Documentation

PulseClean v1.0 — Wearable Data Preprocessing Methodology

Reference this page when documenting how PulseClean processed wearable data.

Suggested Reference

PulseClean. (2026). Wearable Data Preprocessing Pipeline v1.0. https://pulseclean.vercel.app/docs

Cleaning

Missing Values

Forward-fill (last observed value) is applied for gaps of 3 or fewer consecutive missing rows — these receive the missing_interpolated flag. Gaps of 4 or more consecutive rows are left null and receive the long_gap flag. Future values are never used for imputation, reducing the risk of future-data leakage in ML workflows.

Outlier Thresholds

PulseClean applies conservative plausibility thresholds for data cleaning only. These thresholds are not diagnostic criteria.

Vital	Range
heart_rate	0 – 250 bpm
blood_oxygen	85 – 100 %
body_temp	34 – 42 °C
resp_rate	4 – 60 breaths/min

Duplicate Rows

When identical timestamps are found, the first occurrence is retained and later duplicates are removed before export.

Normalization

Timestamps

All timestamps are converted to ISO 8601 UTC regardless of input format or source timezone.

2026-05-21T09:00:00Z

Sample Rate

Original sampling rate is preserved and reported in the sample_rate_seconds and sample_rate_consistent metadata columns.

Units

All measurements are normalized to PulseClean standard units where applicable.

Quality Flag Reference

Flag	Description
ok	Row passes all validation checks
outlier_clamped	Value exceeded physiological threshold — set to null in output row
missing_interpolated	Short gap (≤3 rows) filled by forward-fill from the last observed value
long_gap	Long gap (≥4 consecutive rows) — value remains null, not estimated
duplicate_removed	Duplicate timestamp row removed before export; not present as a row in the output CSV
low_confidence	Row could not be validated with activity-specific confidence rules

Standard Schema

All output files conform to this 11-column schema.

Column	Type	Nullable	Description
timestamp	string	N	UTC timestamp (ISO 8601)
heart_rate	float	Y	Heart rate in bpm
blood_oxygen	float	Y	Blood oxygen saturation (%)
body_temp	float	Y	Body temperature (°C)
resp_rate	float	Y	Respiratory rate (breaths/min)
step_count	int	Y	Step count per interval
activity	string	Y	Activity type label
quality_flag	string	N	Quality classification (see §3)
data_source	string	N	Source format identifier
sample_rate_seconds	int	Y	Seconds between samples
sample_rate_consistent	bool	Y	Whether sample rate is consistent

Version History

v1.0

v1.0 (2026-05) — Initial release. Cleaning, Normalization, Quality Flag pipeline. HealthKit XML + Generic CSV support.

PulseClean is still improving. If a preprocessing rule does not fit your workflow, or if you need support for another wearable format, reach out — we review requests quickly and prioritize updates based on real user needs.

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