The Impact of Video Compression on Remote Cardiac Pulse Measurement Using Imaging Photoplethysmography

Remote measurement of physiological signals has a number of advantages over traditional contact methods. It allows the measurement of vital signals unobtrusively and concomitantly. In recent years, a number of approaches for imaging-based measurement of physiology using digital cameras have been proposed. Imaging photoplethysmography (iPPG) captures variations in light reflected from the body due to blood volume changes in microvascular tissue. It has been demonstrated that sub-pixel variations in color channel measurements from a digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera, when aggregated, could be used to recover the blood volume pulse. Subsequently, it was shown that iPPG methods can allow accurate measurement of heart rate, heart rate variability, breathing rate, blood oxygenation and pulse transit time.