page_title: Heart rate monitor
section_title: Technologies
hierarchical_section_title: Heart rate monitor / Technologies
caption_attribution_description: English: X-ray image (front and side view) of a heart rate monitor´s sensor belt.
context_page_description: A heart rate monitor is a personal monitoring device that allows one to measure/display heart rate in real time or record the heart rate for later study. It is largely used to gather heart rate data while performing various types of physical exercise. Measuring electrical heart information is referred to as Electrocardiography.
  Medical heart rate monitoring used in hospitals is usually wired and usually multiple sensors are used. Portable medical units are referred to as a Holter monitor. Consumer heart rate monitors are designed for everyday use and do not use wires to connect.
context_section_description: Modern heart rate monitors commonly use one of two different methods to record heart signals (electrical and optical). Both types of signals can provide the same basic heart rate data, using fully automated algorithms to measure heart rate, such as the Pan-Tompkins algorithm.
  ECG (Electrocardiography) sensors measure the bio-potential generated by electrical signals that control the expansion and contraction of heart chambers, typically implemented in medical devices.
  PPG (Photoplethysmography) sensors use a light-based technology to measure the blood volume controlled by the heart's pumping action.
caption: X-ray image of a chest strap (left: frontal view; right: side view). Visible is the circuit board, the antenna for data transfer, the battery and the connections to the electrodes in the adjoining belt at picture top and bottom.
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