UNIT III

SIGNAL CONDITIONING CIRCUITS

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NEED FOR BIO-AMPLIFIER:
Bio-signals are recorded as voltages and electrical field strengths generated by nerves and
muscles. The measured voltages are at very low levels, typically ranging between 1 µV and 100 mV with
superimposed interference signals and noise. The biosignals must be amplified to make them compatible
with devices such as displays, recorders or A/D converters for computerized equipment. The amplifiers
have to provide amplification selective to the physiological signal, reject superimposed noise and
interference signals. The amplifiers that are designed specifically for processing bio-potentials are known
as bio-amplifiers.
Amplifiers are used to increase (or) boost the strength of the signals because bio-signals have low
amplitude and low frequency. Amplifier is an electronic device that amplifies a weak signal.

REQUIREMENTS FOR BIOLOGICAL AMPLIFIERS:

 Bio-amplifiers must have high input impedance. The range of value lies between 2MΩ and
10MΩ depending on the applications. Higher impedance value reduces distortion of the signal.
 When electrodes pickup bio-potentials from the body, the input circuit must be protected. Every
bio-amplifier should consist of isolation and protection circuits, to prevent the patients from
electrical shocks.
 Since the output of a bio-electric signal is in millivolts or microvolts range, the voltage gain of
the amplifier should be higher than 100dB.
 Throughout the entire bandwidth range, a constant gain should be maintained.
 A bio-amplifier should have small output impedance.
 A good bio-amplifier should be free from drift and noise.
 Common Mode Rejection ratio (CMMR) value of the amplifier should be greater than 80dB
to reduce the interference from common mode signal.
 The gain of the amplifier should be calibrated for each measurement.

Types of Bio-amplifiers:
The following are some of the types of amplifiers, they are –
1. Differential amplifier
2. Operational amplifier
3. Instrumentation amplifier
4. Chopper amplifier
5. Isolation amplifier

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DIFFERENTIAL BIO-AMPLIFIER:
Medical amplifiers designed for use in the input stage (preamplifiers) are mostly of the
differential type. These types have three input terminals out of which one is arranged at the reference
potential and the other two are live terminals. The differential amplifier is employed when it is necessary
to measure the voltage difference between two points, both of them varying in amplitude at different rates
and in different patterns. Heart-generated voltages picked up by means of electrodes on the arms and legs
and brain-generated voltages picked up by the electrodes on the scalp are typical examples of signals
whose measurement requires the use of differential amplifiers.
The differential amplifier is an excellent device for use in the recording systems. Its excellence
lies in its ability to reject common-mode interference signals which are invariably picked up by the
electrodes from the body along with the useful bioelectric signals. As a direct coupled amplifier, it has
good stability and versatility. High stability is achieved because it can be insensitive to temperature
changes.

Typical differential amplifier configuration

The working of a differential amplifier can be explained with the help of figure above, where the
two transistors with their respective collector resistance (R1 and R2) form a bridge circuit. If the two
resistors and the characteristics of the two transistors are identical, the bridge is perfectly balanced and
the potential; difference across the output terminals is zero.
Let us now apply a signal at the input terminals 1 and 2 of this circuit. The signal is to be such that
at each input terminal, it is equal in amplitude but opposite in phase with reference to the ground. This
signal is known as differential mode signal. Because of this signal, if the collector current of T1
increases, the collector current of T2 will decrease by the same amount, and the collector voltage of T1
will decrease while that of T2 will increase. This results in a difference voltage between the two output
terminals that is proportional to the gain of the transistors.

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 On the other hand, if the signal applied to each input terminal is equal in amplitude and is in same
phase (called the common-mode input signal), the change in the current flow through both transistors
will be identical, the bridge will remain balanced, and the voltage between the output terminals will
remain zero.
Thus the circuit provides high gain for differential mode signals and no output at all for common-
mode signals. Resistances Ri1 and Ri2 are current limiting resistances for common-mode signals.
The ability of the amplifier to reject these common voltages on its two input leads is known as
common-mode rejection and is specified as the ratio of common-mode input to differential input. It is
abbreviated as CMRR (Common-mode rejection ratio). CMRR of the preamplifiers should be high as
possible so that only the wanted signals find a way through the amplifier and all unwanted signals get
rejected in the preamplifier stage. A high rejection ratio is usually achieved by the use of a matched pair
of transistors in the input stage of the preamplifier and a large „tail‟ resistance in the long-tailed pair to
provide maximum negative feedback for inphase signals.

IMPEDANCE MATCHING CIRCUIT:

In order to minimize the effects of changes occurring in the electrode impedances, it is necessary
to employ a preamplifier having high input impedance. It has been found that a low value of input
impedance gives rise to a considerable distortion of the recordings.
The equivalent circuit for the input of an ECG amplifier is as shown below, in which:

Equivalent circuit for the input of an ECG amplifier

Vh represents the voltage signal generated by the heart.
Ve represents unwanted inphase signal picked up from the mains wiring and other sources.
ZI is the total impedance of the preamplifiers.
Z1 and Z2 are the skin contact impedances of the electrodes.
The resistance r represents tissue and blood resistance which is negligibly low as compared with
other impedances.

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 If the amplifier is perfectly balanced by equal inphase voltages, Va and Vb, at the electrodes would
give rise to a zero output signal. However, the voltages Va and Vb depend, in practice, on the values of Z1
and Z2. It can be shown that the electrical interference signal Ve will give rise to the same output signal
as would a desired signal, from the patient, of amplitude.

⁄
Hence, the discrimination factor between the desired and undesired signals is given by
⁄

Assuming a common mode rejection ratio of 1000:1 and a difference of electrode skin contact
impedance as 1 kΩ (Z2 –ZI =1 kΩ), then

CMRR =

CMRR =

If the difference of electrode skin contact impedance is 5 KΩ, then

CMRR =

The impedance unbalance due to electrodes on the ECG has reduced the common mode rejection
from 5000 to 1000 only.
Let us suppose that ZI is 100 MΩ and the difference in electrode skin contact impedance is 5 KΩ,
then

CMRR = =

This shows that high input impedance is very necessary in order to maintain a high CMRR. Also,
the electrode skin resistance should be low and as equal as possible.
The common mode rejection for most op-amps is typically 60 dB and 90 dB. This may not be
sufficient to reject common mode noise generally encountered in biomedical measurements. Also, the
input impedance is not very high to handle signals from high impedance sources. One method to increase
the input impedance of the op-amp is to use field effect transistors (FET) in the input differential stage. A
most common approach is to use an instrumentation amplifier in the preamplifier stage.

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ISOLATION AMPLIFIERS:
Isolation amplifiers are commonly used for providing protection against leakage currents in
biomedical recorders such as ECG machine. It is also used to prevent accidental internal cardiac shock by
breaking the ohmic continuity of electric signals between the input and output of the amplifier. The
isolation includes different supply voltage sources and different grounds on each side of the isolation
barrier. Three methods are used in the design of isolation amplifiers: (i) transformer isolation, (ii) optical
isolation and (iii) capacitive isolation.

(i) Transformer isolation:

The transformer isolation uses either a frequency-modulated or a pulse-width modulated carrier
signal with small signal bandwidths up to 30 KHz to carry the signal.
The signals from different leads are given to the patient signal amplifiers. The output of the lead
section is given to the primary of an isolated low capacity transformer connected with 20 kHz oscillator.
The secondary of the transformer along with rectifier and filter is used to obtain isolated power supply.
The filter circuit is used to reduce the interference caused by radio frequency emission. Due to mutual
induction, the energy in primary is transformed to secondary winding.

Isolation amplifier (transformer type)

Advantages:
 All three types are in common use, though the transformer isolation amplifier is more popular.
 Isolation resistance level is 1010 ohms.
 Transformer-isolated amplifier offers isolation voltage (1200V) between input and output.

(ii) Optical isolation:

The isolation is achieved by optical means in which the patient is electrically connected with
neither the hospital line nor the ground line. A separate battery operated circuit supplies power to the
patient circuit and the signal of interest is converted into light by a light source (LED).

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 This light falls on a phototransistor on the output side, which converts the light signal again into
an electrical signal, having its original frequency, amplitude and linearity. To ensure patient‟s safety, it
should be electrically isolated from any electrical connection to the power line or ground.

Optically isolated isolation amplifier

Advantages:
 Opto-coupler amplifier uses a minimum number of components and is cost effective.
 Opto-isolated amplifier offers the lowest isolation voltage (800V) between input and output.
 Isolation resistance level is 1012 ohms.

(iii) Capacitive isolation.

The capacitive method uses digital encoding for the input voltage and frequency modulation to
send the signal across a differential capacitive barrier. Separate power supply is needed on both sides of
the barrier. Signals with bandwidths up to 70 KHz can be conveniently handled in this arrangement.

Capacitively coupled isolation amplifier

Advantages:
 The isolation voltage for capacitive coupled is 2200V.
 Gain stability and linearity are best for capacitance coupled versions – 0.005%.
 Isolation resistance level is 1012 ohms.
Disadvantages:
 The capacitor coupled amplifier is most expensive.

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RIGHT LEG DRIVEN ECG AMPLIFIER:
To minimize the common-mode interference signal between the body of the patient and the
floating ground, a right-leg drive circuit is used. Biological signal amplifiers such as ECG,EEG or EMG
circuits measure very small electrical signals emitted from the body, often as small as several microvolts.
Unfortunately, the patient‟s body can also act as an antenna which picks up electromagnetic interference,
especially 50/60 Hz noise from electrical power lines. This interference can obscure the biological
signals, making them very hard to measure. The right leg driver circuitry is used to eliminate interference
noise by actively cancelling the interference. The common-mode signals after amplification in a
preamplifier are inverted and feedback to the right leg electrode, reducing the common mode voltage on
the input with respect to the floating ground.
The presence of stray capacitance at the input of the preamplifier causes common-mode currents
to flow in LA and RA, resulting in a voltage drop at the electrode resistors. An imbalance of the stray
capacitance or the electrode resistors causes a difference signal. This difference signal can be almost
eliminated, in that the common-mode currents of stray capacitances are not allowed to flow through the
electrode resistors but are neutralized by currents delivered by stray capacitances from the common-mode
rejection amplifier. In other words, the potentials at A, B and C are equalised through an in-phase
component of the common-mode voltage, which the amplifier delivers via C1 and C2 to LA and RA. As a
result, the potentials at A, B and C are kept equal, independent of the imbalance in the electrode resistors
and stray capacitance.

Right Leg Driven ECG Amplifier

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POWER LINE INTERFERENCE:
ECG is a bioelectric signal which gives electrical activity of the heart. This ECG signal is
corrupted by various noises like power line interference, baseline wandering, channel noise, contact
noise, muscle artifacts etc. The frequency range of ECG signal is nearly same as the frequency of power
line interference. ECG signal has frequency range from 0.5 Hz to 80 Hz and power line interference
introduces 50 to 60 Hz frequency component in that signal which is the major cause of corruption of
ECG.
The power line interference of 50/60 Hz is the source of interference and it corrupt the recordings
of ECG which are extremely important for the diagnosis of patients. The interference is caused by –
a) Electromagnetic interference by power line.
b) Electromagnetic filed (EMF) by the machinery which is placed nearby.
c) Stray effect of the altering current fields due to loops in the cables.
d) Improper grounding of ECG machine or the patient.
e) Electrical equipment such as air conditioner, elevators and X-ray units draw heavy power line
current, which includes 50 Hz signal in the input circuits of the ECG machine.
The noise from electric power system is a major source of noise during the recording or
monitoring of ECG. Different noises have different frequencies. The noise with low frequency is being
problem with ECG signal as well as sometime high frequency noises also interferes ECG like mobile
phone. If the physical or mathematical variable changes rapidly then it can be high frequency and if it
changes slowly, then it would be low frequency.

Electrostatic and Electromagnetic coupling to AC signals:

The distributed capacitance between the signal conductors and from the signal conductors to the
ground provides a low impedance ac path, resulting in signal contamination from external sources like
power lines and transformers. Similarly, the alternating magnetic flux from the adjacent power line wires
induces a voltage in the signal loop which is proportional to the rate of change of the disturbing current,
the magnitude of the disturbing current and the areas enclosed by the signal loop. It is inversely
proportional to the distance from the disturbing wire to the signal circuit. Unequal distances of the two
signal carrying conductors from the disturbing current wire result in unequal mutual inductances, which
cause the magnetic field to produce a noise voltage across the amplifier input terminals.
Low-level signals are sensitive to external contamination especially in the case of high source
impedance. Referring to figure below, it is obvious that the currents generated by various noise signals
will flow through the signal source impedance Z and result in an unwanted addition to the bioelectric or
transducer signal. This may include electromagnetic noise pick-up, electrostatic pick-up and the
unwanted current generated by a ground loop between two separate grounds on the same signal circuit.

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 Currents produced by various forms of noise flow through the signal source impedance and become an unwanted
addition to the useful signal. The noise amplitude is directly proportional to signal source impedance.

To prevent noise pick-up from electrostatic fields, low-level signal conductors are surrounded by
an effective shield. This is usually a woven metal braid around the signal pair, which is placed under an
outside layer of insulation. A more effective shielding is provided by a special type of signal cable, which
has lapped foil shields, plus a low resistance drain wire instead of the conventional braided wire shield.
The easiest and the best way to protect a signal cable against external electromagnetic
disturbances is to twist the circuit conductors closely together to electrically cancel the effect of an
external magnetic field.
Thus electromagnetic coupling is reduced by shielding, wire twisting and proper grounding which
provide a balanced signal pair with satisfactory noise rejection characteristics.

Proper Grounding (Common Impedance Coupling)

Placing more than one ground on a signal circuit produces a ground loop which may generate so
much noise that it may completely obscure the useful signal. The term “grounding” means a low
impedance metallic connection to a properly designed ground grid, located in the earth. Stable grounding
is necessary to attain effective shielding of low level circuits to provide a stable reference for making
voltage measurements and to establish a solid base for the rejection of unwanted common-mode signals.
There are two grounding systems as –
 System ground
 Signal ground.
All low-level measurements and recording systems should be provided with a stable system
ground to assure that electronic enclosures and chassis operating in an electromagnetic environment are
maintained at zero potential.
In most instances, the third copper conductor in all electrical circuits, which is firmly tied to both
electric power ground – the building ground and the water system, will provide a satisfactory system
ground. If we connect more than one ground to the same signal circuit, an unwanted current will flow in
the ground loop thus created. This current combines itself with the useful signal.
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 In the signal ground, it is necessary to ensure a low noise signal reference to the ground. This
ground should be a low-impedance path to wet earth to minimize the introduction of spurious voltages
into the signal circuitry. It is important to note that a signal circuit should be grounded at one point only.
Two separate grounds are seldom at the same absolute voltage. If we connect more than one
ground to the same signal circuit, an unwanted current will flow in the ground loop thus created. This
current combines itself with the useful signal, which is shown in the below figure.

Ground loop created by more than one ground on a signal circuit. The potential difference between earth ground no.1
and earth ground no.2 causes current to circulate in the signal cable shield and also in the lower signal conductor,
producing two separate ground loops.

Also, there is a second ground loop through the signal cable-shielded from the signal source to the
amplifier. The current in the shield is coupled to the signal pair through the distributed capacitance in the
signal cable. This current then flows through the output impedance of the signal source and back to the
ground, thus adding a second source of noise to the useful signal. Either one of these ground loops
generates a noise signal that is larger than a typical millivolt useful signal.
Ground loops are eliminated by the floating lower input terminal of the amplifier. The amplifier
enclosure is still solidly grounded to earth-ground no.2 but this will not create a ground loop, since the
amplifier enclosure is insulated from the signal circuit. The ground-loop through the signal cable is
removed by grounding the shield only at the signal source which is the proper configuration for minimum
pick-up as shown in the figure below.

Eliminating multiple grounds. The ground loop in the lower signal lead has been broken by removing the
jumper wire to earth ground no.2. The ground loop in the cable shield has been broken by removing its connection to
earth ground no.2.
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BANDPASS FILTERING
Biomedical signals are electrical signals collected from the body. Most of the biomedical signals
are collected using non-invasive methods. Most real-world signals include noise. Noise is any unwanted
signal that corrupts the signal of interest. There are different sources of noise like the heat generated in
the electronic components, static electrical signals in the surrounding and movement between the patient
and sensors. In order to extract useful information from the signal, the noise has to be eliminated.
Filtering of signals is one of the first steps in the processing of biomedical signals.
A filter is a circuit in signal processing used to allow wanted frequency components from the
signals to remove unwanted ones. The background noise of the interfacing signal can be reduced by
eliminating some frequencies which is known as filtering.
The bandpass filter can be created by combining a low pass and high pass filter that allows
signals between two precise frequencies to pass, but separates signals at other frequencies. The upper and
lower cut-off frequencies of this filter can be suitably chosen to eliminate noise and retain frequency
components that correspond to the signal of interest.

Bandpass filter circuit

Types of Bandpass filter:

Bandpass filters are categorized into two types:
1. Wide bandpass filter
2. Narrow bandpass filter

Wide Bandpass filter:

A wide bandpass filter (WBF) formed by cascading low pass and high pass sections is generally
an alternative circuit for ease of design and performance. It is realized by a number of feasible circuits. A
± 20 db/decade bandpass filter formed by first-order low-pass and high-pass sections can be cascaded. In
the same way, a ± 40 db/decade bandpass filter can be formed by connecting a second-order low-pass and
high-pass filter in series. The order of the BPF is governed by the order of the low-pass and high-pass
filters it has.

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 Wide bandpass filter circuit

BPF frequency response

Narrow Bandpass filter:
A narrow bandpass filter employs multiple feedback and this filter uses only one operational
amplifier as shown in the figure. It is named as multiple-feedback filter as it consists of two feedback
paths. The operational amplifier is used in the inverting mode.

Narrow bandpass filter circuit

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 Generally, the narrow bandpass filter (BPF) is designed for precise values of fc (center frequency)
and Q (or) fc (center frequency) and BW. The required components of the circuit are determined by the
following relationships. Each of the C1 and C2 can be taken equal to C for design calculation
simplifications.

where „Af‟ is the gain at the „fc‟ center frequency and is given as

However, the gain must satisfy the following condition,

The fc (center frequency) of the various feedback filters can be altered to a new frequency „fc‟
without changing the gain or bandwidth. This is attained simply by altering R2 to R2‟ so that

[ ]

Applications of Bandpass filter:

 BPF‟s are extensively used in the wireless transmitters and receivers.
 The main function of the BPF in a transmitter is to limit the bandwidth of the output signal to the
band allotted for the transmission.
 This avoids the transmitter from interfering with other stations.
 In a receiver, a bandpass filter allows signals within a selected range of frequencies to be heard or
decoded, while preventing signals at unwanted frequencies from getting through. A bandpass
filter also optimizes the signal to noise ratio and sensitivity of a receiver.
 Bandpass filters are used in all type of medical applications like EEG and ECG.
 Bandpass filters are used in communication systems for selecting a specific signal from a range of
signals.

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