Low-Cost, Wireless Bioelectric Signal Acquisition and Classification Platform

Abstract

Bioelectric signal classification is a flourishing area of biomedical research, however conducting this research in a clinical setting can be difficult to achieve. The lack of inexpensive acquisition hardware can limit researchers from collecting and working with real-time data. Furthermore, hardware requiring direct connection to a computer can impose restrictions on typically mobile clinical settings for data collection. Here, we present an open-source ADS1299-based bioelectric signal acquisition system with wireless capability suitable for mobile data collection in clinical settings. This system is based on the ADS_BP and BioPatRec, both open-source bioelectric signal acquisition hardware and MATLAB-based pattern recognition software, respectively. We provide 3D-printable housing enabling the hardware to be worn by users during experiments and demonstrate the suitability of this platform for real-time signal acquisition and classification. In conjunction, these developments provide a unified hardware-software platform for a cost of around 150 USD. This device can enable researchers and clinicians to record bioelectric signals from non-disabled or motor-impaired individuals in laboratory or clinical settings, and to perform offline or real-time intent classification for the control of robotic and virtual devices.