Recurrence plot features: an example using ECG

Abstract

Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals are analysed using the nonlinear method of recurrence plots, which reveals subtle time correlations in time-domain signals. Large-scale features in the recurrence plots, which consist entirely of single dots, line segments of different orientations and white spaces, are directly related to time-domain features in the original signals. The relationship between recurrence plot features and time-domain features is easy to see for these ECG signals, and can be used to infer time-domain features of other signals (such as other bioelectric signals) that are more difficult to interpret due to their complexity.