Non-Contact Neonatal Heart Rate Monitoring Using Blue Filter Technique with Photoplethysmography Imaging under UV Illumination
Huda Ali Hashim
(Login required)
Middle Technical University, Baghdad, Iraq
Paper #9219 received 14 Jan 2025; revised manuscript received 8 Feb 2025; accepted for publication 13 Mar 2025; published online 29 Mar 2025.
DOI: 10.18287/JBPE25.11.010305
Abstract
Non-contact heart rate (HR) monitoring is essential for neonates, as traditional adhesive sensors can damage their delicate skin. The rise in contagious viral infections further emphasizes the need for contactless neonatal healthcare monitoring systems to reduce physical interaction and the risk of disease transmission. This study proposes a novel non-contact HR monitoring system for neonates, combining a blue-filter technique with skin color enhancement under UV illumination. The system utilizes digital camera-based photoplethysmography imaging and a tile-based region of interest (ROI) selection method. Also, a neonatal graphical user interface (GUI) was developed for real-time HR monitoring and clear visualization of findings. We compared the findings of the proposed technique with standard UV photoplethysmography imaging without the blue filter technique to validate its effectiveness. Experimental findings demonstrate the proposed system’s high performance, with a Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) of 0.998 and a mean absolute error (MAE) of 1.12 bpm, closely matched to ECG monitor readings. These findings highlight the system’s potential as a reliable, non-contact solution for neonatal HR monitoring in the NICU, offering a promising advancement in neonatal care and broader biomedical applications.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
1. D. McDuff, S. Gontarek, and R. W. Picard, “Improvements in remote cardiopulmonary measurement using a five band digital camera,” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 61(10), 2593–2601 (2014).
2. A. G. Shabeeb, H. A. Hashim, and S. K. Gharghan, “Heart disease classification based on combination of PCA /ANFIS model,” Research on Biomedical Engineering 40(3), 609–625 (2024).
3. X. He, R. A. Goubran, and X. P. Liu, “Wrist pulse measurement and analysis using Eulerian video magnification,” IEEE-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics (BHI), 41–44 (2016).
4. N. Kumar, G. Akangire, B. Sullivan, K. Fairchild, and V. Sampath, “Continuous vital sign analysis for predicting and preventing neonatal diseases in the twenty-first century: big data to the forefront,” Pediatric Research 87(2), 210–220 (2020).
5. H. Ali Hashim, N. Mahmood Ahmed, and A. G. Shabeeb, “Infant heart rate estimation based on non-contact UV photoplethysmography,” Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 31(1), 180 (2023).
6. D. Kolosov, V. Kelefouras, P. Kourtessis, and I. Mporas, “Contactless camera-based heart rate and respiratory rate monitoring using ai on hardware,” Sensors 23(9), 4550 (2023).
7. L. Scalise, N. Bernacchia, I. Ercoli, and P. Marchionni, “Heart rate measurement in neonatal patients using a webcamera,” IEEE International Symposium on Medical Measurements and Applications Proceedings, IEEE, Budapest, Hungary (2012).
8. J. Brieva, E. Moya-Albor, O. Rivas-Scott, and H. Ponce, “Non-contact breathing rate monitoring system based on a Hermite video magnification technique,” in 14th International Symposium on Medical Information Processing and Analysis, SPIE Proceedings 10975, 1097504 (2018).
9. M. Chen, Q. Zhu, H. Zhang, M. Wu, and Q. Wang, “Respiratory rate estimation from face videos,” 2019 IEEE EMBS International Conference on Biomedical & Health Informatics, Chicago, IL, USA (2019).
10. H. A. Hashim, “Non-contact automatic respiratory rate monitoring for newborns using digital camera technology and deep learning,” Journal of Biomedical Photonics & Engineering 10(4), 040317 (2024).
11. A. Al-Naji, K. Gibson, S.-H. Lee, and J. Chahl, “Monitoring of cardiorespiratory signal: principles of remote measurements and review of methods,” IEEE Access 5, 15776–15790 (2017).
12. A. Al-Naji, A. G. Perera, and J. Chahl, “Remote monitoring of cardiorespiratory signals from a hovering unmanned aerial vehicle,” Biomedical Engineering Online 16(1), 101 (2017).
13. W. Verkruysse, L. O. Svaasand, and J. S. Nelson, “Remote plethysmographic imaging using ambient light,” Optics Express 16(26), 21434 (2008).
14. L. Tarassenko, M. Villarroel, A. Guazzi, J. Jorge, D. A. Clifton, and C. Pugh, “Non-contact video-based vital sign monitoring using ambient light and auto-regressive models,” Physiological Measurement 35(5), 807–831 (2014).
15. Y. Zeng, D. Yu, X. Song, Q. Wang, L. Pan, H. Lu, and W. Wang, “Camera-based cardiorespiratory monitoring of preterm infants in NICU,” IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement 73, 1–13 (2024).
16. G. O. Ganfure, “Using video stream for continuous monitoring of breathing rate for general setting,” Signal, Image and Video Processing 13(7), 1395–1403 (2019).
17. H. Qi, Z. Guo, X. Chen, Z. Shen, and Z. Jane Wang, “Video-based human heart rate measurement using joint blind source separation,” Biomedical Signal Processing and Control 31, 309–320 (2017).
18. H. Hashim, S. Mohammed, and S. Gharghan, “Accurate localization of elderly people based on neural and wireless sensor networks,” Journal of Engineering and Applied Science 14(11), 3777–3789 (2019).
19. C. Gonzalez Viejo, S. Fuentes, D. D. Torrico, and F. R. Dunshea, “Non-contact heart rate and blood pressure estimations from video analysis and machine learning modelling applied to food sensory responses: a case study for chocolate,” Sensors 18(6), 1802 (2018).
20. Y. Sun, C. Papin, V. Azorin-Peris, R. Kalawsky, S. Greenwald, and S. Hu, “Use of ambient light in remote photoplethysmographic systems: comparison between a high-performance camera and a low-cost webcam,” Journal of Biomedical Optics 17(3), 037005 (2012)
21. A. Al-Naji, J. Chahl, “Remote respiratory monitoring system based on developing motion magnification technique,” Biomedical Signal Processing and Control 29, 1–10 (2016).
22. K. S. Tan, R. Saatchi, H. Elphick, and D. Burke, “Real-time vision based respiration monitoring system,” in 7th International Symposium on Communication Systems, Networks & Digital Signal Processing, 770–774 (2010).
23. M. Bartula, T. Tigges, and J. Muehlsteff, “Camera-based system for contactless monitoring of respiration,” 35th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society 2672–2675 (2013).
24. K.-Y. Lin, D.-Y. Chen, and W.-J. Tsai, “Face-based heart rate signal decomposition and evaluation using multiple linear regression,” IEEE Sensors Journal 16(5), 1351–1360 (2016).
25. D.-Y. Chen, J.-J. Wang, K.-Y. Lin, H.-H. Chang, H.-K. Wu, Y.-S. Chen, and S.-Y. Lee, “Image sensor-based heart rate evaluation from face reflectance using hilbert–huang transform,” IEEE Sensors Journal 15(1), 618–627 (2015).
26. W. Wang, S. Stuijk, and G. de Haan, “A novel algorithm for remote photoplethysmography: Spatial subspace rotation,” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 63(9), 1974–1984 (2016).
27. S. Yu, S. Hu, V. Azorin-Peris, J. A. Chambers, Y. Zhu, and S. E. Greenwald, “Motion-compensated noncontact imaging photoplethysmography to monitor cardiorespiratory status during exercise,” Journal of Biomedical Optics 16(7), 077010 (2011).
28. L. A. M. Aarts, V. Jeanne, J. P. Cleary, C. Lieber, J. S. Nelson, S. Bambang Oetomo, and W. Verkruysse, “Non-contact heart rate monitoring utilizing camera photoplethysmography in the neonatal intensive care unit — A pilot study,” Early Human Development 89(12), 943–948 (2013).
29. K. Gibson, A. Al-Naji, J. Fleet, M. Steen, A. Esterman, J. Chahl, J. Huynh, and S. Morris, “Non-contact heart and respiratory rate monitoring of preterm infants based on a computer vision system: a method comparison study,” Pediatr Research 86(6), 738–741 (2019).
30. M.-Z. Poh, D. J. McDuff, and R. W. Picard, “Advancements in noncontact, multiparameter physiological measurements using a webcam,” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 58(1), 7–11 (2011).
31. M. Alnaggar, A. I. Siam, M. Handosa, T. Medhat, and M. Z. Rashad, “Video-based real-time monitoring for heart rate and respiration rate,” Expert Systems with Applications 225, 120135 (2023).
32. N. Sharma, S. Kaman, and P. K. Mahapatra, “Non-contact measurement of human heart rate using low cost video camera,” 2019 Fifth International Conference on Image Information Processing, 58–62 (2019).
33. Z. Wu, N. E. Huang, “Ensemble empirical mode decomposition: a noise-assisted data analysis method,” Advances in Adaptive Data Analysis 01(01), 1–41 (2009).
34. M.-Z. Poh, D. J. McDuff, and R. W. Picard, “Non-contact, automated cardiac pulse measurements using video imaging and blind source separation,” Optics Express 18(10), 10762 (2010).
35. W. Wei, K. Vatanparvar, L. Zhu, J. Kuang, and A. Gao, “Remote photoplethysmography and heart rate estimation by dynamic region of interest tracking,” in 44th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society, 3243–3248 (2022).
36. H. Wang, S. Zhang, “Non-contact heart rate measurement using low-cost RGB camera under complex light conditions,” Multimedia Tools and Applications 84(3), 1561–1575 (2025).
37. A. Revanur, A. Dasari, C. S. Tucker, and L. A. Jeni, “Instantaneous physiological estimation using video transformers,” in Multimodal AI in Healthcare, A. Shaban-Nejad, M. Michalowski, and S. Bianco (Eds.), Springer International Publishing 1060, 307–319 (2023).
38. N. Molinaro, F. Zangarelli, E. Schena, S. Silvestri, and C. Massaroni, “Cardiorespiratory parameters monitoring through a single digital camera in real scenarios: ROI tracking and motion influence,” IEEE Sensors Journal 23(17), 20097–20106 (2023).
39. J. Cheng, X. Chen, L. Xu, and Z. J. Wang, “Illumination variation-resistant video-based heart rate measurement using joint blind source separation and ensemble empirical mode decomposition,” IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics 21(5), 1422–1433 (2017).
40. S. J. Stockwell, T. C. Kwok, S. P. Morgan, D. Sharkey, and B. R. Hayes-Gill, “Forehead monitoring of heart rate in neonatal intensive care,” Frontiers in Physiology 14, 1127419 (2023).
41. A. Al-Naji, J. Chahl, “Remote optical cardiopulmonary signal extraction with noise artifact removal, multiple subject detection & long-distance,” IEEE Access 6, 11573–11595 (2018).
42. F.-T.-Z. Khanam, A. Al-Naji, A. G. Perera, K. Gibson, and J. Chahl, “Remote vital signs monitoring in neonatal intensive care unit using a digital camera,” International Journal of Biomedical and Biological Engineering 16(10), 138–144 (2022).
Сontact
34 Moskovskoe shosse, Samara, 443086, Russian Federation
Email: j-bpe@ssau.ru
Phone: +7-846-267-4550
© 2014-2025 J-BPE