M. Sc. Erik Engelhardt

Room D-019
Kaiserstraße 2, 24143 Kiel, Germany
Phone: +49 431 880-6132
Telefax: +49 431 880-6128
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Research: Magnetoelectric Sensor Systems for Cardiologic Applications

Current standard electrocardiography is a useful and easily applicable method that has been in clinical use for more than hundred years. However, it is hampered by low spatial resolution. Thus, precise electro-anatomical mapping of arrhythmias still has to be conducted by invasive catheterization. The main long-term objective of this project is to answer the question whether invasive mapping of arrhythmic substrates (current standard) can be replaced by a non-invasive alternative, namely analyses using signals obtained from ME sensors combined with electric measurements.

We will thus investigate if a multi-channel combined ECG/MCG (electrocardiogram/magnetocardiogram) approach allows for reliable non-invasive localization of the origin of cardiac arrhythmias. This is becoming even more important, as recently stereotactic body radiation therapy was successfully applied for ablation of ventricular tachycardia, promising a completely non-invasive way to cure arrhythmias in the future.

To perform the required measurements with a multitude of magnetic (both ME sensors originating from this CRC and already established systems) as well as electric sensors, individual real-time signal-to-noise ratio estimations of all involved sensors will be investigated that permit optimal sensor placement, sensor signal combination, and parameter extraction. An appropriate automatic signal quality analysis should guarantee a minimum recording time for patients. To answer these research questions, forward modelling and a solution of the inverse problem is necessary. To evaluate the accuracy and clinical utility of this approach, we plan to compare it with results from electrophysiological studies (current standard) in 3 different groups of patients:

  • premature ventricular contractions,
  • idiopathic ventricular tachycardia,
  • ischemic ventricular tachycardia.

For each patient, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) for anatomy and electric and magnetic measurements will be performed.

Related topics:

  • Kalman Filter
  • Machine learning
  • Sensor fusion
  • Biomagnetic modelling
  • Biomagnetic measurements

 

Further interests:

  • Software Engineering
  • Real-time digital signal processing
  • Supervised machine learning
  • Reinforcement learning

 

Short CV

Time span Details
2020 - current Research assistant at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
2020 - 2020 Working Student at Basler AG, Ahrensburg, Germany
2019 - 2020 M.Sc. in Microelectronic Systems at the Hamburg University for Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany
2019 - 2020 Embedded Engineer at Siemens AG, Hamburg, Germany
2017 - 2019 Working Student at Siemens AG, Hamburg, Germany
2014 - 2019 B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering at the Hamburg University for Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany
2014 - 2017 Vocational Training: Electronics Technician for Automation Technology at Siemens Professional Education, Hamburg, Germany

 

Publications

  1.    

    E. Elzenheimer, P. Hayes, L. Thormählen, E. Engelhardt, A. Zaman, E. Quandt, N. Frey, M. Höft, G. Schmidt: Investigation of Converse Magnetoelectric Thin Film Sensors for Magnetocardiography, IEEE Sensors Journal, Volume 23, Number 6, Pages 5660-5669, March 2023, doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2023.3237910

  2.    

    E. Engelhardt, A. Zaman, E. Elzenheimer, N. Frey, G. Schmidt: Towards Analytically Computable Quality Classes for MCG Sensor Systems, Current Directions in Biomedical Engineering, vol. 8, no. 2, 2022, pp. 691-694, doi: 10.1515/cdbme-2022-1176, open access

  3.    

    E. Elzenheimer, C. Bald, E. Engelhardt, J. Hoffmann, P. Hayes, J. Arbistin, A. Bahr, E. Quandt, M. Höft, G. Schmidt: Quantitative Evaluation for Magnetoelectric Sensor Systems in Biomagnetic Diagnostics, Sensors 2022, 22(3), 1018, doi: 10.3390/s22031018 , open access