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Welcome the official website of the Brain Computer Interface Group at North West Frontier Province University of Engineering & Technology. The project was started in 2007 by three undergrad students as a part of their senior design project. The research is still underway, although at a very slow pace due to lack of any significant sponsors.
Brain Computer Interface(BCI)
ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) or Lu-Gehrig’s disease is a Neuro-muscular disorder in which body muscles progressively fail to the point of complete paralysis. The disease is mainly caused by the progressive degeneration of upper and lower motor neurons. As these neurons die, the brain can no longer control or operate voluntary muscles. ALS also affects breathing and facial muscles, which severely impairs speech ability. Having an otherwise healthy brain that’s able to think, but being unable to walk, talk, and function like other normal human beings, is extremely excruciating for patients with ALS disease, which is why 90% of these patients die within 4-5 years after the onset of this disease. In our project, we are attempting to alleviate the suffering of these patients by designing a virtual keyboard operated entirely by the user’s brain waves (EEG) without any physical intervention so that these patients could once again communicate with those around them. This Brain Computer Interface (BCI) provides an alternative communication pathway making life a lot less miserable for ALS patients. Apart from the virtual keyboard, a whole plethora of devices like wheel chairs, videos games, and prosthesis could be improvised to operate using BCI technology.
Our virtual keyboard, or Speller as it’s commonly known, is based on P300 activity. P300 is positive deflection in the EEG signal that occurs approximately 300 ms after an odd ball paradigm is presented. The odd ball paradigm is the crucial in the production of a P300 activity. The on-screen keyboard consists of a 6 by 6 matrix (Donchin Grid) of alphabets with its rows and columns flashing in a sequence that seems random to the end user. The user concentrates on the alphabet that it wants to spell. A P300 activity is produced whenever a row or column containing the desired alphabet flashes on the screen. This P300 activity is detected in the EEG and correlated to the flashing row or column to determine the alphabet the user wanted to spell, which is then displayed on the computer screen. As eyes play a crucial important role in P300 based spellers therefore, this type of brain computer interface can only be used by Locked-in patients in the early years of ALS disease. Patients in the advanced stages of ALS called Completely Locked-in (CLI) patients, who can’t even open their eyes, cannot use this device.
Our virtual keyboard, or Speller as it’s commonly known, is based on P300 activity. P300 is positive deflection in the EEG signal that occurs approximately 300 ms after an odd ball paradigm is presented. The odd ball paradigm is the crucial in the production of a P300 activity. The on-screen keyboard consists of a 6 by 6 matrix (Donchin Grid) of alphabets with its rows and columns flashing in a sequence that seems random to the end user. The user concentrates on the alphabet that it wants to spell. A P300 activity is produced whenever a row or column containing the desired alphabet flashes on the screen. This P300 activity is detected in the EEG and correlated to the flashing row or column to determine the alphabet the user wanted to spell, which is then displayed on the computer screen. As eyes play a crucial important role in P300 based spellers therefore, this type of brain computer interface can only be used by Locked-in patients in the early years of ALS disease. Patients in the advanced stages of ALS called Completely Locked-in (CLI) patients, who can’t even open their eyes, cannot use this device.
Research Objectives
Although Brain Computer Interface (BCI) research is being conducted in many parts of the world however, all the research is currently focused on the classification algorithm aspect of the Brain Computer Interface. All these different research groups are using expensive EEG Data acquisition systems from various vendors to acquire EEG data. In fact, the Data Acquisition System is usually the most expensive investment in the entire project as far as the hardware is concerned. Some of these prototype systems are helping locked-in ALS patients to regain some communication ability. However, these systems are not yet market ready to be widely used by patients around the world due to the following reasons:
1. The experimental setups are very expensive and patients in Pakistan, or any third world country for that matter, cannot imagine affording one.
2. These systems require an experienced technician to set up. Novices cannot possibly setup these equipments. Locked-in ALS patients are completely dependent on their care takers and attendants for their everyday needs. Unless they are trained EEG technicians or scientists, one can’t expect them to set up the equipment for BCI.
3. These systems are very fragile and require frequent repairs and adjustments. And are meant to be used in a controlled lab environment.
If the BCI based patient product is to be market ready for the Locked-in patients around the globe, then it must meet the following criteria:
1. The product must be cheap and affordable.
2. The product must be portable.
3. The product should be easy to use without the need of a technician or a professional for setting up the device.
4. The product must be low power to be able to work for a longer duration.
5. The product must perform reliably outside the lab in a non shielded day-to-day environment.
In our project we attempt to address all these issues in order to come up with a truly patient friendly BCI device.
1. The experimental setups are very expensive and patients in Pakistan, or any third world country for that matter, cannot imagine affording one.
2. These systems require an experienced technician to set up. Novices cannot possibly setup these equipments. Locked-in ALS patients are completely dependent on their care takers and attendants for their everyday needs. Unless they are trained EEG technicians or scientists, one can’t expect them to set up the equipment for BCI.
3. These systems are very fragile and require frequent repairs and adjustments. And are meant to be used in a controlled lab environment.
If the BCI based patient product is to be market ready for the Locked-in patients around the globe, then it must meet the following criteria:
1. The product must be cheap and affordable.
2. The product must be portable.
3. The product should be easy to use without the need of a technician or a professional for setting up the device.
4. The product must be low power to be able to work for a longer duration.
5. The product must perform reliably outside the lab in a non shielded day-to-day environment.
In our project we attempt to address all these issues in order to come up with a truly patient friendly BCI device.
© 2010 Brain Computer Interface Group. All rights reserved.
