Myoelectric control interface

- A project in CEL501 Electromedicine

Robin Lilja
School of Innovation, Design and Technology
Mälardalen University, Sweden
rla06001@student.mdh.se

March 10, 2009

 Abstract

The intension of this report is to investigate myoelectrical control in the pur-

pose of learning its abilities. A system comprising a bioelectrical amplifier,
analog signal processing and digital signal interpretation has been constructed,
altogether to enable the control of an electrical servo motor.
Contents
1 Introduction 1

2 Theory 1
2.1 Myoelectricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2.2 Noise recognition, prevention and rejection . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

3 Implementation 3
3.1 Analog system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.2 Digital system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

4 Results 6

5 Discussion and conclusions 8

CEL501 - Electromedicine Myoelectric control interface Mälardalen University, Sweden

1 Introduction
Making a machine or device to interpret the voltage differences arising in the
human muscles when they are statically or dynamically contracted, provides
the opportunity to let humans have a more natural process when controlling its
surrounding. Providing such control creates new possibilities in a wide range of
applications from medical and industrial to entertainment.
Thinking of the opportunities of myoelectrical control - the ability of making
a prosthesis working as a veridical body part - may first strike one’s mind. In
this subject field the human machine integration has been taken even further by
true neural interfaces [4]. A more sophisticated technique has been developed,
enabling a two-way communication for advanced motorical functions and sense.
Even though the human body is physical intact, disorders may reduce a
person’s ability to move. In this case the body could be supported by a re-
inforcing external skeleton - a solution also applicable for humans working in
harsh environments, which require them to make heavy lifts. To make such ex-
ternal skeleton a practical solution requires an interpretation of the demanded
movement via a natural interface. This creates a feeling for the human as if the
body movement was real. This solution could be implemented by the usage of
myoelectrical control.

2 Theory
2.1 Myoelectricity
Muscular tension is the result of an action potential propagating from the central
nervous system to a motor neuron, a neuron connected to a set of muscle fibers.
Such constellation between a motor neuron and muscle fibers are called motor
units. The action potential reaching the motor neuron is transmitted to all the
connected fibers in that motor unit, generating a motor unit action potential
(MUAP). During an electromyography the super positioned electro physical
signal activity in a muscle is viewed, consisting of frequencies up to 1 kHz.
The strongest amplitudes are to be found in the 50 to 350 Hz band [1]. The
MUAP activity is repeated 7 to 20 times a second depending on the muscle
type and physiological state - a fatigue muscle tends to utilize a lower frequency
compensated by higher amplitude. The detected amplitude normally ranges
up to 5 mV for surface electrodes and up to 10 mV when using indwelling
electrodes [2].
The signal interpretation of the commanded muscle force can be performed in
a number of different ways. Regarding this particular application of myoelectric
control a linear envelope detection and integration method is appropriate [3]; a
method which provides a measure of the electrical energy produced by a muscle
as an indication of its work.

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CEL501 - Electromedicine Myoelectric control interface Mälardalen University, Sweden

2.2 Noise recognition, prevention and rejection

Measures in the design must be taken in order to reduce the interference of
noise, especially in high gain measurement applications. The occurring noise
sources that must be considered in this bioelectrical application are EMI from
the power grid, electrode motion artefacts and noise due to the characteristics
of the electrical components.
Power grid noise can be removed by a notch filter, ideally rejecting a specific
frequency. Achieving a well defined notch filter requires matched components of
high tolerance, making it an expensive solution1 . Considering the opportunity
given by the closely placement of the EMG electrodes, which makes the noise
introduced via the body occurring with a very small phase shift, it is realized
that the front end amplifier should be chosen with a high CMRR. In such way
any common signal input will be effectively neglected by the amplifier.
Energy introduced by the motion of the electrodes towards the skin surface
appears at frequencies up to about 20 Hz, which creates a need of high pass fil-
ter [1]. Considerations must be made when deciding the filter’s cut of frequency;
a too high frequency will affect the frequency band of interest. A possibility is
to choose a filter of higher order to achieve a satisfying solution.
Applications including high gain amplification stages are often associated
with high resistances due to resistors in the feedback loops, a factor to take
into account especially if the system works with a wide bandwidth. The reason
to consider these factors refers to the Johnson-Nyquist noise accordingly equa-
tion 1, where increased resistance or bandwidth will increase the RMS voltage
of the introduced noise. Further it is shown that high value resistors must not
be placed near components or objects emitting a high temperature. [5]
p
VRM S = 4kB T RB (1)
Capacitors are also a subject of the Johnson-Nyquist noise, equation 2 im-
plies that capacitors of small values should be placed away from heat sources.
r
kB T
VRM S = (2)
C
Even the operational amplifiers input noise should be accounted for, espe-
cially in high gain stages.

1 An alternative is pre-manufactured notch filter components.

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CEL501 - Electromedicine Myoelectric control interface Mälardalen University, Sweden

3 Implementation
The system is implemented in two major subsystems, one analog responsible for
the amplification, filtering and demodulation. The second is digital accommo-
dating the analog to digital conversion, signal interpretation and servo control.

3.1 Analog system

A reusable passive electrode has been designed and constructed, having two
independent contact surfaces held together with a flexible linkage for better
body surface adaptation, and fulfilling the previously mentioned aspect of power
grid interference rejection by positioning the contact surfaces closely together.

Figure 1: The electrode constructed and used.

The instrumental amplifier INA128 has been selected as the front end ampli-
fier due to its high CMRR at high gain factors. A gain of 58 dB where selected,
believed to utilizing the available output voltage interval (+/- 5 V) in a satis-
factory manner. In order to avoid DC biasing of the human body, making the
measurements unstable, the front end have been complemented by a feedback
circuit driving the potential to a stable reference level.
After the front end amplifier, the signal is passed through a second order
high pass filter having its cut off frequency at 30 Hz. Rejecting motion artifacts,
however still letting the lower end of the frequency band of interest passing
through. In order to band pass the signal, a first order low pass filter is applied,
rejecting frequencies over 600 Hz.
The signal is after the amplification and band pass filtration prepared for
envelope detection and demodulation. A precision half wave rectifier has been
applied as the function of an envelope detector. This precision rectifier where
selected because it compensates for the diodes non-linearity, a feature that prob-
ably will affect the output if only one single diode is applied as detector circuit.

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CEL501 - Electromedicine Myoelectric control interface Mälardalen University, Sweden

The demodulator is realized by a single pole low pass filter, acting as an

integrator, having its cut of frequency selected in such way that the information
in the carrier wave is extracted. The cut of frequency where placed at 2.8 Hz,
a selection that will be discussed later on.
This detector and demodulator principle is actually the very same appearing
in radios designed for receiving amplitude modulated broadcasts; a technique
known since the first crystal radios.

Figure 2: Simple band pass filter design, consisting of a high pass filter cascaded
with a low pass filter.

Figure 3: The precision half wave rectifier and low pass filter, performing as a
detector and demodulator.

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CEL501 - Electromedicine Myoelectric control interface Mälardalen University, Sweden

In the final analog signal processing step, the signal is superposed on an

appropriate DC level, making the signal normalized for the ADC’s specification.
A protection circuit is added consisting of a current limiting resistor and negative
voltage protection by a Scottky diode connected to ground.

Figure 4: ADC normalization and protection circuit.

3.2 Digital system

The main component of the digital system is an ATmega168 microcontroller
unit, responsible for analog to digital conversion, signal interpretation and servo
motor control. Two main features must be recognised in order to achieve a
proper design. The first parameter to design for is the bandwidth of the de-
modulated signal; the second parameter is the update frequency of the servo
motor. In this case the Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem demands a sam-
pling frequency of about 6Hz; sampling in this frequency would require a digital
high order low pass filter for proper signal reconstruction [6]. The alternative is
to utilize over sampling for easy signal reconstruction, a solution which where
chosen in this design. A ten times over sampling, corresponding to a frequency
of 60 Hz, where selected.
Signal interpretation is achieved by a simple linear transformation function,
taking two parameters as arguments. The first parameter corresponds to the
voltage level of the demodulated signal, and the second parameter corresponds
to a reference voltage which the demodulated signal is super positioned on. The
signals are subtracted and averaged with the previous values; the average is
then added with a servo base position constant, resulting in the control signal
forwarded to the servo motor control.
The servo motor is controlled by pulse width modulation, where the pulse
width corresponds to a specific servo angle position. The servo mechanism
allows 180 degrees of freedom with a resolution of 0.18 degrees, working with a
frequency of 50 Hz; a frequency which the control loop comprising the transfer
function’s calculations should work at.

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CEL501 - Electromedicine Myoelectric control interface Mälardalen University, Sweden

A RS232 serial communication interface has been implemented to enable the

logging of servo position and analog inputs through a standard terminal on a
personal computer. This feature could be used in the application of a human-
computer interface providing an alternative for disabled people unable to use
the standard computer mouse.

Figure 5: Illustration of the complete system architecture.

4 Results
The electrode was applied to the first dorsal interosseous muscle in the human
hand, between the thumb and the index finger. In the first case, two states of
the signal where captured, visualized accordingly figure 6, the state after the en-
velope detector and after the demodulator. In the second case the demodulated
signal was compared to the servo position, illustrated in figure 7. The signals
where in the both cases generated by distinct flexions of the index finger.

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CEL501 - Electromedicine Myoelectric control interface Mälardalen University, Sweden

Figure 6: Detection and demodulation signals recorded from the first dorsal
interosseous (hand) muscle.

Figure 7: Servo position and demodulated EMG recorded during two index
finger flexions.

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CEL501 - Electromedicine Myoelectric control interface Mälardalen University, Sweden

5 Discussion and conclusions

What could be learnt according to the captured signals in figure 6 is that the de-
modulated signal’s pattern is uniformly - in an approximately manner - repeated
during the measurement interval, disregarding the asymmetrical characteristics
of the rectified signal. The wave form of the demodulated signal could be tuned
to obtain a more even level over the illustrated time interval. A lower demod-
ulator frequency where tested, but a more repeatable and stable performance
where obtained with the chosen frequency of 2.8 Hz.
It is believed that the usage of a precision full wave rectifier would increase
the performance since the average voltage over the demodulator’s capacitor
would have been higher over time; making the demodulated signal output to
appear more even.
One major difficulty was the electrode contact, since no proper EMG elec-
trodes where available and the manufactured electrode used had a copper con-
tact surface. It was difficult to obtain and withhold measurable signals, espe-
cially when the copper tended to oxidize rather quickly. The design of an active
electrode comprising a surfaced mounted instrumental amplifier where made,
but it remained on the drawing table due to the aspect of available time.
The filter designs used in this solution is very simple, still they fulfil their
purpose. Probably a better result would have been achieved with higher order
Butterworth filter designs having a steeper roll off and flatter pass band.
Altogether the project has provided an insight in myoelectric control and
the results achieved by this simple solution indicates great control abilities in a
more advanced and tuned system.

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CEL501 - Electromedicine Myoelectric control interface Mälardalen University, Sweden

References
[1] A. Herrera, A. Bernal, D. Isaza, M. Adjouadi. Design of an Electrical Prosthetic
Gripper using EMG and Linear Motion Approach. Florida International Univer-
sity, Miami.
[2] David M. Thompson. Electromyography, 1998. University of Oklahoma Health
Sciences Center, Oklahoma. http://moon.ouhsc.edu/dthompso/pk/emg/emg.htm
[3] D. Gordon E. Robertson. Electromyography: Processing. University of Ottawa,
Ottawa, Canad. www.health.uottawa.ca/biomech/courses/apa4311/emg-p2.pps
[4] Peter Fromherz. Neuroelectronic Interfacing: Semiconduc-
tor Chips with Ion Channels, Nerve Cells and Brain, 2003.
Max Plank Institute for Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany.
http://www.biochem.mpg.de/mnphys/publications/02fro3/02fro3.pdf
[5] Ron Mancini. Op Amps For Every One, 2002. Texas Instruments.
http://focus.ti.com/lit/an/slod006b/slod006b.pdf
[6] Dan Lavry. Sampling Theory For Digital Audio, 2004. Lavry Engineering.
http://www.lavryengineering.com/documents/Sampling Theory.pdf