ECG is a simple signal, but few ECG devices can provide raw data and show ECG signal while running. Most are also commercial medical devices - over-engineered, bulky and expensive. Having worked with biosignals, particularly ECG, on several commercial projects, we decided to create our own - simple, efficient, and open source.
Thus, uECG was born. It can stream realtime ECG signal via BLE or transmit to a desktop PC, using a simple (nRF52832-based) USB receiver that translates radio signal into virtual COM port data stream.
Our goal was a low cost, low weight, high signal quality open hardware wearable that anyone could use. uECG is intended for makers, students or citizen scientists who want to use biosignals to do practical research - or just create things. It can also be useful as a diagnostic device for medical professionals in remote areas, without access to medical technology. And it’s open hardware - so anyone can build their own, or modify an existing one.
uECG has snap connectors that accept any single-use wet electrodes, as well as HRM straps or reusable electrodes. In a 3D-printed case, it is simple and can be worn for long periods of time. It’s relatively low-powered - enough for 9 hours of battery life at 100 mAh - so weight is also low, about 9 grams.
The system is based on MCP3911 front-end - originally developed for energy metering, but it performs nicely in our case too. It also has an AD8606 buffer precision opamp, an nRF52832 SoC for Bluetooth/RF and signal processing, and a VOS617B-7T optocouple to connect other devices (LEDs are one example, everyone loves them). Without LED indication, device uses less than 10mA even during BLE transmission at 125 Hz. For PC transmission, our custom radio protocol is used at 1 kHz.
The firmware uses our own filtering algorithm to filter out mains noise (both 50 Hz and 60 Hz, without distorting high frequency components of ECG), resulting in a clear, readable ECG graph you can use for anything. The signal quality of this setup is quite high - but there will be more on that in logs.
Here's what you need to build uECG (base station is for streaming to PC, not necessary for smartphone):
PCB files:
uECG v4 PCB design
uECG v4 gerbers
uECG v4 BOM
Base station PCB design
Base station gerbers
Firmware:
uECG firmware
Base station firmware
Firmware build and upload instruction
Android app and desktop tool:
Android app source code
Android app compiled
PC tool source code
Enclosure:
FreeCAD model
Top part for printing
Bottom part for printing
Wearables are the trend right now and glad that you made one. Fantastic! https://thequantumdaily.com/