Wireless Near-Infrared Devices for Neural Monitoring in Operational Environments

The rapid development of the telecommunications industry over the last decade has led to significant advances in several technologies. Two of these technologies, wireless networking chipsets and laser miniaturization, have made it possible to create adevice for wirelessly monitoring neuronal activity. In this project, we propose to utilize these technologies to create a wireless whole brain functional brain imaging systems with applications in the cognitive neuroscience, brain-machine interface, andmedical fields.The NOVASOL continuous wave system uses three near-infrared wavelengths to compute blood flow and blood oxygenation over targeted areas and is the fastest CW fNIR system available. It is easily extended to multiple areas, can image through hair, and iscurrently being integrated into a helmet for comfortable imaging setup.The proposed wireless design and development Wireless CW OTIS system will allow the entire electro-optical data acquisition system to be incorporated into a self contained helmet, transmitting the data using wireless networking protocols to a remotecomputer.Building upon its unique experience with fiber optic based fNIR systems, NovaSol is proposing to research, design, and implement a WiFi peer-to-peer fNIR brain imaging system by coupling COTS WiFi hardware with existing fNIR architecture already developedby NovaSol. The proposed imaging system will yield a prototype that will demonstrate a mobile, continuous, non-invasive brain imaging system with spatial resolution on the order of centimeters and a temporal resolution able to image both the brain's immediateneuronal as well as its delayed hemodynamic response. This combination of characteristics will make this prototype a state of the art imaging system with far reaching applications and markets extending to:¿ Military¿ Research laboratories currently involved in brain imaging,¿ Laboratories that in the past could not afford the current state of the art brain imaging technology, and¿ Hospital patient monitoring.NovaSol, as a company, is very interested in taking the prototype system and adapting it for use in these market areas. We expect that interest in the system, as a product, will be generated through scientific publication and informal demonstrations withmilitary, research, and hospital personnel. We will regularly seek input from these groups during the prototype development, especially when tradeoff decisions must be made. Modifications / enhancements to meet the specific needs of these groups will alsobe elucidated and considered for inclusion in final products.To facilitate this transfer, the project will be developed in accordance with standards governing the use of medical devices, such as ISO 9000 and the FDA Medical Devices standard.We envision transitioning the prototype into several products. One of these will be directed towards continuous monitoring in restricted environments such as the cockpit of flight simulators. Another product will be catered to the general brain imagingresearch community where an emphasis will be placed on easy extensibility by the community so that the product can continue to mature through industry-academic collaboration. Still another area of interest for product development is in the use of such asystem for monitoring of blood pooling wounds, particularly hematoma development but also, with some changes in geometry, in other injuries occurring throughout the body (such as internal bleeding).