Demo: BCG Measurement by differential Sensing in Real-Time

Ulf Kulau, Jochen Rust, Urs-Vito Albrecht

Abstract: We propose a comprehensive health monitoring of astronauts which is based on Ballistocardiography (BCG). BCG uses high-precision accelerometers to measure the motion of the heart at the body surface. In contrast to conventional methods (e.g. Electrocardiography (ECG)), BCG enables the derivation of heart-related parameters that can otherwise only be recorded by imaging methods such as echocardiography. A huge issue is the signal quality of the acceleration measurement, however, by means of differential arrangement of digital acceleration sensors, the signal quality and also the susceptibility to interference can be reduced when measuring the smallest accelerations. In preparation for a BCG experiment on the International Space Station (ISS), a pre-flight measurement system was developed whose architectural design is similar to the flight hardware, but extended by a reference ECG. To simplify measurement campaigns, the simultaneously recorded BCG and ECG data can be visualized in real time, which will be shown in this demo.