Non-Contact Remote Measurement of Heart Rate Variability using Near-Infrared Photoplethysmography Imaging

Heart rate variability (HRV) is an important clinical parameter associated with the autonomous nervous system (ANS), age, as well as many diseases such as myocardial infarction, diabetes or renal failure. Gold standard for measurement of HRV is a high-resolution electrocardiogram (ECG). With the current trend towards non-contact and unobtrusive monitoring of vital signs, HRV has also become an interesting and important parameter for non-contact monitoring. In this paper, we present an approach towards non-contact and unobtrusive monitoring of heart rate variability using the camera-based technology of photoplethysmography imaging (PPGI). We investigated the suitability of invisible near-infrared illumination for PPGI, which would enable measurement of HRV in darkness. We compared results obtained using infrared illumination with those obtained using visible light as PPGI illumination and calculated both time-domain as well as frequency-domain HRV parameters. The results achieved with infrared illumination were on par with those using conventional illumination in the visible spectrum. We concluded that infrared illumination enables unobtrusive and non-contact remote HRV measurement in both darkness as well as regular daylight conditions using PPGI.