Intelligent Pre- and Post-Processing Algorithms for Autonomous Multiclass Brain-Computer Interfaces

BCI技术可以提供从大脑到计算机的通信路径，而不依赖于神经肌肉控制，因此该技术有许多潜在的受益者，例如那些由于疾病、脊髓损伤或脑损伤导致的神经肌肉缺陷而需要替代通信/控制手段的人。能够通过BCI为这些人提供另一种交流方式，可能会对他们的生活质量产生重大影响。BCI还有其他应用尚未得到充分证明和利用，例如用于中风康复的神经反馈、注意力缺陷障碍的治疗和癫痫发作预测、长途驾驶员的意识检测和个性化计算环境适应。脑机接口也是电脑游戏和虚拟现实技术以及众多军事应用中的一种增强技术。Coyle博士在过去的6年里一直在智能系统研究中心开发脑机接口技术，并在开发用于从人的脑电波中提取信息的复杂信号处理工具方面取得了实质性进展，即，并将这些信息转化为有用的控制信号，用于脑机接口控制。为了促进Coyle博士正在开发的BCI的发展，与爱尔兰国家康复医院建立了战略合作伙伴关系，以试验基于BCI的辅助技术，用于替代通信，控制和移动。正在进行的研究正处于需要进行广泛临床试验的阶段，以验证和强调迄今为止研发的重要性，并为BCI相关应用开发创新工具和产品。NRH是爱尔兰岛上非常适合在这方面进行合作的机构，它为残疾患者提供接触机会并促进对残疾患者的试验。NRH是爱尔兰共和国唯一一家治疗脊髓损伤和头部创伤的住院康复医院，在脊髓损伤患者、中风和头部创伤患者以及开展辅助技术临床试验方面拥有丰富的经验。NRH致力于促进残疾参与者试验，Coyle博士可以专注于BCI技术的发展，并将能够在临床环境中彻底测试这些发展，目的是将BCI技术带入家庭。该项目的第一阶段将包括巩固和完善Coyle博士迄今为止的研究，以及初步试验，其中还将测试一些BCI特定的应用程序，如BCI控制的游戏和机器人界面。在第1阶段结束时，将产生一个BCI，它可以很容易地设置，甚至由外行，自动信号处理和校准工具。该项目的第二阶段将涉及健康受试者的广泛试验，以完善协议，提高鲁棒性，并在第三阶段对残疾参与者进行试验之前彻底验证开发。总之，该两年项目的目标是-生产一种准确快速的BCI系统，可以轻松配置自动化和先进的信号处理工具。- 开发有用的应用程序，并使脑机接口可用于最需要该技术的个人-在至少20名健康和10名残疾人身上彻底评估脑机接口技术，并在较长时间内进行试验，以验证系统的鲁棒性和稳定性。

BCI technology can provide a communication pathway from the brain to the computer which does not rely on neuromuscular control therefore there are many potential beneficiaries of the technology such as those who require an alternative means of communication/control because of neuromuscular deficiencies due to disease, spinal cord injury or brain damage. Being able to offer these people an alternative means of communication through BCI could have a significant impact on their quality of life. There are other applications of BCI, yet to be fully proven and exploited, such as neurofeedback for stroke rehabilitation, the treatment of attention deficit disorder and epileptic seizure prediction, awareness detection for long distance drivers and personalised computing environment adaptation. BCI is also emerging as an augmentative technology in computer games and virtual reality technology and in numerous military applications.Dr. Coyle has been developing BCI technology at the Intelligent Systems Research Centre for the past 6 years and has made substantive progress in developing sophisticated signal processing tools which used to extract the information from a person's brainwaves i.e., their electroencephalogram (EEG) and translate this information into useful control signal for BCI control. To facilitate the advancement of the BCI under development by Dr. Coyle, a strategic partnership with the National Rehabilitation Hospital of Ireland has been agreed to trial BCI-based assistive technology for alternative communication, control and mobility. The research underway is at a stage where extensive clinical trials are required to validate and emphasise the importance of the R&D to date and to develop innovative tools and products for BCI related applications. The NRH is a very suitable institution on the island of Ireland to collaborate with in this endeavour, providing access to and facilitating trials with disabled patients. The NRH is the only in-patient rehabilitation hospital for the treatment of spinal cord injury and head trauma in the Rep. of Ireland and has extensive experience in working with spinal cord injury patients, stroke and head trauma patients and carrying out clinical trials with assistive technologies.With the NRH commitment to facilitating disabled participant trials, Dr. Coyle can focus on BCI technology developments and will be able to thoroughly test these developments in a clinical setting, with the aim of bringing BCI technology into the home. The first phase of the project will involve consolidating and refining Dr. Coyle's research to date in addition to preliminary trials where a number of BCI-specific applications, such as BCI controlled games and robot interfaces, will also be tested. At the end of phase 1 a BCI which can be easily setup, even by a layperson, with automated signal processing and calibration tools will be produced. The second phase of the project will involve extensive trials with healthy subjects to refine protocol, improve robustness and thoroughly validate the development before trials with disabled participants take place in phase 3 In summary, the aims of the two year project are - to produce an accurate and fast BCI system which can be easily configured with automated and advanced signal processing tools. - to develop useful application and make BCI usable and accessible to individuals in most need of the technology- to thoroughly evaluate BCI technology on at least 20 healthy and 10 disabled individuals, with trials carried out over a extended period to verify system robustness and stability.