The influence of distance between the electrode and noise reduction buffer amplifiers in ECG monitoring using knitted electrodes

Abstract

Knitted electrodes provide numerous advantages over the gel electrodes typically used in clinical practice when designing wearable Electrocardiogram (ECG) systems. They typically have enhanced durability, better textile integration and do not dry out. However, the higher skin/electrode impedance makes them susceptible to noise from electrical interference. Adding a buffer amplifier circuit close to the electrode, creating an ‘active’ electrode, is one way to mitigate this. However, the choice of where to integrate these amplifiers in the garment remains. Therefore, this work measured the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of an ECG output when comparing the distance between the electrode and the operational amplifier (op-amp) buffer and found that when the buffer was placed directly under a knitted electrode, the noise was lower than that seen with gel electrodes. This also provided information on the impact of distance on the SNR.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Tom Greig: orcid.org/0000-0003-2745-235X

ORCID for Diego Altamirano: orcid.org/0000-0002-3422-0074

ORCID for Ying Cheong: orcid.org/0000-0001-7687-4597

ORCID for Russel Torah: orcid.org/0000-0002-5598-2860

ORCID for Kai Yang: orcid.org/0000-0001-7497-3911

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