OpenBCI As a Reference ECG Device to Test the Accuracy of HRMs?

Last Updated on October 2, 2022 by pg@petergamma.org

The iWorx TA 220 is for us personally a complicated device which is build from two different entities.

• The iWorx ECG toolbox allows no scripting

• the iWorx TA2020 can be connected to Matlab

• we do not know whether it is possible to connect the device to Python

• An OpenBCI Cyton or Ganglion boards offer 4-8 channels with 24 bit sampling rate and Lab Streaming Layer Interface, which can be connected to Matlab or Python

• there are ECG toolboxes available for Matlab

• there are ECG and PPG toolboxes available for Python

• Peter Charlton, Biomedical Engineer specialising in signal processing for wearables tests the performance of algorithms for PPG signals in Matlab

• different algorithms for instance for Respiratory Rate Estimation can be tested in Matlab but also in Python

• A device with a quality which is comparable to an iWorx TA220 can be built with an OpenBCI Ganglion or Cyton board, has shown here:

ECG from OpenBCI with 3 & 5 electrodes with up to 4 digital channels with noise reduction

• If one is evaluating a device to test the accuracy of HRMs, and none of the devices can be recommended in all aspects, the question arrises whether it is not the best solution to build a new device from scratch and test it for this purpose, based for instance on OpenBCI.