Prototype of a wearable system for remote fetal monitoring during pregnancy

Fetal Heart Rate (FHR) monitoring gives important information about the fetus health state during pregnancy. This paper presents a new prototype for remote fetal monitoring. The device will allow to monitor FHR in a domiciliary context and to send fetal ECG traces to a hospital facility, where clini...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:2010 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology 2010-01, p.5815-5818
Main Authors: Fanelli, A, Ferrario, M, Piccini, L, Andreoni, G, Matrone, G, Magenes, G, Signorini, M G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biomedical monitoring
Electrocardiography
Electrodes
Fetal heart rate
Field programmable gate arrays
Monitoring
Signal to noise ratio
Online Access:Request full text
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Summary:Fetal Heart Rate (FHR) monitoring gives important information about the fetus health state during pregnancy. This paper presents a new prototype for remote fetal monitoring. The device will allow to monitor FHR in a domiciliary context and to send fetal ECG traces to a hospital facility, where clinicians can interpret them. In this way the mother could receive prompt feedback about fetal wellbeing. The system is characterized by two units: (i) a wearable unit endowed with textile electrodes for abdominal ECG recordings and with a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) board for fetal heart rate (FHR) extraction; (ii) a dock station for the transmission of the data through the telephone line. The system will allow to reduce costs in fetal monitoring, improving the assessment of fetal conditions. The device is actually in development state. In this paper, the most crucial aspects behind its fulfillment are discussed.
ISSN:1094-687X
1558-4615
DOI:10.1109/IEMBS.2010.5627470