This slide shows a block diagram of an implementation for the ECG and heart rate detection demo. The MSP430 FG439 is used in this demo to measure the heart rate and display it on an LCD, as well as transmit the ECG information via UART to graphic user interface on the PC. The demo that is shown is a simple two-lead ECG unit that uses only one external active component, a differential amplifier, and some passive components. The ECG information is picked up by two electrodes on the PCB and is transmitted to an instrumentation amplifier, which is the single external component, an INA321, and the instrumentation amplifier is used to cancel common mode noise. Once the signal reaches the MSP430, the two general op-amps are provided for a combined gain of 100x and a 12-bit two-channel DAC provides the path for the entire signal chain. What is being highlighted here is that the intelligent analog not only comes with wide diversity, it is also well equipped to leverage the low power capability of the MSP430. An example of this is a feature of the DMA that allows the MCU to stay in the stand-by mode for an extended time period and then complete tasks quickly once it is awakened. Once the ECG waveform is captured, the information can be transmitted either using built-in heart rate UART modules to a PC, an RS232 interface or the designer could use the LCD driver to display the heart rate on a 7-segment LCD. To obtain the PCB design or other resources for this demo such as source code it is all available, open source, on ti.com/430medical.