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High-quality recording of bioelectric events

Part 2 Low-noise, low-power multichannel amplifier design

Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing volume 29, pages 433–440 (1991)Cite this article

Abstract

A multichannel instrumentation amplifier, developed to be used in a miniature universal eight-channel amplifier module, is described. After discussing the specific properties of a bioelectric recording, the difficulties of meeting the demanded specifications with a design based on operational amplifiers are reviewed. Because it proved impossible to achieve the demanded combination of low noise and low power consumption using commercially available operational amplifiers, an amplifier equipped with an input stage with discrete transistors was developed. A new design concept was used to expand the design to a multichannel version with an equivalent input noise voltage of 0·35 μV RMS in a bandwidth of 0·1–100 Hz and a power consumption of 0·6 mW per channel. The results of this study are applied to miniature, universal, eight-channel amplifier modules, manufactured with thick-film production techniques. The modules can be coupled to satisfy the demand for a multiple of eight channels. The low power consumption enables the modules to be used in all kinds of portable and telemetry measurement systems and simplifies the power supply in stationary measurement systems.

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Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Medical Physics, University of Amsterdam, Academic Medical Centre, Meibergdreef 15, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    A. C. Metting van Rijn, A. Peper & C. A. Grimbergen

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  1. A. C. Metting van Rijn
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  2. A. Peper
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  3. C. A. Grimbergen
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Metting van Rijn, A.C., Peper, A. & Grimbergen, C.A. High-quality recording of bioelectric events. Med. Biol. Eng. Comput. 29, 433–440 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02441666

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02441666

Keywords

  • Bioelectric recordings
  • Low noise
  • Low power consumption
  • Multichannel front end
  • Small dimensions