ECG noise reduction using multiplier-free FIR digital filters

Electrocardiogram (ECG), a biopotential signal, acquired is normally contaminated with noises generated by biological and environmental resources. This paper presents a cost effective way to remove the noise presented by the use of finite impulse response (FIR) filters. The proposed filter structure uses the multiplication-free recursive running sum (RRS) filters to achieve computational efficiency. Important characteristics of the ECG signal throughout the filtering process such as the height and duration of the QRS pulse are preserved. Results show that the RRS-based approach leads to significant savings in terms of the number of multipliers required and makes it very attractive for a low cost and low power VLSI implementation.