A real time data acquisition and signal processing unit for biomedical applications

A data acquisition and signal-processing system for real-time bioelectrical signal recording and analysis is described. The hardware is designed to accommodate a variety of bioelectric signals: EKG, EMG, EEG, action potentials, movement, and respiration. The flexibility of the unit is achieved by software control of amplifier gain, bandpass filter bandwidth, and sampling conditions. The user downloads a customized data-acquisition program, generated on the host microcomputer, by one of three available interfaces (serial, parallel, or DMA). The unit provides analog signal conditioning, digitization, and processing of the signal(s) according to user requirements. Acquisition and feature extraction strategies can be adjusted online by the investigator or can be programmed to respond automatically to changes in the input signals. An onboard digital signal-processing chip allows the use of various fast algorithms for real-time frequency-domain analysis. Only extracted data are uploaded to the host for future analysis and graphical display.<>