Real Time Tracking of Heart Rate from Facial Video Using Webcam

Heart Rate (HR) is a powerful measure of the cardiovascular state of humans, and a vital indicator of human physiological condition. Traditionally, methods for determining HR are based on special electronic oroptical sensors and other skin-contact instruments. HR regulation often entails high costs and the installation of complex sensors and sensor systems. In the last few years, radical work has concentrated more on non-contact-based methods for measuring HR. This is because of the convenience and lack of consumption expenditures. Most of the non-contact-based systems are still suitable for offline laboratory environments but must make considerable progress before they can be used in real-time applications. Many non-intrusive devices, as suitable for tests, use RGB images. However, there are still some concerns before applying them in real-time applications, including monitoring HR from videos of a human face in outdoor environments is impractical since light has a significant impact on the captured videos. Our paper aims to measure HR in real-time by using webcam in the laptop which integrates an HR measurement technique that uses face imagery in LAB color. The HR is determined by alteration in facial skin color caused by blood flow since blood circulation induces a change in the color of the facial skin, and these variations can be used to calculate HR. This technique has tremendous potential to improve telemedicine, a person's health and numerous applications where real-time physiological knowledge is required.