Using Wigner-Ville Distribution in ECG Arrhythmia Detection for Telemedicine Applications

While the world's population is growing, average life expectancy is increasing. As a result, the growing elderly population is profoundly affecting the delivery of healthcare for everyone and in particular for those with chronic diseases. The remote monitoring of chronic patients may be achieved by a telemedicine system utilizing today's information and mobile communication technologies. In this study, an ECG arrhythmia detection algorithm based on Wigner-Ville distribution is proposed. The performance of the method is tested on a large dataset obtained from the PhysioNet database. Compared to other studies, the proposed method yields better accuracy, sensitivity and specificity results. Furthermore the computation time is suitable for telemedicine applications.