Designing a Low-Cost, Single-Supply ECG System for Suppression of Movement Artifact from Contaminated Magnetocardiogram

Abstract

Measurement of the late potentials and His-bundle activity is crucial for many clinical studies using the noncontact and noninvasive magnetocardiography (MCG) technique; these weak signals are extracted by averaging many cardiac cycles aligned using the R-peak of the cardiac cycle identified using an electrocardiography (ECG) lead. ECG is measured simultaneously with MCG using a conventional dual-supply ECG amplifier, which requires either two separate batteries or a single battery with a switching voltage inverter circuit for its proper operation. The ECG circuitry based on two separate batteries requires a relatively large voltage supply (–18 to +18 V). The single-supply (low voltage: 0–9 V) ECG circuitry may be implemented using a switching voltage inverter; however, this mode of operation introduces switching noise in the system. The objective of the present work is to overcome these problems by carefully designing a low-voltage, single-supply ECG system, which can be used simultaneously with the MCG setup without introducing a significant level of additional noise in the MCG measurement system.