Textile Concentric Ring Electrodes: Influence of Position and Electrode Size on Cardiac Activity Monitoring

Continuous ECG monitoring can play an important role in the rapid detection of pathological signatures and arrhythmias. Current systems use electrodes with limitations in wearable long-term applications and spatial selectivity. In this work, two sizes of textile concentric ring electrodes (TCRE42 and TCRE50) were developed and tested for monitoring cardiac activity. The low-cost devices were found to be easy to implement and to potentially have the advantages of textile electrodes for being lightweight, stretchable, adjustable, washable, and long-lasting. Both TCREs yielded similar signal detectability of different ECG waves. The optimal P wave recording area (OPA) for detecting signals was on the upper right chest. Although the absolute signal amplitude of TCRE records was smaller than that of lead II, normalized amplitude in the OPA is similar for T wave and higher for P wave. The TCREs also allowed better analysis of P wave morphology and were able to detect more right and left atrial depolarization waves. TCRE48 showed slightly better detectability, normalized amplitude, and spatial selectivity than TCRE50 within the OPA. The authors consider the TCRE suitable for use in ubiquitous mobile health care systems, especially for atrial activity monitoring and diagnosis.