Sensor array for fetal ECG. part 1 : Simulations.

A fundamental investigation and development for foetal electrocardiogram (fECG) visualization has been carried out in this paper. fECG monitoring is a technique for obtaining important informations about the condition of the foetus during pregnancy and labour by measuring electrical signals generated by the foetal heart as measured from multi-channel potential recordings on the mother body surface. It is shown, in this paper, that the potential electrical field on the mother abdomen can be reconstructed by means of an electrical heart model. Most previous electrical heart models were static, not beating ones. Our study suggests that the beating heart model would provide more accurate simulations.