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WIRELESS TRANSMISSION OF EEG SIGNALS

Conference Paper · July 2007

DOI: 10.13140/2.1.3398.0167

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 WIRELESS TRANSMISSION OF EEG SIGNALS
R. Kalpana ,Sr.Lecturer, Department of Medical Electronics, BMSCE, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
Anjana patabiraman, D.DivyaMary, S.Gowtham , Department of Medical Electronics, BMSCE, Bangalore,
Karnataka, India.
kalpana_suresh@yahoo.com
Abstract
The electroencephalograph (EEG)
machine plays an important role in brain
examination and study. Especially, in the
diagnosis of brain disease such as
epilepsy, sleeping disorder and abnormal
behavior, this machine is used most
commonly. During the last few years,
studies on EEG machine showed that the
EEG recorder based on personal computer
(PC) had to communicate with the medical
instrument through the computer I/O
interface. The above methods usually
adopted a wired serial port interface, such
as RS-232C standard, to transmit the
measured the EEG signal. When the
conventional EEG acquisition equipment
is intended to transfer data to a portable
device, such as personal digital assistant
(PDA), wired transmission always caused
inconvenience in mobilization. The
technical advantages of wireless
communications can be used to extend the
application field of EEG machine more
widely.
A low noise single channel wireless
EEG data acquisition system for remote
monitoring is discussed in this paper. The
system includes an EEG sensing and
transmission unit and a digital processing
circuit. The former is composed of pre-
amplifiers, filters, and gain amplifiers. The
Fourth order Band pass Butterworth filter
is considered because it approximates the
ideal filter response more closely. It has
got a good all round performance. The
kernel of the later digital processing circuit
is a micro-controller unit (AVR,
Atmega1281), which is utilized to convert
the EEG signals into digital signals and
fulfill the digital filtering. By means of a
Maxstream wireless communication
module, the digitized signals are sent to
the back-end such as PC or PDA. The
patient's EEG signal can therefore be
observed and stored without any long
cables such that the analog distortion
caused by long distance transmission can
be reduced significantly.
1. Introduction
The EEG has a very complex pattern,
which is much more difficult to recognize
than ECG. The EEG waveform varies
greatly with the location of the measuring
electrodes on the surface of the scalp.EEG
potentials measured at the surface of the
scalp; actually represent from various
points beneath.
EEG potentials measured at the surface of
the scalp; actually represent from various
points beneath. The electrical activity of
the brain can be described in spatial scales
from the currents within a single dendritic
spine to the relatively gross potentials that
the EEG records from the scalp. Neurons,
or nerve cells, are electrically active cells
which are primarily responsible for
carrying out the brain's functions.
Epileptic conditions produce stimulation
of the cortex and the appearance of high-
voltage waves (up to 1000 µV) referred to
as “spikes” or “spike and wave”. EEG
patterns have been shown to be modified
by a wide range of variables, including
biochemical, metabolic, circulatory,
hormonal, neuroelectric, and behavioural
factors. By tracking changes of electric
activity during such drug abuse-related
phenomena as euphoria and craving, brain
areas and patterns of activity that mark
these phenomena can be determined.
1
A microcontroller can be a powerful tool
when building electro-mechanical
systems. Like a mini, self-contained
computer, it can be programmed to
interact with both the hardware and the
user. Even the most basic microcontroller
can perform simple math operations,
control digital outputs, and monitor digital
inputs. As the computer industry has
evolved, so has the technology associated
with microcontrollers? Newer
microcontrollers are much faster, have
more memory, and have a host of input
and output features that dwarf the ability
of earlier models. Most modern controllers
have analog-to-digital converters, high-
speed timers and counters, interrupt
capabilities, outputs that can be pulse-
width modulated, serial communication
ports, and the list goes on.
2. Methodology
The aim of the project is the development
of a Low noise single channel wireless
EEG data acquisition system for remote
monitoring. The goal is to detect EEG
signals and to transmit them by radio
frequency. The analog section (Fig-1) is
involved in: Acquiring the EEG signals
through electrodes placed on the skin,
Filtering the EEG signal-This was done
using a fourth order Butterworth band pass
filter with a lower cutoff frequency of 0.5
Hz and an upper cutoff frequency of 35Hz.
The fourth order stage was created by
cascading two second order stages.
Additionally a 50 Hz notch filter was used
to remove power line frequency hum and
Amplifying the signals- To detect an EEG
signals appropriate amplification was
needed. An average EEG signal has
amplitude of around 100µV. The gain of
the whole circuit is set at 6000. The digital
section (Fig-2) involves converting the
analog EEG signals into digital format by
using the Atmel Atmega 1281
microcontroller. These digitized signals
are then transmitted to the Maxstream
X24-019 Rf modem through the
microcontroller’s USART. At the
monitoring end these signals are received
using an identical Maxstream wireless
modem connected to a Personal Computer.
The EEG signals are acquired from the
head by means of electrodes. A Driven
right-leg circuit is incorporated to reduce
common mode interference. The
instrumentation amplifier amplifies the
brain potentials and rejects noise. A fourth
order band pass filter is used to acquire the
signals in the 0.5-35Hz range. These are
then amplified and fed to a 50Hz notch
filter. The filtered and amplified signals
are fed to the 10-bit ADC. The digitized
signals are sent to the microcontroller’s
USART and from there sent to the
Maxstream modem for wireless
transmission. The analog section receives
the outputs from the electrodes connected
to the head. The first stage is a Driven
Right Leg Circuit or ‘DRL’ circuit. It is an
electric circuit that is often added to biological
signal amplifiers to reduce Common-mode
interference. The next stage is an
instrumentation amplifier. It will amplify
the brain potentials and reject the noise. Its
gain settings can be varied by an external
resistor. The second stage amplified signal
is fed to the next stage which is a fourth
order High pass Butterworth filter. The
roll off in the pass band and stop band
transition is 80 dB/decade .The next stage
is a fourth order Low pass Butterworth
filter. The filter has a roll -80 dB/decade in
the pass band and stop band transition.
The high pass and low pass sections
together form a fourth order band pass
Butterworth filter. The band limited
signals are then given to a gain amplifier.
They are the finally given to a Notch filter
to remove 50Hz noise.
2
 Fig-1: Analog Section
The digital section consists of the 10 bit, 8
channel Analog to Digital
Converter(ADC),the USART; both of
which are a part of the Atmel ATmega
1281 Microcontroller, and the Maxstream
X24-019 RF Modem. The software
requirements are Embedded C, AVR
Studio 4, WinAVR Compiler and the X-
CTU Driver software.
The ATmega 128 microcontroller is one of
the more recent versions of Atmel’s 8-bit
RISC processors in AVR family. By
executing powerful instructions in a single
clock cycle, the ATmega1281 achieves
throughputs approaching 1 MIPS per MHz
allowing the system designer to optimize
power consumption versus processing
speed. The ATmega1281 AVR is
supported with a full suite of program and
system development tools including: C
compilers, macro assemblers, program
debugger/simulators, in-circuit emulators,
and evaluation kits.
When the first instruction is being
executed, the next instruction is pre-
fetched from the program memory. This
concept enables instructions to be
executed in every clock cycle. The
program memory is In- System
Reprogrammable Flash memory. The fast-
access Register File contains 32 x 8-bit
general purpose working registers with a
single clock cycle access time. This allows
single-cycle Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
operation. The block diagram of the
ATmega 1281 is shown below:
The ADC converts an analog input voltage
to a 10-bit digital value through successive
approximation. The minimum value
Fig-1: Digital Section
represents GND and the maximum value
represents the voltage on the AREF pin
minus 1 LSB. Optionally, AVCC or an
internal 1.1V.
The Universal Synchronous and
Asynchronous serial Receiver and
Transmitter (USART) is a highly flexible
serial communication device. The USART
hardware allows the AVR to transmit and
receive data serially to and from other
devices - such as a computer or another
AVR.
The USART has to be initialized before
any communication can take place. The
initialization process normally consists of
setting the baud rate, setting frame format
and enabling the Transmitter or the
Receiver depending on the usage. For
interrupt driven USART operation, the
Global Interrupt Flag should be cleared
(and interrupts globally disabled) when
doing the initialization.
The wireless communication module used
here is the XStream USB RF Modem. The
XStream-PKG-U USB RF Modem
provides long range data communications
and advanced networking for OEMs and
embedded system integrators. Out-of-box,
the modem is equipped to sustain long
range wireless links between devices. We
can simply enter serial data into one
modem and the data surfaces on the other
side of the wireless link. The modem
transfers a standard asynchronous serial
data stream between two or more modems.
Its built-in USB interfacing allows for
rapid integration into existing data
systems. Here we use the 24XStream-
PKG-U (2.4 GHz) modem. MaxStream
3
has provided X-CTU software for
programming the modem using an
extensive list of AT Commands. The X-
CTU software provides an interface that is
divided into four tabs that facilitate the
following functions:
• PC Settings tab - Setup PC serial port to
interface with an XStream RF Modem
• Range Test tab – Test XStream RF
Modem's range in varying environments
• Terminal tab – Configure and read
XStream RF Modem parameters using AT
Commands
• Modem Configuration tab – Configure
and read RF Modem parameters
In order to communicate data to the RF
modem through a PC; baud (interface data
rate), data bit, parity and stop bit settings
on the PC serial port must match those of
the RF modem. The PC Settings tab
provides a software user interface that
facilitates the modification of PC com port
settings. First RF modem is connected to a
PC using a standard USB cable. (This also
powers the RF modem). X-CTU Software
is launched and the PC Settings tab is
selected. If necessary, values in the ‘Com
Port Setup’ section are adjusted to match
currently stored parameter values of the
RF modem. Baud rate value is set as
9600bps and destination address as 0.
Fig 3: Analog section of the DAQ Hardware Fig 4: Atmel ATmega 1281 Microcontroller with the STK 500 and STK501 interface
boards
An external power supply is used for the
circuit since it does not have built in
power circuits for the signal acquisition
and transmission purpose.
The microcontroller section of the DAQ
hardware is the Atmel Atmega 1281(Fig-
4). In this section the controller controls
and coordinates the various activities of
3. RESULTS
The data acquisition, interfacing and
wireless transmission is carried out
successfully as per the specifications and
requirements. The analog section is tested
with a simulator using a simulator with
standard signals and also with a subject.
The digital section uses the Atmel Atmega
1281 Microcontroller. The embedded
software was developed using the
assembler and was downloaded to the
controller chip. This is done using the
AVR studio which has an integrated
development environment (IDE) for
writing and debugging AVR applications.
Wireless communication with the back-
end such as a PC is done using Maxstream
X24-019 PKG-U USB RF modem.
In the developed analog section of the data
acquisition hardware (Fig-3) the signals
are given to the input of the DAQ and the
output is interfaced to the digital section
for ADC conversion and transmitting to
the wireless communication module using
the microcontroller UART. The
microcontroller controls and coordinates
the complete activities of the DAQ in the
hardware.
data acquisition and signal conversion
from analog to digital data. The sample by
sample data after being acquired is sent to
the PC using the USART interface of the
controller at the set baud rate.
There are two sections in the wireless
transmission: One is the transmitting
section (Fig-5) and the other is the receiver
4
section. The transmitting module is The receiver module is connected to the
connected to the microcontroller kit and in back end i.e. the PC. Fig-6 shows a close-
turn is connected to the analog circuitry. up of the Maxstream module.

Fig-5: Transmitting Section Fig-6: Close-up of Maxstream wireless modem

Initially the circuit developed had used a dual power supply source. The waveforms (Fig- 7
a,b,c,d,e and f) depict the results obtained using a dual supply power source.

(a) (b) (c)

(d) (e) (f)

Fig 8: ECG-Lead 1 with gain of 600

Fig 9: ECG-Lead 2 with gain of 600

Fig 10: Normal EEG

5
 Fig 11: EEG with eyes closed-relaxed

Fig 12: EEG while eyes blinking

Fig 13: EEG while reading

Fig 14: EEG when eye balls moving

4. Conclusion and Future Work ignorable distortions and can be on-line

A data acquisition system for acquiring
bioelectric signals from the brain has been
developed consisting of hardware and
software modules. The signals from the
brain have very low amplitude, around
100µV, hence these signals are amplified
to the required level and processed to
remove the noise from it. They are then
digitized using an Analog-to-Digital
Converter and transmitted to the Wireless
Communication Modem through the
Microcontroller’s USART.
The architecture of the RF-based Wireless
single channel EEG recording system is
studied in this work. The wireless
transmission mechanism eliminates wire-
line connections. Also, the signal filtering
and digitization in the system reduce the
possible noise interference. To test the
practicality of the system, a sinusoidal
signal as well signals form the frontal
polar region of the brain are transmitted
via the Wireless module. From the
experimental results, it is seen that the
received signal is reconstructed with
shown in the display window at back end.
Such systems have a wide range of
applications because they open a wide
window of observation to the human brain.
It is useful in remote diagnosis and
monitoring in everyday situations- out of
the lab or clinic; in Biofeedback and in
Brain-Computer Interfaces.
Further improvements to the system can
be made by using an internal power
supply. Also the whole system can be
made wearable and power can be
generated from body heat or ambient light.
The main goal is improving the EEG
medical diagnostics and therapy by using
devices which reduces healthcare costs
and facilitates the diagnostic while at the
same time preserving the mobility and
lifestyle of patients
5. References
1. Boqiang Liu,et,al, “An Embedded
EEG Analyzing System Based on
µC/os-II”, Proceedings of the 29th
6
 Annual International Conference Energy Estimation Model for
of the IEEE EMBS Cité Health-Care Wireless Sensor
Internationale, Lyon, France, Networks”, This work is partially
August 23-26, 2007. supported by the Spanish
2. Tao Zhang, et, al, “Real Time Government Research Grant TIC
Evaluation of Different Types of 2005-5619 and the Swiss FNS
Bio-neurological Signals”, Research Grant 20021-109450/1.
IEEE/ICME International
Conference on Complex medical
imaging, 2007.
3. Chin-Teng Lin, et, al,
“Noninvasive Neural Prostheses
Using Mobile and Wireless EEG”,
Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol- 96,
No. 7, pp 1167-1181, July 2008.
4. N.S. Dias,et, al, “A Wireless
System for Biopotential
Acquisition: an Approach for non-
Invasive Brain-Computer
Interface”, IEEE, pp 2709-2712,
2007.
5. Febo Cincotti, et, al, “ Non-
invasive brain–computer interface
system: Towards its application as
assistive technology”, Brain
Research Bulletin, vol 75, pp 796–
803 2008.
6. Francisco J. Rinc´On, Et, Al,
“Implementation Of An Automated
Ecg-Based Diagnosis Algorithm
For Awireless Body Sensor
Platform”, This Work Is Partially
Supported By The Spanish
Government Research Grant TIC
2005-5619 And The Integrated
Systems Center Of EPFL Under
The Project ”Performance
Monitoring For Professional And
Recreation Sports Using Wireless
Sensor Networks” (2007-2008).
7. Thomas E. Peters, et, al, “Network
System for Automated Seizure
Detection and Contingent Delivery
of Therapy”, Journal of Clinical
Neurophysiology, 18(6), pp 545–
549, 2001.
8. Francisco J. Rinc´on, et, al, “OS-
Based Sensor Node Platform and

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