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ANSI/AAMI EC13 Test Waveforms

The files in this set can be used for testing a variety of devices that monitor the electrocardiogram. The recordings include both synthetic and real waveforms. For details on these test waveforms and how to use them, please refer to section 5.1.2.1, paragraphs (e) and (g) in the reference below.

Each recording contains one ECG signal sampled at 720 Hz with 12-bit resolution. The recordings can be viewed or converted to text form using the PhysioBank ATM, or read directly using the WFDB Software Package. The record names refer to the illustrations in the reference below (figures 3 and 4 on pages 25 and 26 of that document). Note that EC13 specifies that the tachycardia waveforms in figure 4 should be presented following an abrupt transition from synthetic waveforms specified in figure 6 of EC13; thus the aami4* records each begin with 30 seconds of triangle waveforms, followed by the figure 4 waveforms. The records named aami4a_d and aami4a_h, etc., contain the half-size and double-size versions of the figure 4 data that are mentioned in the standard. (The names are misleading, since the _d records contain the half-size versions, and the _h records contain the double-size versions, the opposite of what the record names imply. The names are those given by AAMI, the source of these files, and they have not been changed, in hopes of avoiding further confusion. Thanks to Humberto Valdes for pointing out this issue.)

In addition to these waveforms, EC13 specifies the use of specific synthesized waveforms that can be created using the ECG waveform generator for Matlab/Octave available in PhysioToolkit.

Reference

Cardiac monitors, heart rate meters, and alarms [American National Standard (ANSI/AAMI EC13:2002)]. Arlington, VA: Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, 2002.
Icon  Name                    Last modified      Size  Description
[DIR] Parent Directory - [   ] MD5SUMS 13-Jul-2005 03:03 916 [   ] RECORDS 19-Dec-2002 20:01 78 list of record names [   ] SHA1SUMS 13-Jul-2005 03:03 1.1K [   ] SHA256SUMS 18-Sep-2007 19:36 1.8K [   ] aami3a.dat 19-Dec-2002 18:36 84K digitized signal(s) [   ] aami3a.hea 19-Dec-2002 18:36 97 header file [   ] aami3b.dat 19-Dec-2002 18:36 84K digitized signal(s) [   ] aami3b.hea 19-Dec-2002 18:36 96 header file [   ] aami3c.dat 19-Dec-2002 18:36 84K digitized signal(s) [   ] aami3c.hea 19-Dec-2002 18:36 96 header file [   ] aami3d.dat 19-Dec-2002 18:36 67K digitized signal(s) [   ] aami3d.hea 19-Dec-2002 18:36 96 header file [   ] aami4a.dat 19-Dec-2002 18:36 127K digitized signal(s) [   ] aami4a.hea 19-Dec-2002 18:36 99 header file [   ] aami4a_d.dat 19-Dec-2002 18:36 127K digitized signal(s) [   ] aami4a_d.hea 19-Dec-2002 18:36 104 header file [   ] aami4a_h.dat 19-Dec-2002 18:36 127K digitized signal(s) [   ] aami4a_h.hea 19-Dec-2002 18:37 105 header file [   ] aami4b.dat 19-Dec-2002 18:37 127K digitized signal(s) [   ] aami4b.hea 19-Dec-2002 18:37 99 header file [   ] aami4b_d.dat 19-Dec-2002 18:37 127K digitized signal(s) [   ] aami4b_d.hea 19-Dec-2002 18:37 104 header file [   ] aami4b_h.dat 19-Dec-2002 18:37 127K digitized signal(s) [   ] aami4b_h.hea 19-Dec-2002 18:37 106 header file
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Updated Friday, 16 December 2011 at 08:34 EET

NIBIB/NIH/NIGMS National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering National Institutes of Health National Institute of General Medical Sciences