A SELF-OPTIMIZING EVOKED-POTENTIAL AMPLIFIER

CORTEKS, INC. PROPOSES TO DEVELOP A MICROPROCESSOR-CONTROLLED SELF-OPTIMIZING AMPLIFIER SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO RECORD EVOKED POTENTIALS UNDER ADVERSE CONDITIONS. THE DEVICE WILL HAVE VERY HIGH COMMON-MODE-NOISE REJECTION, SUPERIOR ANTI-ALIASING, AND REDUCED SUSCEPTIBILITY TO STIMULUS ARTIFACT COMPARED TO CURRENT COMMERCIAL DEVICES. IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT THESE FEATURES WILL MAKE THIS AMPLIFIER SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER SUITED FOR RECORDING EVOKED POTENTIALS IN ELECTRICALLY NOISY ENVIRONMENTS, AND FOR PERFORMING EVOKED-POTENTIAL STUDIES WHICH ARE CURRENTLY DIFFICULT OR IMPOSSIBLE BECAUSE OF STIMULUS ARTIFACT. THESE PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS WILL BE ACHIEVED BY INCORPORATING SEVERAL DIGITALLY CONTROLLED ANALOG COMPONENTSIN CRITICAL PLACES IN THE AMPLIFIER CIRCUIT, AND USING AN ONBOARD DEDICATED MICROPROCESSOR TO OPTIMIZE AMPLIFIER FUNCTION. IN PHASE I, AN INITIAL PROTOTYPE WILL BE DESIGNED AND BUILT, AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PROPOSED TECHNIQUES WILL BE CRITICALLY EVALUATED. IN THE PHASE II PROTOTYPE, THE SIMPLE DIGITAL PASSBAND FILTER USED IN PHASE I WILL BE REPLACED WITH A SUBSTANTIALLY MORE POWERFUL DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSOR TO ENHANCE THE AMPLIFIER INPUT SWITCH TO SUPPORT AUTOMATIC RAPID MONTAGE SWITCHING. THE ROLE OF THE MICROPROCESSOR WILL EXPAND TO PROVIDE STIMULATOR CONTROL.