MD-Link: A portable ECG monitoring device with active dry electrodes and its validation

Recent advances in technologies have been profoundly enhancing the quality and efficacy of medical care. In the attempt to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), the use of wearable and portable electrocardiogram (ECG) system provides possibilities to efficiently and promptly preclude patients from severe situations, reducing the fatality rate of CVDs. In this paper, we present a portable battery-less ECG monitoring device, namely MD-Link, utilizing active dry electrodes. A comprehensive software system was developed with two mobile applications for patients and doctors correspondingly, and a web server for data logging and computing. We also conducted several empirical experiments for device's usability assessment and validation. The results showed a high consistency of usability and reliability assessment with low standard error of measurements (SEMs), 4.96% and 4.14% for the difference between trial 1 & 2 and trial 2 & 3, respectively. Moreover, high correlation was achieved in the comparison of standard outputs produced by MD-Link and benchmark (Nihon-1250K).