Development of an Optical System for Non-Contact Type Measurement of Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability

Self-mixing optical coherent detection is a non-contact measurement technique which provides accurate information about the vibration frequency of any test subject. In this research, novel designs of optical homodyne and heterodyne detection techniques are explained. Homodyne and heterodyne setups are used for measuring the frequency of the modulated optical signal. This technique works on the principle of the optical interferometer, which provides a coherent detection of two self-mixing beams. In the optical homodyne technique, one of the two beams receives direct modulation from the vibration frequency of the test subject. In the optical heterodyne detection technique, one of the two optical beams is subjected to modulation by an acousto-optics modulator before becoming further modulated by the vibration frequency of the test subject. These two optical signals form an interference pattern that contains the information of the vibration frequency. The measurement of cardiovascular signals, such as heart rate and heart rate variability, are performed with both homodyne and heterodyne techniques. The optical coherent detection technique provides a high accuracy for the measurement of heart period and heart rate variability. The vibrocardiogram output obtained from both techniques are compared for different heart rate values. Results obtained from both optical homodyne and heterodyne detection techniques are compared and found to be within 1% of deviation value. The results obtained from both the optical techniques have a deviation of less than 1 beat per minute from their corresponding ECG values.