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International Journal of EmergingTrends & Technology in Computer Science(IJETTCS)

Web Site: www.ijettcs.org Email: editor@ijettcs.org, editorijettcs@gmail.com


Volume 2, Issue 5, September October 2013 ISSN 2278-6856

Volume 2, Issue 5 September October 2013 Page 120


Absract: Powerline interference corrupts biomedical
recordings. A notch filter is one of the filters that are
suggested to suppress the fundamental powerline interference
and its harmonics in electrocardiographic recordings. The
aim of this paper is to design and implement digital FIR
notch filter for suppressing the 50Hz powerline interference,
with Blackman window function in electrocardiographic
(ECG) signal recordings. Matlab is used to generate
simulated results.

Keywords: Blackman window, ECG, Powerline
interference, notch filter.

1. Introduction
Powerline interference is a significant signal in
electrocardiography. Though there is need for proper
recording environment during ECG measurement, this
proper environment may not be sufficient to avoid this
interference. For correct clinical information to be
obtained from an ECG the amplitude of the powerline
interference should be less than 0.5% of the peak-to-peak
QRS amplitude [1]. This corresponds to signal to noise
ratio (SNR) of about 30dB. The powerline interference
can contain the fundamental component and higher
harmonics. Therefore our expression of powerline
interference in this paper is a combination of the
fundamental powerline interference component and the
harmonics. Naturally, ECG signal exists in analogue
form. For convenience of processing and analysis, the
ECG signal is converted to digital form. If the sampling
frequency is sufficiently high the resulting digital signal
preserves all the information of the analogue one. Notch
filters reduce the powerline interference by suppressing
predetermined frequencies. Adaptive cancellers can also
reduce the powerline interference by tracking the
interference frequency. In [2] Ferdjallah M. and Barr R.E.
used frequency domain digital filtering approaches to
reduce powerline noise in ECG. Sorensen J.S. et al [3]
did a comparison of 11R filters and wavelet transform in
reducing powerline noise in ECG. Mahesh et al in [4]
investigated the application of Chebyshev I. digital filter
in removal of interference in ECG signal, on real time
basis. In [5] Guatam et al effected removal of powerline
noise and other noises with asynchronous averaging and
filtering algorithms. Mbachu C.B. et al in [6] processed
ECG signal with FIR digital filters implemented with
Kaiser Window function. In [7]

Luo S. and Jhonston P.
investigated how efficient interpretation and diagnoiss
can be facilitated with regards to ECG signals. They
considered issues that are related to the inaccuracy of
ECG preprocessing filters. Mbachu et al [8] investigated
the filtration effectiveness of digital FIR filters
implemented with rectangular window in processing ECG
signal. Sonal K Jagtap and Uplane M. D. [9] did a real
time approach of ECG noise reduction using Chebychev
type II digital IIR filters. In [10] Chinchkhede et al
evaluated the performances of Kaiser, Blackman,
Blackman Harris and Gaussian windows in implementing
FIR digital filters for enhancement of ECG signal. In this
paper we are proposing to use Blackman window to
design and FIR filter for suppression of powerline
interference in ECG. By this we determine the suitability
or otherwise of Blackman window in this suppression.
Fig1. Shows a typical ECG signal free from corruption
[11].


Fig 1: Typical ECG signal
Source: [11]

2. Design of Digital Notch Filter With
Blackman Window

Fig 2: Represents a Blackman window function. The
mathematical model is represented [12] in equation (1).
IMPLEMENTATION OF FIR DIGITAL
FILTER WITH BLACKMAN WINDOW FOR
IMPROVEMENT OF ECG SIGNAL
QUALITY

Mbachu C. B
1
. and Nwabueze C. A
2
.

1,2
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Anambra State
University, Uli, Nigeria
International Journal of EmergingTrends & Technology in Computer Science(IJETTCS)
Web Site: www.ijettcs.org Email: editor@ijettcs.org, editorijettcs@gmail.com
Volume 2, Issue 5, September October 2013 ISSN 2278-6856

Volume 2, Issue 5 September October 2013 Page 121


0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1

Fig 2: Blackman Window Function

( )
|
.
|

\
|

t
+ |
.
|

\
|

t
=
1 M
k 4
cos 08 . 0
1 M
k 2
cos 5 . 0 42 . 0 k w

1 M k 0 s s (1)
Where M is the number of samples of the FIR filter. In
this design, we have the order L of the filter as 100 and L
=M-1. The sampling frequency of 1000Hz is sufficiently
high for the digitized signal to preserve all the
information of the analogue ECG signal. If we substitute
the value of M in (1) the expression of (1) becomes that of
(2).

( ) |
.
|

\
| t
+ |
.
|

\
| t
=
100
k 4
cos 08 . 0
100
k 2
cos 5 . 0 42 . 0 k w

100 k 0 s s (2)

Designing a notch filter for 50Hz powerline noise
suppression, with the expression of (2), the impulse,
magnitude and phase responses of the filter are
presented in figures 3, 4 and 5 respectively.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2

Fig 3: Impulse Response of the Notch
Filter
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
-12
-10
-8
-6
-4
-2
0

Fig. 4. Magnitude Response of the Notch Filter
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
-160
-140
-120
-100
-80
-60
-40
-20
0

Fig. 5: Phase Response of the Notch Filter

3. Results
A normal noise-free ECG generated by matlab is shown
in fig 6 below. The normal ECG signal of fig 6 is
contaminated with 50Hz powerline and the contaminated
signal is shown in fig 7. The periodogram of the
contaminated ECG is recorded in fig 8. From fig 8, the
average power of the contaminated ECG at 50Hz is
+4.2dB. The contaminated signal is filtered using the
implemented FIR notch filter and the filtered ECG signal
is recorded in fig 9. The periodogram of the filtered ECG
signal is recorded in fig 10. From fig 10 the average
power of the filtered ECG signal at 50Hz is
-8dB. From the recordings the average power of the
filtered ECG signal at 50Hz is less than that of the
contaminated signal at 50Hz. Therefore the notch filter
has actually removed a substantial quantity of the 50Hz
powerline noise.
The corrupt ECG signal of fig. 7 is applied to an FIR
adaptive notch filter as a way of comparing the
performances of FIR notch filter designed with Blackman
window and adaptive notch filter in removing powerline
interference in ECG signals. The adaptively filtered ECG
signal is recorded in fig. 11 while the periodogram is
shown in fig. 12. From fig. 12 the average power of the
ECG signal filtered with adaptive notch filter at 50Hz
drops to -34.2dB. Note that 50Hz here corresponds to
0.1rad in the normalized frequency scale.
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4

Fig. 6 Normal ECG Signal From Matlab

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4

Fig. 7 ECG Signal Contaminated with 50Hz Powerline
Noise
International Journal of EmergingTrends & Technology in Computer Science(IJETTCS)
Web Site: www.ijettcs.org Email: editor@ijettcs.org, editorijettcs@gmail.com
Volume 2, Issue 5, September October 2013 ISSN 2278-6856

Volume 2, Issue 5 September October 2013 Page 122


0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
-100
-80
-60
-40
-20
0
20
NormalizedFrequency (trad/sample)
P
o
w
e
r
/
f
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y
(
d
B
/
r
a
d
/s
a
m
p
le
)
PeriodogramPower Spectral Density Estimate

Fig. 8: Periodogram of ECG Signal Contaminated with
50Hz powerline Noise
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4

Fig. 9: Filtered ECG Signal

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
-120
-100
-80
-60
-40
-20
0
20
NormalizedFrequency (trad/sample)
P
o
w
e
r
/
f
re
q
u
e
n
c
y

(
d
B
/
r
a
d
/
s
a
m
p
le
)
PeriodogramPower Spectral Density Estimate

Fig. 10: Periodogram of Filtered ECG Signal
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4

Fig. 11: Adaptively Filtered ECG Signal

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
-100
-80
-60
-40
-20
0
20
Normalized Frequency (trad/sample)
P
o
w
e
r
/
f
re
q
u
e
n
c
y

(
d
B
/r
a
d
/s
a
m
p
le
)
PeriodogramPower Spectral Density Estimate

Fig. 12: Periodogram of Adaptively Filtered ECG Signal

4. Conclusion
The filter is stable based on the impulse and magnitude
responses because there are no sustained oscillations in
them. The phase response exhibits linear characteristics.
Comparing the average power of the filtered ECG signal
with that of the corrupt signal shows that the notch filter
has actually removed a reasonable quantity of the 50Hz
powerline interference, though not good enough for
correct clinical interpretations. Comparing the
performance of the Blackman-windowed filter with that
of adaptive filter, as can be deduced from figures 11 and
12 shows that the adaptive filter is better in ECG
processing with a view to removing powerline
interference and good enough for correct clinical
interpretations.

References
[1] Suzanna M. M. Martens, Massimo Mischi, Oei S
Guid and Bergmans Jan W. M. An Improved
Adaptive Powerline Interference Canceller for
Electrocardiography IEEE Transactions on
Biomedical Engineering, Vol. 53, No.11, Pp. 2220
2231, 2006.
[2] Ferdjallah M and Barr R.E., Frequency Domain
Digital filtering Techniques for Removal of
Powerline Noise with Application to the
Electrocardiogram, Computers in Biomedical
Research, Vol 23, Issue 5, pp 473 489, 1990.
[3] Sorensen J.S., Johannesen L., Grove U.S.L., Lundhus
k, Coudere J.P. and Graff C., A comparison of IIR
and wavelet Filtering for Noise Reduction of ECG,
Computers in Cardiology, vol. 37, pp 489 492,
2010.
[4] Mahesh S. Chavan, Agarwala R.A. and Uplane
M.D., Real Time Application of Digital Chebyshev I
Filter for Removal of Interference in the
Electrocardiogram Signal, WSEAS Transactions on
Biology and Biomedicine, Vol. 2, Issue 3, pp 280
289, July, 2005.
[5] Guatam A., Lee H.J. and Chung W.Y., ECG Signal
Denoising with Asynchronous Averaging and
Filtering Algorithm, International Journal of
Healthcare Information Systems and Informatics, vol.
5, Issue 2, PP 30 36, 2010.
[6] Mbachu C.B., Onoh G.N., Idigo VE, Ifeagwu E.N.
and Nnebe S.U., Processing ECG Signal with
Kaiser Window Based FIR Digital Filters,
International Journal of Engineering Science and
Technology, vol. 3, No. 8 pp 6775 6783, 2011.
[7] Luo S. and Jhonston P., A Review of
Electorcardiogram Filtering, Journal of
Electrocardiology, Vol. 43, pp 486 496, 2010.
[8] Mbachu C.B, Idigo Victor, Ifeagwu Emmanuel and
Nsionu I.I., Filtration of Artifacts in ECG Using
Rectangular Window-Based Digital filters,
International Journal of computer Science Issues, vol.
8 Issue 5, No1, PP 279 285, 2011.
International Journal of EmergingTrends & Technology in Computer Science(IJETTCS)
Web Site: www.ijettcs.org Email: editor@ijettcs.org, editorijettcs@gmail.com
Volume 2, Issue 5, September October 2013 ISSN 2278-6856

Volume 2, Issue 5 September October 2013 Page 123


[9] Sonal K. Jagtap and Uplane M.D, A Real Time
Approach: ECG Noise Reduction in chebyshev Type
II Digital filter, International Journal of Computer
Applications, vol. 49, No 9, pp52-59, July, 2012.
[10] Chinchkhede K.D., Govind Sharan Yadav, Hirekhan
and Solanke D.R., On implementation of FIR Filter
with Various Windows for Enhancement of ECG
Signal, International Journal of Engineering
Science and Technology, vol. 3, No. 3, pp 2031
2040, 2011.
[11] Stefan Jurko and Gregor Rozinaj, High Resolution
of the ECG Signal Polynomial Approximation,
Radioengineering, Vol. 15, No 1, pp 32 37, 2006.
[12] Sarkar N., Elements of Digital Signal Processing,
Khanna Publishers, India, 2003.

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