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Third International Conference on Computing and Network Communications (CoCoNet’19)
Procedia Computer Science 171 (2020) 2121–2127

Simulation Of Pathological ECG Signal Using Transform Method

Third International Conference on Computing and Network Communications (CoCoNet’19)
Manju.B.Ra*, Akshaya.Bb
a Simulation Of Pathological ECG Signal Using Transform Method
Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics, Amrita School of Arts and Science, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham,Amritapuri,Kollam 690525,
India
b
Student, Department of Mathematics, Amrita School of Arts and Science, Amrita VishwabVidyapeetham,Amritapuri,Kollam 690525, India
Manju.B.R , Akshaya.B
a*

a
Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics, Amrita School of Arts and Science, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham,Amritapuri,Kollam 690525,
India
b
Student, Department of Mathematics, Amrita School of Arts and Science, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham,Amritapuri,Kollam 690525, India
Abstract

Electrocardiography (ECG) is the depiction of the hearts recorded electrical activity, obtained by attaching electrodes that are
specifically designed to place at particular points of human body. The graphically represented signal has three main parts- P wave,
QRS complex and thirdly T wave together giving normal ECG wave. Deviations in the normal graphical representation of ECG
Abstract
indicate types of cardiac disorders. An automatic system which involves MATLAB-based tool is being used to simulate synthetic
ECG signals of cardiac
Electrocardiography pathology.
(ECG) is the The modelof
depiction of the
the pathological signals
hearts recorded uses the
electrical real time
activity, clinicalby
obtained data of the pathologies
attaching electrodes and
that itare
is
done with the help of Fourier series by mathematical modeling the ECG signal wave. This model is a useful tool
specifically designed to place at particular points of human body. The graphically represented signal has three main parts- P wave,that allows
comparison
QRS complexwith
andpatient's
thirdly current
T waveECG record
together collected
giving by ECG
normal regular methods.
wave. Thus helps
Deviations in theinnormal
the detection of pathologies
graphical thatoflead
representation ECG to
serious cardiac
indicate types ofarrhythmia.
cardiac disorders. An automatic system which involves MATLAB-based tool is being used to simulate synthetic
ECG signals of cardiac pathology. The model of the pathological signals uses the real time clinical data of the pathologies and it is
done with the help of Fourier series by mathematical modeling the ECG signal wave. This model is a useful tool that allows
© 2020 The with
comparison Authors. Published
patient's currentbyECG
Elsevier B.V.
record collected by regular methods. Thus helps in the detection of pathologies that lead to
This is an
serious open arrhythmia.
cardiac access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Third International Conference on Computing and Network
© 2020 The Authors.
Communications Published by Elsevier B.V.
(CoCoNet’19)
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
© 2020 The Authors. Published by
Peer-review under responsibility ofElsevier B.V. committee of the Third International Conference on Computing and Network
the scientific
This is an open access article
Communications (CoCoNet’19). under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Third International Conference on Computing and Network
Keywords: ECG Signals;
Communications Fourier series; Heart Pathology
(CoCoNet’19)

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +919447428574; fax: +91 (476) 2896178.

Keywords: ECG Signals; Fourier series; Heart Pathology
E-mail address: manjubr@am.amrita.edu

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +919447428574; fax: +91 (476) 2896178.

E-mail address: manjubr@am.amrita.edu
1877-0509 © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Third International Conference on Computing and Network Communications
(CoCoNet’19)

1877-0509 © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Third International Conference on Computing and Network Communications
(CoCoNet’19)

1877-0509 © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Third International Conference on Computing and Network
Communications (CoCoNet’19).
10.1016/j.procs.2020.04.229
2122 Manju B.R. et al. / Procedia Computer Science 171 (2020) 2121–2127
2 Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000

1. Introduction

Electrocardiography has been an active topic for more than a century and is the most prominent method in studying
the pathologies of heart [1]. A regular electrocardiogram [ECG] of normal cardiac cycle have P wave, QRS complex,
T wave and sometimes small U wave [2]. Some clinical ECG findings has not been fully understood. Hence ECG
signal modelling and simulation of pathological ECG is one of the most significant tool to improve this understanding
[10]. Cardiac Arrhythmia is the state of abnormality in the electrical activity of human heart. In this paper we discuss
about three pathologies that lead to cardiac arrhythmia. This work allow the synthesis of pathological ECG using
synthetic ECG simulator that plays a major part in creating a virtual data base which helps in testing and training
medical ECG measuring devices.

2. Electrical Conducting System – ECG Waveform

ECG is an analog signal usually represented in a voltage-time graph. The ECG signal is of frequency range 0.05–
100 Hz and voltage range 1–10 mV [10]. ECG signal wave is composed of many peculiar parts that are connected
by a baseline.

Fig. 1. Normal ECG signal represented graphically.

Isoelectric line: The baseline that connects the parts of the ECG wave also called isopotential line. It shows the
short inactive period of the heart and is given a zero voltage [12].
P-wave: The first positive wave of ECG signal that represents the starting of upper chamber activity of the heart.
The impulse from sinoatrial node initiating the activation of the atria depolarization together gives the P wave.
P-R interval: The interval comprises three parts representing atrial activity, the impulse passing through the AV
node and the origin of activity chambers which gives atrio-ventricular conduction. And the parts include P wave, P-
R segment and QRS complex.
QRS complex: This shows the excitation of the lower part of heart specifically atrial repolarization and ventricular
depolarization. Q wave and S wave are the negative and positive is the R wave which is the highest wave of graph
representing cardiac cycle [17].

Fig. 2. Cardiac cycle of a healthy heart.

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Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000 3

S-T interval: Segment connecting QRS complex and T wave representing the isoelectric line due to the time taken
by ventricles for repolarization after depolarization.
T-wave: This wave is the repolarization of the ventricles and the heart muscle returns to its idle state. T wave is
also known as relative refractory period.
U wave: Usually absent in normal ECG wave and is given by ventricular muscle after potentials.
The normal beat of healthy heart is between 60 to 100 beats/minute. Numerical values of each part of ECG signal
as in [10], [13]:

Table 1. Amplitude of respective parts of ECG waveform

PARTS OF ECG SIGNAL AMPLITUDE OF
PARTS (mV)
P wave 0.25
Q wave 25% R wave
R wave 1.60
S wave 0.8
T wave 0.1 to 0.5

Table 2. Time of occurrence of parts of ECG wave.

PARTS OF ECG SIGNAL DURATION OF
PARTS (ms)
P wave 100 to 110
Q wave 30
S wave 50
T wave 42
QRS complex 50 to 110
QRS interval 40 to 120
P-R interval 120 to 200
Q-T interval 350 to 440
S-T interval 50 to 150
P-QRS interval 90

3. Heart Pathology

The deviation of heart valves from its normal action is a sign of Heart pathology and it is responsible for serious
heart issues like Cardiac Arrhythmia [18]. This condition is caused may be due to the comparatively changed
concentration of Na+, K+, Ca+ and Mg+ from the normal concentration across the myocardial cells [12]. Since cardiac
disease is an emotive area it is motivating to find new techniques for better diagnosis and therapy at an early stage
[13]. Hence detection of abnormal ECG that leads to cardiac arrhythmia helps in curing it in the beginner stage itself.
Some pathologies responsible for serious cardiac arrhythmia are:
Hypokalemia and Hyperkalemia – Hypokalemia is the case when level of potassium is less than 3.6mmol per L
and Hyperkalemia is the case when serum potassium level more than 5mmol per L in adults [11]. Hypokalemia can
cause dangerously arrhythmic diseases in normal hearts and Hypokalemia potentiates the condition causing
arrhythmic effects in diseased hearts [16]. The result of untreated hyperkalemia is ventricular myocardium
depolarization which ultimately ends in ventricular fibrillation.
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4 Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000

Dextrocardia – It is a rare congenital heart condition where the pointing of the heart is towards right side of the
chest opposite to the normal case. Usually occurs alongside serious complicated heart defects. Electrocardiogram
(ECG) and chest X-ray are two major tools used to detect the abnormality.
Angina pectoris – The pressure or pain felt in chest due to lack of supply of required oxygenated blood to heart
muscles [14]. Angina is a symptom of coronary heart disease (CHD) called ischemia and coronary microvascular
disease (MVD) called cardiac syndrome X [15].

4. Related Works

The design of normal ECG simulators have been practiced during past years based on various techniques. In [3] a
model to synthesize ECG signals that can derive information from clinical data is established using three coupled
ordinary differential equation. In [4], synthetic ECG signals have been modeled using a state space which is based on
Gaussian wave. This might be most useful to achieve realistic synthetic ECG and to separate P, QRS and T, hence is
good to generate arrhythmias. In [5], simple, affordable and easily implemented model generating synthetic ECG by
giving mathematical control over signal. In [6], the paper gives the simulation of electrocardiograms (ECG)
numerically. Here a mathematical model has been established on partial differential equations providing realistic 12-
lead ECGs. In [7], ECG simulator is mathematically modeled using Fourier series using MATLAB software producing
normal waveform of lead II ECG. Thus gives a comparatively less complicated model to generate synthetic ECG
signal [9].
The above techniques gives the normal ECG but a physician mainly needs a model of diseased ECG to actively
identify the pathology and hence proceed to early cure.

5. Methodology

In signal processing the first step toward study of any data is to extract features of the data [20]. In this paper we
mainly consider the simulation of abnormal ECG signals of diseases that ultimately causes arrhythmia. Such three
ECG signals of heart pathology are simulated by extracting the characteristic of the respected waves from real time
data. On the basis of the model in [12] shown by a flow chart below, followed the technique to simulate pathological
ECG signal models.

Fig. 3. Flow chart representing the synthesis of Normal ECG.

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Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000 5

Each part of the ECG signal called its feature is designed using measurements which are taken from the usual
biological constants of the pathologies separately. The simulation process of each feature is done with the help of a
MATLAB software program. The simulator is based on Fourier series approximation of each feature of ECG signal.
ECG waveform is periodic in nature with fundamental frequency as heartbeat and mainly the signal satisfies the
Dirichlets condition which is the main criteria for a wave to be represented using Fourier series [21]. Each feature of
ECG signifies specific function of heart valves [8]. If we mathematically model each feature as mathematical
functions then they can be expressed as Fourier series [22]. Thus the Fourier series of the parts represented
graphically gives the PQRST wave. The model mainly concentrates on the basic features distorted from normal ECG
parts. Hence the distortion of all features of the pathological ECG are closely examined and values are depicted from
basic biological characteristic of the wave. On basis of this we model three pathologies, namely Hypokalemia and
Hyperkalemia, Dextrocardia, Angina pectoris, which stands as a serious initial cause that leads to cardiac arrhythmia.
The resulting model fits the pathology for which it is modelled and helps in being a reference in future for detecting
the three pathologies considered here. Hence plays an active role in detecting arrhythmia at an early possible stage.

6. Simulation of ECG of Heart Pathology

The cardiac diseases model features has minimum intervention from the features of normal ECG synthesized
using Fourier series [12] as given in section IV and Fig 3 of this paper.
We use the MATLAB software as the working platform to simulate the abnormal synthetic ECG. The amplitude
and time of occurrence of waves depends mainly on the constants of the model (Table 3). The model take normal
heart rate to be 72beats per minute and the ECG is simulated for a time period of approximately five seconds.

Table 3. Constants of the model.

Waves Constants Value
P wave a 0.25
d 0.09
t 0.16
Q wave a 0.125
d 0.03
t 0.06
R wave a 1.6
d 0.11
S wave a 0.25
d 0.066
t 0.06
T wave a 0.35
d 0.142
t 0.2
U wave a 0.035
d 0.0476
t 0.433
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6 Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000

Fig. 4. Synthetic Normal ECG.

7. Results

Hypokalemia and Hyperkalemia: ECG of hyperkalemia has flat and wide P wave, tedious PR interval, broaden
QRS interval and tall T wave. In case of hypokalemia only change from the above features is that the T wave
inverts and u wave is prolonged. The T wave rises below in amplitude such that it becomes half the amplitude of the
preceding R wave.

Dextrocardia: An ECG showing reversed or inverted electrical activity waves usually depicts the condition of
dextrocardia. The first positive wave, P wave is inverted in the ECG hence it shows negative P wave.

Angina Pectoris: The main feature of ECG is the dip in the ST segment which is normally a flat line like isoelectric
line.

Fig. 5. Synthetic Hyperkalemia ECG. Fig. 6. Synthetic Hypokalemia ECG.

Fig. 7. Synthetic Dextrocardia ECG. Fig. 8. Synthetic Angina Pectoris ECG.

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Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000 7

8. Conclusion

Synthetic ECG simulator modelling is one of the challenging tasks in biomedical field because of its simulation
time and numerical complexity.
Hence in this paper the ECG signal model based on mathematical modeling using Fourier series has been
considered due to its minimum complex nature. ECG feature characteristics extracted from real biomedical data is
used in shaping the model parts. Simulation of pathological ECG is done in MATLAB programming environment
using the mentioned methodology in section VI of this paper. The implication of this simulation may be helpful for
cardiac patient to identify heart malfunctioning by comparing their ECG with the simulated one. Hence they can treat
cardiac arrhythmia at a very early stage as the model is of the pathologies that leads to serious arrhythmia condition
of the heart. Further work can be concentrated in detection of heart disorders and pathological feature variation in
ECG signals using numerical synthetic model. Moreover to include both time and frequency of pathological ECG
signal in the model we have to replace Fourier transform with wavelet transform which would be an active scope for
future study in this area [21],[22].

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