Biotelemetry

Ahmad Jazlan Bin Haja Mohideen (G0922717)

Supervisor: Dr Shahrul Naim Sidek

Department of Mechatronics Engineering
International Islamic University Malaysia
December 2, 2009
 Sources
• T. F. Budinger, “Biomonitoring with
wireless communications,” Ann.Rev.
Biomed. Eng, Vol. 5, pp. 383-312, 2003. A

• J. G. Webster. Medical Instrumentation:

Application and Design, New York: John
Wiley, 1998.
 Problem Statement

Figure 1: Patient attached to an ECG machine

• Patients often feel uncomfortable that cables connected

to their body are being attached to an ECG/EMG
machine.
 Objective
• Transmit biosignals to a data processing
station wirelessly from the patient in real
time.
 Introduction
• Biotelemetry is the technique of transferring
physiological information from humans to a computer.

• Transmission media used is radio frequency(RF).

• ECG, EEG, temperature, respiratory activity, blood pH

can be transmitted by RF.

• Real time monitoring of biosignals.

 System Description: User Interface

Figure 2: Interface block

• Biosignals are amplified and frequency limited.

• Gain and offset adjustment necessary due to properties
of biosignals (stochastic, random).
 System Description: Transmission
Block

Figure 3: Transmission block

• Inbuilt ADC in microcontroller converts analog biosignal

into 8 bit digital signal.
• FM transmitter operating at 916MHz chosen for data
transmission. (LINX TXM-916 & Linx ANT-916 antenna).
 System Description: Receiver Block

Figure 4: Receiver block

• FM Receiver operating at 916 MHz chosen for data

transmission. (LINX RXM-916 & Linx ANT-916 antenna).
 IMPORTANT!!!
Wireless Transmitter and Receiver
modules used must be compatible with
biosignal frequency ranges.

Linx transmitter range is from 20Hz to

20000Hz with distance up to 20
meters.
 IMPORTANT!!!

To avoid interference, the frequency at

which the wireless module operates
(916MHz) must be higher than
frequency band of other medical
electronic devices (174-216MHz) and
(450-470MHz).
 MOST IMPORTANT!!!

Wireless module frequency must be

higher than television, radio and hand
phone band frequency (470-600MHz).
Televisions, radios and hand phones
are available in hospitals and clinics.
 System Description: Power Supply

• Battery life for transmitter – 33 hours.

• Battery life for receiver – 29 hours.

• Both transmitter and receiver powered by two

9V batteries. Dual polarity (+9V,-9V).
 System Description: Transmission
Noise
• Noise may be acquired during wireless transmission.

• Signal may also attenuate during wireless transmission

• At the output of the receiver, amplify and filter the signal

again to compensate for attenuation and suppress noise.

• Processed signal reaches the DAQ board for recording

and data analysis
 System Description:
PCMCIA Data Aquisition

Figure 5: PCMCIA DAQ card

• A program written in matlab/labview provides live data

display and also data storage for post processing.
• To ensure portability, the code is implemented on a
laptop using 16bit PCMCIA DAQ card.
 Comparison

Figure : Left(experiment result), right( journal result)

 Summary and Conclusion
• Amplification and filtering of the signals in this study are
adequate.
• For the signal smoothing, there is some ripple.
• The biosignal is sampled at a rate at least twice its
maximum frequency to prevent signal aliasing.
• At the receiver block, the attenuated and corrupted
signal needs to be amplified and filtered again.
 Recommendation
Some possible improvements I highly recommend are:

1)Application of biomedical instrumentation techniques

such as the Driven Right Leg Concept

2)Using a Faraday Cage for noise reduction

3)Using Surface Mount circuit boards for compactness.

Question & Answer
Session