Motion artefact reduction for reflection-mode photoplethysmography

Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a technique that uses light to measure the local changes in blood-volume in subjects (predominantly humans). Multiple useful statistics can be gained from such a measurement; heart-rate and it's variability, blood-oxygen saturation and even an estimation of blood p...

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Main Author: Butler, Matthew J.
Format: Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/52390/
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author Butler, Matthew J.
author_facet Butler, Matthew J.
author_sort Butler, Matthew J.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a technique that uses light to measure the local changes in blood-volume in subjects (predominantly humans). Multiple useful statistics can be gained from such a measurement; heart-rate and it's variability, blood-oxygen saturation and even an estimation of blood pressure, to name but a few. Compared to other measurement techniques, photoplethysmography is favourable as it is both non-invasive, since nothing physical penetrates the subjects skin, and safe, as the subject is galvanically isolated from the test equipment (additional benefits also exist). Motion artefacts (errors in the measured signal caused by physical movement) are the largest source of error when photoplethysmographic measurements are made, and with the majority of applications involving some form of movement, a motion-tolerant PPG extraction technique would allow for more precise recordings/research/diagnosis etc. This thesis presents the development of an improved photoplethysmography technique that has increased resilience to motion. The developed technique uses multiple PPG measurements at different locations to reconstruct a single PPG signal. It is shown that despite the signals being taken in close proximity to each other (less than 3 cm separation between the farthest elements), the variation in the signals gives sufficient redundancy to extract the uncorrupted PPG to a much higher accuracy using Independent Component Analysis, achieving in the worst case, a 78% reduction in the calculated artefact presence (using quality calculating functions, also presented). As the vast majority of existing PPG systems use a single sensing element, it is hypothesised that such systems cannot be used to accurately and continuously detect the PPG for most motion types and severities. A working prototype of the developed system is demonstrated and directly compared to a single-channel system, showing its effectiveness.
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format Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
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institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
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language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T20:24:10Z
publishDate 2018
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spelling nottingham-523902025-02-28T14:10:22Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/52390/ Motion artefact reduction for reflection-mode photoplethysmography Butler, Matthew J. Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a technique that uses light to measure the local changes in blood-volume in subjects (predominantly humans). Multiple useful statistics can be gained from such a measurement; heart-rate and it's variability, blood-oxygen saturation and even an estimation of blood pressure, to name but a few. Compared to other measurement techniques, photoplethysmography is favourable as it is both non-invasive, since nothing physical penetrates the subjects skin, and safe, as the subject is galvanically isolated from the test equipment (additional benefits also exist). Motion artefacts (errors in the measured signal caused by physical movement) are the largest source of error when photoplethysmographic measurements are made, and with the majority of applications involving some form of movement, a motion-tolerant PPG extraction technique would allow for more precise recordings/research/diagnosis etc. This thesis presents the development of an improved photoplethysmography technique that has increased resilience to motion. The developed technique uses multiple PPG measurements at different locations to reconstruct a single PPG signal. It is shown that despite the signals being taken in close proximity to each other (less than 3 cm separation between the farthest elements), the variation in the signals gives sufficient redundancy to extract the uncorrupted PPG to a much higher accuracy using Independent Component Analysis, achieving in the worst case, a 78% reduction in the calculated artefact presence (using quality calculating functions, also presented). As the vast majority of existing PPG systems use a single sensing element, it is hypothesised that such systems cannot be used to accurately and continuously detect the PPG for most motion types and severities. A working prototype of the developed system is demonstrated and directly compared to a single-channel system, showing its effectiveness. 2018-07-13 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en arr https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/52390/1/MJButler%20-%20PhD%20Thesis.pdf Butler, Matthew J. (2018) Motion artefact reduction for reflection-mode photoplethysmography. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. Photoplethysmography; Motion; Artefact; Heartrate
spellingShingle Photoplethysmography; Motion; Artefact; Heartrate
Butler, Matthew J.
Motion artefact reduction for reflection-mode photoplethysmography
title Motion artefact reduction for reflection-mode photoplethysmography
title_full Motion artefact reduction for reflection-mode photoplethysmography
title_fullStr Motion artefact reduction for reflection-mode photoplethysmography
title_full_unstemmed Motion artefact reduction for reflection-mode photoplethysmography
title_short Motion artefact reduction for reflection-mode photoplethysmography
title_sort motion artefact reduction for reflection-mode photoplethysmography
topic Photoplethysmography; Motion; Artefact; Heartrate
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/52390/