Implementing an FPGA system for real-time intent recognition for prosthetic legs

• Published in: DAC Design Automation Conference 2012 pp. 169 - 175
• Main Authors: Zhang, Xiaorong, Huang, He, Yang, Qing
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY, USA ACM 03.06.2012; IEEE
• Series: ACM Conferences
• Subjects: Algorithm design and analysis; Computer systems organization > Embedded and cyber-physical systems; Computer systems organization > Real-time systems; Electromyography; embedded system; Feature extraction; Field programmable gate arrays; field-programmable gate array (FPGA); Legged locomotion; Neural-machine interface; prosthetic leg; Real time systems; Training; embedded system; prosthetic leg; neural-machine interface; field-programmable gate array (FPGA)
• ISBN: 1450311997; 9781450311991
• ISSN: 0738-100X
• DOI: 10.1145/2228360.2228394

This paper presents the design and implementation of a cyber physical system (CPS) for neural-machine interface (NMI) that continuously senses signals from a human neuromuscular control system and recognizes the user's intended locomotion modes in real-time. The CPS contains two major parts: a microcontroller unit (MCU) for sensing and buffering input signals and an FPGA device as the computing engine for fast decoding and recognition of neural signals. The real-time experiments on a human subject demonstrated its real-time, self-contained, and high accuracy in identifying three major lower limb movement tasks (level-ground walking, stair ascent, and standing), paving the way for truly neural-controlled prosthetic legs.