Application of Biosignal Data Compression for u-Health Sensor Network System

Abstract

A sensor network system can be an efficient tool for healthcare telemetry for multiple users due to its power efficiency. One drawback is its limited data size. This paper proposed a real-time application of data compression/decompression method in u-Health monitoring system in order to improve the network efficiency. Our high priority was given to maintain a high quality of signal reconstruction since it is important to receive undistorted waveform. Our method consisted of down sampling coding and differential Huffman coding. Down sampling was applied based on the Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem and signal amplitude was taken into account to increase compression rate in the differential Huffman coding. Our method was successfully tested in a ZigBee and WLAN dual network. Electrocardiogram (ECG) had an average compression ratio of 3.99 : 1 with 0.24% percentage root mean square difference (PRD). Photoplethysmogram (PPG) showed an average CR of 37.99 : 1 with 0.16% PRD. Our method produced an outstanding PRD compared to other previous reports.