Pulse arrival time (PAT) measurement based on arm ECG and finger PPG signals - comparison of PPG feature detection methods for PAT calculation

In this study, pulse arrival time (PAT) was measured using a simple measurement setup consisting of arm electrocardiogram (ECG) and finger photoplethysmogram (PPG). Four methods to calculate PAT from the measured signals were evaluated. PAT was calculated as the time delay between ECG R peak and one of the following points in the PPG waveform: peak (maximum value of PPG waveform), foot (minimum value of PPG waveform), dpeak (maximum value of the first derivative of PPG waveform) and ddpeak (maximum value of the second derivative of PPG waveform). In addition to PAT calculation, pulse period (PP) intervals based on the detected features were determined and compared to RR intervals derived from ECG signal. Based on the results obtained here, the most promising method to be used in PAT or PP calculation seems to be the dpeak detection method.