BM321

MEDICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING

10/14/2023 1
 Course Contents

• Introduction to Digital Signal

• Signal sampling and quantization (ADC & DAC)
• Digital Signals and systems
• Discrete Fourier Transform & Frequency Response
• Discrete Fourier Analysis & Signal Spectrum
• The z-Transforms & Stability
• FIR Filter Design
• IIR Filter Design
• Fundamentals of Image Processing
 Recommended Textbooks
• Tan, Lizhe, and Jean Jiang. Digital signal processing: fundamentals and
applications. Academic Press, 2018.

• Proakis, John G. Digital signal processing: principles, algorithms, and

applications, 5/E. Pearson Education, 2021.

• Semmlow, John. Circuits, Signals and Systems for Bioengineers: A MATLAB-

based Introduction. Academic Press, 2017.
 Overview

• Introduction
• Signal, System, and Signal Processing
• Analog vs. Digital Signal Processing
• Advantages of Digital Signal Processing
• DSP Applications
• DSP Examples
 Signal
• A signal is a carrier of information.

Example:
• Voice contains information about who is speaking and what
is spoken.

• ECG contains information related to heart function.

 System
• A system is an entity that manipulates one or more signals
to accomplish a function, thereby yielding new signals.

• A System has inputs and outputs.

• Examples
– Amplifiers, Radios, Televisions
– Telephone, Modem, Computer
– Oscilloscopes, EKG, EEG, EMG machines
 Biological Systems

 A system is a collection of processes or components that interact

for some common purpose.

 Many systems of the human body are based on function such as

the cardiovascular system, pulmonary system, renal system, or
on endocrine system, and the nervous system.
 Bio-signals
• A way of interacting with biological system.

• Interaction or communication with a biological system is

done through bio-signals.

• The stimulus refers to signals directed at a specific

physiological process, and the output signal evoked by
these inputs is the response.

• Signals are variations in energy that carry information.

Bio-signals
 Bio-transducers

• A “transducer” is a device that converts energy from one

form to another. In measurement systems, all transducers
are so-called input transducers, they convert non-
electrical energy into an electronic signal.
• In signal processing applications, the purpose of energy
conversion is to transfer information, not to transform
energy.
• In physiological measurement systems, all transducers are
input transducers: they convert non-electrical energy into
an electronic signal.
 Bio-transducers
It is the most critical element in the
system by which it defines the accuracy or A cardiac microphone is
resolution of the measurement and acts a bio-transducer that
as an interface between the life process converts the
and the rest of the system. mechanical sound
energy produced by the
heart into an electrical
signal is shown. The
device uses a
piezoelectric disk that
produces a voltage
when it is deformed by
movement of the
patient’s chest.

The white foam pad covers the piezoelectric disk and is specially designed to
improve the coupling of energy between the chest and the piezoelectric disk.
 Signal Processing

• The conversion from excitation to response is called signal

processing

• A typical reason for signal processing is to eliminate or

reduce an undesirable signal

• We convert the original signal into a form that is suitable for

further processing

• One fundamental representation of a signal is as a function

of at least one independent variable
 Bio-electric Transducers
• Physiological electrical activity is monitored with a transducer
that converts electrical energy from ionic to electronic current
termed and electrode.

• These sources are usually given the term ExG, where the “x”
represents the physiological process that produces the electrical
energy:
ECG—electrocardiogram (heart)
EEG—electroencephalogram (brain)
EMG—electromyogram (muscle)
EOG—electrooculogram (eye)
ERG—electroretinogram (retina)
EGG—electrogastrogram. (stomach)

 An exception to this terminology is the galvanic skin response, GSR, the

electrical activity generated by the skin.
 Analog vs. Digital Signal Processing

Analog input Signal x(t) Analog output Signal y(t)

Analog
Signal Processor

Analog Signal Processing

Analog Analog
input output
Signal x(t) Signal y(t)
A/D Digital D/A
converter Signal Processor converter

Digital Signal Processing

 Advantages of Digital Signal Processing

• A digital programmable system allows flexibility in

reconfiguring the DSP operations simply by changing the
program. Reconfiguration of an analogue system usually
implies a redesign of hardware, testing and verification that
it operates properly.

• DSP provides better control of accuracy requirements.

• Digital signals are easily stored on storage media i.e. hard

disk
 Advantages of Digital Signal Processing

• The DSP allows for the implementation of more

sophisticated signal processing algorithms.

• In some cases a digital implementation of the signal

processing system is cheaper than its analogue counterpart.

• DSP consume relatively less power than analog counterpart.

• DSP processor can be reuse for many applications

DSP Applications
• Touch-Tone™ telephones
• Edge detection in images
• Digital signal and image filtering
• Seismic analysis
• Text recognition
• Music synthesis
• Bar code readers
• RADAR
• Sonar processing
• Satellite image analysis
• Digital mapping
• Cellular telephones
• Digital cameras
• Detection of narcotics and
explosives
 DSP Applications
Medical Applications

• CT scans
• Magnetic resonance image (MRI) scans
• Diagnostic ultrasound imaging
• Electrocardiogram(ECG) analysis
• Electroencephalogram(EEG) analysis
• Medical image processing
• Cochlear implants
• Remote medical monitoring
• Speech synthesis
• Speech recognition
• Hearing aid
DSP Examples
Digital Filtering
 DSP Examples
50/60 Hz Interference Cancellation in Electrocardiography
DSP Examples
Signal Spectrum Analysis
 DSP Examples
Digital Image Enhancement using Histogram Equalization
 What is signal processing ?
• The purpose of signal processing is to make it easier to
extract useful information and to make correct decisions.

For this purpose, we have:

– Signal enhancement
– Signal restoration
– Signal reconstruction
– Signal synthesis
– Signal estimation and prediction

• After signal processing, we can extract more important

information, and recognize, aware, and make decisions
 Signal Enhancement

• Signal amplification in
radio, TV, human ears.

• Image enhancement in
image processing.
 Signal Restoration
• Restore a signal corrupted by
noise or undesired
background

– Tuning in radio and TV

– Noise removal
– Pick up the voice of a certain
person from a combined
voices.
Restoration of face images
 Signal Reconstruction
• Reconstruct a signal from different
measurement
– Computerized tomogram (CT)
– Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging
– Reconstruct 3D images from different
2D views
 Signal Synthesis

• Find a system that can generate the desired signal

– Speech synthesis
– 3D sound synthesis
– Make a virtual world in computer
 Signal Estimation
• Estimate the future values from observed data
– Stock prediction
– Electrical Demand prediction
– Image compression
– Adaptive signal processing
 Mathematic representations of signals
How do we describe Signals?

• Signals are associated with an independent variable(s): e.g.,

time, single or multivariate spatial coordinate

 Most instrumentation signals have time as their

independent variable
 A digital photograph or image has spatial coordinates
as its independent variables

• Signal Independent Variables can be either Continuous or

Discrete
 Mathematic representations of signals
Continuous and Discrete Time Signals

To be stored or processed in a digital computer, a

continuous analog signal be converted to a series
of numbers through a process known as
sampling.

Ts is known as the sampling interval.

 Mathematic representations of signals
Continuous and Discrete Time Signals

• Transformations between the time and frequency domain are exact: there is
no loss of signal information during the transfer.

• Transformations between continuous and discrete domains are approximate

and only done in the time domain..
 Mathematic representations of signals

• Signals Properties

Real or Complex values

Periodic or non-periodic

Bounded or Unbounded

Symmetries
 Mathematic representations of signals

• Complex Signals
 Mathematic representations of signals

• Complex Signals
 Mathematic representations of signals

• Periodic or non-periodic
 Mathematic representations of signals

• Bounded or Unbounded
 Mathematic representations of signals

• Signal Symmetries
 Some basic signals
unit impulse unit step unit ramp

Exponential decay