Machine Intelligence on the Edge: Interpretable Cardiac Pattern Localisation Using Reinforcement Learning

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Tian, Haozhe, Rao, Qiyu, Moutonnet, Nina, Ferraro, Pietro, Mandic, Danilo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Tian, Haozhe
Rao, Qiyu
Moutonnet, Nina
Ferraro, Pietro
Mandic, Danilo
author_facet Tian, Haozhe
Rao, Qiyu
Moutonnet, Nina
Ferraro, Pietro
Mandic, Danilo
contents Matched filters are widely used to localise signal patterns due to their high efficiency and interpretability. However, their effectiveness deteriorates for low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) signals, such as those recorded on edge devices, where prominent noise patterns can closely resemble the target within the limited length of the filter. One example is the ear-electrocardiogram (ear-ECG), where the cardiac signal is attenuated and heavily corrupted by artefacts. To address this, we propose the Sequential Matched Filter (SMF), a paradigm that replaces the conventional single matched filter with a sequence of filters designed by a Reinforcement Learning agent. By formulating filter design as a sequential decision-making process, SMF adaptively design signal-specific filter sequences that remain fully interpretable by revealing key patterns driving the decision-making. The proposed SMF framework has strong potential for reliable and interpretable clinical decision support, as demonstrated by its state-of-the-art R-peak detection and physiological state classification performance on two challenging real-world ECG datasets. The proposed formulation can also be extended to a broad range of applications that require accurate pattern localisation from noise-corrupted signals.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_21652
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Machine Intelligence on the Edge: Interpretable Cardiac Pattern Localisation Using Reinforcement Learning
Tian, Haozhe
Rao, Qiyu
Moutonnet, Nina
Ferraro, Pietro
Mandic, Danilo
Signal Processing
Machine Learning
Matched filters are widely used to localise signal patterns due to their high efficiency and interpretability. However, their effectiveness deteriorates for low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) signals, such as those recorded on edge devices, where prominent noise patterns can closely resemble the target within the limited length of the filter. One example is the ear-electrocardiogram (ear-ECG), where the cardiac signal is attenuated and heavily corrupted by artefacts. To address this, we propose the Sequential Matched Filter (SMF), a paradigm that replaces the conventional single matched filter with a sequence of filters designed by a Reinforcement Learning agent. By formulating filter design as a sequential decision-making process, SMF adaptively design signal-specific filter sequences that remain fully interpretable by revealing key patterns driving the decision-making. The proposed SMF framework has strong potential for reliable and interpretable clinical decision support, as demonstrated by its state-of-the-art R-peak detection and physiological state classification performance on two challenging real-world ECG datasets. The proposed formulation can also be extended to a broad range of applications that require accurate pattern localisation from noise-corrupted signals.
title Machine Intelligence on the Edge: Interpretable Cardiac Pattern Localisation Using Reinforcement Learning
topic Signal Processing
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.21652