Feasibility Study For In-Vehicle Detection of Severe Cardiac Events

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases are highly prevalent and fatal medical conditions cause many adult deaths annually. The occurrence of a debilitating cardiac condition while driving could suddenly render a driver unable to safely operate a vehicle, including bringing a vehicle to a stop in order to request medical assistance. Currently, many people are at risk of suffering from conditions such as a heart attack or arrhythmia. We conduct a feasibility study to determine the practicality of developing an in-vehicle severe cardiac event detection system, integrated with a driver monitoring system, to detect or predict these events. We provide background information related to the primary diagnostic criteria and evaluation of the Electrocardiogram (ECG). A preliminary noise analysis is conducted to compare the ECG noise of in-vehicle and in-lab signals. Ultimately, we determine that developing a driver monitoring system capable of determining the driver’s cardiac health is completely feasible.