Conclusion From Design Process
The problem we were given to solve was a challenging one, requiring a great deal of forethought, careful planning, and perseverance throughout the design process. We took on the task of creating a fully implantable device that can wirelessly transmit brain signals from an ECoG electrode array placed on the dura of a subject’s brain to an external computer. This device offers solutions to some of the current limitations of BCI technology, resulting from use of percutaneous leads and cables to connect the electrode array to an external computer. As a result, the subject’s mobility is limited and the recording time is restricted because the device can only function when the subject is plugged into the computer. Eliminating the need for external wiring gives the subject free range of motion and greatly reduces the risk of infection posed by the exposure of percutaneous leads to the environment. A rechargeable lithium-ion battery system allows for 24 hour recording and can be recharged through the skin using a transcutaneous energy transfer system. The combination of these innovative technologies allows the device to be implanted within the subject, thus the BCI Telemeter solves the problems faced by current methods of BCI technology.
Future uses of BCI technology include continued research in neural prosthetics as well as clinical applications to study disease states in patients with neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. The ability to record brain signals for 24 hours straight in a research setting would allow for a much greater understanding of how the brain controls normal daily behaviors, providing vital information for the development of effective neural prosthetics. In addition, insight into the specific areas of the brain responsible for neurological diseases could give rise too much more effective treatments and change the lives of patients suffering from these conditions. The design of the BCI Telemeter is a step toward making these applications possible, but there is much to be done before BCI technology can be widely used. The size of the BCI Telemeter is larger than we originally planned; reducing the size would be the next step in making the device more practical for implantation. A great deal of testing would also need to be done to ensure the device is safe and approved for human use.
When designing a device intended for implantation in the body, safety must be a priority. Before starting the design of the BCI Telemeter we had to consider whether the benefits that could come from the device were worth the risks involved with brain surgery that will be required to hook up the BCI Telemeter to an electrode array on the brain. The purpose of the BCI Telemeter in a clinical setting is to give patients with severe motor disabilities the ability to communicate with their environment by controlling prosthetic devices and wheelchairs with their own brain signals. To a patient without the ability to move on his own, the benefits of this technology certainly outweigh the risks. The purpose of the BCI Telemeter in a research setting is to gain valuable insight into the way in which the brain controls normal behaviors and to learn about disease states of the brain in patients with neurological diseases. The application of this knowledge in designing neural prosthetics and developing treatments for neurological diseases could change the lives of patients suffering from these conditions. Since BCI technology is already used in research labs with monkeys, the added risk of implanting the BCI Telemeter is small compared to the initial risks of placing the electrode arrays on the monkeys’ brains. The BCI Telemeter will actually make this research safer by eliminating the need for percutaneous leads that cause infection. A great deal of thought and effort were put into ensuring the BCI Telemeter is safe enough to be implanted inside of a monkey or a human. Throughout the design process, safety was emphasized and each component of the system required careful consideration to make sure the device is biocompatible. Since the casing is the primary component of the device in direct contact with the body, it was one of the most important safety hazards to consider. A biocompatible parylene film covers the casing that surrounds the ASIC where all the signal processing and transmission takes place. The casing is hermetically sealed so that the circuit elements of the ASIC never come into contact with the body. The main safety hazard inside of the device comes from the lithium-ion battery. The battery we have chosen uses trademarked SaFE-LYTETM technology to significantly lower the risk of combustion thus producing a battery that is much safer than conventional Li-ion batteries. In addition, Zero VoltTM technology allows for safe implantation of the battery in the body and keeps the battery running at full capacity without maintenance for long periods of time. Safety was not one of the main factors we considered when originally conceptualizing our design, but throughout the process of choosing the specific components that make up the BCI Telemeter, particularly the battery and casing, we realized how vital of a role safety played in making our device practical for use.
The BCI Telemeter is designed as a prototype that can be used for very specific research and clinical needs. The unique combination of the signal processing components on the ASIC with the wireless transceiver comprises an original design that we believe is patentable. Using ECoG for BCI is a relatively new technology that has been around for less than 10 years and there are currently no existing solutions on the market that allow for the wireless transmission of brain signals. Before the BCI Telemeter can be used in a clinical setting it will require FDA approval due to the safety concerns surrounding implanting the device in a human. At this stage in the design process we are only planning to build one prototype of the BCI Telemeter that will be tested and improved upon before submitting a request for FDA approval.
Coming up with a design for the BCI Telemeter was much more difficult than we anticipated, particularly when it came to the very specific details contained in this final report. We were proactive at the beginning of the semester and started working on our project right away; we were all excited about it and did not want to make the mistake of waiting until the last minute to start putting it together. It was difficult to coordinate schedules and to find time to meet with our mentor each week and we quickly learned that there was a great deal of background research to do before we could begin coming up with design ideas. Some of the frustrations we ran into were limited access to the programs we needed and the constant realization that there is always more to be done to improve our design. It was crucial that each member of the group pulled his or her weight and stayed in constant communication with the other team members to prevent any conflict or disagreement. A valuable lesson that we learned from this experience is that the best way to motivate other people is to lead by example. When one group member would do a significant amount of work toward the next design report, the other members were motivated to do the same out of a mutual respect for one another and a desire to contribute to the project. This mindset helped us stay on schedule and kept our design process moving forward, even during the busiest times in the semester.
In retrospect, we may have taken on a project that required a greater amount of knowledge, skills and time than we possess. In order for this project to be successful, we had to be constantly working and researching to understand the intricate components of device, while simultaneously brainstorming ways to make the design better. If we had the chance to do something differently we would have considered the difficulty level of our project at the very beginning of the semester and altered the scope or chosen a different need that we were more capable of addressing using the skill sets we have each acquired through our engineering curriculum. We have all benefited greatly from going through this experience and will come away from it having learned that a design is never complete, but it is constantly being developed through an ongoing process of thought and innovation.
Future uses of BCI technology include continued research in neural prosthetics as well as clinical applications to study disease states in patients with neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. The ability to record brain signals for 24 hours straight in a research setting would allow for a much greater understanding of how the brain controls normal daily behaviors, providing vital information for the development of effective neural prosthetics. In addition, insight into the specific areas of the brain responsible for neurological diseases could give rise too much more effective treatments and change the lives of patients suffering from these conditions. The design of the BCI Telemeter is a step toward making these applications possible, but there is much to be done before BCI technology can be widely used. The size of the BCI Telemeter is larger than we originally planned; reducing the size would be the next step in making the device more practical for implantation. A great deal of testing would also need to be done to ensure the device is safe and approved for human use.
When designing a device intended for implantation in the body, safety must be a priority. Before starting the design of the BCI Telemeter we had to consider whether the benefits that could come from the device were worth the risks involved with brain surgery that will be required to hook up the BCI Telemeter to an electrode array on the brain. The purpose of the BCI Telemeter in a clinical setting is to give patients with severe motor disabilities the ability to communicate with their environment by controlling prosthetic devices and wheelchairs with their own brain signals. To a patient without the ability to move on his own, the benefits of this technology certainly outweigh the risks. The purpose of the BCI Telemeter in a research setting is to gain valuable insight into the way in which the brain controls normal behaviors and to learn about disease states of the brain in patients with neurological diseases. The application of this knowledge in designing neural prosthetics and developing treatments for neurological diseases could change the lives of patients suffering from these conditions. Since BCI technology is already used in research labs with monkeys, the added risk of implanting the BCI Telemeter is small compared to the initial risks of placing the electrode arrays on the monkeys’ brains. The BCI Telemeter will actually make this research safer by eliminating the need for percutaneous leads that cause infection. A great deal of thought and effort were put into ensuring the BCI Telemeter is safe enough to be implanted inside of a monkey or a human. Throughout the design process, safety was emphasized and each component of the system required careful consideration to make sure the device is biocompatible. Since the casing is the primary component of the device in direct contact with the body, it was one of the most important safety hazards to consider. A biocompatible parylene film covers the casing that surrounds the ASIC where all the signal processing and transmission takes place. The casing is hermetically sealed so that the circuit elements of the ASIC never come into contact with the body. The main safety hazard inside of the device comes from the lithium-ion battery. The battery we have chosen uses trademarked SaFE-LYTETM technology to significantly lower the risk of combustion thus producing a battery that is much safer than conventional Li-ion batteries. In addition, Zero VoltTM technology allows for safe implantation of the battery in the body and keeps the battery running at full capacity without maintenance for long periods of time. Safety was not one of the main factors we considered when originally conceptualizing our design, but throughout the process of choosing the specific components that make up the BCI Telemeter, particularly the battery and casing, we realized how vital of a role safety played in making our device practical for use.
The BCI Telemeter is designed as a prototype that can be used for very specific research and clinical needs. The unique combination of the signal processing components on the ASIC with the wireless transceiver comprises an original design that we believe is patentable. Using ECoG for BCI is a relatively new technology that has been around for less than 10 years and there are currently no existing solutions on the market that allow for the wireless transmission of brain signals. Before the BCI Telemeter can be used in a clinical setting it will require FDA approval due to the safety concerns surrounding implanting the device in a human. At this stage in the design process we are only planning to build one prototype of the BCI Telemeter that will be tested and improved upon before submitting a request for FDA approval.
Coming up with a design for the BCI Telemeter was much more difficult than we anticipated, particularly when it came to the very specific details contained in this final report. We were proactive at the beginning of the semester and started working on our project right away; we were all excited about it and did not want to make the mistake of waiting until the last minute to start putting it together. It was difficult to coordinate schedules and to find time to meet with our mentor each week and we quickly learned that there was a great deal of background research to do before we could begin coming up with design ideas. Some of the frustrations we ran into were limited access to the programs we needed and the constant realization that there is always more to be done to improve our design. It was crucial that each member of the group pulled his or her weight and stayed in constant communication with the other team members to prevent any conflict or disagreement. A valuable lesson that we learned from this experience is that the best way to motivate other people is to lead by example. When one group member would do a significant amount of work toward the next design report, the other members were motivated to do the same out of a mutual respect for one another and a desire to contribute to the project. This mindset helped us stay on schedule and kept our design process moving forward, even during the busiest times in the semester.
In retrospect, we may have taken on a project that required a greater amount of knowledge, skills and time than we possess. In order for this project to be successful, we had to be constantly working and researching to understand the intricate components of device, while simultaneously brainstorming ways to make the design better. If we had the chance to do something differently we would have considered the difficulty level of our project at the very beginning of the semester and altered the scope or chosen a different need that we were more capable of addressing using the skill sets we have each acquired through our engineering curriculum. We have all benefited greatly from going through this experience and will come away from it having learned that a design is never complete, but it is constantly being developed through an ongoing process of thought and innovation.