Reliability Analysis of an Epileptic Seizure Detector Powered by an Energy Harvester

Due to a limited lifetime of a battery, energy harvesters have been studied as alternative energy sources for implantable biomedical devices such as an implantable stimulator for epileptic seizure suppression. However, energy harvesters have weakness in providing stable power. We designed a neural recording circuit powered solely by a piezoelectric energy harvester, and applied its output to a seizure detector to analyze the reliability of the recorded signal. Performance of the seizure detector was evaluated. We found that the average time differences between with and without voltage variances were about 0.05 s under regular vibrations and about 0.07 s under irregular vibrations, respectively. The ratio of average true positive alarm period varied within about 0.02% under regular vibrations and 0.029% under irregular vibrations, respectively. The ratio of average false positive alarm period varied within about 0.004% under regular vibrations and 0.014% under irregular vibrations, respectively. This paper presents a reliability analysis of an epileptic seizure detector with a neural signal recording circuit powered by a piezoelectric energy harvester. The results showed that a supply voltage variance within ±10% could be acceptable for reliable operation of a seizure detector.