A flexible analytic wavelet transform based approach for motor-imagery tasks classification in BCI applications

Abstract

Background and Objective: Motor Imagery (MI) based Brain-Computer-Interface (BCI) is a rising support system that can assist disabled people to communicate with the real world, without any external help. It serves as an alternative communication channel between the user and computer. Electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings prove to be an appropriate choice for imaging MI tasks in a BCI system as it provides a non-invasive way for completing the task. The reliability of a BCI system confides on the efficiency of the assessment of different MI tasks.Methods: The present work proposes a new approach for the classification of distinct MI tasks based on EEG signals using the flexible analytic wavelet transform (FAWT) technique. The FAWT decomposes the EEG signal into sub-bands and temporal moment-based features are extracted from the sub-bands. Feature normalization is applied to minimize the bias nature of classifier. The FAWT-based features are utilized as inputs to multiple classifiers. Ensemble learning method based Subspace k-Nearest Neighbour (kNN) classifier is established as the best and robust classifier for the distinction of the right hand (RH) and right foot (RF) MI tasks.Results: The sub-band (SB) wise features are tested on multiple classifiers and best performance parameters are obtained using the ensemble method based subspace kNN classifier. The best results of parameters are obtained for fourth SB as accuracy 99.33%, sensitivity 99%, specificity 99.6%, F1-Score 0.9925, and kappa value 0.9865. The other sub-bands are also attained significant results using subspace KNN classifier.Conclusions: The proposed work explores the utility of FAWT based features for the classification of RH and RF MI tasks EEG signals. The suggested work highlights the effectiveness of multiple classifiers for classification MI-tasks. The proposed method shows better performance in comparison to state-of-arts methods. Thus, the potential to implement a BCI system for controlling wheelchairs, robotic arms, etc.