Geometric approch to biomedical signal processing: ballistocardiografic monitoring of vital functions

Abstract

We present a new mathematical technique of biomedical data processing, based on the knowledge of differential geometry of curves. The efficiency of the method is demonstrated using real and simulated ballistocardiographic data.

The basic vital functions - heart and respiration rates - have been extracted from the data measured by a special bed equipped with mechanical sensors. Simulated data are used to show the robustness of the method with respect to possible very low signal-to-noise ratio.

Keywords

• ballistocardiography
• differential geometry
• vital functions