Project Grant 60NANB23D259

PURPOSE: A BRAIN COMPUTER INTERFACE (BCI) IS A SYSTEM THAT ESTABLISHES A DIRECT COMMUNICATION CHANNEL BETWEEN THE HUMAN OR ANIMAL BRAIN AND A COMPUTER OR AN EXTERNAL DEVICE. THIS IS A MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AREA THAT HAS DRAWN CONSIDERABLE ATTENTION IN RECENT YEARS DUE TO ITS ATTRACTIVE AND TRANSFORMATIVE APPLICATIONS ACROSS MANY VERTICALS INCLUDING THE INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT) FOR HEALTH. A BCI TYPICALLY MEASURES NEURAL ACTIVITY THROUGH SENSORS PLACED INSIDE THE BRAIN (INVASIVE OR IMPLANTED TECHNOLOGIES) OR EXTERNAL SENSORS (NON-INVASIVE TECHNOLOGIES). WHILE THE PROCESS OF TRANSFERRING BRAIN INFORMATION IS TYPICALLY THROUGH WIRED CONNECTIONS, EASE-OF-USE FOR EXTENDED OR LONG-TERM RECORDINGS OF BRAIN SIGNALS HAS INITIATED INTEREST IN WIRELESS DATA COMMUNICATION. APPLICATION OF WIRELESS INTERFACES FOR SIGNAL ACQUISITION NOT ONLY ENHANCES THE USABILITY OF THE SYSTEM BY ALLEVIATING THE OBSTRUCTIVE WIRED CONNECTIONS, BUT ALSO FACILITATES THE DEVELOPMENT OF PLATFORMS THAT FURTHER INTEGRATE THE BRAIN WITH OTHER PHYSIOLOGICAL SIGNALS. ACCURATE SIGNAL CHARACTERIZATION, RADIO FREQUENCY PROPAGATION STUDY AND CHANNEL MODELING WILL BE ESSENTIAL TO DETERMINE THE BEST WIRELESS TRANSMISSION TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE DESIRED BCI APPLICATIONS. A CRITICAL COMPONENT IN A BCI COMMUNICATION LINK IS THE IMPLANTABLE ANTENNA WHICH IS TYPICALLY PLACED INSIDE THE HUMAN SKULL. DUE TO VARIOUS PHYSIOLOGICAL CONSTRAINTS, THE DESIGN OF SUCH ANTENNAS IS QUITE CHALLENGING AND REQUIRES SPECIAL EXPERTISE. AS THE HUMAN BODY TISSUES HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THE ANTENNA PERFORMANCE, JUDICIOUS ANTENNA DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION WOULD BE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT IN A WIRELESS BCI.ACTIVITIES TO BE PERFORMED: THE PROJECT WILL TAKE PLACE AT THE BOUNTENNA LABORATORY OF BOGAZICI UNIVERSITY IN TURKEY. THE FOLLOWING ACTIVITIES WILL BE PERFORMED: 1) DESIGN AN IMPLANT ANTENNA FOR BRAIN COMPUTER INTERFACE OPERATING IN THE ULTRA-WIDEBAND FREQUENCY RANGE. THE ANTENNA IS AIMED TO ACHIEVE BOTH LARGE BANDWIDTH AND HIGH RADIATION PERFORMANCE.2) ANTENNA OPTIMIZATION METHOD BY USING A A) ONE-LAYER NUMERICAL SKULL PHANTOM, B) MULTI-LAYER PHANTOM MODEL CONSISTING OF HUMAN AVERAGE, SKULL, AND BRAIN AVERAGE PHANTOMS, C) REALISTIC HUMAN HEAD SIMULATION WITH 2 MM RESOLUTION OBTAINED FROM THE ANSYS HUMAN BODY LIBRARY.3) ANTENNA PROTOTYPE: THE ANTENNA WILL BE FABRICATED ON A 3D-PRINTED SUBSTRATE.4) TEST AND VERIFICATION OF THE ANTENNA USING (A) LIQUID, (B) GEL, AND (C) FLEXI SOLID PHANTOMS.EXPECTED OUTCOMES: AN ANSYS HFSS-BASED MODEL OF A SUBCUTANEOUS ANTENNA FOR BRAIN COMPUTER INTERFACE OPERATING WITH THE UNLICENSED ULTRA-WIDEBAND FREQUENCY SPECTRUM AS WELL AS ITS PROTOTYPE WILL BE AVAILABLE AS THE RESULT OF THIS PROJECT. THE RESULTS OF THIS RESEARCH WILL BE PUBLISHED IN PEER-REVIEWED CONFERENCES AND JOURNALS. THEREFORE, OTHER RESEARCHERS AND GENERAL SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY IN THIS AREA WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO BENEFIT FROM THE FINDINGS OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH.INTENDED BENEFICIARIES: THE OUTCOME OF THIS PROPOSAL WILL PROVIDE A CUSTOM-DESIGNED SUBCUTANEOUS ANTENNA FOR BRAIN COMPUTER INTERFACE (BCI) APPLICATIONS. THESE TYPES OF ANTENNAS COMPLEMENT THE RESEARCH TAKING PLACE UNDER THE IOT-HEALTH PROGRAM AT NIST AND ENABLES ITL SCIENTISTS TO STUDY WIRELESS SIGNAL PROPAGATION AND CHANNEL CHARACTERIZATION IN BCI USING THE ENHANCED COMPUTATIONAL BODY MODEL AT ITL. IN THE LONG RUN, THIS RESEARCH WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY WHO ARE WORKING ON THE EFFICIENT IMPLEMENTATION OF A WIRELESS BCI COMMUNICATION LINK; AND THEREFORE, ENABLING VARIOUS INNOVATIVE APPLICATIONS IN THE FUTURE.SUBRECIPIENT ACTIVITIES: THERE ARE NO PLANNED SUBAWARDS.