2005 IRISH SCIENTIST YEAR BOOK

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National University of Ireland, Maynooth
John Ringwood, Tom�s Ward & Ronan Farrell
Faculty of Engineering

The Optical Brain Computer Interface as developed by PhD student Shirley Coyle at NUI Maynooth

Since its inception in 2000, the Department of Electronic Engineering has worked steadily to develop its research effort and a measure of the success achieved is evidenced by the current scale of research activity. Over the past year, department staff secured over �2m in research funding over a number of projects ranging from biomedical engineering to microelectronics, with an associated increase in postgraduate student numbers to over 30, along with the addition of a number of full-time researchers. Funding sources include SFI, EU, Wellcome Trust, Enterprise Ireland and industrial sources. The topics below are indicative of current research activity within the faculty.


Optical Brain Computer Interfacing

The National University of Ireland, Maynooth is a world leader in developing optical brain computer interfacing technologies. Such devices allow users interact with a computer and hence their external environment through internal thought processes alone. Clearly such systems offer substantial benefit to people with severe disability as they can provide augmentative communication possibilities.

While brain computer interfaces (BCI) already exist they almost universally rely on electrical measurements of brain activity (termed an electroencephalogram or EEG) as recorded through electrodes applied on the scalp.

These EEG-based systems are difficult for users to master and consequently are rarely used outside research laboratories. The BCI developed at NUI Maynooth uses near infrared light to directly image the brain at work, detecting colour changes associated with different thought patterns and translating these into control signals.


Wireless Systems Research

The Electronic Systems Research Group in the Department of Electronic Engineering has grown from strength to strength, and in 2004 became a partner to Bell Labs in the SFI-funded Centre for Telecommunications Value-Chain Driven Research. The role of the group at Maynooth is to focus on the development of the next generation of hardware components for reconfigurable radios and mobile communication networks. With the receipt of this award, the group at Maynooth now amounts to over twenty researchers focussing on wireless systems.

Reconfigurable radios allow users to use a single device to access any or all the networks currently available. A user can be talking on a mobile phone network, but switch to using an 802.11 hotspot to download the latest music or video clip. In addition, if a phone needs to be upgraded for new features, this will be possible by a software upgrade rather than buying a new phone.

To achieve this vision, in close co-operation with Bell Labs, an extensive research agenda has commenced in the area of frequency-flexible radio systems, software radio (with Trinity), component design of ADCs, mixers, and amplifiers, and tower-top electronics. A wide number of demonstrators has been built, from wireless motes, RFIDs, as well as a 4G mobile communication reconfigurable radio testbed.


Contact: Dr. Bob Lawlor, Department of Electronic Engineering,
NUI Maynooth, Co. Kildare;
E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.eeng.may.ie