global optimization method used for linear approximation, has the disadvantage of high complexity using memoization. In this paper, the calculation area and memory usage are improved using a linear approximated template. The proposed algorithm reduces the calculation area required for dynamic programming through local optimization around the vertices of the template. In addition, it minimizes the storage space required by expressing the time information using the error from the vertices of the template, which is more compact than the time difference between vertices. When the length of the signal is L, the number of vertices is N, and the margin tolerance is M, the spatial complexity improves from O(NL) to O(NM). In our experiment, the linear approximation processing time was 12.45 times faster, from 18.18 ms to 1.46 ms on average, for each beat. The quality distribution of the percentage root mean square difference confirms that the proposed algorithm is a stable approximation.