Algorithm for respiration estimation from 12-lead ECG machine

There are many techniques used for monitoring the respiratory signals, e.g., spirometer, nasal thermistor, strain gauge, and impedance plethysmography. Such techniques require special instruments. In this work, an ECG derived respiration (EDR) algorithm has been proposed for estimating the respiration signal from ordinary 12-lead ECG machine. The algorithm consists of signal processing, QRS detector and EDS values estimator. The estimator is based on the hypothesis that the respiration representative points are disposed around the preferred direction in 8-D space. When the respiratory direction is located, the method produces the EDR values. The respiratory waveform is obtained through the interpolation of such values. The performance of the algorithm had been tested with the real ECG data and compared with respiration data obtained using nasal thermistor under various breathing condition.