Contact-free Measurement of Heart Rate Variability via a Microwave Sensor.docVIP

Sensors 2009, 9, 9572-9581; doi:10.3390/OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 /journal/sensors Article Contact-free Measurement of Heart Rate Variability via a Microwave Sensor Guohua Lu 1,#, Fang Yang 2,#, Yue Tian 3,#, Xijing Jing 1 and Jianqi Wang 1,* 1 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Fourth Military Medical University, Xian, 710032, China; E-Mails: lugh1976@ (G.L.); fmmujxj@163.com (X.J.) 2 Department of Experimental Teaching Centre, Fourth Military Medical University, Xian, 710032, China; E-Mail: yfjiaoxue@ 3 Department of Medical Instruments, Xijing Hospitals, Xian, 710032, China; E-Mail: touchty@ # The first three authors contributed equally to this work and should be regarded as co-first authors. * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: dianzix@; Tel.: +86-29-8477-9259; Fax: +86-29-8477-9259. Received: 19 October 2009; in revised form: 23 November 2009 / Accepted: 23 November 2009 / Published: 30 November 2009 Abstract: Measures of heart rate variability (HRV) are widely used to assess autonomic nervous system (ANS) function. HRV can be recorded via electrocardiography (ECG), which is both non-invasive and widely available. However, ECG needs three electrodes touching the body of the subjects, which makes them feel nervous and uncomfortable, thus potentially affecting the recording. Contact-free detection of the heartbeat via a microwave sensor constitutes another means of determining the timing of cardiac cycles by continuous monitoring of mechanical contraction of the heart. This technique can measure the heartbeat without any electrodes touching human body and penetrate the clothes at some distances, which in some instances may prove a practical basis for HRV analysis. Comparison of 5-minute recordings demonstrated that there were no significant differences in the temporal, frequency domains and in non-linear dynamic analysis of HRV measures derived from