Authors:
Andrea Morici
;
Giorgio Biagetti
and
Claudio Turchetti
Affiliation:
Università Politecnica delle Marche, Italy
Keyword(s):
Wireless sensors, Surface EMG, IEEE 802.15.4, LR-WPAN, AGC, Laplacian distribution.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Biomedical Engineering
;
Biomedical Instruments and Devices
;
Biomedical Sensors
;
Embedded Signal Processing
;
Wireless Systems
Abstract:
In this paper a wireless system for non-invasive surface electromyography (SEMG) is presented. The use of a wireless technology, that substitutes cabled electrodes with a wireless link, allows the number of sensors on the body to be increased without affecting the patient’s freedom of movement. Problems in this setup, that extend from energy consumption minimization, to satisfaction of wireless link operational bandwidth and distance requirements, and from the necessity of embedding hardware in an appreciably small device, to making it not too expensive to final customers, have been deeply analyzed and solved. In this context, low rate wireless personal area networks (LR-WPANs) proved to be a good choice for the realization of low-cost embedded wireless electrodes for electromyography. Following these considerations, a low-cost electromyographical wireless device, based on an off-the-shelf IEEE 802.15.4-compatible RF transceiver, have been designed and realized, and optimized signal
processing algorithms developed to enhance the system accuracy. In particular, due to the wide range of possible amplitudes for the SEMG signal, an optimal automatic gain control, based on a detailed statistical signal analysis, have been developed to reduce the distorsion at the output of the quantizer.
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