Signal detection and discrimination for medical devices using windowed state space filters

Abstract

We introduce a model-based approach for computationally efficient signal detection and discrimination, which is relevant for biological signals. Due to its low computational complexity and low memory need, this approach is well-suited for low power designs, as required for medical devices and implants. We use linear state space models to gain recursive, efficient computation rules and obtain the model parameters by minimizing the squared error on discrete-time observations. Furthermore we combine multiple models of different time-scales to match superpositions of signals of variable length. To give immediate access to our method, we highlight the use in several practical examples on standard and on esophageal ECG signals. This method was adapted and improved as part of a research and development project for medical devices.