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Biopotential Acquisition Systems

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Book cover Medicine-Based Informatics and Engineering

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Bioengineering ((LNBE))

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Abstract

Biopotential acquisition systems have evolved for more than a century and can be considered a very mature technology in some respects. However, the conditions under which they must operate have also evolved. The most challenging applications see biopotential measurements moving from laboratories and medical offices to non-conditioned environments and providing 24-h monitoring through networked digital data connections. In this chapter, the design of biopotential amplifiers is contextualized within this framework which claims for reliable wearable devices with constraints of cost, portability, usability, and robustness. The main implication for the system is discussed: a trade-off between the dynamic range, frequency range, and power consumption which must be defined considering specific features to be extracted from the biopotential signal. Implementations can take advantage of a wide range of commercial devices from operational amplifiers for the front-end, mixed-signal systems-on-chip for analog to digital conversion, powerful microcontrollers for data processing and user interfacing, and wireless chips benefiting from ubiquitous infrastructures such as Bluetooth, WiFi, or mobile networks for data transmission following a variety of possible paths from the personal area network to a server in the cloud. Of course, an adequate instrumentation stage is key to deliver the functionality that these technologies enable. Therefore, we discuss the non-idealities impacting the performance of the analog front-end, measurement topologies including multiple-electrode configurations, grounding, and common-mode voltage managing strategies, a general approach to power-line interference analysis, and an analysis of motion artifacts and filtering.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Marcelo Haberman for contribution with material and Dr. Dobromir Dobrev for suggestions that impacted the contents of the chapter.

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  1. Instituto de Investigaciones en Electrónica, Control y Procesamiento de Señales LEICI (UNLP-CONICET-CIC), 48 y 116 S/N, 1900, La Plata, Argentina

    Federico N. Guerrero & Enrique M. Spinelli

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  1. Federico N. Guerrero
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  2. Enrique M. Spinelli
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Correspondence to Federico N. Guerrero .

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  1. Núcleo de Ingeniería Biomédica de las Facultades de Medicina e Ingeniería, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Franco Simini

  2. Departamento de Engenharia Elétrica, Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, Joinville, Brazil

    Pedro Bertemes-Filho

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Guerrero, F.N., Spinelli, E.M. (2022). Biopotential Acquisition Systems. In: Simini, F., Bertemes-Filho, P. (eds) Medicine-Based Informatics and Engineering. Lecture Notes in Bioengineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87845-0_4

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