A novel ICA-based hardware system for reconfigurable and portable BCI

Partially or completely paralyzed patients can benefit from Brain Computer Interface (BCI) in which a continuous recording of electroencephalogram (EEG) is required, operating some processing and classification to control a computer or other devices. Patients are so allowed to control external devices or to communicate simple messages through the computer, just concentrating their attention on codified movements or on a letter or icon on a digital keyboard. Using an on-purpose optimized spatial filtering technique in a BCI system, based on the ElectroEncephaloGraphic activity detection, enables to improve its accuracy, due to the explicit separation of the signal activity of interest from non-interesting signals. In this paper, a novel implementation of the spatial filtering ICA algorithm, onto a very performing and flexible hardware platform, is presented. The designed system enables the acquisition and the subsequent ICA elaboration of ElectroEncephaloGraphic signals in realtime, resulting so very effective for BCI applications. The efficiency of the implemented technique has been experimentally demonstrated.