SBIR Phase I: Developing the Standalone Tongue Drive System

该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力集中在为美国数十万因脊髓损伤或其他衰弱的神经退行性疾病(如肌萎缩侧索硬化症)而遭受严重肢体残疾的人带来增强的独立性、生产力和生活质量。由于急诊医学的进步和社会平均年龄的增加，这些人代表着越来越多的人口，而目前的辅助技术(AT)没有为他们提供足够的服务。被依赖来执行基本任务的ATS仍然是原始的，提供的功能有限，不能满足最终用户的需求。与此同时，计算机和互联网在日常生活中发挥着越来越大的作用，被视为让所有人都有类似的职业、娱乐和教育机会的均衡器。舌头驱动系统(TDS)为严重肢体残疾人士提供了访问基于计算机的资源的直观和优越的机制？轮椅、智能手机、计算机、智能家居等。TDS利用舌头的力量来驱动人机界面，尽管这些人失去了其他身体功能，但舌头往往保持着全部能力。TDS有可能给目前的美国AT市场带来革命性的变化，其主要市场部分的总体预期市场规模为10亿美元。这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目旨在为无线和可穿戴舌头驱动系统(TDS)建立一个新的架构，以解决现有的商业化障碍。虽然功能强大，但目前的研究级TDS原型基于一种次优的架构，依赖于多个设备来处理和传递用户命令，从而为可靠性、性能和安全问题打开了大门。目前的系统-S依赖于场外处理，常用的2.4千兆赫频段，以及使用多个无线链路进行命令传输，导致实现缓慢，对丢包和干扰很敏感。在安全关键的操作模式中，例如驾驶电动轮椅，这些风险来源和性能降级是不可接受的。这项拟议的研究将在一款独立的TDS耳机中整合关键的TDS功能，该耳机可以与任何具有直接无线链路的目标外围设备对接。硬件重新设计将包括一个强大的微控制器，用于安装传感器、数据采集和信号处理算法。双无线电芯片组将被纳入，以保持与使用2.4 GHz无线电的商业设备的互操作性，同时还支持用于安全关键操作的较少使用的频段。这项研究的结果将是一个适用于安全关键部署的强大的AT。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project centers on bringing enhanced independence, productivity, and quality of life for hundreds of thousands of individuals in the US who suffer severe physical disability due to spinal cord injury or other debilitating neurodegenerative disorders, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Due to improvements in emergency medicine and increasing average age in the society, these individuals represent a growing population that is underserved by current assistive technologies (ATs). The ATs being relied upon to carry out basic tasks are still primitive, offer limited versatility, and fail to meet end-user needs. Meanwhile, computers and internet play ever-growing roles in everyday life and are regarded as equalizers that allow all individuals to have similar vocational, recreational, and educational opportunities. The Tongue Drive System (TDS) offers individuals with severe physical disabilities an intuitive and superior mechanism for accessing computer based resources ? wheelchairs, smartphones, computers, smart homes, etc. TDS harnesses the power of the tongue, which often retains full capability in these individuals despite losses of other body functions, to drive human-computer interfaces. TDS has the potential to revolutionize the current US AT market with an overall anticipated market size of $1B within its primary market segment. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project aims to establish a new architecture for a wireless and wearable tongue drive system (TDS) to address existing barriers to commercialization. While functional, the current research-grade TDS prototype is based upon a sub-optimal architecture relying on multiple devices to process and deliver user commands, opening the door to reliability, performance, and safety issues. The current system?s reliance on off-board processing, the commonly used 2.4 GHz band, and the use of multiple wireless links for command transmission result in a slow implementation that is sensitive to packet loss and interference. In safety critical modes of operation, such as steering a powered wheelchair, these sources of risk and performance degradation are unacceptable. The proposed research will consolidate key TDS functions within a standalone TDS headset that can interface with any target peripheral with a direct wireless link. Hardware redesigns will include a powerful microcontroller to onboard sensor data acquisition and signal processing algorithms. Dual radio chipsets will be incorporated to maintain interoperability with commercial devices using 2.4 GHz radios, while also supporting less utilized frequency bands for safety critical operations. The result of this research will be a robust AT suitable for safely critical deployments.