Noncontact measurement of heart rate using facial video illuminated under natural light and signal weighted analysis

Abstract Non-contact and remote measurements of vital physical signals are important for reliable and comfortable physiological self-assessment. We presented a novel optical imaging-based method to measure the vital physical signals. Using a digital camera and ambient light, the cardiovascular pulse waves were extracted better from human color facial videos correctly. And the vital physiological parameters like heart rate were measured using a proposed signal-weighted analysis method. The measured HRs consistent with those measured simultaneously with reference technologies ( r =0.94, p <0.001 for HR). The results show that the imaging–based method is suitable for measuring the physiological parameters, and provide a reliable and comfortable measurement mode. The study lays a physical foundation for measuring multi-physiological parameters of human noninvasively.