Observer-Based Monitoring of the Cardiovascular System

An observer-based state and fault estimation method for the cardiovascular system is presented in this brief. The approach is based on the use of a four-element windkessel model which is written in a singular state-space form. This particular representation allows to design an observer to estimate the systemic pressure, the aortic blood flow, and possible problems in the flow through the aorta for monitoring purposes. Numerical simulations are performed in order to demonstrate the pertinence of this representation to conceive an adequate observer to monitor the cardiovascular activity.