A Smart Wearable Prototype for Fetal Monitoring

Fetal monitoring during pregnancy is extremely important to identify risky conditions for the fetus. The standard approach to assess fetal well-being in the uterus is represented by cardiotocography (CTG). Unluckily CTG can only be used in a clinical setting, because it requires expert clinicians and cumbersome equipment to be performed. In order to overcome the disadvantages of CTG, which prevent a close and continuous monitoring during the last weeks of the pregnancy, a new prototype for fetal monitoring is proposed. The device we present is a home wearable fetal monitor. Instead of detecting fetal heartbeats using Doppler Ultrasounds, as CTG does, it is based on the recording of abdominal ECG. The system measures the maternal and fetal ECG by 8 leads embedded in a wearable belt. A custom algorithm was developed for recognition of maternal beats, their subtraction from the whole signal and extraction of fetal heart rate. The algorithm is based on an averaging and subtracting process. Afterwards, the beat-to-beat signal of both mother and fetus is computed. The relevant information extracted from the abdominal recordings is then transmitted to a laptop using a Bluetooth connection. The prototype we have developed will change the way in which fetal monitoring is accomplished, allowing comfortable, close and continuous monitoring of fetal well-being.