A system for acquiring electrocardiogram pulses from a subject, the system comprising: a common node configured to create a virtual ground (V-gnd); and a plurality of measurement nodes (110, 120, 130) connectable to a plurality of corresponding ECG electrodes (118, 128, 138), respectively, attachable to the subject; wherein the plurality of measurement nodes are connected to the virtual ground at the common node via short conductive paths (115, 125, 135), respectively; wherein each measurement node of the plurality of measurement nodes comprises: an analog-to-digital converter (ADC, 330) configured to convert an ECG signal from the corresponding ECG electrode to a digital signal; an optical converter configured to convert the digital signal from the ADC to an optical signal, and to output the optical signal via an output fiber-optic cable (112, 122, 132); a DC power converter configured to receive a modulated optical signal with an embedded clock signal via an input fiber-optic cable (111, 121, 131), to recover DC power from the modulated optical signal, and to supply the DC power to at least the ADC and the optical converter; and a clock recovery circuit configured to receive the modulated optical signal with the embedded clock signal via the input fiber-optic cable, to recover the embedded clock signal from the modulated optical signal, and to supply the recovered clock signal to at least the ADC and the optical converter for synchronization. a common node configured to create a virtual ground (V-gnd); and a plurality of measurement nodes (110, 120, 130) connectable to a plurality of corresponding ECG electrodes (118, 128, 138), respectively, attachable to the subject; wherein the plurality of measurement nodes are connected to the virtual ground at the common node via short conductive paths (115, 125, 135), respectively; wherein each measurement node of the plurality of measurement nodes comprises: an analog-to-digital converter (ADC, 330) configured to convert an ECG signal from the corresponding ECG electrode to a digital signal; an optical converter configured to convert the digital signal from the ADC to an optical signal, and to output the optical signal via an output fiber-optic cable (112, 122, 132); a DC power converter configured to receive a modulated optical signal with an embedded clock signal via an input fiber-optic cable (111, 121, 131), to recover DC power from the modulated optical signal, and to supply the DC power to at least the ADC and the optical converter; and a clock recovery circuit configured to receive the modulated optical signal with the embedded clock signal via the input fiber-optic cable, to recover the embedded clock signal from the modulated optical signal, and to supply the recovered clock signal to at least the ADC and the optical converter for synchronization. an analog-to-digital converter (ADC, 330) configured to convert an ECG signal from the corresponding ECG electrode to a digital signal; an optical converter configured to convert the digital signal from the ADC to an optical signal, and to output the optical signal via an output fiber-optic cable (112, 122, 132); a DC power converter configured to receive a modulated optical signal with an embedded clock signal via an input fiber-optic cable (111, 121, 131), to recover DC power from the modulated optical signal, and to supply the DC power to at least the ADC and the optical converter; and a clock recovery circuit configured to receive the modulated optical signal with the embedded clock signal via the input fiber-optic cable, to recover the embedded clock signal from the modulated optical signal, and to supply the recovered clock signal to at least the ADC and the optical converter for synchronization.