A tree-search method for single-channel fetal QRS complexes detection in fetal heart rate monitoring

Objective: Fetal heart rate (FHR) measurement is essential in monitoring the fetal well-being. This paper introduces a tree-search method for FHR measurement from single-channel abdominal ECG (AECG) recording. Approach: The proposed method is composed of three main stages: a preprocessing stage for signal denoising, a new tree-search methodology for detecting fetal QRS complexes, and a final stage for false positive and false negative correction. Main results: Two databases are used to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed method. The results show that the proposed technique exhibits a satisfactory performance when compared to seven other works. And a higher robustness is showed in the proposed method. Significance: The proposed method is capable of extracting the FHR from single-channel AECG recording. This work contributes to facilitating the long-term monitoring for healthcare at home.