A first iteration of this project produced a prototype with a Gecko Microcontroller as the processing unit on a single PCB with an INTAN neural recording front-end and ADC chip. The system worked in principle but did not achieve necessary performance goals: Most importantly the microcontroller produced too much noise for the highly sensitive INTAN chip. Thus, for a next iteration of the device we envision that the digital processing might happen on a seperate PCB that the mouse carries on a back pack, while only the INTAN chip resides on the head stage. Furthermore the digital processing might happen on an FPGA that is able to communicate by LVDS with the INTAN chip. This is a diogital communication protocol with less voltage swing, i.e. moving less charge than the previously used SPI protocol and will further improve the noise performance.
2nd Generation Portable Neural Recorder
This is a project in collaboration with the Hafting-Fyhn group at the institute for biological sciences (IBV) at the biology department. The goal is to construct a neural recording device that records neural signals from a rat for several hours form brain electrodes onto a memory card. The system needs to be compact and light enough to be carried by the animal.
Publisert 3. okt. 2016 10:46