Correlation-based classification of heartbeats for individual identification

This paper proposes new techniques to delineate P and T waves efficiently from heartbeats. The delineation results have been found to be optimum and stable in comparison to other published results. These delineators are used along with QRS complex to extract various features of classes time interval, amplitude and angle from clinically dominant fiducials on each heartbeat of the electrocardiogram (ECG). A new identification system has been proposed in this study, which uses these features and makes the decision on the identity of an individual with respect to a given database. The system has been tested against a set of 250 ECG recordings prepared from 50 individuals of Physionet. The matching decisions are made on the basis of correlation between heartbeat features among individuals. The proposed system has achieved an equal error rate of less than 1.01 with an accuracy of 99%.