Detection of c, d, and e waves in the acceleration photoplethysmogram

•A robust algorithm to detect c, d, and e waves in the acceleration photoplethysmogram signals.•To our knowledge, this is the first algorithm published for this purpose.•The accurate detection of c, d, and e waves will enable researchers to monitor serious abnormalities and health problems.

Analyzing the acceleration photoplethysmogram (APG) is becoming increasingly important for diagnosis. However, processing an APG signal is challenging, especially if the goal is to detect its small components (c, d, and e waves). Accurate detection of c, d, and e waves is an important first step for any clinical analysis of APG signals. In this paper, a novel algorithm that can detect c, d, and e waves simultaneously in APG signals of healthy subjects that have low amplitude waves, contain fast rhythm heart beats, and suffer from non-stationary effects was developed. The performance of the proposed method was tested on 27 records collected during rest, resulting in 97.39% sensitivity and 99.82% positive predictivity.