A multi-modal approach using a non-parametric model to extract fetal ECG

This study presents a non-parametric method to extract and separate maternal and fetal electrocardiogram (ECG) from an abdominal channel. The proposed method relies on the use of two additional reference signals related to the maternal and to the fetal ECGs. The fetal and maternal ECG contributions which exist in the abdominal channel are modeled from their respective references using a Gaussian process. Both of these signals are modeled considering a thoracic ECG reference, and an abdominal PCG reference, respectively for maternal ECG and fetal ECG. This general method provides a good behavior to extract fetal ECG as stated by the numerical experiments and shows that it can make use of 1-bit reference signals, which can be easier to record and more efficient to process.