A heart rate sensor based on seismocardiography for vital sign monitoring systems

Heart rate is essential in monitoring the health of an individual. Traditional use of ECG to measure the heart beat poses complication in many applications. There is need for a less intrusive, simple, easy to use, and versatile heart rate sensor. This paper describes the design and testing of a heart rate sensor using a low cost accelerometer. The design is based on the seismocardiography signals generated by the activity of the heart and blood flow acting on the chest wall. A custom circuit is built to process the signal to suit to a wide range of applications in health care. The design was built and successfully tested.