A novel telemetric logging system for recording physiological signals in unrestrained animals

A novel, dual mode telemetric logging system to monitor, transmit and record physiological waveforms (electrocardiogram ECG, electroencephalogram EEG and respiratory signals) in unrestrained animals was designed, constructed and tested. The system operating in telemetry mode allows bursts of physiological waveform data to be acquired and displayed on demand and allows parameters such as the gain of the signal conditioning amplifiers to be adjusted remotely. The system will commence logging several minutes of physiological waveforms when triggered by a command; it will continue logging regardless of the continued existence of a radio link and will subsequently download those data to a personal computer. System performance is demonstrated by physiological measurements (simultaneous ECG, EEG and/or respiration signals) made on chickens during stunning in a commercial controlled atmosphere system. This application demonstrated the acquisition of high quality physiological data in circumstances where other measurement approaches (including telemetry) would be difficult or impossible.