The 2013 Biomedical Engineering International Conference (BMEiCON-2013)

Development of Piezo-electric Sensor Based Noninvasive Low Cost Arterial Pulse Analyzer
Pradip Gatkine1, Dr. Swati Gatkine2, Sushanth Poojary3, Saket Chaudhary3, Dr. Santosh Noronha3
1. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay, Powai Mumbai, India
Dept. of Occupational Therapy, Seth G. S. Medical College & K.E.M. Hospital Mumbai, India
3. Dept. of Chemical Engineering, IIT Bombay, Powai Mumbai, India
Email: pradip_gatkine@iitb.ac.in

2.

Abstract: Recent researches have demonstrated implications of

Arterial Pulse analysis from Radial and Brachial artery on
cardiovascular, renal and autonomic nervous system, as early
indicator of major ailments. We have developed a low-cost
Arterial Pulse Analyzer which provides run-time display of
Arterial Pulse waveforms during the test as well as provides
analysis of the waveforms in digitally storable format. The
dynamic pressure waves at radial and brachial arteries are
recorded non-invasively using piezoelectric ceramic plate sensors.
The parameters analyzed are: S-P-T-C-D points, Augmentation
index, pulse wave velocity, 2nd derivative analysis for arterial
ageing index, Pulse rate variability and Power Spectrum of
Pulse rate variability. The setup is portable and consists of 2
straps, one each for Radial and Brachial artery, with sensors
mounted on them. Signal Processing and Analysis is done using
Python on a Tablet PC. It is aimed to become a potential
automatic cardiovascular screening device for public health
centers in developing countries as they typically lack medical
expertise and access to diagnostic devices for cardiovascular
diseases.
Commercially available arterial pulse analyzers are not
portable and have an average cost of around 4000USD. This
system is portable, requires minimal power and cost 100USD,
several of the technologies employed being free or open-source.
Keywords Arterial Pulse, Piezoelectric Sensor, Radial,
Brachial, Cardiovascular, Python.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Variability (PRV) and its Power Spectrum [7] are important

pointers to cardiovascular health state. Thus, analysis of the
arterial pulse provides a handle on early prediction of CVDs.
Many non-invasive methods have been developed for
capturing arterial pulse signals; these include: Arterial
Tonometry, Photoplethysmography and Doppler Ultrasound.
Arterial Tonometry is most reliable for pulse shape [8]. The
commercial Arterial Pulse Analyzer called SphygmoCor uses
Arterial Tonometry. It synthesizes aortic pulse waveform in
addition to above parameters. Commercial instruments giving
similar analysis cost around 5000 while some others based on
photoplethysmography giving similar parameters of analysis
without aortic waveform synthesis cost around 4000USD.
The proposed Arterial Pulse Analyzer (APA) uses Arterial
tonometry in which the transducer is placed over the artery
position and is depressed a little to obtain clear pulse pressure
waveforms without occluding the blood flow. We use a
piezoelectric ceramic plate sensor for converting the dynamic
pulse pressure waveform into an analog signal. Signals are
sampled at 200Hz and are conditioned for noise removal and
baseline drift. A python script is written for runtime display of
signal and parameter detection. Analyzed parameters are S-PT-C-D points (Fig. 5) in the wave, AiX, PRV and power
Spectrum of PRV of the radial artery pulse wave. Pulse wave
velocity is determined using simultaneous measurement of the
radial and brachial arterial wave. The device cost is less than
100USD.

Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs) have recently been

identified as a major cause of mortality across the world. The
World Health Report 2004, by World Health Organization
(WHO) asserts that 30% of the deaths are attributable to CVDs
globally [1]. This is very comparable to the mortality due to
communicable diseases.

The paper outline is as follows. Section II describes System

Overview. Algorithms to extract parameters are discussed in
Section III. Test results are elaborated in Section IV and
conclusions in Section V.

The shape of the arterial pulse wave is a superimposition of

the forward traveling pressure wave with the wave reflected
from arterial branches. The amplitude of reflected wave
depends on arterial wall stiffness [2]. Changes in the arterial
pulse waveform are caused due to several physiological and
clinical factors such as ageing, hypertension and diabetes [3,4].
Arteriosclerosis and chronic renal failure can also be predicted
at early stages by observing pulse parameters like Peripheral
Augmentation Index (AiX) and Time to reflection (TR) [5,6].
Parameters like Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV), Pulse Rate

A. The Transducer
The Piezoelectric ceramic plate sensor used here is
manufactured by Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd. It is a
Piezoelectric Diaphragm as shown in Fig.1a and its block
diagram in Fig. 1b. This is a family of low cost pressure
transducers. These are active transducers and hence the
sensitivity and linearity are not affected by input voltage
fluctuations.

978-1-4799-1467-8/13/$31.00 2013 IEEE

II.

SYSTEM OVERVIEW

frequency 10 Hz that achieves zero

z
phase delay was designed
by applying an IIR filter to a siggnal twice, once forwards and
once backwards. Thus phase-diistortions are eliminated. The
50Hz AC mains noise is also elliminated.

Fig. 1a.Piezoelectric Sensor used Fig. 1b. Piezoelectricc sensor block diagram

When this diaphragm is subjected to a strain change by T, it

produces a polarization P across the electrrode and the plate
which is given by:
P = d T, where d is piezoelectric strain coonstant
d

D. Baseline Drift Cancellationn

The baseline of the sensor changes slowly during
data acquisition and its behavior
b
is unpredictable. The
reasons may include hysterresis or motion artifacts due to
breathing. Its removal is necessary
n
and is achieved using
wavelet based algorithm
m. The signal was wavelet
decomposed using sym8 wavelet due to its similarity
with the pulse signal. It is observed
o
that the approximation
at 10th level of decomposittion matches very closely to the
baseline of the signal. It is appropriately removed from
signal for baseline remooval. The results of baseline
correction are shown in Figg. 3.

7.41 109 V/m for this sensor

This relation is frequency independent from

f
0-50 Hz [9].
The arterial pulse is a low frequency signnal predominantly
containing frequencies less than 10Hz. For low strains,
pressure and strain are linearly related. This ensures linearity
c
This is a
between voltage generated and pressure change.
dynamic sensor and can detect only dynam
mic component of
pressure. Hence only shape of pulse presssure wave can be
extracted and not the absolute pressure maagnitudes. Similar
transducers of various diameters as well as piezoelectric film
transducers were tested which lead to selection of this
particular size on the basis of sensitivity and reproducibility.
r
B. Data Acquisition
The data acquisition circuitry comprises of level shifter,
variable amplifier, ADC and microcontroller. It was observed
that even with the strongest beating pulse the peak to peak
w observed that
swing does not exceed 0.5V. Also it was
baseline drift is of the order of 1V peak to peak. Therefore, an
Operational Amplifier (LM 324) based leevel-shifter circuit
with non-inverting amplifier circuit was uttilized to coarsely
shift the baseline to 3.3V (shift is dependentt on selected gain)
and to adjust the gain between 1/3 to 2. The
T level shifter is
used to ensure optimum use of ADC resolution.

Fig.3. Pulse Signal befo

fore and after baseline correction

E. Operational Details
A Velcro based strap has
h been designed to flexibly
mount the sensor and ensuree substantial transfer of pressure
wave from pulse position to the sensor. An adjustable strap
is used to apply enough presssure by appropriate tightening.
This strap is usable at both Radial
R
and Brachial artery
positions. The subject is madde to lie in supine position and
relax for 5 minutes before thhe readings are taken. The pulse
pressure point is located by palpation
p
and is marked. The
marked position of the sensoor on the strap is then made to
coincide with the pulse locattion. A runtime display is used
to fix the positioning of the strap
s
where we obtain the best
signal. Then the strap is tighhtened a little so that we get a
clear waveform without occllusion of arterial blood flow.
Readings are taken for 3 minnutes. Blood pressure is
measured using a digital sphhygmomanometer (Omron Co.)
after the pulse measurement is completed.

Fig.2 Schematic of Data Acquisition Circuitry. R1=R44=R3=100K, R2 varies

from 100K to 220K. Gain = (R4/R1) (R1+R2)/(R3+R44)

C. Low pass Filtering

No electronic low pass filter has been appplied, because it is
very difficult to exactly characterize its phasee response and
thus the time-domain distortion is caused. Heence, a software
linear low pass 10th order Butterworth filter with
w cut-off

Fig.4. The picture of the setup with tablet and radial artery
strap

Next, the program searches for a zero derivative in between

these 4 critical points. They arre respectively qualified as T, C
and D points. If there are no zeeros in between, then average of
the two consecutive critical poinnts is qualified as T, C or D.

Fig.5. Characteristic SPTCD points (Source: DANT

TEST) and S-P-T-C-D
points as identified by the program (marked as dots).

III.

PARAMETER EXTRACTIION

B. 2nd Derivative Analysis:

The A-B-C-D-E points (Figg. 8) on 2nd derivative curve are
important in determining arrterial ageing [10]. We start
tracking from 5 samples befoore S(i) (since 1st maxima lies
close to S(i) ) and search for 1st, 2nd and 3rd local maxima as
well as 1st and 2nd minima on 2nd derivative curve. They
qualify respectively as A, C, E,, B and D.

After the data acquisition is initialized, the

t program waits
for 5 seconds to stabilize the system. The data is processed
within 5 seconds after data acquisition is complete.
c
A tablet
(Aakash Tablet) running Linux (Ubuntu 12.04)
1
is used as
processing and display unit to make the entirre system portable
and low cost. All parameter extraction algoritthms are described
below:
A. S-P-T-C-D Points
A representative arterial pulse signal iss shown in Fig. 4
with S-P-T-C-D points depicted. These pointts are extracted by
peak detection algorithm. It is inspired frrom [8]. The first
derivative of the signal is calculated and thhe maximum value
(M) is recorded in a data window of 5 secondds. The peaks in 1st
derivative (simple local maxima detection) that
t
are above 0.5
times the maximum value are noted (Mi). Corresponding to
mmediate previous
each such point the immediate next and im
points of zero derivative are noted which aree treated as pseudo
systolic and diastolic points (Pss, Psd). The magnitude
difference between systolic and diastolic are noted. If the
difference is within 50% of the difference corresponding to
maximum 1st derivative point (M), then thhe Pss and Psd are
qualified as real systolic and diastolic poinnts. This algorithm
showed remarkable accuracy of 90% on an avverage.
After S and P points, the algorithm for T-C-D
T
is described
below:
Start point P(i)
Find immediate
st
next maxima of 1
derivative
Find immediate
st
next minima of 1
derivative
Find immediate
next maximum of
st
1 derivative
Find immediate
st
next minimum of 1
derivative

Fig.7 2nd Derivative with A-B-C

C-D-E points (identified as dots by the
program) and the corresponding Puulse signal

C. Peripheral Augmentation Inndex (pAiX)

This is the Augmentation index evaluated at peripheral
arteries such as Radial artery. Itt is defined as [10]:
pAix =
=

(Pressure at T)
T / (Pressure at P) 100

 

 


100

The blood pressure measurred at brachial artery is supplied

to the program to find out pAiX
X.
D. Pulse Rate and Pulse Rate Variability (PRV)
Interpulse interval is deterrmined by taking differences in
the time of S points of consecutive waves. Pulse rate (beats
i evaluated using this quantity
per unit time) at every pulse is
and is plotted as a function of beat number. This curve is
known as Pulse rate variaability. The curve is further
smoothened with cubic spline interpolation. The smoothened
curve is used for finding the poower spectrum(Fig. 8b) which is
useful to determine autonomic nervous system health state [7].

S(i+1)
reached?

END

Fig.6 Partial Flowchart of T-C-D point detection

(a)
(b)
Fig.8a. Pulse Rate Variability (inn blue line) with interpolated curve (in
green cross) ; Fig.8b. Power Specctrum of PRV

E. Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV)

We measure Brachial-Radial pulse wave velocity
(BRPWV) using this setup. One strap is appplied at the strong
amplitude position of Radial artery and othher strap at strong
amplitude position of brachial artery. Thhe subject lies in
supine position. The distance between these two sensors is
o signals by both
measured. After simultaneous acquisition of
the straps, the time difference between corrresponding pulses
P position is measured and pulse wave veloocity is calculated
by taking the mean time-delay.

d
in m/s for 5 subjects.
Fig.12. PWV as measured by the device

B. Augmentation Index:
Peripheral Augmentation indices were measured (Fig.11)
A
device and were compared
for all the individuals using APA
against the standard range of values
v
for healthy individuals for
males in age-group 20-30 yearss. (within 81.2 12.9 % ).[12]
C. Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV)
V):

Fig.9. Brachial Artery Signals (in blue) and Raddial Artery Signals (in
green) with their P points identified

IV.

TEST RESULTS

The setup has been tested on several subjects including

2 to 60. We have
males, females and diversity of age from 20
compared the credibility of the method based on three
parameters: Pulse rate, pAiX and PWV. For this, we selected 5
healthy male individuals in age group 20-30 years.
y
A. Pulse Rate:
The subjects were asked to relax in the waay described
previously and their pulse was palpated by a trained
t
physician
for 1 minute and the pulse rate was measuredd. This was
repeated 3 times with relax interval of 1 minuute and average
was taken. The average pulse rate obtained byy the APA after 3
minutes is compared.

Fig.10. Pulse Rate (beats per minute) as measured byy Physician (Blue) and
as measured by device (Red).

Fig.11. Augmentation Index (in %) as measured by the device

d
for 5 subjects

The PWV(Brachial-Radial)) was measured(Fig.12) for each

individual with APA device annd they were compared with the
standard range for both males and females. It is found that all
the values are almost within thee range (8.8 1.5m/s). [11]
CONCLLUSION
From the above testing it is clear that the proposed APA
a
which can be used in
device is a potential low cost alternative
low cost screening setups where a portable device is
indispensable. Further developpments can be done towards an
automated diagnostic device with
w
several clinical trials. We
thank Aakash Tablet team for their
t
kind support.
REFER
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