Brain Machine Interface: Vidya R. A

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Brain Machine Interface

Vidya R. A
Dept. of Instrumentation Technology, R.V. College of Engineering, Bangalore

Abstract- A brain-machine interface is a communication interpret brain signals and perhaps read decisions made in the
system that does not depend on the brains normal output brain to develop a fast, reliable and unobtrusive connection
pathways of peripheral nerves and muscles. It is a new between the brain of severely disabled person to a personal
communication link between a functioning human brain computer.
and the outside world. These are electronic interfaces with
the brain, which has the ability to send and receive signals II. BRAIN MACHINE INTERFACE
from the brain. BMI uses brain activity to command,
control, actuate and communicate with the world directly A brain-machine interface (BMI) is an attempt to mesh our
through brain integration with peripheral devices and minds with machines. It is a communication channel from a
systems. The signals from the brain are taken to the human's brain to a computer, which does not resort to the
computer via the implants for data entry without any usual human output pathways as muscles. It is about giving
direct brain intervention. BMI transforms mental machine-like capabilities to intelligence, asking the brain to
decisions and/or reactions into control signals by analyzing accommodate synthetic devices, and learning how to control
the bioelectrical brain activity. those devices much the way we control our arms and legs
today. These experiments lend hope that people with spinal
injuries will be able to someday use their brain to control a
Key words: wireless sensors, sensor nodes, Quality of prosthetic limb, or even their own arm. A BMI could, e.g.,
service, Tiny Os allow a paralysed patient to convey her/his intentions to a
computer program. But also applications in which healthy
users can benefit from the direct brain computer
I. INTRODUCTION communication are conceivable, e.g., to speed up reaction
times. Initially theses interactions are with peripheral devices,
Picture a time when humans see in the UV and IR portions of
but ultimately it may be interaction with another brain. The
the electromagnetic spectrum, or hear speech on the noisy
first peripheral devices were robotic arms. Our approach bases
flight deck of an aircraft carrier; or when soldiers
on an artificial neural network that recognizes and classifies
communicate by thought alone. Imagine a time when the
different brain activation patterns associated with carefully
human brain has its own wireless modem so that instead of
selected mental tasks. Using BMI artificial electrical signal
acting on thoughts, war fighters have thoughts that act.
can stimulate the brain tissue in order to transmit some
Imagine that one day we will be able to download vast
amounts of knowledge directly to our brain! So as to cut the particular sensory information.
lengthy processes of learning everything from scratch. Instead
of paying to go to university we could pay to get a
"knowledge implant" and perhaps be able to obtain many
lifetimes worth of knowledge and expertise in various fields at
a young age.

Brain-Machine Interface (BMI) is a communication system,


which enables the user to control special computer
applications by using only his or her thoughts. It will allow
human brain to accept and control a mechanical device as a
part of the body. Data can flow from brain to the outside
machinery, or to brain from the outside machinery. Different
research groups have examined and used different methods to
achieve this. Almost all of them are based on Fig1 The Organization Of BMI
electroencephalography (EEG) recorded from the scalp. Our
major goal of such research is to create a system that allows II. THE HUMAN BRAIN
patients who have damaged their sensory/motor nerves
severely to activate outside mechanisms by using brain All of it happens in the brain. The brain is undoubtly the most
signals. complex organ found among the carbon-based life forms. So
CyberkineticsInc, a leader in neurotechnology has developed complex it is that we have only vague information about how
the first implantable brain-machine interface that can reliably it works. The average human brain weights around 1400
grams. The most relevant part of brain concerning BMI’s is By monitoring and analysing these signals we can understand
the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex can be divided into the working of brain. When we imagine ourselves doing
two hemispheres. The hemispheres are connected with each something, small signals generate from different areas of the
other via corpus callosum. Each hemisphere can be divided brain. These signals are not large enough to travel down the
into four lobes. They are called frontal, parietal, occipital and spine and cause actual movement. These small signals are,
temporal lobes. Cerebral cortex is responsible for many higher however, measurable. A neuron depolarizes to generate an
order functions like problem solving, language comprehension impulse; this action causes small changes in the electric field
and processing of complex visual information. The cerebral around the neuron. These changes are measured as 0 (no
cortex can be divided into several areas, which are responsible impulse) or 1 (impulse generated) by the electrodes. We can
of different functions. This kind of knowledge has been used control the brain functions by artificially producing these
when with BCI’s based on the pattern recognition approach. signals and sending them to respective parts. This is through
The mental tasks are chosen in such a way that they activate stimulation of that part of the brain, which is responsible for a
different parts of the cerebral cortex particular function using implanted electrodes.

Table.1 Cortical areas of the brain and their function V. ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY


Cortical Area Function
Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method used in
Auditory Association Processing of auditory information
measuring the electrical activity of the brain. The brain
Area
generates rhythmical potentials which originate in the
Auditory Cortex Detection of sound quality
individual neurons of the brain. These potentials get
(loudness, tone)
summated as millions of cell discharge synchronously and
Speech Center Speech production and articulation appear as a surface waveform, the recording of which is
Prefrontal Cortex Problem solving, emotion, known as the electroencephalogram.
complex thought The neurons, like other cells of the body, are electrically
Motor Association Coordination of complex polarized at rest. The interior of the neuron is at a potential of
Cortex movement about –70mV relative to the exterior. When a neuron is
Primary Motor Cortex Initiation of voluntary movement exposed to a stimulus above a certain threshold, a nerve
impulse, seen as a change in membrane potential, is generated
Primary Receives tactile information from which spreads in the cell resulting in the depolarization of the
Somatosensory Cortex the body cell. Shortly afterwards, repolarisation occurs.
Sensory Association Processing of multisensory The EEG signal can be picked up with electrodes either from
Area information scalp or directly from the cerebral cortex. As the neurons in
Visual Association Complex processing of visual our brain communicate with each other by firing electrical
Area information cortex, the Dura, the skull and the scalp. The EEG is measured
Warnock’s Area Language comprehension from the surface of the scalp by measuring potential
difference between the actual measuring electrode and a
reference electrode. The peak-to-peak amplitude of the waves
V. MAIN PRINCIPLE that can be picked up from the scalp is normally 100 microV
or less while that on the exposed brain, is about 1mV. The
Main principle behind this interface is the bioelectrical frequency varies greatly with different behavioural states. The
activity of nerves and muscles. It is now well established that normal EEG frequency content ranges from 0.5 to 50 Hz.
the human body, which is composed of living tissues, can be Frequency information is particularly significant since the
considered as a power station generating multiple electrical basic frequency of the EEG range is classified into five bands
signals with two internal sources, namely muscles and nerves. for purposes of EEG analysis. These bands are called brain
We know that brain is the most important part of human body. rhythms and are named after Greek letters.
It controls all the emotions and functions of the human body. Five brain rhythms are displayed in Table.2. Most of the brain
The brain is composed of millions of neurons. These neurons research is concentrated in these channels and especially alpha
work together in complex logic and produce thought and and beta bands are important for BCI research.
signals that control our bodies. When the neuron fires, or
activates, there is a voltage change across the cell, (~100mv) Table.2.Common EEG frequency rang.
which can be read through a variety of devices. When we
want to make a voluntary action, the command generates from
the frontal lobe. Signals are generated on the surface of the
brain. These electric signals are different in magnitude and
frequency.
Band Frequency [Hz]
Delta 0.5- 4
Theta 4- 8
Alpha 8- 13
Beta 13- 22
Gamma 22-30
spike

Figure 2.Examples of alpha, beta, theta and delta rhythms.

VI.BMI APPROACHES
detection algorithms, neural encoding and decoding systems,
What are the thoughts the user thinks in order to control a
data acquisition and real time processing systems etc .
BMI? An ideal BMI could detect the user’s wishes and
commands directly. However, this is not possible with today’s
technology. Therefore, BMI researches have used the
knowledge they have had of the human brain and the EEG in
order to design a BMI. There are basically two different
approaches that have been used. The first one called a pattern
recognition approach is based on cognitive mental tasks. The
second one called an operant conditioning approach is based
on the self-regulation of the EEG response.
In the first approach the subject concentrates on a few mental
tasks. Concentration on these mental tasks produces different
EEG patterns. The BCI (or the classifier in particular) can
then be trained to classify these patterns.
In the second approach the user has to learn to self-regulate
his or her EEG response, for example change the beta rhythm
amplitude. Unlike in the pattern recognition approach, the
BMI itself is not trained but it looks for particular changes (for
example higher amplitude of a certain frequency) in the EEG
signal. This requires usually a long training period, because
the entire training load is on the user.

VII. BLOCK DIAGRAM Fig3: Block diagram

The BMI consists of several components: 1.the implant A high performance dsp architecture is used for this purpose.
device, or chronic multi-electrode array, 2.the signal recording The external device that the subject uses may be a robotic
and processing section, 3.an external device the subject uses arm, a wheel chair etc. depending upon the application.
to produce and control motion and 4.a feedback section to the Feedback is an important factor in BCI’s. In the BCI’s based
subject. The first component is an implanted array of on the operant conditioning approach, feedback training is
microelectrodes into the frontal and parietal lobes—areas of essential for the user to acquire the control of his or her EEG
the brain involved in producing multiple output commands to response. However, feedback can speed up the learning
control complex muscle movements. This device record action process and improve performance.
potentials of individual neurons and then represent the neural
signal using a rate code .The second component consists of VIII.BMI COMPONENTS
A brain-machine interface (BMI) in its scientific
interpretation is a combination of several hardware and
software components trying to enable its user to communicate
with a computer by intentionally altering his or her brain
waves. The task of the hardware part is to record the
brainwaves– in the form of the EEG signal – of a human
subject, and the software has to analyse that data. In other Fig4.An array of microelectrodes
words, the hardware consists of an EEG machine and a
number of electrodes scattered over the subject’s skull. The Usually small metal-plate electrodes are used in the EEG
EEG machine, which is connected to the electrodes via thin recording. Neural implants can be used to regulate electric
wires, records the brain-electrical activity of the subject, signals in the brain and restore it to equilibrium. The implants
yielding a multi-dimensional (analog or digital) output. The must be monitored closely because there is a potential for
values in each dimension (also called channel) represent the almost anything when introducing foreign signals into the
relative differences in the voltage potential measured at two brain.
electrode sites. There are a few major problems that must be addressed when
developing neural implants. These must be made out of
The software system has to read, digitize (in the case of an biocompatible material or insulated with biocompatible
analog EEG machine), and pre-process the EEG data material that the body won’t reject and isolate. They must be
(separately for each channel), “understand” the subject’s able to move inside the skull with the brain without causing
intentions, and generate appropriate output. To interpret the any damage to the brain. The implant must be chemically inert
data, the stream of EEG values is cut into successive so that it doesn’t interact with the hostile environment inside
segments, transformed into a standardized representation, and the human body. All these factors must be addressed in the
processed with the help of a classifier. There are several case of neural implants; otherwise it will stop sending useful
different possibilities for the realization of a classifier; one information after a short period of time.
approach – involving the use of an artificial neural network
(ANN)– has become the method of choice in recent years. There are simple single wire electrodes with a number of
different coatings to complex three-dimensional arrays of
electrodes, which are encased in insulating biomaterials.
Implant rejection and isolation is a problem that is being
addressed by developing biocompatible materials to coat or in
case the implant.
One option among the biocompatible materials is Teflon
coating that protects the implant from the body. Another
option is a cell resistant synthetic polymer like polyvinyl
alcohol. To keep the implant from moving in the brain it is
Fig4: A BMI based on the classification of two mental tasks. necessary to have a flexible electrode that will move with the
The user is thinking task number 2 and the BCI classifies it brain inside the skull. This can make it difficult to implant the
correctly and provides feedback in the form of cursor electrode. Dipping the micro device in polyethylene glycol,
movement. which causes the device to become less flexible, can solve this
problem. Once in contact with the tissue this coating quickly
dissolves. This allows easy implantation of a very flexible
A. Implant Device: implant.
The EEG is recorded with electrodes, which are placed on the Three-dimensional arrays of electrodes are also under
scalp. Electrodes are small plates, which conduct electricity. development. These devices are constructed as two-
They provide the electrical contact between the skin and the dimensional sheet and then bent to form 3Darray. These can
EEG recording apparatus by transforming the ionic current on be constructed using a polymer substrate that is then fitted
the skin to the electrical current in the wires. To improve the with metal leads. They are difficult to implement, but give a
stability of the signal, the outer layer of the skin called stratum much greater range of stimulation or sensing than simple ones.
corneum should be at least partly removed under the
electrode. Electrolyte gel is applied between the electrode and
the skin in order to provide good electrical contact.
2. Spike Detection- Real time spike detection is an important
requirement for developing brain machine interfaces.
Incorporating spike detection will allow the BMI to transmit
only the action potential waveforms and their respective
arrival times instead of the sparse, raw signal in its entirety.
This compression reduces the transmitted data rate per
channel, thus increasing the number of channels that may be
monitored simultaneously. Spike detection can further reduce
the data rate if spike counts are transmitted instead of spike
waveforms. Spike detection will also be a necessary first step
Fig5. Block diagram of the neurotrophic electrodes for for any future hardware implementation of an autonomous
Implantation in human patients. spike sorter. Figure 6 shows its implementation using an
application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) with limited
A microscopic glass cone contains a neurotrophic factor that computational resources. A low power implantable ASIC for
induces neurites to grow into the cone, where they contact one detecting and transmitting neural spikes will be an important
of several gold recording wires. Neurites that are induced to building block for BMIs. A hardware realization of a spike
grow into the glass cone make highly stable contacts with detector in a wireless BMI must operate in real-time, be fully
recording wires. Signal conditioning and telemetric autonomous, and function at realistic signal-to- noise ratios
electronics are fully implanted under the skin of the scalp. An (SNRs).
implanted transmitter (TX) sends signals to an external An implanted ASIC conditions signal from extra cellular
receiver (RX), which is connected to a computer. neural electrodes, digitizes them, and then detects AP spikes.
The spike waveforms are transmitted across the skin to a BMI
B. Signal Processing Section processor, which sorts the spikes and then generates the
1. Multichannel Acquisition Systems-Electrodes interface command signals for the prosthesis.
directly to the non-inverting opamp inputs on each channel. At 3. Signal Analysis- Feature extraction and classification of
this section amplification, initial filtering of EEG signal and EEG are dealt in this section. In this stage, certain features are
possible artefact removal takes place. Also A/D conversion is extracted from the pre-processed and digitized EEG signal. In
made, i.e. the analog EEG signal is digitized. The voltage gain the simplest form a certain frequency range is selected and the
improves the signal-to-noise ratio by reducing the relevance of amplitude relative to some reference level measured.
electrical noise incurred in later stages. Processed signals are Typically the features are frequency content of the EEG
time-divisionmultiplexed and sampled. signal) can be calculated using, for example, Fast Fourier
Transform (FFT function). No matter what features are used,
the goal is to form distinct set of features for each mental task.
If the feature sets representing mental tasks overlap each other
too much, it is very difficult to classify mental tasks, no matter
how good a classifier is used. On the other hand, if the feature
sets are distinct enough, any classifier can classify them. The
features extracted in the previous stage are the input for the
classifier.
The classifier can be anything from a simple linear model to a
complex nonlinear neural network that can be trained to
recognize different mental tasks. Nowadays real time
processing is used widely. Real-time applications provide an
action or an answer to an external event in a timely and
predictable manner. So by using this type of system we can
get output nearly at the same time it receives input. Telemetry
is handled by a wearable computer. The host station accepts
the data via either a wireless access point or its own dedicated
radio card.

C. External Device: The classifier’s output is the input for the


device control. The device control simply transforms the
classification to a particular action. The action can be, e.g., an
up or down movement of a cursor on the feedback screen or a
selection of a letter in a writing application. However, if the
Fig6: A BMI under design. classification was “nothing” or “reject”, no action is
performed, although the user may be informed about the
rejection. It is the device that subject produce and control
motion. Examples are robotic arm, thought controlled wheel
chair etc

D. Feedback: Real-time feedback can dramatically improve


the performance of a brain–machine interface. Feedback is
needed for learning and for control. Real-time feedback can
dramatically improve the performance of a brain–machine
interface. In the brain, feedback normally allows for two
corrective mechanisms. One is the ‘online’ control and
correction of errors during the execution of a movement. The
other is learning: the gradual adaptation of motor commands,
which takes place after the execution of one or more
movements. In the BMIs based on the operant conditioning
approach, feedback training is essential for the user to acquire
the control of his or her EEG response. The BMIs based on
the pattern recognition approach and using mental tasks do not
definitely require feedback training. However, feedback can
speed up the learning process and improve performance.
Cursor control has been the most popular type of feedback in
BMIs. Feedback can have many different effects, some of
them beneficial and some harmful. Feedback used in BMIs
has similarities with biofeedback, especially EEG
biofeedback.

X. APPLICATIONS

The BMI technologies of today can be broken into three major


areas:
1. Auditory and visual prosthesis
- Cochlear implants
- Brainstem implants
- Synthetic vision
- Artificial silicon retina
2. Functional-neuromuscular stimulation (FNS)
- FNS systems are in experimental use in cases where spinal
cord damage or a stroke has severed the link between brain
and the peripheral nervous system. They can use brain to
control their own limbs by this system
3. Prosthetic limb control
- Thought controlled motorized wheel chair.
- Thought controlled prosthetic arm for amputee.
- Various neuroprosthetic devices
Other various applications are Mental Mouse Applications in
technology products, e.g., a mobile phone attachment that
allows a physically challenged user to dial a phone number
without touching it or speaking into it. System lets you speak
without saying a word In effective construction of unmanned
systems, in space

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