ECG 5 CLICK
PID: MIKROE-3446
Weight: 18 g
ECG 5 click can be used for the development of ECG and Heart-Rate (HR)
applications. The Click board™ features the AD8232, an integrated bio-signal front end.
This IC has many features necessary for providing accurate ECG measurements,
including very high common-mode rejection ratio, high gain with DC blocking capability,
adjustable high-pass and low-pass filters, integrated right leg drive (RLD), etc.
Electrodes presence detection pin helps to reduce the overall power consumption, as it
can be used to set the standby mode of the host MCU. The fully conditioned bio-signal
is available at the analog output to be sampled by an external A/D converter.
ECG 5 click is supported by a mikroSDK compliant library, which includes functions that
simplify software development. This Click board™ comes as a fully tested product,
ready to be used on a system equipped with the mikroBUS™ socket.
Additional features of the AD8232 include HR LED indicator for visual feedback,
adaptive high-pass filter for faster recovery, dedicated reference buffer for the virtual
ground, and high ESD rating, up to 8kV human body model. All these features allow
ECG 5 click to be used in a range of health-related ECG and HR applications, including
fitness and activity heart rate monitors, portable ECG, wearable and remote health
monitors, and similar.
Note: ECG 5 is a development and prototyping tool. It is not intended to be used for medical
treatment of patients, and should not be used to diagnose or treat any conditions.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
To measure the activity of the heart muscle, it is necessary to extract its weak electrical
impulses, reduce the interferences of surrounding tissues and the environment, amplify
them, and allow them to be further processed, most likely in the digital domain. Such a
task demands very specific instrumentation equipment. ECG 5 click utilizes the AD8232,
an integrated heart rate monitoring front-end, by Analog Devices. This IC is targeted
towards wearables and battery-operated applications.
The heart-rate impulses are weak by nature and in the range of just a few millivolts,
even microvolts. Therefore, any external interference might obscure them. The
interferences might be induced in the human body itself, or they might appear as the
result of the activity of other muscles, such as skeletal muscles. Therefore, the input
signal from the electrodes is processed by several filtering sections, until it is amplified
to a value suitable for sampling. However, the correct placement of the measurement
electrodes is crucial for accurate readings. More about the electrodes and their
placement can be found in this blog article.
ECG 5 click features a 3.5mm jack connector, which is used to connect three
electrodes. One of the electrodes is a so-called right leg drive electrode (RLD), used to
set the body of the patient to the same potential as the rest of the system. In addition, it
is used to reduce the noise which results from the human-body acting as an antenna
(picking up 50/60 Hz hum from the mains, etc.) Along with the integrated 2-pole highpass filtering section, and the RFI filtering section, the IC effectively reduces the overall
system noise.
Lead-off detection is very important for accurate ECG measurements. Therefore, this IC
is equipped with the dedicated LOD pin, which is set to a HIGH logic level when any of
the electrodes is missing. Lead-off circuitry is basically a comparator, that makes sure
that the body stays within 0.5V from the positive rail. By featuring two separate LOD
pins, it is possible to determine the exact electrode that may be missing. In DC lead-off
detection mode, all three electrodes must be connected. The LOD+ is routed to the
mikroBUS™ INT pin, while the LOD- is routed to the mikroBUS™ PWM pin. The pins
are labeled as LO+ and LO- respectively, on this Click board™.
Due to the signal filtering within the AD8232 IC, the settling time for the connected
electrodes may be too long. Therefore this IC features the fast restore option (FR pin is
pulled to a HIGH logic level on ECG 5 click), which dynamically sets the cutoff
frequency to a higher value, speeding up the settling time, which may be in the
magnitude of several seconds (for example, when the electrodes are connected).
The IC can be driven to a low power consumption mode. If the SDN pin is pulled to a
LOW logic level, the IC will enter the standby mode, greatly reducing the power
consumption. By utilizing the LOD pins, the MCU can be programmed to enter the
standby mode along with the AD8232, which is ideal for battery-powered applications.
SDN pin is routed to the mikroBUS™ CS pin and is labeled as SDN.
The OUT pin of the AD8232 is routed to the AN pin of the mikroBUS™. It provides the
amplified and filtered signal from the electrodes, which can be used directly on the A/D
peripheral of the host MCU. The AD8232 can drive both resistive and capacitive loads,
so no additional buffering IC is required. In addition, ECG 5 click is equipped with a LED
labeled as ECG, which can be used as a visual indicator of the output signal.
SPECIFICATIONS
Type
Biomedical
Applications
ECG 5 click is an ideal solution for development of health-related
ECG applications, including fitness and activity heart rate monitors,
portable ECG, wearable and remote health monitors, and similar.
On-board
modules
AD8232, an integrated heart rate monitoring front-end, by Analog
Devices.
Key Features
ESD and EMI protection of the inputs, compatible with several
types of electrodes, lead-off detection for each electrode, bio-signal
conditioning reduces influence of movement artifacts, simplified
design with the complete heart monitoring front end.
Interface
Analog,GPIO
Input Voltage
3.3V
Click board
size
M (42.9 x 25.4 mm)
PINOUT DIAGRAM
This table shows how the pinout on ECG 5 click corresponds to the pinout on the
mikroBUS™ socket (the latter shown in the two middle columns).
Notes
Pin
Analog ECG signal
OUT
AN
1
AN
PWM
16
LO‐
Lead-off detection
for IN-
NC
2
RST
INT
15
LO+
Lead-off detection
for IN+
SDN
3
CS
RX
14
NC
NC
4
SCK
TX
13
NC
NC
5
MISO
SCL
12
NC
NC
6
MOSI
SDA
11
NC
3.3V
7
3.3V
5V
10
NC
Chip Enable
Power Supply
Pin
Notes
Ground
GND
8
GND
GND
9
GND
Ground
ONBOARD SETTINGS AND INDICATORS
Label
Name
Default
Description
PWR
PWR
-
Power LED Indicator
CN1
3.5mm jack
-
3.5mm jack connector for electrodes
SOFTWARE SUPPORT
We provide a library for the ECG 5 click on our LibStock page, as well as a demo
application (example), developed using MikroElektronika compilers. The demo can run
on all the main MikroElektronika development boards.
Library Description
The library performs a device mode setting (Normal or Shutdown) and a leads off
detection checking. Also the library initializes GPIO driver. For more details check
documentation.
Key functions:
void ecg5_setMode( uint8_t state ) - Function performs a device mode setting.
T_ECG5_RETVAL ecg5_check_LOD_negative( void ) - In DC Leads Off Detection Mode, LOD- is high
when the electrode to -IN is disconnected, and it is low when connected. In AC Leads Off Detection
Mode, LOD- is always low.
void ecg5_gpioDriverInit(T_ECG5_P gpioObj) - Function initializes GPIO driver.
Examples description
The application is composed of the three sections :
System Initialization - Initializes peripherals and pins.
Application Initialization - Initializes GPIO driver, selects a desired mode of the device and performs
the ADC and timer interrupt initialization.
Application Task - (code snippet) - When the timer has reached the set value (4ms), the ADC
converted result will be read and sent to the serial plotter.
void applicationTask()
{
if (respReady == RESPONSE_READY)
{
respReady = RESPONSE_NOT_READY;
adcValue = ADC_Get_Sample( 0 );
WordToStr( adcValue, text );
mikrobus_logWrite( text, _LOG_TEXT );
mikrobus_logWrite( ",", _LOG_TEXT );
LongWordToStr( plotX, text );
mikrobus_logWrite( text, _LOG_LINE );
if (plotX == 0xFFFFFFFF)
{
plotX = 0;
}
else
{
plotX++;
}
}
}
The full application code, and ready to use projects can be found on our LibStock page.
Other mikroE Libraries used in the example:
ADC
UART
Conversions
Additional notes and informations
Depending on the development board you are using, you may need USB UART
click, USB UART 2 click or RS232 click to connect to your PC, for development systems
with no UART to USB interface available on the board. The terminal available in all
MikroElektronika compilers, or any other terminal application of your choice, can be
used to read the message.
MIKROSDK
This click board is supported with mikroSDK - MikroElektronika Software Development
Kit. To ensure proper operation of mikroSDK compliant click board demo applications,
mikroSDK should be downloaded from the LibStock and installed for the compiler you
are using.
For more information about mikroSDK, visit the official page.
https://www.mikroe.com/ecg‐5‐click5‐15‐19