Motion limitations of non-contact photoplethysmography due to the optical and topological properties of skin

Butler, M. J.; Crowe, J. A.; Hayes-Gill, B. R.; Rodmell, P. I.

Abstract

Non-contact photoplethysmography (PPG) provides multiple benefits over in-contact methods, but is not as tolerant to motion due to the lack of mechanical coupling between the subject and sensor. One limitation of non-contact photoplethysmography is discussed here, specifically looking at the topology and optical variations of the skin and how this impacts upon the ability to extract a photoplethysmogram when a subject moves horizontally across the field of view of the detector (a panning motion). When this occurs it is shown that whilst the general relationships between the speed of traversal, detection area and resultant signal quality can be found, the quality of signal in each individual case is determined by the properties of the area of skin chosen.

Citation

Butler, M. J., Crowe, J. A., Hayes-Gill, B. R., & Rodmell, P. I. (2016). Motion limitations of non-contact photoplethysmography due to the optical and topological properties of skin. Physiological Measurement, 37(5), N27-N37. https://doi.org/10.1088/0967-3334/37/5/N27

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 3, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Apr 21, 2016
• Publication Date: 2016-05
• Deposit Date: Jul 13, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 25, 2019
• Journal: Physiological Measurement
• Print ISSN: 0967-3334
• Electronic ISSN: 1361-6579
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 37
• Issue: 5
• Pages: N27-N37
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/0967-3334/37/5/N27
• Public URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0967-3334/37/5/N27
• Publisher URL: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0967-3334/37/5/N27