Tutorials
The role of the tutorials is to provide a platform for a more intensive scientific exchange amongst researchers interested in a particular topic and as a meeting point for the community. Tutorials complement the depth-oriented technical sessions by providing participants with broad overviews of emerging fields. A tutorial can be scheduled for 1.5 or 3 hours.
Physiological Computing with BITalino
Instructor
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Hugo Plácido da Silva
IT- Instituto de Telecomunicações
Portugal
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Brief Bio
PhD in Electrical and Computers Engineering from the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) - University of Lisbon (UL), Hugo is a researcher at the IT - Instituto de Telecomunicações since 2004, and an Invited Auxiliary Professor at IST/UL since 2019. He is also an entrepreneur, having co-founded and contributing to the foundation of multiple innovative technology-based companies operating in the field of medical devices for healthcare and quality of life. More recently, Hugo has been actively working towards making the world a bit more physiological, through BITalino, an open source software and low-cost hardware toolkit for rapid prototyping and development of biomedical application. His main interests include biosignal research, system engineering, signal processing, and machine learning, and in these topics Hugo has participated and actively contributed to 30+ R&D projects funded by national and internacional agencies. His work has been distinguished with several academic and technical awards, examples of which include the “alumniIPS” career award in 2018 and the 1st place at the Ordem dos Engenheiros Young Engineer Innovation Award in 2015, or the “Most Innovative Technology” award at the MIT Portugal E3 Forum in 2013. Hugo is an ACM Senior Member, an IEEE Senior Member, and a officer-elect of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Portugal Chapter.
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Abstract
Physiological data has had a transforming role on multiple aspects of society, which goes beyond the health sciences domains to which they were traditionally associated with. While biomedical engineering is a classical discipline where the topic is amply covered, today physiological data is a matter of interest for students, researchers and hobbyists in areas ranging from arts, programming, engineering, among others. Regardless of the context, the use physiological in experimental activities and practical projects is heavily bounded by the cost and limited access to adequate support materials.
In this tutorial we will focus on BITalino, a versatile toolkit composed of low-cost hardware and software, and created to enable anyone to create cool projects and applications involving physiological data. The hardware consists of a modular wireless biosignal acquisition system that can be used to acquire data in real time, interface with other devices (e.g. Arduino or Raspberry PI), or perform rapid prototyping of end-user applications. The software comprehends a set of programming APIs, a biosignal processing toolbox, and a framework for real time data acquisition and post processing.
PART I - A Primer on Physiological Computing
* Commonly used biosignals
* Underlying physiological principles
* What information can be extracted from each biosignal
* Examples of different biosignal-based applications
* Biosignal instrumentation and measurement
* Experimental procedures and recommendations (e.g. noise sources, grounding)
PART II - Anatomy of a BITalino
* Detailed description of the BITalino Board (e.g. operating voltage, maintenance)
* Presentation of the SignalBIT software and its functionalities
* Detailed description of the BITalino Plugged (e.g. wiring scheme, how to connect own sensor design)
* Detailed description of the BITalino Freestyle (e.g. pinout of each board, how to build own integrated system)
HANDS-ON: Get to know your own BITalino
* Experiment with the different sensors
PART III - Interfacing with BITalino
* Presentation of the SignalBIT MVC framework
* Overview of the WebSockets protocol
* Detailed description of the presentation layer
* Detailed description of the model layer
* BITalino programming APIs (Python version)
* BITalino & Embedded Systems (low-level commands, modes and overall communication protocol)
PART IV - BITalinos in the Wild / Example Applications
* FlowerBIT
* LockBIT
* HeartBIT
* Tilt-based scroll controller
HANDS-ON: Create your own BITalino application
* Toy problem / project for raw data acquisition using software and hardware components
Part V - Signals and Systems
* Definition of a signal
* Analog & digital signals
* Periodic & aperiodic signals
* Sampling
* Resolution
* Definition of a system
PART VI - Biosignal processing
* Time domain analysis (e.g. time & amplitude measurements)
* Normalization
* Rectification
* Spectral analysis
* Filtering
* Smoothing
* Statistical analysis (e.g. histogram, statistical moments, etc)
* Useful operations (e.g. offset removal, derivative, onset detection, peak detection, …)
* Source synchronization
HANDS-ON: Process your data
* Toy problems involving biosignal processing (e.g. EMG trigger, heart rate monitor, …)