Sensor array and electrode selection for non-invasive fetal electrocardiogram extraction by independent component analysis

Recently, non-invasive techniques to measure the fetal electrocardiogram (FECC) signal have given very promising results. However, the important question of the number and the location of the external sensors has been often discarded. In this paper, an electrode-array approach is proposed, it is combined with a sensor selection algorithm using a mutual information criterion. The sensor selection algorithm is run in parallel to an independent component analysis of the selected signals. The aim of this method is to make a real time extraction of the FECG possible. The results are shown on simulated biomedical signals.