SPIKE DETECTOR FOR MULTICHANNEL NEURONAL ACQUISITION

THE LONG-TERM OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO DEVELOP A HIGH-PERFORMANCE INSTRUMENTATION SYSTEM FOR MULTIPLE-CHANNELNEURONAL WAVEFORM ACQUISITION AND DATA REDUCTION. THE SPECIFIC AIMS OF THIS PROJECT ARE TO: (1) INVESTIGATE THE ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL OF MULTIPLE DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSORS IN A MICROPROCESSOR SUBSYSTEM CAPABLE OF ACQUIRING UP TO 64 CHANNELS OF SIGNALS AND REDUCING THE NEURONAL SPIKES IN REAL TIME TO CHANNEL-LABELED, TIME-STAMPED "EVENTS"; (2) DEVELOP A HIGH-SPEED HOST COMPUTER COMMUNICATION INTERFACE THAT EFFICIENTLY TRANSFERS SPIKE DATA IN A STRUCTURED FORMAT AND IS READILY ADAPTABLE TO DIFFERENT COMPUTERS; AND (3) TECHNICALLY EVALUATE THE PERFORMANCE OF THE SYSTEM WHILE RECORDING FROM SEVERAL BUNDLES OF MICROWIRES IN A BEHAVING ANIMAL. THIS INSTRUMENT IS A MUCH NEEDED NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH TOOL WHERE LARGE NUMBERS OF SIGNALS ARE BEING ACQUIRED WITH TECHNIQUES SUCH AS MICROWIRE, SOLID-STATE MULTISENSOR MICROPROBES, BUNDLE ELECTRODES, AND IN VITRO MICROELECTRODE CHAMBERS AND PLATES.