PulseSense: A Wearable ECG
As more residents embrace active lifestyles, the demand for specialised cardiac monitoring has never been greater. Yet today's consumer-grade ECG devices only flag a problem after it has already taken hold — missing the narrow window where early intervention matters most.
Singapore's heart disease burden is set to triple by 2050.
Of all deaths in Singapore attributed to cardiovascular disease in 2024.
Of total mortality from ischaemic heart disease, including heart attacks.
Projected increase in heart attack incidence from 2025 to 2050.
Of Singaporeans now meet activity targets — up from 78.5% in 2023.
Consumer ECGs fall short
Single-lead wearables like smartwatches can screen for arrhythmias, but cannot detect ischemia — the silent reduction in blood flow that precedes a heart attack. By the time symptoms surface, the window for intervention has often closed.
Catch it before it becomes critical
By comparing a personalised resting ECG baseline against post-exercise readings, our system detects subtle waveform changes — the earliest known signal of cardiac stress — giving users actionable insight while there is still time to act.
PulseSense: Redefining Early Cardiac Detection
PulseSense is a sports-oriented wearable system designed to make heart health monitoring proactive rather than reactive. By capturing high-quality data during physical activity, we empower users to understand their cardiac responses in real-time, bridging the gap between clinical insight and everyday exercise.
Three phases. One complete picture of your heart health.
Pair & establish baseline
Sync your device to the app with ease. Visual on-screen guidance walks you through correct electrode placement, while the device verifies signal quality to capture a resting ECG baseline before you begin.
Real-time monitoring
Throughout your run or workout, the device streams continuous ECG data via Bluetooth to your phone. Live metrics including heart rate, signal quality, and exercise intensity are displayed as you move.
Recovery & ischemia analysis
Post-exercise, the app captures a final reading. Your cloud-processed report compares resting vs. active waveforms, flagging subtle ST-segment changes that may indicate the earliest signs of cardiac stress.
Built from the ground up — every layer custom-engineered.
// Hardware
Analog front end
- ADS1298 — 8-channel, 24-bit analog front end with integrated Right Leg Drive for active noise cancellation.
- nRF52840 — ultra-low-power MCU with integrated Bluetooth Low Energy radio for wireless data transmission.
- Bipolar power supply — providing symmetrical headroom for ECG signals, simplifying amplifier biasing and maximizing dynamic range.
- Isolated Power Planes— fully isolated analog and digital planes decouples high-frequency digital switching noise from sensitive analog signals
- Antialiasing filters protects the device from ambient high frequency interference from mobile phones, wifi and power lines.
- 12hr Active Battery Life ensures continuous reading even on your longest workouts.
// Software
Signal pipeline
- CH4 / Lead II Anchoring — detects R-peaks and heartbeat boundaries from the clearest ECG lead, then applies those same windows across all channels.
- 20-second morphology windows — divides the full run into 20-second windows for time-based ECG morphology tracking.
- Mean-beat Reconstruction — cleans, segments, filters noisy beats, and averages valid heartbeats into a representative beat shape.
- Calibration Comparison — compares every session mean beat against a resting calibration baseline to highlight signal changes.
- 2D/3D Vectorcardiography —converts multi-channel ECG into planar and 3D loop views, extracting QRS-T angle, ST vector, and loop-complexity metrics.
- Mobile app — cross-platform iOS/Android with BLE integration and CI/CD deployment.
Mobile-First Cardiac Monitoring
Our mobile application serves as the primary digital interface for users, bridging the gap between sophisticated hardware and actionable health insights. Designed with a “mobile-first” philosophy, it empowers individuals—particularly those resuming physical activity—to monitor their heart health with professional-grade accuracy through a user-friendly experience.
Onboarding
Active lead-quality detection ensures perfect electrode contact before every session.
Live Stats
Real-time heart rate trends and exertion intensity streamed via Bluetooth Low Energy.
Cloud Power
Advanced R-peak and HRV analysis offloaded to a high-performance Python backend.
Screening
Automated detection of ST-segment morphology shifts to flag potential cardiac stress.
// The Team
Tan Hong Ray
Hardware Lead
Tan Kian Yew
Mobile & UX
Tan Zorye
Product Engineer
Chen Yi Rong
Backend & Signal Processing, Valedictorian
Jean Soh Chee Teck
Hardware & PCB
Daniel Lim
Hardware & Graphic Lead, Valedictorian
// Academic Mentors
Prof. Yihan Du & Prof. Dileepa Fernando
Singapore University of Technology and Design
// Industry Partner
Alan Goh & John Chee
Biosense — Wearable Health Technologies
