ECG Signal generator motion artifacts simulation

[AlexandraN]

Hello there,

I'm doing a project regarding the simulation of an ECG signal in Labview. I'm using the Biomedical Toolkit for the ECG generator singal and i want to simulate on that signal the most common motion artifacts that could appear on the ECG.

From what i' ve tried, i've seen that the ECG simulator can add noises (such as white noise and powerline interferences), but i want to simulate motion artifacts aswell.

Do you have any idea how could i simulate these motion artifacts (e.g. baseline wander, electrode/cable motion)?

Thank you!

[Bob_Schor]

I haven't downloaded the LabVIEW Biomedical Toolkit, so I don't know how it collects EKG signals.  What you need to do is to study the EKG code well enough to see where the "signal" is developed and how it is stored (probably as a Waveform, I would guess) and write code to create a "noise" signal with the same characteristics (number of channels, sampling interval, number of points) that you can add to your "signal" to save as "signal + noise".

You didn't provide any code for us to study.  I suspect most experienced LabVIEW developers (even those who work in biology and/or medicine) are familiar with the Biomedical Toolkit.  Can you show us how the data are acquired and saved?

Bob Schor

[AlexandraN]

Thank you!

I attached the VI with what i have done so far. I was able to induce some white noise into the ECG, but I am trying to get the waveform as in the "noise1" and "noise2" pictures (those are simulated in python). Do you have any idea how could i implement that?

[Bob_Schor]

I was able to open your VI, and am dismayed to see that the Toolkit appears to be using Express VIs, which have as their "basic data type" the Dynamic Data Type, which LabVIEW gives the appropriate name of "DDT" (i.e. a poison).

There is a Palette somewhere that lets you interact with this data type (I think it is on a page called "Express", which you can choose when you right-click on the Block Diagram -- look especially at the sub-palette called "Sig Manip").

I remember when Express VIs were introduced.  I was just learning DAQmx (which was a huge improvement over "Traditional DAQ"), and tried to use the DAQ Assistant and the DDT until I "Learn(ed) 10 Functions in NI-DAQmx and Handle 80% of your Data Acquisition Applications" (or something like that -- you can easily find it on the Web).  Ever since, I've urged LabVIEW learners to read this and avoid using what I now call the "Dreaded DAQ Assistant" (or DDA, for short).

I don't have your toolkit installed, but if I did, I'd try to figure out what the Express VI doing EKG was really doing, and would replace its code with DAQmx and more appropriate LabVIEW data types (like Waveforms rather than DDT).

Bob Schor