A Modified Run-Length Coding for the Realization of Wavelet-based ECG Data Compression System

With high compression performance, realization of wavelet-based data compression system is crucial for multi-lead ECG signal recording. In this paper, a modified run-length coding (MRLC) algorithm associated with an efficient quantization scheme is proposed for the realization of a RRO-NRDPWT-based ECG data compression system. The MRLC with regularity and low computational complexity is suitable for hardware implementation at a cost of compression performance. This sacrifice will be compensated by the new quantization scheme. By using the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database, the experimental results show that the proposed scheme can be competitive to other wavelet-based approaches in compression performance. In addition, the MRLC can improve traditional run-length coding by about 13%.