Analogue Devices has introduced the first in a series of analogue front-end chips for ECG (electrocardiogram) systems, which incorporates pacemaker pulse detection and respiration measurement.

A typical ECG system measures and records the electrical activity of a human heart which helps in the treatment of heart conditions, including birth defects, arrhythmias, problems with heart valves and lack of blood flow to the heart muscle.

This device, the ADAS1000 is intended for the design of a five-electrode ECG system.

It is being proposed as a system on a chip by integrating a number of different functions. It will also scale noise performance, power, or data rate, which allows it to be used in systems of different accuracy, power and cost.

The ADAS1000 AFE can also support designs based on AAMI (Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) specifications.

It uses a dc-coupled channel implementation that offers simplified input switching and reduced power.
It will operate five ECG electrode measurements from as low as 19mW. Any unused channels or features can be conveniently disabled to further minimise power to as low as 11mW for one lead.

Noise performance is 10µV pk-pk over 0.05Hz to 150Hz range.

For more information, see http://www.analog.com