Funding Entity: CDTI, research and development project.
Reference: IDI-20220556
Responsible company: TICCYL (Salamanca)
Subcontracted center: ITAP - University of Valladolid
Duration: 01-July-2022 – 1-July-2024
The objective of this project is to design, develop, and validate an economical and wireless electroencephalography (EEG) recording equipment for Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) systems, specifically tailored for use in real environments. The current limitations of EEG hardware, including its generalist nature, lack of portability, and high cost, hinder its widespread adoption beyond university laboratories.
EEG captures the combined electrical activity of billions of neurons on the surface of the cortex, producing a detectable signal when synchronized. However, the amplitude of neurological components in EEG is in the microvolt (μV) range. This poses challenges as more powerful electrical components, such as those controlling nearby muscles (electromyogram, EMG), eyelids (electrooculogram, EOG), or heart (electrocardiogram, ECG), contaminate the EEG signal with millivolt (mV) magnitudes. The weak EEG components are thus difficult to detect, requiring EEG electrodes to have stricter characteristics to achieve a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio, leading to increased costs.
Moreover, commercial EEG equipment, primarily designed for clinical electroencephalography, allows for simultaneous recording with a large number of electrodes to obtain medical certifications. This necessitates bulky and expensive amplifiers for real-time analog-to-digital conversion. Consequently, the equipment becomes cost-prohibitive for individual users, with prices ranging from €5,000 to €25,000 depending on the number of electrodes.
This project aims to address these challenges by developing an ECOEEG (Economical EEG) recording equipment specifically optimized for wireless, versatile, and low-cost BCI systems in real environments. The desired outcome is a validated prototype with specified features and functionality within a limited real environment. ITAP Medical Robotics will focus on the hardware development of ECOEEG, including design, manufacturing, and testing processes.
