ON/OFF sEMG Switch for FES Activation

• Published in: 2019 16th International Conference on Electrical Engineering, Computing Science and Automatic Control (CCE) pp. 1 - 5
• Main Authors: Toledo Peral, Cinthya L., Nava, Gerardo Hernandez, Melja Licona, Jose Antonio, Mercado Gutierrez, Jorge Airy, Aguirre Guemez, Ana Valeria, Fresnedo, Jimena Quinzanos, Hernandez, Arturo Vera, Salas, Lorenzo Leija, Martinez, Josefina Gutierrez
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.09.2019
• Subjects: Discrete wavelet transforms; Electrodes; Iron; Medical treatment; Muscles; neuroprosthesis; online activation; sEMG control; Switches; threshold switch; wavelet analysis
• ISSN: 2642-3766
• DOI: 10.1109/ICEEE.2019.8884497

Surface electromyography (sEMG) is the electrical representation of muscle activity. In the case of patients with central nervous system damage, sEMG signals can be used as a control signal to start therapies at patient demand. This is achieved by means of processing such signals using different families of wavelets to clear the signal from baseline sifts and noise, and to find muscle activity/no-activity regions. A one channel ON/OFF switch control is designed, where a threshold is calculated automatically based on a training protocol that consists of 3 muscle contractions and 3 rests. With this data, the threshold is set and as long as the contraction amplitude surpasses it, a simulation for functional electrical stimulation (FES) is activated. Each processing window (200 samples) is compared to the previous one before declaring the switch at ON position, to avoid misfires. The proposed algorithm allows any user to voluntarily activate FES therapy on demand, and rest as necessary; possibly assisting in the regeneration of sensorimotor paths due to neuroplasticity if established as rehabilitation therapy.