On the performance of AS-LMS based Adaptive Filter
for Reduction of Motion Artifacts from PPG Signals
M. Raghu Ram1, K. Venu Madhav2, E. Hari Krishna3, Nagarjuna Reddy Komalla4, K. Ashoka Reddy5
1,2,5
Dept. of E&I Engg., Kakatiya Institute of Technology & Science, Warangal, Andhra Pradesh, India.
3
Dept. of ECE, KU CE&T, Kakatiya University, Warangal, Andhra Pradesh, India.
4
Dept. of Anesthesiology, Govt. MGM hospitals, Warangal, Andhra Pradesh, India.
1
Email: ramcapri@yahoo.co.uk, 2 kotturvenu@yahoo.com, 3 hari_etta@yahoo.co.in, 4 sharanyanh@gmail.com, 5 reddy.ashok@yahoo.com
Abstract – A Photoplethysmographic (PPG) signal is invariably
corrupted with motion artifacts (MA) due to voluntary or
involuntary movements of the patient. PPG is a non-invasive
signal, used for the estimation of arterial blood oxygen saturation
(SpO2), which helps the physician to know the hypoxic status of
patient during clinical investigations. This paper presents an
efficient Adaptive Step- size Least Mean Squares (AS-LMS)
based adaptive filter for reducing the MA from corrupted PPG
signals. The novelty of the proposed algorithm lies in the fact that
a synthetic noise reference signal for adaptive filtering,
representing MA noise, is generated internally from the MA
corrupted PPG signal itself instead of using any additional
hardware such as accelerometer or source-detector pair for
acquiring noise reference signal. Convergence analysis, SNR
calculations and Statistical analysis revealed that the proposed
AS-LMS algorithm has a clear edge over the Time-Varying Step-
size LMS (TVS-LMS) and Constant Step-size LMS (CS-LMS)
based adaptive algorithms for MA reduction from PPG signals.
Experimental results, for the PPG data recorded with different
motion artifacts (Horizontal, Vertical and Bending motion of
finger), demonstrated the efficacy of the proposed algorithm in
MA reduction and thus making it best suitable for real-time pulse
oximetry applications.
Keywords- PPG, MA, AS-LMS Adaptive Filter.
I. INTRODUCTION
Photoplethysmography, a noninvasive technique, is
frequently used in clinical investigations for the measurement
of heart rate and arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2). PPG is a
pulsatile waveform acquired from pulse oximeter using simple
inexpensive optical sensors (red and IR PPG sensors). The
simplest PPG sensor consists of an infrared LED and a photo
detector placed in a small plastic housing. The sensor is
applied to the skin by means of a double-faced adhesive ring.
The sensor can be either of transmitting type or reflecting
type. The pulsatile portions of red and IR PPG signals may be
used for reliable estimation of accurate SpO2. The part of
detected PPG signal due to the arterial blood appears pulsatile
in nature at the heart rate. The pulsatile portion of the PPG
arises due to the light passing through arterial blood and hence
has information contained in the arterial blood flow like; heart
rate, heart rate variability, respiration and blood pressure to
name a few [1]. Reliable and accurate estimation of SpO2
requires clean artifact-free PPG signals with clearly separable
DC and AC parts. The main cause for deterioration of
accuracy in pulse oximeters is the corrupted portions created
in the detected PPG signals with voluntary or involuntary
movements (motion artifacts) of patient. While in process,
978-1-4244-7935-1/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE
even slightest movement of patient disturbs the PPG signal,
resulting in inaccurate estimation of SpO2. Hence, reduction of
motion artifact (MA) has been a challenging pulse oximetry
problem, ever since its invention, for a reliable estimation of
SpO2.
Signal processing techniques are efficiently used for MA
reduction from the corrupted PPG signals. Since the frequency
spectrum of this noise (MA) overlaps frequency spectrum of
the desired signal (artifact-free PPG), traditional filtering
methods fail to remove the noise. To some extent, effect of
motion artifacts can be reduced by displaying the average
value of several SpO2 readings, which is a typical procedure
followed by the manufacturers of commercial pulse oximeters.
To deal with this challenging problem, several methods
were proposed for MA reduction. The most common
technique employed for the MA reduction is the moving
average method [2]. But, it works well only for a limited range
of artifacts. Practically, the in-band noise due to MA
corruption can be successfully reduced with the use of
adaptive filters [3]-[5], by keeping in view of simplicity and
advantages like faster response time, avoidance of pulse
segmentation and ability to continue processing under MA
conditions. Use of a synthetic reference signal estimated from
the artifact-free part of the PPG signal [6] was also reported
for reducing motion artifact. Significant improvements were
observed by applying time-frequency methods like smoothed
pseudo Wigner-Ville distribution [7], making use of the non-
stationary nature of the PPG signals. In this paper, we present
a simple and efficient adaptive technique, focusing on accurate
reconstruction of the signal waveform, which automatically
help in better estimation of SpO2, rather on attempting to
stabilize saturation estimates. The proposed adaptive
technique utilizes AS-LMS algorithm for MA reduction. In
general, extra hardware like additional source-detector pair or
accelerometer are employed for generating a reference signal
for adaptive filtering application to PPG signals [3]-[5]. The
novelty of the proposed method lies in the very fact that a
synthetic noise reference signal is generated from the recorded
PPG data itself.
II. MOTION ARTIFACT REDUCTION
Adaptive filters are proved to be best filters in noise
cancellation by self adjusting the filter coefficients based on
an adaptive algorithm, or close-loop adaptation. Different
algorithms [8] may be employed to adapt the weights w of the
filter, with an attempt to minimize the Mean Square Error
(MSE) performance function. The LMS adaptive algorithm
(may be CS-LMS or TVS-LMS or AS-LMS) attempts to
minimize the MSE cost function. LMS Adaptive technique
for MA reduction can be clearly described using the block
diagram shown in Fig. 1
S(n) + N (n) + e (n)
¦
MA corrupted
- MA reduced
PPG signal
Reference N̂ (n)
Signal Adaptive
Filter
Generation
CS-LMS/ TVS-LMS
/AS-LMS Algorithm
Figure 1. Motion artifact reduction using LMS technique
A. Synthetic Noise Reference Signal Generation:
This constitutes the novel part of the proposed method. A
synthetic noise reference signal is generated for use in
proposed adaptive filtering technique without using any extra
hardware. It is generated from the motion corrupted PPG
signal in the following way. The frequency spectrum of MA
corrupted PPG signal consists of various frequency
components viz., the pulsatile (cardiac) portion (0.5-4 Hz),
respiratory activity (0.2-0.35 Hz) and MA noise component
(0.1 Hz or more) information. By setting the co-efficients of
cardiac and respiratory activity frequency components in the
spectrum of MA corrupted PPG to zero, a modified spectrum
corresponding to noise is obtained. By applying inverse
Fourier transform to this modified spectrum, a synthetic noise
reference signal, representing motion artifact, is generated.
B. MA Reduction using LMS Adaptive Technique
i) CS-LMS Algorithm
The LMS algorithm, makes use of instantaneous estimate
of the gradient to search the minimum of the error surface,
can be described using the following three equations.
y ( n) = wT ( n)u ( n) : Filter output (1)
e(n) = d (n) − y (n) : Error formation
w(n + 1) = w(n) + μ e(n)u (n) : Weight vector update (3)
where u(n) is the filter input, e(n) is the error incurred by
the adaptive filter, d(n) being the desired output of the filter
and μ is the step size used in the weight vector updation.
ii) TVS-LMS algorithm
Selection of constant step-size parameter, μ, which controls
the stability and convergence speed, is very critical in case of
simple CS-LMS algorithm. In order to improve the
characteristics of LMS based adaptive filter, the time varying
step-size LMS algorithm may be employed. The complete
algorithm can be described using the following equations.
y ( n) = wT ( n)u ( n) : Filter output (4)
e(n) = d (n) − y (n) : Error formation (5)
w(n + 1) = w(n) + μn e(n)u (n) : Weight vector update (6)
μn = α n × μ0 : Time varying step size
1 (1+ a n b )
αn = C : Decaying factor
Where C, a, b are positive constants that will determine the
magnitude and rate of decrease of α n . Accordingly, C has to
be a positive number larger than 1, when C=1, α n will be
equal to 1 and new algorithm will be same as conventional
Ŝ(n) LMS algorithm and μ0 is initial step size.
(iii) AS-LMS algorithm
PPG signal In a non-stationary environment, minimum cost function
(Jmin) takes a time varying form and step size control plays an
important role in the variability of the estimates and algorithm
convergence time. Furthermore, due to the presence of a
gradient noise in the LMS algorithm, the tap weight vector
follows a Brownian movement around the minimum point of
error performance rather than terminating on the Weiner
solution. AS-LMS algorithm is developed similar to CS-LMS;
a fourth equation is added to the set of three LMS equations
(1)-(3) to adaptively update the step size parameter:
μ (n + 1) = μ (n) + ρ e(n) γ H (n) u(n) (9)
H
where Ȗ is the gradient vector defined as the partial derivative
of the weight vector at a sample (iteration) with respect to the
step size parameter of the same sample.
γ (n) = ∂ w(n) ∂ μ (n) (10)
and ȡ is a small positive constant which controls the update of
the step size parameter. Inclusion of gradient vector results in
better tracking performance in terms of convergence time, by
updating the step size parameter and then reducing the error
estimate in each iteration.
Proposed AS-LMS based Adaptive MA reduction
technique can be clearly described using the block diagram
shown in Fig. 2. By efficiently processing both the generated
synthetic noise reference signal data and MA corrupted PPG
signal information using the AS-LMS adaptive algorithm, MA
recovered PPG signal can be obtained.
FIR Filter
γ +
u (n) e (n)
Z −1 W (n) γ (n) ¦
−
(2)
LMS
update
Figure 2. Motion Artifact reduction using AS-LMS adaptive technique
Using AS-LMS adaptive algorithm, MA noise is removed
by estimating the noise reference signal and adapting the filter
coefficients based on filter order. The necessary equations to
implement the proposed method are given below:
Sˆ (n) = S (n) + N (n) − Nˆ (n) (11)
Nˆ (n) = ¦
L
wi N R (n − i ) (12)
i =0
wi (n + 1) = wi (n) + 2 μ n S (n) N R (n − i ) (13)
where i: 0,1,2,...,L, L : filter order, S(n) + N(n): MA corrupted
PPG signal, Ŝ (n) =e(n) : MA recovered PPG signal, N̂ (n):
Estimated noise reference signal, and NR(n) : Synthetic noise
(7) reference signal.
(8)
 III.
A clip-on type PPG sensor, housing a red LED and an IR
LED on one side and a photodiode detector on the other side
was designed and developed to record Photoplethysmographic
signals from different volunteers and is interfaced to the signal
conditioning circuitry as shown in Fig. 3. The red and IR PPG
signals (samples of red and IR detector voltages) are acquired,
at a sampling rate of 200 Hz, using NI-DAQPad-6015 data
acquisition system manufactured by National Instruments. To
evaluate the performance of the proposed method, frequently
encountered artifacts (horizontal, vertical and bending motions
of finger) during post-operative recovery and intensive care
were created intentionally during the PPG data recording
process from volunteers. A typical PPG signal corrupted with
horizontal motion of finger is depicted in Fig. 4. Before
application of MA reduction algorithms, their performance can
be evaluated in terms of MSE measure with respect to the
number of iterations. The performance curves shown in Fig.5
clearly indicates that AS-LMS algorithm has faster
convergence rate with minimum MSE.
SIMULATION RESULTS reduced PPGs in Fig. 6(e1) to Fig. 8(e1), clearly indicate the
reduction of motion noise components restoring all the
required essential morphological features of the PPG. In
essence, the very fact is that most of the MA reduction
algorithms essentially disturb and sometimes remove the
respiratory frequency component (0.2Hz-0.35 Hz), which is
close to the MA band of the PPG signal. The computed spectra
of MA recovered PPG in Fig. 6(e2) to Fig. 8(e2), indicates a
clear suppression of frequency components corresponding to
the motion artifacts without disturbing the pulsatile and
respiratory components. However, visual inspection of
filtered outputs did not reveal much information about the
efficacy of the proposed method.
Hence, for performance evaluation of all the techniques
based on CS-LMS, TVS-LMS and AS-LMS algorithms, the
statistical analysis is carried out in terms of mean + SD of
peak-to-peak values of the PPG cycles obtained after applying
the respective methods on MA corrupted PPG signals.
Performance results are tabulated in Table I. The peak-to-
peak values of recovered PPG cycles using AS-LMS
algorithm are very close to the clean sections of the PPG.
5 200
(a2)
(a1)
5 0
3 100
(b2)
(b1) 0
Amplitude (V)

-4
100

Magnitude
5
(c2)
Figure 3. Developed prototype PPG analog front-end (c1) 0
-5
5 100
10
(d2)
(d1)
-5 0
IR PPG 5 100
(e2)
(e1)
Amplitude (V)

-5 0
0 10 20 30 35 0 1 2 3 4 5
Time (S) Frequency (Hz)
Figure 6. IR PPG with “Horizontal motion of finger”: (a1) MA corrupted
RED PPG PPG (b1) Generated synthetic noise reference signal (c1) MA recovered PPG
using CS-LMS (d1) MA recovered PPG using TVS-LMS (e1) MA recovered
-10
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 PPG using AS-LMS and their corresponding spectra in (a2)-(e2)
Time (S)
3 400
Figure 4. MA corrupted PPG data recorded from a volunteer
(a2)
0
-3 (a1) 0
Constant Step Size LMS (CS-LMS)
-100
Time Varying Step Size LMS (TVS-LMS) 1 200
Adaptive Step Size LMS (AS-LMS) (b2)
(b1)
-200 0
Mean Squre Error (dB)

-1
Amplitude (V)

1 100
Magnitude

-300
(c2)
-400 -1 (c1) 0
1 200
-500
(d2)
(d1)
-600 -1 0
1 200
-700
0 200 400 600 800 1000 0 (e2)
No. of Iterations
-1 (e1) 0
Figure 5. Mean Square Error against the number of Iterations 0 20 40 0 2 4
Time (S) Frequency (Hz)
With thorough experimental analysis on the recorded IR
PPGs, simulated output results along with their corresponding Figure 7. IR PPG with “Vertical motion of finger”: (a1) MA corrupted PPG
spectra (for typical motions of finger like Horizontal, Vertical (b1) Generated synthetic noise reference signal (c1) MA recovered PPG using
CS-LMS (d1) MA recovered PPG using TVS-LMS (e1) MA recovered PPG
and Bending motions) before and after MA reduction are using AS-LMS and their corresponding spectra in (a2)-(e2)
portrayed in Fig. 6 to Fig. 8. The recovered portions of MA
 3 500 (AC Re d /DC Re d )
(a2) R= (9)
(AC IR /DC IR )
(a1) 0
-4 Using R of (9), SpO2 is calculated using the relationship
2 400
(b2) SpO2 % = (110 − 25R) % (10)
-2 (b1) 0
Amplitude (V)

1 TABLE III. COMPUTED VALUES OF R AND SPO2 OF MA

Magnitude
200
RECOVERED PPG FOR DIFFERENT MOTIONS
(c2)
Horizontal Vertical Bending
-1 (c1) 0 motion motion motion
PPG
1 200
(d2) R SpO2 R SpO2 R SpO2
(d1) 0
-2 Clean 0.68 0.720 0.56
2 200 93̃ 92̃ 96̃
section ±0.048 ±0.059 ±0.13
(e2)
(e1) Using 0.70
92.̃
0.724
91.̃
0.6
95̃
-2 0 CS-LMS ±0.035 ±0.055 ±0.06
0 20 40 0 2 4
Time (S) Frequency (Hz) Using 0.69 0.722 0.58
92.7.̃ 91.9.̃ 95.5.̃
TVS-LMS ±0.032 ±0.051 ±0.07
Figure 8. IR PPG with “Bending motion of finger”: (a1) MA corrupted PPG
Using 0.69 0.722 0.58
(b1) Generated synthetic noise reference signal (c1) MA recovered PPG using 92.7.̃ 91.9.̃ 95.5.̃
AS-LMS ±0.029 ±0.047 ±0.07
CS-LMS (d1) MA recovered PPG using TVS-LMS (e1) MA recovered PPG
using AS-LMS and their corresponding spectra in (a2)-(e2)
IV. CONCLUSION
A. SNR Calculation
Reliable and accurate measurement of SpO2 using pulse
A figure of merit, SNR, defined as the ratio of signal oximeter is highly influenced by MA introduced in to the PPG
power to the generated noise reference power is computed for signals. Reduction of MA from PPG signals using AS-LMS
the MA corrupted and MA recovered PPG signals. Table II adaptive filtering technique is presented in this paper. The
illustrates the SNR values for the PPGs inflicted with three novelty of the method lies in the fact that a synthetic noise
different kinds of MA. The superiority of AS-LMS is clearly reference signal, representing the MA, is generated for use in
evident in representing high SNR values in all the cases. adaptive filtering without using additional hardware. Fast
convergence of AS-LMS compared to both TVS-LMS and
TABLE I. EFFECTIVENESS OF PROPOSED METHOD IN RESTORING
PEAK-TO-PEAK VALUES OF PPG
CS-LMS techniques, in addition to restoring the peak-to-peak
Horizontal Vertical Bending values of the PPG cycles by it, resulted in efficient reduction
PPG of motion artifacts from the PPG signals. Test results on the
motion motion motion
Clean 0.371 0.428 0.357 recorded PPG signals resulted in a reliable estimation of SpO2
Section ± 0.025 ± 0.045 ± 0.022 values, thus making the proposed method best suitable for
0.426 0.514 0.459 reduction of MA in pulse oximeter.
Corrupted portion
± 0.087 ± 0.107 ± 0.067
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