Monitoring long-term cardiac activity with contactless radio frequency signals

Abstract Cardiovascular diseases claim over 10 million lives annually, highlighting the critical need for long-term monitoring and early detection of cardiac abnormalities. Existing techniques like electrocardiograms (ECG) and Holter are accurate but suffer from discomfort caused by body-attached el...

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Main Authors: Bin-Bin Zhang, Dongheng Zhang, Yadong Li, Zhi Lu, Jinbo Chen, Haoyu Wang, Fang Zhou, Yu Pu, Yang Hu, Li-Kun Ma, Qibin Sun, Yan Chen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2024-12-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55061-9
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author Bin-Bin Zhang
Dongheng Zhang
Yadong Li
Zhi Lu
Jinbo Chen
Haoyu Wang
Fang Zhou
Yu Pu
Yang Hu
Li-Kun Ma
Qibin Sun
Yan Chen
author_facet Bin-Bin Zhang
Dongheng Zhang
Yadong Li
Zhi Lu
Jinbo Chen
Haoyu Wang
Fang Zhou
Yu Pu
Yang Hu
Li-Kun Ma
Qibin Sun
Yan Chen
author_sort Bin-Bin Zhang
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Cardiovascular diseases claim over 10 million lives annually, highlighting the critical need for long-term monitoring and early detection of cardiac abnormalities. Existing techniques like electrocardiograms (ECG) and Holter are accurate but suffer from discomfort caused by body-attached electrodes. While wearable devices using photoplethysmography offer more convenience, they sacrifice accuracy and are susceptible to environmental interference. Here we present a radio frequency (RF)-based (60 to 64 GHz) sensing system that monitors long-term heart rate variability (HRV) with clinical-grade accuracy. Our system successfully overcomes the orders-larger interference from respiration motion in far-field conditions without any model training. By identifying previously undiscovered frequency ranges (beyond 10-order heartbeat harmonics) where heartbeat information predominates over other motions, we generate prominent heartbeat patterns with harmonics typically considered detrimental. Extensive evaluations, including a large-scale outpatient setting involving 6,222 eligible participants and a long-term daily life scenario, where sleep data was collected over 5 separate random nights over two months and a continuous 21-night period, demonstrate that our system can monitor HRV and identify abnormalities with comparable performance to clinical-grade ECG-based systems. This RF-based HRV sensing system has the potential to support active self-assessment and revolutionize medical prevention with long-term and precise health monitoring.
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publishDate 2024-12-01
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spelling doaj-art-1f5ebebcf361494ea8d42b628c7de5b22024-12-08T12:37:01ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232024-12-0115111110.1038/s41467-024-55061-9Monitoring long-term cardiac activity with contactless radio frequency signalsBin-Bin Zhang0Dongheng Zhang1Yadong Li2Zhi Lu3Jinbo Chen4Haoyu Wang5Fang Zhou6Yu Pu7Yang Hu8Li-Kun Ma9Qibin Sun10Yan Chen11School of Cyber Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of ChinaSchool of Cyber Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of ChinaDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of WashingtonSchool of Cyber Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of ChinaSchool of Cyber Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of ChinaSchool of Cyber Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of ChinaSchool of Cyber Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of ChinaSchool of Cyber Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of ChinaSchool of Cyber Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of ChinaThe First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of ChinaSchool of Cyber Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of ChinaSchool of Cyber Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of ChinaAbstract Cardiovascular diseases claim over 10 million lives annually, highlighting the critical need for long-term monitoring and early detection of cardiac abnormalities. Existing techniques like electrocardiograms (ECG) and Holter are accurate but suffer from discomfort caused by body-attached electrodes. While wearable devices using photoplethysmography offer more convenience, they sacrifice accuracy and are susceptible to environmental interference. Here we present a radio frequency (RF)-based (60 to 64 GHz) sensing system that monitors long-term heart rate variability (HRV) with clinical-grade accuracy. Our system successfully overcomes the orders-larger interference from respiration motion in far-field conditions without any model training. By identifying previously undiscovered frequency ranges (beyond 10-order heartbeat harmonics) where heartbeat information predominates over other motions, we generate prominent heartbeat patterns with harmonics typically considered detrimental. Extensive evaluations, including a large-scale outpatient setting involving 6,222 eligible participants and a long-term daily life scenario, where sleep data was collected over 5 separate random nights over two months and a continuous 21-night period, demonstrate that our system can monitor HRV and identify abnormalities with comparable performance to clinical-grade ECG-based systems. This RF-based HRV sensing system has the potential to support active self-assessment and revolutionize medical prevention with long-term and precise health monitoring.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55061-9
spellingShingle Bin-Bin Zhang
Dongheng Zhang
Yadong Li
Zhi Lu
Jinbo Chen
Haoyu Wang
Fang Zhou
Yu Pu
Yang Hu
Li-Kun Ma
Qibin Sun
Yan Chen
Monitoring long-term cardiac activity with contactless radio frequency signals
Nature Communications
title Monitoring long-term cardiac activity with contactless radio frequency signals
title_full Monitoring long-term cardiac activity with contactless radio frequency signals
title_fullStr Monitoring long-term cardiac activity with contactless radio frequency signals
title_full_unstemmed Monitoring long-term cardiac activity with contactless radio frequency signals
title_short Monitoring long-term cardiac activity with contactless radio frequency signals
title_sort monitoring long term cardiac activity with contactless radio frequency signals
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55061-9
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