Neonate Heart Rate Variability Monitoring Using Optical Wireless Link

In this work, we investigate the quality of heart rate variability (HRV) features extracted from electrocardiogram (ECG) signals transmitted by optical wireless communication (OWC). The proposed solution exploits infrared links between a transmitter placed on the chest of a newborn lying in a closed incubator and optical receivers installed on the ceiling of a neonatal intensive care unit. The specific environment and the corresponding transmission channel were modeled and simulated using the ray-tracing Monte Carlotechnique. Temporal HRV parameters were determined using the Pan-Tompkins algorithm and analyzed as a function of emitted optical power. The results obtained show that it is possible to guarantee good HRV measurements from ECG signals transmitted by OWC in the proposed context. An excellent quality of the HRV parameters could be obtained with an emitted optical power of [2.8-4.1] mW for the OOK modulation.