Multichannel neural recording with a 128 Mbps UWB wireless transmitter for implantable brain-machine interfaces

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Neuroscience
• Signal Processing

Background:

• Developing low-invasive, high-accuracy Brain-Machine Interface (BMI) systems is crucial for understanding and restoring motor functions.
• Existing BMI systems often face limitations in channel count and wireless data transmission capabilities.
• Accurate estimation of movement intentions requires a high number of neural recording channels.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a multi-channel BMI system capable of recording up to 4096 electrocorticography (ECoG) channels.
• To implement an ultra-wide-band (UWB) wireless unit for high-speed transmission of neural data.
• To validate the system's performance in transmitting high-density ECoG data wirelessly.

Main Methods:

• Integration of multiple 64-channel Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) for neural recording.
• Utilization of time division multiplexing for data aggregation from numerous channels.
• Implementation of an ultra-wide-band (UWB) wireless unit for external data transmission.
• Testing with a human body equivalent liquid phantom to assess wireless data transmission.

Main Results:

• Successful development of a 4096-channel ECoG recording system.
• Demonstration of ultra-wide-band (UWB) wireless data transmission at 128 Mbps.
• Confirmation of reliable data transmission below 20 mm distance in phantom experiments.

Conclusions:

• The developed 4096-channel BMI system offers a significant advancement in high-density neural recording.
• The UWB wireless transmission capability supports high-throughput data transfer essential for complex BMI applications.
• This system holds promise for improving the accuracy of movement intention decoding in future BMI applications.