An ECG (electrocardiogram) simulator is an electronic tool that plays an essential role in the testing, design, and development of ECG monitors and other ECG equipment. Principally an ECG simulator provides ECG monitors with an electrical signal that emulates the human heart's electrical signal so that the monitor can be tested for reliability and important diagnostic capabilities. However, the current portable commercially available ECG simulators are lacking in their ability to fully test ECG monitors. Specifically, the portable simulators presently on the market do not produce authentic ECG signals but rather they endeavor to create the ECG signals mathematically. They even attempt to mathematically create arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats of which there are many different types). Arrhythmia detection is an important capability for any modern ECG monitor because arrhythmias are often the critical link to the diagnosis of heart conditions or cardiovascular disease. The focus of this thesis is the design and implementation of a portable ECG simulator. The important innovation of this prototype simulator is that it will not create its ECG signals mathematically, but rather it will store ECG data files on a memory module and use this data to produce an authentic ECG signal. The data files will consist of different types of ECG signals including different types of arrhythmias. The data files are obtained via the internet and require formatting and storing onto a memory chip. These files are then processed by a digital to analog converter and output on a four lead network to produce an authentic ECG signal. The system is built around the ultra-low power Texas Instruments MSP430 microcontroller.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:etd-1965 |
| Date | 01 January 2006 |
| Creators | Michalek, Paul |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Electronic Theses and Dissertations |
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