An IoT based ECG system to diagnose cardiac pathologies for healthcare applications in smart cities

The present paper aims to describe the project and development of an ECG monitoring system which is able to diagnose specific cardiac pathologies by adapting the processing algorithm to the monitored patient. The system can work standalone by providing the final diagnosis to the patient by a LEDs set. In addition, an IoT based architecture allows the system to share data and diagnosis with a remote cardiologist in real-time or to store data in a FTP folder, as an Holter monitor, for post-processing and further analysis. The system consists of two sections: the digital one, based on the National Instruments MyRIO, digitalises the signal and processes it in real-time to make a diagnosis on possible occurring cardiac pathologies (bradycardia, tachycardia, infarction, ischemia); the analog section, which performs the acquisition, amplification, and preliminary filtering of a 3-leads electrocardiographic signal. The processing algorithm has been developed in NI LabVIEW environment. The main contribution to the state of the art is due to two removable and updatable memory devices. A first memory has been used to store clinical and personal data of patient so to configure the computing algorithm and adapt it to the monitored patient. A second memory has been used to store accuracy and uncertainty specifications of the ECG system in order to improve the reliability of the final diagnosis. The system aims to provide an electrocardiographic monitoring system for healthcare applications in the smart city context. The possibility to monitor constantly the patient health state at home is an important challenge of the next future smart cities. IoT and automation are the main aspects of the proposed system. Patients having chronic heart diseases need frequent hospitalizations to check their heart health. In this scenario, the proposed system is an Ambient Assisted Living solution developed to encourage the independent life of cardiac subjects by supporting his/her care and wellness during the daily life.