Educative ECG platform for undergraduate courses in BME

Abstract

In the area of Biomedical Instrumentation and Physiology, the teaching process is commonly supported by commercial instrumentation systems, frequently used with minimal understanding of the fundamental principles of registering and processing physiological signals. In BME-closing module at Faculty of Engineering, National Autonomous University of Mexico, the Fundamentals of Biomedical Instrumentation and Introduction to Physiology courses, are in need to put in practice theoretical subjects, using accessible equipment. Therefore, an instrument to register and display ECG signals was developed for educational purpose, training students in topics such as: identify main problems when acquiring biosignals, basic medical electronics, designing customized instrumentation systems and biosignal processing. Development was conducted using free licensed software such as IDE Arduino for hardware controller and, Phyton, Processing and Octave for signal display and processing data, making accessible the use of this platform in both courses. Theoretical and practical knowledge obtained will allow students to continue his/her career as designer/developer of instrumentation systems –hardware and software-for research, as well as in medical equipment maintenance.