Efficient MAC Protocols for Brain Computer Interface Applications

Abstract

Brain computer interface (BCI) systems permit individuals with motor disorders to utilize their thoughts as a mean to control external devices. BCI is a promising interdisciplinary field that gained the attention of many researchers. Yet, the development of BCI systems is facing several challenges, such as network lifetime. The Medium Access Control (MAC) Protocol is the bottle- neck of network reliability. There are many MAC protocols that can be utilized for dependable transmission in BCI applications by altering their control parameters. However, modifying these parameters is another source of concern due to the scarcity in knowledge about the effect of modification. Also, there is still no instrument that can receive and actualize these parameters on transmitters embedded inside the cerebrum. In this paper, we propose two novel MAC protocols using passive UHF-RFID, the proposed protocols provide efficient and reliable communication between the transmitters and the receiver. The UHF-RFID transmitters were used because they are energy efficient which makes them compatible with BCI application. The first protocol is designed for the EEG signals. While the second protocol was designed for the ECoG signals. The evaluation results showed the validity of the proposed protocols in terms of network performance. The results also proved that the protocols are suitable and reliable for designing efficient BCI applications.