Design and implementation of FPGA-based arrhythmic ECG signals using VHDL for biomedical calibration applications

Abstract

Biomedical applications are one of the important research areas of recent years. One of these fields of study is biomedical signals. In this study, the Normal Sinus Rhythm and three arrhythmic ECG signals (Ventricular Tachycardia, Ventricular Paced and Atrial Flutter), one of the vital sign signals, were designed and implemented to work on FPGA chips using the Xilinx-Vivado program with VHDL. Matlab-based ECG signals were taken as a reference and compared with the results obtained from the FPGA-based ECG signals design. Then, the structure used in the design and the test results obtained from the study have been presented. The designed ECG signals were synthesized for the Zynq-7000 XC7Z020 FPGA and observed from the oscilloscope using the 14-channel AN9767 DA module. FPGA chip resource consumption values obtained after the Place-Route process are presented. According to the results, the maximum operating frequency of Normal Sinus Rhythm and Ventricular tachycardia signals on the FPGA was 657.614 MHz and the maximum operating frequency of the Ventricular Paced and Atrial Flutter signals on the FPGA was 651.827 MHz. The maximum MSE value obtained from FPGA-based ECG signal design is 1.2319E-02. In this study, it has been shown that the FPGA-based ECG signal generation system, which is implemented as hardware, can be designed using FPGA chips and can be safely used in biomedical calibration applications. Other arrhythmic ECG signals can be designed and implemented using similar methods in future studies.