Title: Development of ocular motory movements-based online BCI model with multi-triggering capabilities for rehabilitative control

Authors: Shweta Singh; Dipali Bansal

Addresses: Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Manav Rachna International University, Faridabad, Haryana, India ' Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Manav Rachna International University, Faridabad, Haryana, India

Abstract: BCI technology, immensely used in the field of neuro-prosthetic control, permits neural activity alone to control external devices. However, such systems mostly suffer from induced latency owing to complex interfacing in their design, thereby compromising on vital real-time aspect. In this paper, ocular motory movements-based BCI system capable of triggering multiple controls by acquiring and processing online EEG data directly in MATLAB using a custom developed Application Programming Interface (API) is proposed. Based on extracted linear temporal data statistics, a threshold algorithm is designed to detect thoughtful single and double eye blinks in order to generate control signals for playing two different audio files. The rigorous online testing further undertaken verifies the feasibility of developed BCI system in practical applications and also exhibits excellent accuracy. The simple experimental set-up uses an inexpensive commercially available Emotiv EEG neuro-headset as the data acquisition unit. The developed interface can further be miniaturised and designed as system on chip.

Keywords: electroencephalography; online EEG data; brain-computer interface; BCI; Emotiv; API; MATLAB; eye blinks; multiple control; rehabilitation; ocular motory movements; rehabilitative control; threshold algorithm; system on chip; SoC; neuro-prosthetic control; prosthetic control.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBET.2016.078292

International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, 2016 Vol.21 No.3, pp.295 - 310

Received: 27 Apr 2015
Accepted: 27 Nov 2015
Published online: 14 Aug 2016 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article