Biosignals

BioSPPy includes processing pipelines for several biosignal types, combining common preprocessing steps with feature extraction and visualization. The pages below give a quick overview of each signal type and show a representative example plot from the project dataset.

What are Biosignals?

Biosignals, in the most general sense, are measurements of physical properties of biological systems. These include the measurement of properties at the cellular level, such as concentrations of molecules, membrane potentials, and DNA assays. On a higher level, for a group of specialized cells (i.e. an organ) we are able to measure properties such as cell counts and histology, organ secretions, and electrical activity (the electrical system of the heart, for instance). Finally, for complex biological systems like the human being, biosignals also include blood and urine test measurements, core body temperature, motion tracking signals, and imaging techniques such as CAT and MRI scans. However, the term biosignal is most often applied to bioelectrical, time-varying signals, such as the electrocardiogram.

The task of obtaining biosignals of good quality is time-consuming, and typically requires the use of costly hardware. Access to these instruments is, therefore, usually restricted to research institutes, medical centers, and hospitals. However, recent projects like BITalino or OpenBCI have lowered the entry barriers of biosignal acquisition, fostering the Do-It-Yourself and Maker communities to develop physiological computing applications. You can find a list of biosignal platform here.

The following sub-sections briefly describe the biosignals covered by biosppy.