Schedule
We have organized our project into nine tasks that will be completed throughout the semester. The calendar to the left shows an outlined schedule which we plan to follow in order to complete our project by the end of the semester. Each of the tasks is described in greater detail below. In addition to these tasks, we will complete a weekly progress report each week that will be posted under the heading Weekly Reports.
1. Project Scope - Due September 14
The project scope identifies the problem to be addressed and discusses the basic requirements of our design. It presents an overview of our project and lists foreseen challenges that will need to be addressed during the design process.
2. Preliminary Report and Presentation - Due September 28
The preliminary report focuses on defining the scope of our project. It includes background information about previous technologies and an in-depth analysis of the need for our design. The project scope will be considered once again in the preliminary report and will include detailed project specifications, looking at both the consumer perspective and the eventual marketing potential. This report includes the intended schedule for the project and a description of each task we intend to complete. The final copy of this report will be sent to our mentor and feedback will be taken into account as we proceed with our design.The information in this report will also be presented to the class in the form of a 12-minute oral presentation.
3. Headstage Circuit Design
The headstage circuit board must retain the ability to amplify and filter ECoG signals and have a low noise floor in order to accommodate extremely small brain signals. The design for this circuit board will be completed using the specifications given to us by Dr. Moran. The headstage circuit board will be designed so that it is compatible with both the telemeter and with an Omnetics 16-channel output, allowing monkeys that are not hooked up to the telemeter to have a contained headstage instead of the external processors. While most of the data processing algorithm is already finished and can be easily programmed onto a chip, we will be designing the hardware that will make this compatible with multiple channels of ECoG recording.
4. Telemeter Circuit Board
The telemeter circuit board must transmit both raw and processed signals to an external receiver to be used for brain control tasks. Brain control is established in ECoG by using power modulation in the frequency domain, so transmitting the processed signal with the frequency response intact is essential.
5. Web Page
The project web page provides a clear representation of our project for public access. It will include an overview of the project, all weekly reports, presentations, design safe outputs, and other important information. This website will be used primarily to track the progress of our project and will be kept active for a significant length of time to be used on resumes.
6. Progress Report and Presentation - Due October 26
The progress report outlines several possible solutions to the problem presented by our mentor. Each of these solutions will be examined and one will be presented as the best choice based on benefits and trade offs of each option. For this report, preliminary circuit designs will be completed and simulations in PSpice will be prepared for presentation.
The information in this report will also be presented to the class in the form of a 12-minute oral presentation.
The information in this report will also be presented to the class in the form of a 12-minute oral presentation.
7. Risk Assessment
The risk assessment evaluates the potential dangers associated with our design and discusses ways to mitigate these risks. During the risk evaluation, we will examine the ways in which the design might malfunction as well as possible user errors that could contribute to product failure. The likelihood of these errors occurring and the significance of each risk will be evaluated. To mitigate these shortcomings of the design, we will determine ways to eliminate the cause, lower the probability, or protect against the effect of each of the risks we have defined in our evaluation.
8. Final Report and Presentation - Due December 7
The final report presents the complete solution and an evaluation of our process. Circuit simulations for both the headstage circuit board and the telemeter circuit board will be completed and our results, matching the specifications of our mentor, will be presented.
The information in this report will also be presented to the class in the form of a 12-minute oral presentation.
The information in this report will also be presented to the class in the form of a 12-minute oral presentation.
9. Senior Design Poster
The senior design poster will present our final project in a succinct manner to be displayed to other students and faculty at the Undergraduate Research Symposium.