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THE WAVELET TRANSFORM AND ITS APPLICATION TO BIOMEDICAL SIGNALS

J A Crowe

Abstract
This paper aims to provide a relatively simple introduction to the field of wavelets and their relevance to the
pn>cessing of biomedical signals. ?he extensive bibliogmphy contains both rewmmended material on w a v e h
and papers on their application to a variety of biomedical signals for differing purposes (e.g. analysis ami
compression).

Biomedical signals and Fourier analysis


Biomedical signals are generally non-stationary with significant events (e.g. heartbeats) characterised by both
their time location and fresuency content. Consequently the frequency analw of such Signals via Fourier
techniques is fundamentally unsatisfactory since they are based upon modelling the signal as a linear
combination of sinusoids extending throughout the duration of the signal. Put simply Fourier analysis is good
at determhhg what fresuencies are present (i.e. it provides good frequency discrimination), but poor at
Pinpointing when these frequencies occur (i.e. it has poor time localisation).
This situation can be improved by windowing the basis functions of the Fourier transform (i.e. the sinusuids)
so that the sinusoids used to model the signal under analysis no longer extend acmss the entire signal. Using
such windowing produces the short time Fourier transform (
S).
The result of the windowing pn>cess is
that STFT is better able to locate events in time (since the basis functions are now reshicted in time) but, as
an unavoidable trade-offdue to the uncertainty principle, has poorer frequency resolution.

Use of the STFT allows a plot of the frequency content of a signal against time to be produced. ?Ibe
spectrogram, as it is known (and the equivalent plots produced by other time-frequency transforms) ax
valuable tools for the analysis of non-stationary signals. However, the use of a fixed length window means
that the resolution of the spectrogram, in both time and frequency, is fixed. This is often referred to as tfie
time-frequency plane being tiled by fixed size rectangular windows. The STFT is often used as the starting
point for many introductory articles on wavelets because one feature of the wavelet transform is the diilkrent
way in which it tiles the time-frequency (strictly time-scale for wavelets) plane.

The Wavelet Transform

The wavelet transform 0 has many similarities with the STFT but is fundamentally different in that its
basis functions (the wavelets) are not of fixed length. Rather the wavelets (literally little waves) are derived
by stretching (in time) a base wavelet to give the full wavelet basis consWng of dilated versions of the base
funclion. This repeated stretching to produce the wavelet basis obviously produces functions with decreasing
frequency (strictly scale) thus allowing the fresuencycantent of a signal to be analysed. However, the increase
in length of dilated wavelets renders them progressively less able to localise the p d s e timing of events within
the signal. This feature of the WT manifests itselfin the tiling (which is related to the time and frequency
resolution) of the time-frequency plane by prwiding good time location at high fquencies; with improved
frequency discriminaton at lower frequencies at the expense of poorer time location. Ccmsequently, the tiles at
low frequencies are shorter and wider (in frequency and time respectively)thanthe taller and narrower ones
Department of Electrical & ElectronicEngineering,University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK.

9 1997 The Institutionof Electrical Engineers.


rinted and published by the IEE, Savoy Place, London WCPR 0% UK.

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at high frequencies.
The STFT's spectrogram and ifs WT equivalent, the scabgram, produce continuous the-frequency plots. An
additional, and highly significant, feature of the WT is that by using orthonormal wavelets it is possible to
effectively sample the scalogram thus producing a non-discrete transform (i.e. N input paints
produce N wavelet coefficients). "he required sampling is dyadic (it involves factors of two) which ties in
with the repeated dilation of the base wavelet by factors of two to produce the en& basis set.
One view of the discrete WT is of a transform whose coefficients detail the magnitude of the basis wavelets
(which are functions limited in both time and frequency domains) required to reconstruct the Signal under
investigation. An altemative, yet equivalent, view is that the WT analyses the frequency content of the
incoming signal via a filter bank. The link between these is that the wavelets (the basis functions of lhe
transform), are intimately linked to the filtering action of the filter-bank. Consequently, a long, low scale
wavelet gives poorer time location but better frequency location (i.e. the ccwrepmg filter is narrow) than a
short high scale wavelet with the opposite characteristics.
A &xil point to note is that unlike most transforms, whose set of basis functions are fixed t h m are a
multitude of different wavelets that can be used. "hese are usually named after their inventor (e.g. Morlet and
Daubechies). Differences between these wavelets relate to factors such as their length, smoothness and their
c o m p d i n g filtering characteristics. However, in most engineering applications it is a nidatively mall
subset that are fresuentlyused.

Signal Processing and the WT


The reason the WT is of value is that in many naturally occurring, including biomedical, signals the timespan
of the constituent higher frequency components is shorter that that of the lower frequency ones. (For example
images usually consist of coarse features provided by large-scale objects with fine detail provided on a much
more local level.) consequenty the tiling of the time-frequency plane prwvided by the WT matches the
characteristics of the signal,
One of the most intemting fearures of wavelets is the way in which they have mitied a variety of branches of
mathematics, science and engineering. A consequence of this is that there are several ways, outlined below, of
viewing the use of wavelets as signal processing mls depending upon the specific application,
For example considered as a simple discrete transform they can be used for data compression and de-noising.
(Moreover, if the signals characteristics do not match the normal wavelet tiling it is possible to mod@ this via
the use of wavelet packets.) An altemative view is that the WT implements a bank of constant-Q filters (libe
the ear) and can therefore be used for sub-band coding. This field is an example of an area which preceded,
yet has been contributed to by, wavelets since they provide a means of generating the necessary quadrahm
mirror lilters.
The scaling process in the generation of wavelets leads to the idea of the WT as a "mathematical micmscope"
with which it is possible to zoom into signals to look at k e r detail. This concept has applications in the study
of turbulence and other phenomena exhibiting chaotic behaviour. A related idea is that of multhsolution
analysis (Mk4) which, regarding image processing, essentially refers to analysing an image at increasingly
closer range with the same resolution. Consequently the closer one gets to the image the more detail (i.e. high

frequency infomation) can be seen


Finally regarding the impleme"
of the WT, their use in MRA and sub-band coding has led to the
extremely computationally efficient pyramidal algorithms. Consequently, the capabilities of the WT are
readily accessible with moderate computationalfacilities.

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The above serves as a brief inmduction to the WT and its potential value as a Signal proceshg tooL Ihe
following bibliogmphy provides material which expands upon these basic ideas, and is grouped as
appropriate. Note that several of the refemus refer to whole issues dedicated to wavelets rather than
individual aIticles.

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thankJon Hall for our many discussions on wavelets during the course of his PhD.
Bibliography

e--oms
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Cohen, L Time-frequency analysis, pub. prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-594532-1,1995.
b t r O d U c t 0 ~taid!s

fioul, 0 and Vetterli, M: Wavelets and signal processing, IEEE SigPmcMag., Vol8, pp 15-38, Oct, 1991.
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Ruskai , MB et al.., Eds.; Wavelets and their applications, pub. Jones and Bartlett, Boston, MA, ISBN 086720-2254,1992.
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Daubechies, I: Ten lectures on wavelets, pub. SIAM,ISBN 0-89871-274-2.1992.
Akansu,AN and Haddad, RA: Multiresolution Signal Decomposition, pub. Academic Press, ISBN 0-1204714O-X, 1992.
Vaidyanathan, PP Quadrature mirror filter banks, M-band extensions and perfect reconstruction techniques,
IEEESig.Proc.Mag., Vol4, pp 4-20,Jul. 1987.
Strang, G and Nguyen, T Wavelets and filter banks, Wellesley-Campbridge Press, Wellesley MA, 1996.
Biomedical ADFlicatiUm
-we,
JA et al.: Wavelet transform as a potential tool for ECG analysh and compression, J.Biomed.Eng.,
V0114, pp 268-272.1992.
M y , M,Guest Ed.: Special issue on time-frequency and wavelet analysis, IEEE Eng.Med.Biol.Mag., Vol
14, No 2, Mar/Apr, 1995.
Akay, M, Guest Ed.: Special issue on wavelets for Image Analysis, IEEE Eng.Med.Biol.Mag., Vol 14, No 5,
Sept/Oct, 1995.
Unser, M and Aldroubi, A: A review of wavelets in biomedical applications,k . I E E E , Vol84, pp 626-638,
Apr. 1996.
Hall, JM and Crowe, J A Wavelet packets as an appmxhation to the KLT for ECG compression,
App.Sig.Proc., In press, 1997.

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