Congreso Nacional de Ingeniera Electrnica del Golfo CONAGOLFO 2009

Instituto Tecnolgico de Orizaba

ISBN: 9786070018619 -7 -

Abstract This paper presents the development of a new
Electromyography (EMG) Data Acquisition System capable to
perform Real-Time Embedded Calculus for the estimation of
Force, Frequency and Activation of the muscles. The system
described in this paper is composed of two elements: the
amplifiers sensors and the processing unit based on a DSPic
Microcontroller which performs the analysis and calculus of
the human muscular activity in an embedded processing.
Moreover, different neuromechanical analyses using this novel
device are presented in the experiments section of this paper.
Keywords-component; EMG data acquisition system, DSP
embedded calculus, Multimodal systems, Skills transfer.
I. INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, the bio-signals have been adopted in the research
field like a solution for the analysis of different problems.
These signals can give information about the behavior of the
human body when is performing a certain action.
Unquestionably, the muscles give the most valuable data
regarding to the human motion. Therefore, the acquisition of
different parameters like the force level, fatigue, time
activation and position of the muscles represent an
interesting tool to carry out the control or analysis of
different projects in the field of medicine, rehabilitation,
haptics and sports.
The electromyography signal EMG is a biomedical signal
that measures electrical currents generated in muscles during
their contraction. These signals are complex to acquire and
process, because they are small (0 to 10mV) and highly
susceptible to noise. Normally, a sampling frequency from 2
to 4 KHz should be performed in order to obtain good
parameters in the behavior and spectrum of the signal. [1]
Therefore, a big drawback is the considerable amount of
data that is obtained during the acquisition process of the
raw signal using many sensors. A new embedded system
capable to perform diverse embedded calculus in real time in
order to save computing-time and avoid saturation in the
transmission with the raw signals was designed. The main
objective of this device is to process, calculate and transmit
three important parameters that synthesize the raw data from
muscles: Muscular Time Activation, Force Intensity and
Frequency Analysis.
The application of real-time EMG signals has been an
important research field in the last years. One important
application of real-time EMG is to control exoskeletons for
human motion support, for example, for disabled people,
including rehabilitation training, and for force enhancement
in healthy subjects [2] [3]. Important researchers in the
prosthesis field have developed robots capable to be
controlled through the human muscles activation in real-time
[4][5]. Machine Learning in another field that has
developed algorithms to recognize and interpret the EMG
signals in order to control different robots in real-time and
analyze the data for the identification of diseases in the
people [6] [7].
Figure 1. EMG sensor, b) Design phases of the EMG Data Acquisition
System.
II. DESCRIPTIONOF THE SYSTEM
A. Characteristics of the Signals
The EMG signals in a fiber muscle are stochastic signals.
Normally, they show the intensity of the muscle contraction
and the time of activation.
Frequency is between 0 to 5000Hz, but the
dominant energy is concentrated in the range of 20
to 500Hz
Amplitude is located from 0 to 10mV
Noise Affectation is a common problem.
Real-Time Embedded Calculus Processing Using a Low-Cost EMG Data
Acquisition System
Oscar Sandoval-Gonzalez
1
, Otniel Portillo-Rodriguez
2
, Alejandro Cuellar-Cortes
3
, Emanuele
Ruffaldi
1
, Carlo A. Avizzano
1
and Massimo Bergamasco
1
1
P ERCRO Scuola Superiore SantAnna, Via Martiri 11, Pisa Italy, 56127
2
UAEMex, Cerro de Coatepec s/n, Toluca, Mexico 50100
3
ITO, Avenida Oriente 9, Orizaba, Mexico, 94320
Email: o.sandovalgonzalez@sssup.it
1
, oportillor@uaemex.mx
2
CONAGOLFO 2009
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Figure 2. Single Threshold and Double Threshold
These signals are highly affected by different phenomena
that produce noise in the signal and inaccuracy in the
measurements. Therefore, it must be studied in detail these
effects in order to reduce them in the best possible way [1].
These noisy phenomena are presented by the body fat that
produces delays and decrements in amplitude on the
measurements. Cross-Talking is another noisy phenomenon
presented due to the motion of different muscles at the same
time. The Fatigue in the muscles is another cause related to
the variation of the measurements. Another problem is that
the muscles have different behavior according to the age of
the people. Moreover the size of the muscle and the level of
muscular tone produce variations. The mechanical noise
produced by the motion of the sensor cables generates
mechanical vibrations, principally located in the range of
first 20Hz.
B. Muscle activity detection
The estimation of onoff timing of human skeletal muscles
during movement has important clinical applications. There
are different techniques referred to as single-threshold
methods are based on the comparison of the rectified raw
signals and an amplitude threshold whose value depends on
the mean power of the background noise. And the double
threshold method is based on the level of noise and the time
of activation. Therefore, the second method was chosen by
the accuracy and efficiency [8]. Figure 2. shows the
difference between the single threshold and the double
threshold.
The clean signal obtained from the filtering process is
rectified enveloped using a Butterworth lowpass filter of the
fourth-order whose cutoff frequency was set at 10 Hz, and
phase compensation was used.
After the detection process, events identified and separated
by a temporal distance smaller than 125 ms are considered
as belonging to the same contraction and merged. This value
(125 ms) corresponds to a global muscular firing rate of
eight pulses per second (pps), which is arbitrarily assumed
as the lowest effective muscle activity.
The time activation detection process is performed. The
events identified and separated by a temporal distance
smaller than 125 ms are considered as belonging to the same
contraction and merged.
C. Overview of the System
This EMG system consists of two modules: The signal
amplifier sensors and the Digital Signal Processing System.
On one hand, the sensors attached to the muscles of the
human being, use in the first phase of amplification an
instrumentation amplifier INA121 (specially designed for
the use in biomedical signals) that amplifies the signal 500
times the difference in voltage of two EMG electrodes
(Ag/AgCl) (Placed on the skin at 2.5cm of distance between
them with a gel-skin contact area of 1cm
2
for each
electrode). An passive 1
st
order high-pass filter (50-500Hz)
eliminates the noise at low and high frequencies and
performs a second amplification that can be chosen by the
user varying from 1 to 5 times. The signal passes to an ADC
AD7683 16-bits resolution and finally the 2 bytes of
information at 4 KHz sampling rate are sent to the Digital
Signal Processing System via SPI protocol.
D. Electrodes and extensions
An EMG amplifier is designed to be used with a skin surface
electrode. This type of electrode is defined as a bipolar
electrode. The surface electrodes are not expensive. The
problem with skins surface electrodes is that they create
sometimes an unstable contact.
An unstable contact causes potential motions artifacts. Until
now, it has been performed several test using different
Ag/AgCl EMG electrodes for Bio-medical company [9]. The
sensors that have been used are the GS27.
Figure 3. a) Instrumentation Amplifier, b) band-pass filter, c) selectable
amplifier, d) voltage divider, e) offset circuit ( add/substraction Opamp).
E. Instrumentation Amplifier
The amplitude of the EMG signal is between 0 to 10
millivolts (peak-to-peak), or 0 to 1.5 millivolts (rms). At this
state, it is necessary to amplify the signal one hundred times
to boost the EMG signal without changing phase or
frequency. This preamplifier uses a typical differential
amplifier circuit, which contains two inputs. The differential
CONAGOLFO 2009
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amplifier circuit subtracts two inputs and amplifies the
difference.
To get the right level of the input signal, we need a body
reference circuit which works as a feedback from the inputs.
Whenever the body temperature changes or signal changes
due to noise introduced by the body, this body reference will
help maintain the correct level of signal.
It was performed a noise analysis of three different
instrumentation amplifiers in order to identify the level of
noise of each one of IC using the EMG electrodes. Table 2
shows the average noise performed in four tests.
Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4
INA114 14.2 mV 14.73 mV 16.32 mV 14.23 mV
INA121 5.32 mV 6.12 mV 5.67 mV 4.89mV
AMP04 20.3 mV 19.98 mV 18.78 mV 19.36 mV
According to the tests, the best result was obtained by the
INA121, this IC achieved an average noise around 5.505 mV
in a gain of 100. The INA121 is a FET-input, low power
instrumentation amplifier offering excellent accuracy. In
Figure 3. (A) is shown the Instrumentation amplifier circuit
used in the sensor. Equation (1) shows the gain of the
system.
0 = 1 +
50ku
500u
= 1u1
Figure 4. Noise Level, Green line-INA121, Blue Line INA114, Red
Line AMP04
F. Band-Pass Filter
The second step in the signal conditioning is to filter the
signal using simple RC high/low pass filters creating a
bandpass filter in the range of 15 to 5000Hz. After this it is
performed the last amplification process with a Gain
Adjustment. Figure 3. B shows the Band-Pass filter.
FEc =
1
2n - 68uu - 47nF
= SKEz
FIc =
1
2n - 1uuku - 1uunF
= 1SEz
G. Offset Circuit
According to the characteristics of the ADC (unipolar), it is
necessary to send a signal with positive voltages, for this
reason it is was implemented a add/substraction Opamp
configuration in order to generate an offset and move the
signal to the positives values.
H. ADC 16 bit resolution
Because loss of data can produce significant changes for the
pattern recognition and analysis process, it is important to
have an efficient device of 16 bit resolution for the Analog
to Digital conversion process. Another important
consideration in order to avoid the noise in this part of
process is to place the ADC as near as possible from the
electrodes and send the signal in a serial way. It was selected
the AD7683 is a 16-bit, charge redistribution, successive
approximation, PulSAR analog-to-digital converter (ADC)
that operates from a single power supply, VDD, between 2.7
V and 5.5 V. It contains a low power, high speed, 16-bit
sampling ADC with no missing codes, an internal
conversion clock, and a serial, SPI-compatible interface port.
Figure 5. Electrodes-Instrumentation Amplifier-BandPass Filter & ADC
configuration
I. DSP-PC Communication
It will be used a SPI protocol in order to transmit the
information from the ADC to the DSP Microcontroller. The
information can be managed in different ways. In this case is
presented two examples using a Bluetooth wireless
technology and a common USB connection.
Figure 6. Bluetooth & USB Comunication
J. Embedded Calculus
The Digital Signal Processing System is controlled by a
Microchip DSPic30F4012 device which performs three
important routines: a) Voltage reference and noise level
detection, b) Static Calibration (correlation EMG - Force), c)
ADC
Filter
Amplifier
Rx/Tx
ADC
Filter
Amplifier
Rx/Tx
ADC
Filter
Amplifier
Rx/Tx
ADC
Filter
Amplifier
Rx/Tx
CONAGOLFO 2009
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Double Threshold Methodology in Real-Time. The detection
of discrete events in the EMG is an important parameter in
the analysis of the motor system. Therefore, it is essential to
apply special methodologies for the correct retrieval of
information due to the stochastic and noisy characteristics of
the EMG signals. The estimation of on-off timing of human
skeletal muscles plays an important role in the EMG
analysis. There are different techniques referred to as
single-threshold methods which are based on the
comparison of the rectified raw signals and an amplitude
threshold whose value depends on the mean power of the
background noise. However, this methodology is not
efficient because it does not take into consideration
involuntary contraction of the muscles that normally
happens in short time lapses of 30msec. Therefore a
double-threshold method is applied in order to verify the
level of noise and the period of time of activation of the
contraction.
Figure 7. Butterworth Digital Filter Scheme
The Digital Signal Processing System has the objective of
acquiring the signals from the sensors at 4KHz. The signals
are full-wave rectified and then enveloped using a Digital
fourth-order Butterworth low pass filter with a cut off
frequency of 10Hz. The time activation detection process is
carried out using a sliding window of 50msec which
performs the analysis of the whole signal in order to detect
events of signals smaller than 30msec which are considered
to be part of individual MUAP (Motor Unit Action
Potential) contraction or a noise introduced in the signal.
Figure 8. Magnitude and Phase response of the 4
th
order Digital
Butterworth filter.
This algorithm scans the noise levels of the sensors when the
muscles are in repose. The maximum, minimum, average
values and the noise band are obtained.
Figure 9. Computing the maximum, minimum and average values and the
noise band
K. Calibration Process
In this algorithm, the user applies a MVC (Muscular
Voluntary Contraction). The algorithm transforms the signal
to absolute values. It is performed a windows analysis of
50ms. It was applied a stage of integration. The activation
time and the force levels are obtained.
Figure 10. Computing the ABS values and the Integration of the signal
Finally, the real-time analysis consists into proccess the
information in a window sampling of 50ms. The time
activation, the force estimation and frequency analysis of
each window sampling are obtained in real time.
Figure 11. Computing the Activation Time, Force Estimation and
Frequency Analysis
L. Calibration and Relationship between EMG and Force
Since the EMG signals have specific features for each
person, the EMG activity requires to be calibrated in order to
correlate it with a corresponding force level. A static
calibration was carried out through MVC (Maximum
Voluntary Contraction) of each user. The static calibration
routines are normally performed making a person lift a
determined weight in a determined position depending on
the muscle to study. In this experiment the most
representative muscles for boxing movements are the biceps
and the triceps. Therefore the user must perform two gym
exercises for calibration.
For the bicep calibration the movement is called Curl
where the user holds a dumbbell (2 Kg) in a hand with arms
hanging down and the palms of the hands facing the body:
the user bends the elbow rotating the palm up before the
forearm reaches an horizontal position. For the triceps
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brachii the user performs a movement called One-arm
dumbbell triceps extension when the user grips the
dumbbell (2 Kg) in one hand with the arm vertical then
bends the elbow to lower the dumbbell behind the head to
the neck and return to the initial position. Digital Signal
Processing System obtains the EMG intensity values during
these exercises and performs the correlation between the
force to lift a 2 Kg weight and EMG intensity.
M. PCB Layout
The PCB layout of the EMG sensors was designed using two
layers with a dimension of 2.5cm x 2.5cm. The frontal face
contains all the analog circuits and the back face contains the
ADC. The digital and analog grounds were separated to
avoid noise.
Figure 12. PCB Layout of the EMG sensors, A) Frontal and Back Tracks,
B) 3D representation.
III. EXPERIMENTS
This section presents the experiments of 4 projects where
were used the EMG data acquisition system to perform a
neuromechanical analysis for the application and study in
rehabilitation (Human Walking and Upper-Limb
rehabilitation systems) and sports fields (Boxing and
Rowing).
A. Walking Analysis
Biped locomotion constitutes a complex interdisciplinary
problem, which has attracted lot of attention over the last
two decades in several research areas, such as robotics,
mechatronics, biomechanics, neurosciences, bioelectronics,
applied nonlinear control, virtual reality, who have
contributed with basic understanding on this subject. [10]
Figure 13. EMG analysis of the Human Walking Gait
The neuromechanical analysis was performed using the
VICON signals mapped properly from 3D space into 2D
space sagittal plane. Preliminary EMG magnitude and its
time activation analysis for estimating the applied force in
each limb is also realized. Figure 13. Shows the EMG
activity of four different muscles of the legs during the
walking gait. These muscles are the Triceps Surae,
Hamstring, Quadriceps and Tibialis Flexor.
B. Upper-Limb Rehabilitation using Exoskeletons
FixedBase Exoskeleton applications have increased rapidly
in the last few years, evidently as part of promising
rehabilitation robotic programs of the robotics worldwide
community, where in particular HumanRobot Interaction
(HRI) plays an important role in its design and control
because they are tightly coupled to humanlimbs.
Figure 14. shows a preliminary experimental results that
provide further insight of a haptic guidance scheme taking
into account decisive factors into the HRI such as human
pose, haptic guidance control, reaching and tracking tasks,
the complexity of the virtual environment, and muscles
activity. [11]
Figure 14. EMG analysis manipulating a upper limb exoskeleton
C. Boxing Analysis
A recent trend in virtual environments aims at making the
user free of devices or limitations in its motion, at the benefit
of immersiveness and interactivity. This work introduces an
interaction paradigm that goes beyond motion based
interaction, by making use of measured real forces exerted
by the user in free space. The sensation of touch with virtual
object is obtained by vibrotactile stimulation combining
virtual contact information with measured forces.
We improved this paradigm augmenting the vibrational
feedback with EMG signals sensor assessing a precise
estimation of the exerted force. EMG sensors can exactly
detect the force applied during the interaction with the
CONAGOLFO 2009
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virtual world from the activation signals produced by the
users muscles. [12]
Figure 15. Neuromechanical analysis of different boxing movements
D. Rowing Neuromechanical Analysis
A brief experiment was performed to test the EMG data
acquisition system. Four sensors were located in 4 muscles
(Biceps, Triceps, Tibialis and Quadricep). The DSPIC
performs a 2Khz sampling of each sensor and compute the
estimation of force and the activation of the muscles. Figure
16. the four processes performed by the DSPic. The yellow
line show the raw-signal, the pink line shows the absolute
value of the signal. The blue line shows the low-pass filter
to envelope the signal and finally the red line shows the
activation time of the muscle [13][14].
Figure 16. Neuromechanical Analysis of different muscles obtained during
a rowing session.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
This paper presented a novel low-cost EMG data acquisition
system which compute embedded calculus in real-time. This
embedded calculus processing offers the possibility to create
neuromechanical analysis and use the force of the muscles
like an important variable to control process applied in
robotics, virtual environments and rehabilitation in real-time.
Different applications in these fields mentioned before were
presented and show the potentiality of this device.
V. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work has been carried out within the context of the EU
Integrated Project SKILLS that deals with the use of
Multimodal system for the capture model and rendering of
data signals for the transfer of skills in different application
fields. The authors would like to acknowledge the European
Commission for sponsoring this research inside the project
SKILLS-IP. More information about the IP-SKILLS project
may be found at http://www.skills-ip.eu or by contacting the
authors.
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