NInFEA: Non-Invasive Multimodal Foetal ECG-Doppler Dataset for Antenatal Cardiology Research

The development of algorithms for the extraction of the foetal ECG (fECG) from
non-invasive recordings is hampered by the lack of publicly-available
reference datasets, which could be used to benchmark different algorithms
while providing a ground truth on the foetal heart activity when an invasive
scalp lead is unavailable. By enriching the electrophysiological recordings
with simultaneous multimodal signals, these datasets could also help the
investigation of the foetal cardiac physiology, providing ground truth for the
analysis in early pregnancy, when the fECG is not directly accessible.

The Non-Invasive Multimodal Foetal ECG-Doppler Dataset for Antenatal
Cardiology Research (NInFEA) is the first open-access dataset featuring
simultaneous non-invasive electrophysiological recordings, fetal pulsed-wave
Doppler (PWD) and maternal respiration signals. The dataset includes 60
entries from 39 voluntary pregnant women, between the 21st and the 27th week
of gestation. Every entry is composed of 27 electrophysiological channels
(2048 Hz, 22 bits, acquired by means of the TMSi Porti7 system), maternal
respiration signal (through a resistive thoracic belt), synchronised foetal
trans-abdominal PWD and clinical annotations provided by expert clinicians at
the time of the signal collection.