Human Activity Recognition Based on Electrocardiogram Data Only

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Montazeri, Sina, Dargie, Waltenegus, Feng, Yunhe, Sha, Kewei
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Montazeri, Sina
Dargie, Waltenegus
Feng, Yunhe
Sha, Kewei
author_facet Montazeri, Sina
Dargie, Waltenegus
Feng, Yunhe
Sha, Kewei
contents Human activity recognition is critical for applications such as early intervention and health analytics. Traditional activity recognition relies on inertial measurement units (IMUs), which are resource intensive and require calibration. Although electrocardiogram (ECG)-based methods have been explored, these have typically served as supplements to IMUs or have been limited to broad categorical classification such as fall detection or active vs. inactive in daily activities. In this paper, we advance the field by demonstrating, for the first time, robust recognition of activity only with ECG in six distinct activities, which is beyond the scope of previous work. We design and evaluate three new deep learning models, including a CNN classifier with Squeeze-and-Excitation blocks for channel-wise feature recalibration, a ResNet classifier with dilated convolutions for multiscale temporal dependency capture, and a novel CNNTransformer hybrid combining convolutional feature extraction with attention mechanisms for long-range temporal relationship modeling. Tested on data from 54 subjects for six activities, all three models achieve over 94% accuracy for seen subjects, while CNNTransformer hybrid reaching the best accuracy of 72% for unseen subjects, a result that can be further improved by increasing the training population. This study demonstrates the first successful ECG-only activity classification in multiple physical activities, offering significant potential for developing next-generation wearables capable of simultaneous cardiac monitoring and activity recognition without additional motion sensors.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_19328
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Human Activity Recognition Based on Electrocardiogram Data Only
Montazeri, Sina
Dargie, Waltenegus
Feng, Yunhe
Sha, Kewei
Signal Processing
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Human activity recognition is critical for applications such as early intervention and health analytics. Traditional activity recognition relies on inertial measurement units (IMUs), which are resource intensive and require calibration. Although electrocardiogram (ECG)-based methods have been explored, these have typically served as supplements to IMUs or have been limited to broad categorical classification such as fall detection or active vs. inactive in daily activities. In this paper, we advance the field by demonstrating, for the first time, robust recognition of activity only with ECG in six distinct activities, which is beyond the scope of previous work. We design and evaluate three new deep learning models, including a CNN classifier with Squeeze-and-Excitation blocks for channel-wise feature recalibration, a ResNet classifier with dilated convolutions for multiscale temporal dependency capture, and a novel CNNTransformer hybrid combining convolutional feature extraction with attention mechanisms for long-range temporal relationship modeling. Tested on data from 54 subjects for six activities, all three models achieve over 94% accuracy for seen subjects, while CNNTransformer hybrid reaching the best accuracy of 72% for unseen subjects, a result that can be further improved by increasing the training population. This study demonstrates the first successful ECG-only activity classification in multiple physical activities, offering significant potential for developing next-generation wearables capable of simultaneous cardiac monitoring and activity recognition without additional motion sensors.
title Human Activity Recognition Based on Electrocardiogram Data Only
topic Signal Processing
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.19328