Development of human-computer interface based cursor control application

Abstract

The objective of the project is to design and develop a computer mouse cursor application that is controlled by Brain Computer Interface (BCI). Steady State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEP) is the type of BCI to be implemented. With this BCI controlled cursor, users will be able to perform simple tasks on a computer screen.

The project is divided into five phases. They are visual stimulation, signal acquisition, feature extraction, target identification, and cursor control. For visual stimulation, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) is designed with blinking elements for users to make a selection. For signal acquisition, electroencephalography (EEG) signals are captured and recorded through specialized equipment. For feature extraction, Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is conducted on the signals to identify the frequency components. For target identification, maximum peaks and its corresponding frequencies are identified. For cursor control, a GUI application is designed in which a computer mouse cursor will be moved based on the frequencies identified in the earlier stage.

From the experiment, to make a single cursor movement, it involves the following processes: Data reading->Processing->Data reading->Processing->Cursor moving. Assuming data is interpreted correctly, the average timing required is approximately 19.5 s.