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BIONIC EYE – AN ARTIFICIAL VISION & COMPARATIVE STUDY BASED ON

DIFFERENT IMPLANT TECHNIQUES

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International Journal of Electrical and
Electronics Engineering Research (IJEEER)
ISSN(P): 2250-155X; ISSN(E): 2278-943X
Vol. 6, Issue 4, Aug 2016, 87-94
© TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

BIONIC EYE – AN ARTIFICIAL VISION & COMPARATIVE STUDY

BASED ON DIFFERENT IMPLANT TECHNIQUES

DEEKSHA H N1 & SANDEEP S2

1
Research Scholar, School of Bioscience & Technology, VIT University, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India
2
Research Scholar, Department of Chemical Engineering, BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
ABSTRACT

In this entire world for those millions of people whose vision is impaired they have got eye gears for
rectification but for the truly blind people whose vision is darkened we don’t have any therapeutics. So the recent
advancement in the technology has driven the mankind towards various approach like artificial implants for those blind
subjects and the bionic eye with retinal, ocular, sub retinal implant technique seems to be promising as it is an
integration of electronics, biomedical and the embedded engineering which acts as the artificial eye in interpreting the
materialistic images of the world and plays the active role of natural cones and rods for brain image interpretence. This
paper gives an overview of various retinal implant techniques in channelizing the subjects vision through artificial
intelligence and if it is commercialized becomes the potential device for the blind subjects to see and interpret the

Original Article
colorful world

KEYWORDS: Artificial Eye, Epi-Retinal Implant, Retinal Implant, Sub-Retinal Implant, Technology

Received: Apr 13, 2016; Accepted: Aug 02, 2016; Published: Aug 11, 2016; Paper Id.: IJEEERAUG201610

INTRODUCTION

The science has done several wonders to the mankind. We always have seen prosthetics which helped in
overcoming handicappers. Bi- medical engineers play an important role in shaping the course of the pros-the tics.
Now it is the responsibility of Artificial Vision through Bionic Eyes. The Chips are designed specifically to mimic
the characteristics of the damaged retina, cones, and rods of the organ of sight that are implanted with a
microsurgery. Whether it is Bio-medical, Computer, Electrical, or Mechanical Engineers – all of them have a vital
role to play in the personification of Bionic Eyes. There is a hope for all the blinds in the form of Bionic Eyes.
This innovative technology can add life to their vision less eyes. Later, this will create a revolution in the field of
medical science. It is important to know certain facts about the organ of sight that is the human Eye before we
proceed towards the technical aspects involved in Bionic Eye Systems.

NEED FOR BIONIC EYE

Due to the lack of effective therapeutic and remedial measures for Retinitis pigmentosa - RP and
Age-related macular degeneration -AMD, it has lead to the development of experimental strategies to restore some
degree of visual function to affected patients [1]. Since the rest of retinal layers are anatomically spared, several
approaches have been designed to artificially activate this residual retina and bionic eye system. It is believed that
electric stimulation of retinal neurons can produce light perception in patients who are suffering from retinal
degeneration. Using this property we can channelize the functional cells to retain the vision with the help of

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88 Deeksha H N & Sandeep S

electronic devices that assist these cells in performing the task of vision. We can make lakhs of people get back their vision
at least partially. A design of an optoelectronic retinal prosthesis system which can stimulate the retina with resolution that
corresponds to a visual activity of 20/80—which is sharp enough to orient yourself towards object, recognize faces, read
large fonts, watch TV and perhaps most importantly lead an independent life.

Bionic-Eye as Artificial Eye

The lost vision can be bring back by bionic eye which is also known as visual prosthesis or retinal implant, the
device helps the blind to return to functional vision. is an experimental visual device intended to restore functional vision.
It generally takes the structure of an externally-worn camera that is close to a stimulator on the retina, optic nerve, or in the
visual cortex, in order to manufacture perceptions in the visual cortex. Bionic eye restores the vision lost due to damage of
retinal cells. The function of an Bionic Eye device, is to mimic the function of artificial eye. As it is made of the image
sensors, processors, radio transmitters & receivers, and the retinal chip clubbed together in a single domain which is wide
term for entire electronic system called as Bionic eye. The device is replaced in place of retina part of eyes, since device is
a circle about the size of a five-cent piece. The device delivers the stimulation as it is silicon based chip which decodes
radio signals. As the electrodes stimulated, using a small wires they send a signal to retinal ganglion cells, followed by
optical nerve then to brain by which the pattern of light and dark spots according to which electrodes have been stimulated.

The machine receives signals from a pair of glasses wear by the patient, which are fixed with a camera. The visual
information will be feed in separate image processing part within camera, by extracting certain features which plays role in
making the since of image. The component then breaks down the image into pixels and sends the information, one pixel at
a time, to the silicon chip, which then reconstructs the image. The radio waves are responsible for broadcasting the data
into the body. At present the equipment is only able to broadcast a 10 x 10 pixel. As there is chances of visual damage for
partial vision participants, so they are excluded and only the blind participants are included. By using latest version the user
able to make out between light and dark as well to see certain distinct objects as implant is array of 60 pixels, but the
ultimate aim is to make it to 1000 pixels by which the user will be able to recognize faces and also helps in reading.

The Bionic-Eye System

The Visual prosthetics can be broken down into three major groups. Firstly The use of devices like CCD camera
or the ultrasonic’s that capture the images and render the results to the system as sound or electrical inputs so that the
individual can perceive the image path near to him. The second major form is retina enhancing machine which mimic the
retinal functions by stimulating the retina with electrical signals which triggers the optic nerve to send message to the
brain. The third major category is the digital camera which helps in image sampling and stimulates the brain with electrical
signals--either by penetration or mounting the electrodes on the surface of the visual cortex.

Retinal Implant Systems

Now, Second Sight named company which got the approval from FDA to start the U.S. trails on a blind to get the
limited present of vision. The second generation Argus II is designed with a 60 electrode array and a much smaller receiver
that is implanted around the eye [7][8][9]. The Argus II is an electrode array that is surgically implanted onto the retina..
This electrode array is capable of sending signals to the brain which is impossible for the damaged human biological retina.
The electrode array is not very useful unless it is receiving visual data to send to the brain. To solve this problem the
patient is fitted with a pair of glasses embedded with a tiny video camera which continuously records footage of what is

Impact Factor (JCC): 6.1843 NAAS Rating: 2.40

Bionic Eye –An Artificial Vision & Comparative Study Based on Different Implant Techniques 89

present in front of the patient. This video signal is sent wirelessly to a computer which filters and processes the video
signal and feeds this compatible data to the electrode array. The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System can provide sight by
detecting the light to people who have gone blind from degenerative eye diseases like macular degeneration and retinitis
pigmentosa. Both diseases deactivates the eyes' cones, rods and retina that perceive light patterns and pass them on to the
brain in the form of nerve impulses, wherein these impulse patterns are then decoded as images. The Argus II system is a
replacement for these photoreceptors. The second incarnation of 2nd Sight's retinal prosthesis consists of five main parts:

• Digital-Camera embedded into a pair of glasses. It captures real time images and processes images to a micro-
chip.

• Video-Processing Microchip incorporated into a handheld unit. It catalyses images into electrical impulses that
represents the light and dark patterns

• Radio-Transmitter will wirelessly transmit the impulses into a receiver that is implanted above the ear or under
the eye.

• Radio-Receiver will send impulse to the retinal implant via hair-thin implanted wire.

• Retinal-Implant with 60 electrode array on a chip that measures 1 mm by 1 mm.

The whole system is driven by a battery pack and when the image is captured it is in the form of light and dark
pixel patterns. These images are video processed to convert the 3d structured patterns and are decrypted to artificial: light”
and “dark” environment patterns. The processor interprets these pulses to a radio transmitter on the glasses, which then
transmits the pulses in the form of radio waves to a receiver implanted beneath the patient’s skin. The receiver is directly
connected by a wire to the array of electrodes implanted at temporal side of the eye, and it sends the pulses through the
wire [10]. Thus the impulses are then interpreted by the human brain and the message is displayed as ‘you are seeing a
tree’ and thus the subject will identify the object.

Working

The working of Retinal implant system is depicted in Figure 1. Normally the vision starts when the light ray’s
falls on the cones and rods and interpreted by the retina through optic nerves. These cells convert optical signals into
electric impulses that are sent via optic nerve to the brain. Retinal diseases like ARM degeneration and RP destroy sight by
rupturing these cells. With the artificial bionic eye, a miniature camera mounted on the eye-gear captures the images and
wirelessly sends the information to a micro controller unit that converts the data to an electronic signal and re-transmits it
to a receiver on the eye. The receiver sends the signals through an optic cable to the microelectrode array, which triggers
the pulse emission. The artificial retinal device thus bypasses default photoreceptor cells and it is transmitted as electrical
signals directly to the retina’s remaining viable cells [11]. These pulses travel along optic nerves to brain. Then brain
retrieves patterns of light and dark spots that correspond to the electrodes stimulation. Patients learn to interpret these
visual patterns. It takes some training for the subjects to actually see a tree. At first, they see mostly light and dark spots.
But after a due course of time, they learn to interpret what the brain is showing them. Eventually they perceive those
patterns of light and dark as a tree. Researchers are already planning a third version which consists of thousands of
electrodes on the retinal implant and they believe it could allow subjects for reading, facial recognition capabilities
purposes.

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90 Deeksha H N & Sandeep S

• The Camera embedded on glasses to view image

• The Signals are sent to the hand-held device

• Processed information is sent back to embedded glasses and wirelessly transmitted back to the receiver Under the
surface of eye

• Receiver sends information to electrodes in retinal implant

• Electrodes stimulate retina to send information to brain.

Figure 1: Typical Working of Retinal Implant System

Epi-Retinal Implants

The “Epi-Retinal” approach constitutes of the semiconductor based devicic system that is placed on the retina
with a close proximity towards the retinal optic nerve fiber and the retinal ganglion cells. In this approach the image is
captured by using ccd camera before the signal and the energetic pulses are transferred to the implant t system [12]. In the
EPI-RET approach techchys have developed a micro array diode close to the retinal cells to increase the stimulation of the
ganglion cells. The tiny bullet camera embedded on to the eyeglasses captures the images and sends it to the system
wirelessly. The real visual world is taken by a highly miniaturized CMOS camera that is embedded onto eye-gears.
The camera signal is interpreted using receptive field algorithms to calculate electric pulse trains that are essential to
adequately stimulate ganglion cells in the retina. This stimulating signal combined with the energy supply is transmitted to
a device wirelessly which is implanted into the eye of the blind subject. The implant contains of a receiver for data and
energy, a decoder and microelectrode array placed on the inner retinal surface. This micro chip will stimulate viable
retinal-ganglion cells. Electrodes on microchip will then create light pixels on the retina that can be sent to the brain for
interpretation. The main advantage of this is that it consists of only a simple eye gear frame with camera and external
electronics which communicates wirelessly with microchip implanted on retina programmed with stimulation pattern.

Figure 2: Epi-Retinal System Implant

Impact Factor (JCC): 6.1843 NAAS Rating: 2.40

Bionic Eye –An Artificial Vision & Comparative Study Based on Different Implant Techniques 91

The technical hurdles involved design of the retinal encoder is:

• Chip-Development
• Bio-Compatibility
• RF-Telemetry and Power-Systems

CHIP-DEVELOPMENT
Encoder Epi Retinal

The design of an epi-retinal encoder is more complex than the sub retinal encoder, because it has to feed the
ganglion cells. Here, a retinal encoder outside the eye replaces the information processing unit of the retina. These spatial
filters as biology-inspired neural networks can be 'tuned' to various spatial and temporal receptive field properties of
ganglion cells in the primate retina.

Biocompatibility

The materials that are chosen for the retinal implant production must be specifically bio-compatible and also
corrosion resistant and non-corrosive to match various criteria’s

• The electrodes have to establish an even contact to the nerve cells within ECF, such that the stimulating electronic
current can pass through the photo elements into the tissue.

• Technology must be able to be manufactured by micro-electronics

• The chosen materials should be biologically similarly compatible with the nervous system.

RF Telemetry

In epi-retinal encoder, the wireless RF telemetry system acts as the transport channel between the Retinal Encoder
and the retinal stimulator. Standard semiconductor technology is used in fabrication of a power and the signal receiving
chips that drives current through the electrode array & stimulates the retinal neurons. The intra-occular Trans receiver
processing unit is separated from the stimulator in order to take into account the heat dissipation of the rectification and
power transfer processes. Care is taken to avoid direct contact of heat dissipating devices with the retina.

Sub Retinal Implants

The “Sub retinal” approach involves the electrical stimulation of the inner retina from the sub retinal space by
implantation of a semiconductor-based micro photodiode array (MPA) into this location. This is shown in Figure 3[13]. In
RP, the retinal pig mental epithelial cells begin to apopt out and the person starts loosing the sight gradually. Hence the
function of the retina to transducer the light into biological signal is hampered leading to blindness. Sub retinal implant is
used to substitute the lost RPE cells with the artificial cell basis to restore the vision. In this implant, a micro photodiode
array (MPD), a silicon micro manufactured device, or semiconductor micro photodiode array (SMA) is used. This implant
is placed behind the retina between the sclera and the bipolar cells. The incident light is transformed into neural potentials
that excite the bipolar cells to form an image sensation. The arrays can be manufactured by various silicon manufacturing
procedures. These devices have demonstrated the same electro-physiological & neurological behaviors as the healthy RPE
cells. The MPDA must to be very thin & flexible in order for it to fit to the curvature of the eye ball.

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92 Deeksha H N & Sandeep S

Figure 3: Ultra Thin Micro Photodiode Array with Titanium Substrate

In the Sub retinal implant system, the photo-sensitive micro photodiode array with gold microelectrodes and
titanium nitride stacked together is implanted in the sub retinal space [14]. The incident light comings from various
directions are transformed into small currents by the micro photodiodes. These currents are then sent into the retinal
network by neurons. The middle & inner retinal membranes traps current and then interprets the part of vision. There are
many benefits of using the sub retinal prostheses that is inclusive of MPD directly replacing the lost & degenerated RPE
cells; the retina’s remaining network is still capable of processing electro neural signals; ease of implanting the high
density MPDA in the sub retinal position; avoiding external camera or external image processing equipment; eye
movement to trace the objects is not restricted to any frame work.

Figure 4: The Difference between Epi-Retinal & Sub Retinal Approach

Now, a German firm dubbed Retina Implant has scored a big win for the sub retinal solution with a
three-millimeter, 1,500 pixel microchip that gives patients a 12 degree field of view[15].

In general,

• Epi-retinal Approach involves a semiconductor based device positioned on the surface of the retina to try to
simulate the remaining overlying cells.

• Sub retinal Approach involves implanting the ASR chip behind the retina to simulate the remaining viable cells.

Impact Factor (JCC): 6.1843 NAAS Rating: 2.40

Bionic Eye –An Artificial Vision & Comparative Study Based on Different Implant Techniques 93

Advantages

• The new technology will hopefully assist people suffering from AMD and individual suffering from RP.

• The thing is to significantly improve the quality of life for blind patients.

• No complicated surgical procedure.

• No Batteries implanted within body.

• Very Early in the visual pathway.

Disadvantages

• This new technology will not be helpful glaucoma patients.

• Not useful for patients who are blind by birth.

• Extra circuitry required for downstream electrical input

Challenges

• There are lots of hurdles to be overcome by Bionic Eyes to become a success story. Human eyes are perhaps the
most sensitive of all organs in the body. A nano-sized imitate can create havoc in the eye.

• There are around 120 million rods & 6 million cones in the retina of every healthy human eye. Creating an
artificial replacement for these cells is not an easy task.

• Silicon based photo detectors have been experimented in earlier attempts. But Silicon is toxic to the human body
& reacts unfavorably with ocular eye fluids.

• There are huge doubts as to how the brain will respond to foreign signals generated by artificial light sensors.

• One of the toughest challenges seems to be ensuring the implant to remain in the eye for decades without causing
scarring, immune system responses, and general degradation from daily biological wear and tear.

• These artificial retinas are still years away from becoming widespread because they are too expensive, too clunky,
and too fragile to withstand decades of normal wear and tear.

CONCLUSIONS

This is an innovative and revolutionary technology and really has the potential to change people's lives. Bionic
Eye is a revolution in medical field. It is a good news for blind patients who suffer from retinal diseases. Bionic eye
implant that could help in restoring the sight of millions of blind people within two years. Retinal implants are able to
partially restore the vision of people with particular forms of blindness caused by diseases like macular degeneration or
retinitis pigmentosa. About 1.5 million people around the globe have retinitis pigmentosa, and one in ten people above 55
have age related macular degeneration. The invention and implementation of bionic eye can help those people. Irrespective
of the pros & cons of this system, if this system is fully developed with a cutting edge technology it will change the lives of
millions of people around the world. We might not restore the vision completely, but we can try to help them to at least
find their path, recognize faces, read books, and above all lead an independent life of their choice.

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 94 Deeksha H N & Sandeep S

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Impact Factor (JCC): 6.1843 NAAS Rating: 2.40

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