Single-Lead Fetal ECG Extraction Based on a Parallel Marginalized Particle Filter

Design and Verification of a New Universal Active Filter Based on the Current Feedback Operational Amplifier and Commercial AD844 Integrated Circuit

This paper presents a triple-input and four-output type voltage-mode universal active filter based on three current-feedback operational amplifiers (CFOAs). The filter employs three CFOAs, two grounded capacitors, and six resistors. The filter structure has three high-input and three low-output impedances that simultaneously provide band-reject, high-pass, low-pass, and band-pass filtering functions with single-input and four-output type and also implements an all-pass filtering function by connecting three input signals to one input without the use of voltage inverters or switches. The same circuit configuration enables two unique filtering functions: low-pass notch and high-pass notch. Three CFOAs with three high-input and low-output impedance terminals enable cascading without voltage buffers. The circuit is implemented using three commercial off-the-shelf AD844 integrated circuits, two grounded capacitors, and six resistors and further implemented as a CFOA-based chip using three CFOAs, two grounded capacitors, and six resistors. The CFOA-based chip has lower power consumption and higher integration than the AD844-based filter. The circuit was simulated using OrCAD PSpice to verify the AD844-based filter and Synopsys HSpice for post-layout simulation of the CFOA-based chip. The theoretical analysis is validated and confirmed by measurements on an AD844-based filter and a CFOA-based chip.

Synthesis of High-Input Impedance Electronically Tunable Voltage-Mode Second-Order Low-Pass, Band-Pass, and High-Pass Filters Based on LT1228 Integrated Circuits

This paper introduces two new high-input impedance electronically tunable voltage-mode (VM) multifunction second-order architectures with band-pass (BP), low-pass (LP), and high-pass (HP) filters. Both proposed architectures have one input and five outputs, implemented employing three commercial LT1228 integrated circuits (ICs), two grounded capacitors, and five resistors. Both proposed architectures also feature one high-impedance input port and three low-impedance output ports for easy connection to other VM configurations without the need for VM buffers. The two proposed VM LT1228-based second-order multifunction filters simultaneously provide BP, LP, and HP filter transfer functions at V_o1, V_o2, and V_o3 output terminals. The pole angular frequencies and the quality factors of the two proposed VM LT1228-based second-order multifunction filters can be electronically and orthogonally adjusted by the bias currents from their corresponding commercial LT1228 ICs, and can be independently adjusted in special cases. In addition, both proposed VM LT1228-based second-order multifunction filters have two independent gain-controlled BP and LP filter transfer functions at V_o4 and V_o5 output terminals, respectively. Based on the three commercial LT1228 ICs and several passive components, simulations and experimental measurements are provided to verify the theoretical predictions and demonstrate the performance of the two proposed high-input impedance electronically tunable VM LT1228-based second-order multifunction filters. The measured input 1-dB power gain compression point (P1dB), third-order IMD (IMD3), third-order intercept (TOI) point, and spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) of the first proposed filter were -7.1 dBm, -48.84 dBc, 4.133 dBm, and 45.02 dBc, respectively. The measured input P1dB, IMD3, TOI, and SFDR of the second proposed filter were -7 dBm, -49.65 dBc, 4.316 dBm, and 45.88 dBc, respectively. Both proposed filters use a topology synthesis method based on the VM second-order non-inverting/inverting HP filter transfer functions to generate the BP, LP and HP filter transfer functions simultaneously, making them suitable for applications in three-way crossover networks.

Single-lead noninvasive fetal ECG extraction by means of combining clustering and principal components analysis

Early detection of potential hazards in the fetal physiological state during pregnancy and childbirth is very important. Noninvasive fetal electrocardiogram (FECG) can be extracted from the maternal abdominal signal. However, due to the interference of maternal electrocardiogram and other noises, the task of extraction is challenging. This paper introduces a novel single-lead noninvasive fetal electrocardiogram extraction method based on the technique of clustering and PCA. The method is divided into four steps: (1) pre-preprocessing; (2) fetal QRS complexes and maternal QRS complexes detection based on k-means clustering algorithm with the feature of max-min pairs; (3) FQRS correction step is to improve the performance of step two; (4) template subtraction based on PCA is introduced to extract FECG waveform. To verify the performance of the proposed algorithm, two clinical open-access databases are used to check the performance of FQRS detection. As a result, the method proposed shows the average PPV of 95.35%, Se of 96.23%, and F1-measure of 95.78%. Furthermore, the robustness test is carried out on an artificial database which proves that the algorithm has certain robustness in various noise environments. Therefore, this method is feasible and reliable to detect fetal heart rate and extract FECG. Graphical abstract Early detection of potential hazards in the fetal physiological state during pregnancy and childbirth is very important. Noninvasive fetal electrocardiogram (FECG) can be extracted from maternal abdominal signal. However, due to the interference of maternal electrocardiogram and other noises, the task of extraction is challenging. This paper introduces a novel single-lead noninvasive fetal electrocardiogram extraction method based on the technique of clustering and PCA. The method is divided into four steps: (1) pre-preprocessing; (2) fetal QRS complexes and maternal QRS complexes detection based on k-means clustering algorithm with the feature of max-min pairs; (3) FQRS correction step is to improve the performance of step two; (4) template subtraction based on PCA is introduced to extract FECG waveform. To verify the performance of algorithm, two clinical open-access databases are used to check the performance of FQRS detection. As a result, the method proposed shows the average PPV of 95.35%, Se of 96.23%, and F1-measure of 95.78%. Furthermore, the robustness test is carried out on an artificial database which proves that the algorithm has certain robustness in various noise environments. Therefore, this method is feasible and reliable to detect fetal heart rate and extract FECG.

Versatile Tunable Voltage-Mode Biquadratic Filter and Its Application in Quadrature Oscillator

This paper presents a versatile tunable voltage-mode biquadratic filter with five inputs and three outputs. The proposed filter enjoys five single-ended output operational transconductance amplifiers (OTAs) and two grounded capacitors. The filter can be easily transformed into a quadrature oscillator. The filter with grounded capacitors is resistorless and electronically tunable. Either a voltage-mode five-input single-output biquadratic filter or a voltage-mode single-input three-output biquadratic filter can be operated by appropriate selecting input and output terminals. In the operation of five-input single-output biquadratic filter, the non-inverting lowpass, non-inverting bandpass, inverting bandpass, inverting highpass, non-inverting bandreject, inverting bandreject, and non-inverting allpass filtering responses can be realized by appropriately applying the input voltage signals. In the operation of single-input three-output biquadratic filter, the non-inverting/inverting lowpass, bandpass and bandreject filtering responses can be realized simultaneously. The circuit provides independent adjustment of the resonance angular frequency and quality factor, high-input impedance, and no inverting-type input voltage signals are imposed. The application in quadrature oscillator exhibits independent electronic tuning characteristic of the oscillation condition and the oscillation frequency. The theoretical analysis has been verified through OrCAD PSpice and furthermore by experimental measurements.

A Fetal ECG Monitoring System Based on the Android Smartphone

In this paper, a fetal electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring system based on the Android smartphone was proposed. We designed a portable low-power fetal ECG collector, which collected maternal abdominal ECG signals in real time. The ECG data were sent to a smartphone client via Bluetooth. Smartphone app software was developed based on the Android system. The app integrated the fast fixed-point algorithm for independent component analysis (FastICA) and the sample entropy algorithm, for the sake of real-time extraction of fetal ECG signals from the maternal abdominal ECG signals. The fetal heart rate was computed using the extracted fetal ECG signals. Experimental results showed that the FastICA algorithm can extract a clear fetal ECG, and the sample entropy can correctly determine the channel where the fetal ECG is located. The proposed fetal ECG monitoring system may be feasible for non-invasive, real-time monitoring of fetal ECGs.