A method for calibration of a photoplethysmographic device including the steps of providing a fluid circuit (305) for blood or other liquid, a pump mechanism (310) to generate pulsatile flow of blood through the fluid circuit, a sample of excised tissue (315) in the fluid circuit through which the blood flows, and a photoplethysmographic device including an emitter and a photodetector (330) positioned on the tissue (335, 340) so that a portion of the light output by the emitter passes through the tissue and is incident on the photodetector. The method further includes the steps of energizing the pump mechanism (420) to move the blood through the tissue, energizing the emitter (425) to output light, collecting paired data from the photodetector and from one or more reference measurements (430), and processing the paired data to calibrate the photoplethysmographic device (435).
