Artifact reduction in photoplethysmography

Motion artifact reduction in photoplethysmography, and therefore by implication in pulse oximetry, is achieved with a novel nonlinear methodology. The physical origins of the photoplethysmographic signals are explored in relation to a nonlinear measure of the observed intensity fluctuations. It is demonstrated that the nonlinearity renormalizes the received pulsations with optical information in a manner that aids physical interpretation. A heuristic physical model for the motion artifact is introduced and experimentally justified, with an inversion for artifact reduction being simplified by the nonlinearity. A practical implementation technique is discussed with emphasis placed on the resultant rescaling of the static and the dynamic portions of the signals. It is noted that this implementation also has the desirable effect of reducing any residual ambient artifact. The scope and power of this methodology is investigated with the presentation of results from a practical electronic system.