Video-based heart rate measurement from human faces

The paper describes a video-based heart rate detection system that enables contact-free determination of a person´s physical behavior under relaxed and active conditions. The heart rate or heart rate variation is an important measure for phases of human activity or relaxation. The common ways of measurement such as finger pulse amplitude and Heart Rate Belt sensor technologies are not applicable since their usability is limited in every day use. Our system uses face detection for ROI constrained near-realtime signal analysis. The experimental environment has been tested on a personal computer workplace. Although, with some optimization it can be easily ported to a mobile phone with an integrated camera.