A CMOS analog front end design in multi-lead ECG system for ubiquitous healthcare

The electrocardiogram (ECG) is one of the most important and convenient vital signs used in ubiquitous healthcare. In many applications, portable and wearable is desirable scenario for monitoring both arrhythmia and acute coronary syndrome in home care environment. While a single lead of ECG is sufficient for monitoring arrhythmias, 12-lead ECG is desirable to monitor acute coronary syndrome, which is said main cause of cardiac sudden death. Wei et al [1, 2] has developed a method in which four-lead ECG are monitored at the patient site and standard 12-lead ECGs are synthesized and monitored at the medical center, which is considered an desirable scenario for pre-hospital care and homecare. This paper presents design considerations for implementation of synthesized 12-lead ECG. The Analog Front End (AFE) chip has designed in a 0.35 μm 2P3M Global Foundries CMOS technology, dissipating under 1 mW from a 3.3V single end supply. The chip is a build-in implementation that applies a Wilson Central Terminal (WCT) and Driven Right Leg (DRL). An extendible design is proposed to make it easy that implementation from 2-lead ECG circuit to 4-lead or even 12-lead ECG. The circuit is achieved the chip die size, with good performance for multi-lead ECG systems.