Development of PC-Based ECG Monitoring System

The research is to design and develop a PC-based ECG monitoring system for telemedicine. The system should be capable of acquiring and storing patient's ECG signal and later transfer it to a remote site. This project is concentrating on the data acquisition system, which consists of both hardware and software development. The hardware development includes sensor, amplifier and filter circuits, while the software development includes a graphical user interface to display patient's ECG waveform and to calculate patient's heartbeat rate. The developed system is able to acquire and display patient's ECG signal on the PC through a data acquisition card. The data collected will then used for further analysis and transmitted to a remote terminal through the telemedicine network. This project is a step towards reaching that ultimate goal of the complete fusion of healthcare, the Internet, and the home. Although this study attempts to track patient cardiac data, similar modified techniques could be used to monitor other bodily variables such as temperature, blood-sugar content, breathing patterns, weights and lipid levels.