[Note] A Low-Cost ECG Monitor for Home Use Nazeeh Alothmany, Fahad Sahari, Milbis Alqouzi, Ahmad Jiman, Mohamed Oghly and Mehmet Akyurt

This project presents an example of a device that is designed using limited resources and low cost to prove that local talent is available and a paradigm shift towards manufacturing is needed. Heart diseases can be diagnosed by recording the Electrical activity of the heart (Electrocardiography or ECG). Chest pains may indicate a heart problem but if the symptoms are not there while the test is done in a hospital, the ECG could turn out absolutely normal. Proper diagnosis of such pain is critical for patients with heart disease, but many of them find it difficult to experience hours of waiting for tests in the Emergency department of a hospital. The Low-Cost ECG Monitor for Home Use solves this problem by providing an affordable and easy method for the patient to use a laptop to record his/her ECG at home, when the symptoms occur. The recorded ECG can be emailed to a physician who can then observe the signal on his/her computer to determine whether these chest pains require medical attention. The endeavor (project) contains three main parts; the ECG circuit, the interface circuit and the computer program. The ECG circuit captures the ECG signal from the body. For the ECG circuit the AD627 instrumentation amplifier and a band-pass filter with a 3-dB bandwidth between 1-150 Hz was used. The main component used in the interface circuit was the PIC16F886 microcontroller that had a built-in Analog-to-Digital converter (ADC) and a Universal-Synchronous-Asynchronous-Receiver-Transmitter (USART) module. The computer program used the MATLAB computing language. Test results indicate that the ECG monitor delivers results that are within acceptable margins. The cost of the device is less than the cost of ECG recording in a hospital or clinic. Success in the design of this device proves that local manufacturing is possible. The device can be upgraded to include additional features but that will eventually increase its cost.