Contactless and continuous monitoring of heart rate based on photoplethysmography on a mattress

This paper reports a novel contactless monitoring method to record photoplethysmogram (PPG) on a mattress for the continuous measurement of heart rate (HR). PPGs were obtained from subjects' fingers and backs with and without making a direct contact between the PPG sensor and their skin when they rested in a supine position on the mattress. Electrocardiograms (ECGs) were measured from the subjects' limbs for reference. Clear PPG waveforms were obtained from the subjects' backs. Beat-to-beat HR derived from contactless PPG measurement was comparable to those measured from contact PPG and ECG measurements. Thus we found that contactless PPG could be captured from the subjects' backs and it was sufficient to provide accurate HR measurements. This contactless monitoring of PPG has the potential to reduce obstruction in sleep and provide clinical evaluation in sleep study.