A Technical Seminar Report on BRAIN MACHINE INTERFACE

Submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the award of degree of BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY IN

ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGGINEERING

Submitted by

G.NAVEENA 09R01A0420

Under the guidance of MRS.G.SHANMUGAPRIYA Associate Professor

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

CMR Institute of Technology

(Affiliated to JNTU,HYD,AP) Kandlakoya,Medchal,AP, (2009-2013)
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Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

CMR Institute of Technology

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the mini project entitled BRAIN MACHINE INTERFACE was successfully carried out by: G.NAVEENA 09R01A0420

In partial fulfillment of requirements for the award of Bachelor of Technology In Electronics and Communication Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University during academic year 2009-2013.

Internal guide Mrs.G.Shanmugapriya

Head of the Department Prof.A.Balaji Nehru

External Examiner(s): Date:

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Express our sincere gratitude to our respected principal

Dr.M.JangaReddy,

and

Prof.A.Balaji

Nehru ,H.O.D of ECE department, for their valuable

guidance, encouragement and suggestions.

We wish to thank the internal guide of our project Mrs.G.Shanmugapriya, Department of ECE for her constant inspiration and advice throughout our project work.

A special word of thanks to all staff members of Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, CMR Institute of Technology, for their active participation and support throughout the course of project making.

Abstract:

Braincomputer interfaces (BCIs) enable users to control devices with electroencephalographic (EEG) activity from the scalp or with single-neuron activity from within the brain. Both methods have disadvantages: EEG has limited resolution and requires extensive training, while single-neuron recording entails significant clinical risks and has limited stability. We demonstrate here for the first time that electrocorticographic (ECOG) activity recorded from the surface of the brain can enable users to control a onedimensional computer cursor rapidly and accurately. We first identified ECOG signals that were associated with different types of motor and speech imagery. Over brief training periods of 324 min, four patients then used these signals to master closed-loop control and to achieve success rates of 74100% in a one-dimensional binary task. Our results suggest that an ECOG-based BCI could provide for people with severe motor disabilities a nonmuscular communication and control option that is more powerful than EEG-based BCIs and is potentially more stable and less traumatic than BCIs that use electrodes penetrating the brain. In additional open-loop experiments, we found that ECOG signals at frequencies up to 180 Hz encoded substantial information about the direction of two-dimensional joystick movements.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of figures

Chapter no:
1. 7 2. 9

Title

page no Introduction Brain computer interface

2.1 The nature of EEG 2.2 Basic BCI elements 2.3 The input 2.4 The neuron 3. 3.1 The brain 3.2 Brain activity measurement 3.3 Selecting a measurement method 4. 4.1 Darpa 5

10 12 12 12 13 14 16 18 20 22 22 22 24 25

Overview of the neuron

Brain Gate BCI Applications

5.1 The Mental Typewriter 5.2 BCI offers paralyzed patients improved quality of life 5.3 Adaptive BCI for Augmented Cognition and Action

Experimental Brain Computer Interface 26 Software for the Modular EEG

6.1 Work of the software
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6.2 The classification achieved by this software 26

Conclusion

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8

References

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure no:
1.1 2.1 2.2 3.1 3.2

Figure name
Block Diagram Basic BCI layout The nature of EEG Overview of the neuron

Page no:
8 10 11 13
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Cross-cut of the head: only the green neuronal activity can be measured using EEG

3.3 3.4 3.5

Brain overview Homunculus: body drawn over sensor motor cortex Overview of the spatial/time resolution of various measurement techniques.

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1.INTRODUCTION
Man machine interface has been one of the growing fields of research and development in recent years. Most of the effort has been dedicated to the design of userfriendly or ergonomic systems by means of innovative interfaces such as voice recognition, virtual reality. A direct brain-computer interface would add a new dimension to manmachine interaction. A brain-computer interface, sometimes called a direct neural interface or a brain machine interface, is a direct communication pathway between a human or animal brain(or brain cell culture) and an external device. In one BCIs, computers either accept commands from the brain or send signals to it but not both. Two way BCIs will allow brains and external devices to exchange information in both directions but have yet to be successfully implanted in animals or humans. Brain-Computer interface is a staple of science fiction writing. In its earliest incarnations no mechanism was thought necessary, as the technology seemed so far fetched that no explanation was likely. As more became known about the brain however, the possibility has become more real and the science fiction more technically sophisticated. Recently, the cyberpunk movement has adopted the idea of 'jacking in', sliding 'bio-soft' chips into slots implanted in the skull(Gibson,W.1984).Although such bio-softs are still science fiction, there have been several recent steps toward interfacing the brain and computers. In this definition, the word brain means the brain or nervous system of an organic life form rather than the mind. Computer means any processing or computational device, from simple circuits to silicon chips (including hypothetical future technologies like quantum computing). Research on BCIs has been going on for more than 30 years but from the mid 1990s there has been dramatic increase working experimental implants. The common thread throughout the research is the remarkable cortical-plasticity of the brain, which often adapts to BCIs treating prostheses controlled by implants and natural limbs. With recent advances in technology and knowledge, pioneering researches could now conceivably attempt to produce BCIs that augment human functions rather than simply restoring them, previously only the realm of science fiction.
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Fig. 1.1: Schematic diagram of a BCI system

2. Brain Computer Interface

What is a Brain Computer Interface? As mentioned in the preface a BCI represents a direct interface between the brain and a computer or any other system. BCI is a broad concept and comprehends any communication between the brain and a machine in both directions: effectively opening a completely new communication channel without the use of any peripheral nervous system or muscles. In principle this communication is thought to be two way. But present day BCI is mainly focusing on communication from the brain to the computer. To communicate in the other direction, inputting information in to the brain, more thorough knowledge is required concerning the functioning of the brain. Certain systems like implantable hearing-devices that convert sound waves to electrical signal which in turn directly stimulate the hearing organ already exist today. These are the first steps. The brain on the other hand is on a whole other complexity level compared to the workings of the inner ear. From here on the focus is on communication directly from the brain to the computer. Most commonly the electrical activity (fields) generated by the neurons is measured, this measuring technique is known as EEG (Electroencephalography). An EEG-based BCI system measures specific features of the EEG-activity and uses these as control signals. Over the past 15 years the field of BCI has seen a rapidly increasing development rate and obtained the interest of many research groups all over the world. Currently in BCIresearch the main focus is on people with severe motor disabilities. This target group has little (other) means of communication and would be greatly assisted by a system that would allow control by merely thinking.

Basic BCI layout.

The concept of thinking is perhaps too broad a concept and can actually better be replaced by generating brain patterns. The general picture of a BCI thus becomes that the subject is actively involved with a task which can be measured and recognized by the BCI. This task consists of the following: evoked attention, spontaneous mental performance or mental imagination. The BCI then converts the command into input control for a device This is the basic idea. With the continuously increasing knowledge of the brain and advances in BCI over time, perhaps BCI will be able to extract actual intentions and thoughts. This however does not appear to be on the cards for the very near future.

2.1 The nature of EEG

The reasons for selecting EEG as a measurement method of brain activity are based on the ease of appliance, portability, excellent time resolution and the financial picture. From all the options available, ranging from among others: MRI, PET, MEG to EEG, EEG is the cheapest variant and requires neither professional training nor the personnel to apply it. It consists of a cap of simple electrodes used at the TUD, covering the cortex of the brain on the scalp. One of the main advantages of EEG is that it gives an excellent temporal resolution (milliseconds range); any change in brain dynamics will be registered almost instantaneous.
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On the other hand the biggest disadvantage compared to other methods is the very poor spatial resolution (centimeter range), which makes it hard to locate the exact location of the activity. Aside from the fact that the skull causes spatial smearing of the signal, two third of any activity generated by the neurons is lost due to misalignment of the firing neurons and the fact that any activity can only be measured on the surface of the cortex, which leaves out the majority of the neurons, since the voltages being measured are extremely low. The EEG and therefore the combined activity from the neurons are characterized by high variability in the signal and large amounts of noise and artifacts. This does not only impose the need for heavy data processing but also makes it more difficult to predict and model the signal.

2.2 Basic BCI elements

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BCI consists of several distinct elements All these elements combined make up the BCI. Basically the system consists of two adaptive controllers; on the one hand there is the user that generates the commands via electrophysiological input to the BCI. And on the other hand the BCI that recognizes the commands and expresses these as output device controls. In this BCI overview each element will be explained to such a level that the reader knows what its functions are and why it is required. As well as views on different approaches to problems that arises in designing and implementing a BCI. BCI can be decomposed into four basic elements: The input, measuring the activity from the human brain. The signal pre-processing, the first step of acquiring usable signals by amplification, applying filters and reducing noise and artifacts of the input signals. The translation algorithm, this step compromises feature extraction which extracts the most valuable signals from the processed input. And feature classification which tries to classify the features into usable output for the next step. The output, from the classification is used as a control signal for various applications.

2.2 The input

The goal is to acquire knowledge of the intentions of the user either consciously or unconsciously by means of measurement of brain activity. This goal can be achieved in various ways, but it all starts with the brain and thus with the most basic element of the brain: the neuron.

2.3 The neuron

A neuron is a cell that uses biochemical reactions to receive process and transmit information. It consists of the cell body (Soma) in which the cell core (Nucleus) resides Each neuron has one axon; this is a long cable-like part of the neuron which is used to reach other neurons. The soma of a neuron is branched out into dendrites to which axonends from other neurons connect.
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The dendrites are not in actual physical contact with the axons of other neurons; a small cleft exists between them: the synaptic gap. This is the location where the impulse is transferred.

3.Overview of the neuron

When a neuron fires, it sends signals to all the neurons that are connected to its axon via the dendrites. The dendrites can be connected to thousands of axons; all incoming signals combined are added through spatial and temporal summation. If the aggregate input reaches a certain threshold, the neuron will fire and send a signal along its own axon. The strength of this output signal is always the same, no matter the magnitude of the input. This single signal of a neuron is very weak. The numerous neurons in the brain are constantly active. The generated activity can be measured. It appears to be impossible to measure the individual activity of every neuron. Moreover it is questionable whether it would be a real gain, since neurons work in groups to achieve a certain goal. The activity from a group of neurons however can be measured. For the signals of neurons to be visible using EEG in particular, a couple of conditions need to be met, which are summarized schematically in figure 2.2: The electrical activity of the neuron must be perpendicular to the scalp in order for the EEG to fully pick up the field. A large number of neurons must fire parallel to each other.
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The neurons must fire in synchrony with the same polarity, in order not to cancel each other out.

Cross-cut of the head: only the green neuronal activity can be measured using EEG.

Because of these requirements the larger part of the total neuronal activity remains invisible for EEG measurement.

3.1 The brain

Combining about 100 billion neurons results in what is called the human brain. The brain consists of the following elements The brainstem is an important relay station. It controls the reflexes and automatic functions, like heart rate and blood pressure and also sleep control. The Cerebellum integrates information about position and movement from the vestibular system to coordinate limb movement and maintaining equilibrium. Mid-brain: amongst others the Hypothalamus and pituitary gland control visceral functions, body temperature and behavioral functions like, the bodys appetite, sleep patterns, the sexual drive and response to anxiety, aggression and pleasure. The Cerebrum (or cerebral cortex) receives and integrates information from all of the sense organs and controls the motor functions. Furthermore it contains the higher cerebral functions like: language, cognitive functions and memories. Emotions are also processed in the cerebrum.

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Brain overview, the Hypothalamus is localized in the center of the brainand not depicted here; image from Heart and Stroke Foundation.

The cortex of the cerebrum is part of the brain which is of the most interest for BCI. It is responsible for the higher order cognitive tasks and is near the surface of the scalp. In addition that functionality in the brain appears to be highly local. The cerebrum is divided into two hemispheres, left and right. The left halve senses and controls the right half of the body and vice versa. Each hemisphere can be divided into four lobes, the frontal, the parietal, the occipital and the temporal The cortex can also by divide in certain areas each of which is specialized for a different function. Especially the sensorimotor cortex is important for BCI. Over this part the entire human body is represented. The size of area corresponds with the importance and complexity of movement of that particular body

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Homunculus: body drawn over sensorimotor cortex

In the light of BCI it is important to know in advance in which area to search for activity both spatially and in the frequency domain.

3.2 Brain activity measurement

To measure activity in the brain, several different approaches can be applied. Because different phenomena can be measured in different ways: ranging from direct measures like detecting the electrical currents or magnetic fields to indirect measures like measuring metabolism or blood flow.

Overview of the spatial/time resolution of various measurement techniques.

Here follows a list of the most commonly used methods EEG, Electroencephalography involves recording the (very weak) electrical field generated by action potentials of neurons in the brain using small metal electrodes. The advantages of EEG are the high temporal resolution and (the possibility of) non-invasive measurement. Low spatial resolution, caused by spatial smearing of the skull and high variability in the EEG signal are disadvantages. ECOG, Electrocorticography involves the electrophysiology of extra-cellular currents. Has both high temporal as good spatial resolution. It is a form of invasive EEG where electrodes are placed directly on the brain. This technique is invasive
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and therefore requires expensive surgery and comes with significant safety risks for the patient. PET, Positron Emission Tomography indirectly measures metabolism on a cellular level by tracking injected radioactive isotopes. It is based on the principle that in areas of increased activity the metabolism is on a higher level and more isotopes are supplied by the blood flow. This knowledge can be used to determine which areas are generating activity. Good spatial resolution is an advantage of PET. The really bad temporal resolution (about 2 minutes) is a distinct disadvantage. This is due to the fact that metabolism is a relatively slow process. Moreover ionizing radiation makes this method harmful for the human body and thus unusable for applications like BCI. MEG, magneto encephalography directly measures the cortical magnetic fields produced by electrical currents. This method is non-invasive and has good spatial and temporal resolution. However the equipment is extremely expensive and due to the very weak magnetic fields requires a very impractical isolation/shielding room (cage of Faraday). The real-time properties for analysis are poor. FMRI, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging provides information on brain metabolism using BOLD (Blood Oxygen Level Dependent). FMRI uses strong fluctuating magnetic field to measure the whereabouts of dipoles [25]. The advantages are good spatial resolution and the non-invasiveness. But the temporal resolution is poor (about one second) and this method requires very expensive equipment and procedures. NIR, Near-infrared light penetrates the human head to sufficient depths to allow functional mapping of the cerebral cortex. Changes in tissue oxygenation cause modulation of absorption and scattering of photons, which can be measured [12]. NIR can measure two responses. o The slow response corresponds with the attenuation changes o The fast response could be used for BCI and is due to changes in scattering properties. This response has a good temporal resolution, but is not yet feasible. To date the only experimental setup that has been used uses the slow response, which has a poor temporal resolution. Advantages of optical techniques: no
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interference, user is electrically isolated, non-invasive, non-ionizing and no gel is required. Overall this looks like a promising technique.

3.3 EEG
Selecting a measurement method Why EEG? The best brain measurement method would have a high spatial and temporal resolution, be very cheap, portable and easy to apply non-invasively. This method does not (yet) exists. Of all methods listed in the previous section, EEG is by far the most commonly used in BCI. The prime reason for this is the excellent temporal resolution which is a necessity for real-time BCI. And although the spatial data resulting from EEG is often distorted and far from perfect, EEG offers direct functional correlation of brain activity. Another major plus is the ease of applying this method. With a cap containing only a few electrodes measurements can start. For practical uses and applications it is small and relatively portable, which improves prospects of future applications Aside from the ease of appliance, this is also a relatively low-cost method, certainly compared to methods like PET, MEG or MRI, which require expensive equipment and skilled professionals to operate.

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Subject one with EEG cap.

Although EEG is the most commonly used, this does not mean that others methods are not feasible. With the continuous improvement of the techniques involved, they can become a viable option in the future; like for instance Near Infrared measurement. EEG comes in two flavors; the most commonly used in BCI is the non-invasive variant. The electrode is placed on the scalp. The obvious advantage is that it can be safely applied to anyone at any moment without a lot of preparation. The second variant is the invasive EEG. Instead of attaching the electrode on the skull, it is placed inside. The advantage of this variant is the higher spatial resolution obtained by it. With non-invasive EEG, the skull causes significant spatial smearing of the measured activity: leading to more difficult localization of the original signal, which degrades the quality of the signal. Invasive electrodes offer the possibility to locate activity far more precise. The obvious drawback is that surgery is required to implant the electrodes. This comes with safety risks and high costs compared to non-invasive EEG. For application there must be large gain from the increased accuracy to validate invasive EEG on human subjects.

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4.Brain Gate
Dummy unit illustrating the design of a Brain Gate interface Brain Gate is a brain implant system developed by the bio-tech company Cyber kinetics in 2003 in conjunction with the Department of Neuroscience at Brown University. The device was designed to help those who have lost control of their limbs, or other bodily functions, such as patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or spinal cord injury. The computer chip, which is implanted into the brain, monitors brain activity in the patient and converts the intention of the user into computer commands. Currently the chip uses 100 hair-thin electrodes that sense the electromagnetic signature of neurons firing in specific areas of the brain, for example, the area that controls arm movement. The activities are translated into electrically charged signals and are then sent and decoded using a program, which can move either a robotic arm or a computer cursor. According to the Cyber kinetics' website, three patients have been implanted with the Brain Gate system. The company has confirmed that one patient (Matt Nagle) has a spinal cord injury, whilst another has advanced ALS. Division of Computer Science and Engineering, SOE, CUSAT 19 Brain Computer Interface In addition to real-time analysis of neuron patterns to relay movement, the Brain gate array is also capable of recording electrical data for later analysis. A potential use of this feature would be for a neurologist to study seizure patterns in a patient with epilepsy. Cyber kinetics has a vision, CEO Tim Surgeon explained to Gizmag, but it is not promising "miracle cures", or that quadriplegic people will be able to walk again - yet. Their primary goal is to help restore many activities of daily living that are impossible for paralyzed people and to provide a platform for the development of a wide range of other assistive devices. "Today quadriplegic people are satisfied if they get a rudimentary connection to the outside world. What we're trying to give them is a connection that is as good and fast as using their hands. We're going to teach them to think about moving the cursor using the part of the brain that usually controls the arms to push keys and create, if you will, a mental device that can input information into a computer. That is the first application, a kind of prosthetic, if you will. Then it is possible to use the computer to control a robot arm or their own arm, but that would be down the road." Existing technology stimulates muscle groups that can make an arm move. The problem Surgeon and his team faced were in creating an input or control

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signal. With the right control signal they found they could stimulate the right muscle groups to make arm movement. "Another application would be for somebody to handle a tricycle or exercise machine to help patients who have a lot of trouble with their skeletal muscles. But walking, I have to say, would be very complex. There are a lot of issues with balance and that's not going to be an easy thing to do, but it is a goal." Cyber kinetics hopes to refine the Brain Gate in the next two years to develop a wireless device that is completely implantable and doesn't have a plug, Division of Computer Science and Engineering, SOE, CUSAT 20Brain Computer Interface making it safer and less visible. And once the basics of brain mapping are worked out there is potential for a wide variety of further applications, Surgeon explains. "If you could detect or predict the onset of epilepsy that would be a huge therapeutic application for people who have seizures, which leads to the idea of a 'pacemaker for the brain'. So eventually people may have this technology in their brains and if something starts to go wrong it will take a therapeutic action. That could be available by 2007 to 2008." Surgeon also sees a time not too far off where normal humans are interfacing with Brain Gate technology to enhance their relationship with the digital world if they're willing to be implanted. "If we can figure out how to make this device cheaper, there might be applications for people to control machines, write software or perform intensive actions. But that's a good distance away. Right now the only way to get that level of detail from these signals is to actually have surgery to place this on the surface of the brain. It's not possible to do this with a non-invasive approach. For example, you can have an EEG and if you concentrate really hard you can think about and move a cursor on a screen, but if someone makes a loud noise or you get interrupted, you lose that ability. What we're trying to make here is a direct connection. The Brain Gate is going to be right there and you won't have to think about it."

4.1 DARPA
The Brown University group was partially funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the central research and development organization for the US
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Department of Defense (DoD). DARPA has been interested in Brain-Machine- Interfaces (BMI) for a number of years for military applications like wiring fighter pilots directly to their planes to allow autonomous flight from the safety of the ground. Future developments are also envisaged in which humans could 'download' memory implants for skill enhancement, allowing actions to be performed that have not been learned directly.

5.BCI APPLICATIONS:
After we go through the various techniques of BCI the first question that comes to our mind is, what does BCI do to us and what are its applications. So BCI in todays time turns useful to us in many ways. Whether it is in any medical field or in a field leading to enhancement of human environment. Some of the BCI applications are discussed below. 1) Adaptive BCI for Augmented Cognition and Action 2) BCI offers paralyzed patients improved quality of life 3. The Mental Typewriter

5.1.TheMentalTypewriter:
March 14, 2006 Scientists demonstrated a brain-computer interface that translates brain signals into computer control signals this week at CeBIT in Berlin. The initial project demonstrates how a paralysed patient could communicate by using a mental typewriter alone without touching the keyboard. In the case of serious accident or illness, a patients limbs can be paralyzed, severely restricting communication with the outside world. The interface is already showing how it can help these patients to write texts and thus communicate with their environment. Theres also a PONG game (computer tennis) used to demonstrate how the interface can be used. Brain Pong involves two BBCI users playing a game of teletennis in which the rackets are controlled by imagining movements and predictably the general media has focused the majority of its attention on computer gaming applications but BCCI could equally
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be used in safety technologies (e.g. in automobiles for monitoring cognitive driver stress), in controlling prostheses, wheelchairs, instruments and even machinery. On the first day of the 2006 CeBIT Computer Fair, Fraunhofer FIRST and the Berlin Charit demonstrated how the mental typewriter could be used for this purpose. On the other days of the CeBIT Fair, a simulated test setup using a shop-window dummy will be on display. The BBCI recognizes the corresponding changes in brain activity and uses them, say, to choose between two alternatives: one involves imagining that the left hand is moved, the other that the right hand is moved. This enables a cursor, for example, to be moved to the left or right. The person operating the mental typewriter uses the cursor to select a letters field. The next step reduces the choice, and after a few more steps we arrive at the individual letters, which can be used to write words. This process enables simple sentences to be constructed within minutes. A first prototype of the mental typewriter is currently available. In a series of experiments, different spelling methods are tested in terms of their usability and are adapted to the BBCI. It will be some years, though, before the mental typewriter can be used in everyday applications. Further research is needed, in particular to refine the EEG sensors.

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5.2. BCI offers paralyzed patients improved quality of life:

Tubingen, Germany. A braincomputer interface installed early enough in patients with neuron-destroying diseases can enable them to be taught to communicate through an electronic device and slow destruction of the nervous system. Fundamental theories regarding consciousness, emotion and quality of life in sufferers of paralysis from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, also known as 'Lou Gehrigs disease') are being challenged based on new research on braincomputer interaction. ALS is a progressive disease that destroys neurons affecting movement. The study appears in the latest issue of Psychophysiology. The article reviews the usefulness of currently available brain-computer interfaces (BCI), which use brain activity to communicate through external devices, such as computers. The research focuses on a condition called the completely locked-in state (CLIS, a total lack of muscle control). In a CLIS situation, intentional thoughts and imagery can rarely be acted upon physically and, therefore, are rarely followed by a stimulus. The research suggests that as the disease progresses and the probability for an external event to function as a link between response and consequence becomes progressively smaller it may eventually vanish altogether. electronic device with great regularity. The continued interaction between thought, response and consequence is believed to slow the destruction of the nervous system.

5.3. Adaptive BCI for Augmented Cognition and Action:

The goal of this project is to demonstrate improved human/computer performance for specific tasks through detection of task-relevant cognitive events with real-time EEG (Fig. 1). For example, in tasks for which there is a direct tradeoff between
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reaction time and error rate, (such as typing or visual search) it may be beneficial to correct a users errors without interrupting the pace of the primary task. Such a user interface is possible through the direct detection of EEG signatures associated with the perception of a error, often referred to as Error Related Negativity. In general such signatures may be used to dynamically adjust the behavior of human-computer interfaces and information displays. This project advances signal analysis techniques for high density EEG to detect discrete events associated with cognitive processing. Corresponding real-time adaptive interfaces with sub-second latency are being designed to evaluate this concept of an adaptive brain- computer interface in three specific applications:

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6.Experimental Brain Computer Interface Software for the Modular EEG (The ABI software)
.

6.1 Work of the software:

The ABI is a BCI based on trials. A trial is a time interval where the user generates brainwaves to perform an action. The BCI tries to process this signal and to associate it to a given class. The association is done by feeding a neural net with the preprocessed EEG data. The neural net's output is then further processed and this final output corresponds to the given class. The neural net should be trained in order to learn the association. Division of Computer Science and Engineering, SOE, CUSAT 30 Brain Computer Interface The classifier's idea is heavily based on Christin Schfer's design (winner of the BCI Competition II, Motor Imaginery Trials). The ABI software allows you to Do simple Biofeedback. You can display raw EEG channels, narrow band frequency amplitudes and classes. Simulate trials. Record trials for a number of choices of different classes. Train the interface.

6.2 The classification achieved by this software:

The method has been previously applied to the data provided by the BCI Competition II data (dataset III, Graz University, Motor Imaginary) and compared against the results obtained by the contributors. The method has outperformed the results achieved by them, obtaining a higher Mutual Information (which was the criterion used in the competition) of 0.67 bits (the winner of the competition obtained (0.61 bits). Of course, it is very important that more people test the software and report its results to improve the method. Statistical stability can only be guaranteed if more people try it out.

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7.CONCLUSION

Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) is a method of communication based on voluntary neural activity generated by the brain and independent of its normal output pathways of peripheral nerves and muscles. The neural activity used in BCI can be recorded using invasive or Noninvasive techniques. We can say as detection techniques and experimental designs improve, the BCI will improve as well and would provide wealth alternatives for individuals to Interact with their environment.

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8.REFERENCES

1.

http://www.nicolelislab.net/NLnet_Load.html

2. 3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-cpcoIJbOU http://www.en.wikipedia.com/braincomputerinterface

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