Individualized dry-EEG system for spaceflight and mobile applications

What if an EEG headset could be put on as easily as a cap, with no gel, no helping hands and no hair wash afterwards, and still tell how hard the brain underneath is working? In the collaborative project ImTEG, the Medical Technology Systems group (SMT) works on exactly this: the artificial intelligence that recognizes the cognitive workload and the intentions of astronauts in real time from the signals of a self-applicable dry-EEG headset. The same technology is also intended for mobile applications on Earth.

Dry electrodes are fast and comfortable, but their signals are noisier than those of gel-based EEG, especially with only a few electrodes and a wearer in motion. SMT is in charge of the system’s intelligence: we develop signal processing methods that filter out this noise and machine learning methods that detect workload and intention online, directly on the device, and we compare the new system with conventional gel-based EEG in evaluation studies. The hardware comes from our partners: TU Ilmenau develops flower-shaped dry electrodes and headsets fitted to the individual head, and eemagine Medical Imaging Solutions